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AUTHOR: 


PRESCOTT,  WILLIAM 
HICKLING 


TITLE: 


HISTORY  OF  THE  REIGN 
OF  PHILIP  THE  SECOND 

PLACE* 

PHILADELPHIA 

DA  TE : 

1 863,  C1 855 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 
PRESERVATION  DEPARTMENT 

DIDLIOGRAPHIC  MICROFORM  TARGET 


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. 


Prescott,  William  Hickling,  1796-1859. 

History  of  the  reign  of  Philip  the  Second,  king  of  Spain. 
By  William  H.  Prescott  ...  Philadelphia,  J.  B.  Lippincott  <& 
CO.,  1864-68-x¥r-2He43  1863.  ^ 

8  y.    front,  porta.,  doable  facslm.,  map.    22«. 


jg^^Pe  n,  king  or  Spain.  1627-1598.    2.  Spain— Hist— Philip  ii, 


Library  of  Congress         \ J    DP178.P8    1864 

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86-84867/ i^ 


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940.04 


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I 


HISTORY 


OF 


THE  REIGN   OF 


PHILIP   THE   SECOND. 


KING  OF  SPAIN. 


BT 


WILLIAM    H.   PRESCOTT, 

UOMB8PONDUJO    MEMBER    OF    THE    INSTITUTE    OF    FRANCE,    OF    THE    ROYAl 
ACADEMY    OF    HISTORY    AT    MADRID,    ETC.,    ETC. 


VOLUME    I. 


THIRTEBNTU    TUOUSAND 


PHILADELPHIA: 

J.  B.   LIPPINCOTT    &    0  0. 

1863. 


*«  ©f  flie  Eatmo  of    "y  \hy^ 
An.  Miry  e.  W0if0    O  V  (n^ 


If 


PREFACE. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  yetur  1865,  br 

WILLIAM    H.    PBBSCOTT, 

%i  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Conrt  of  the  District  Df  Massachasetti 


^4-A  .04- 


The  reign  of  Philip  the  Second  has  occupied 
the  pen  of  the  historian  more  frequently  —  if  we 
except  that  of  Charles  the  Fifth  —  than  any  other 
portion  of  the  Spanish  annals.  It  has  become 
familiar  to  the  English  reader  through  the  pages  of 
Watson,  who  has  deservedly  found  favor  with  the 
public  for  the  perspicuity  of  his  style,  —  a  virtue, 
however,  not  imcommon  in  his  day,  —  for  the 
sobriety  of  his  judgments,  and  for  the  skUl  he  has 
shown  in  arranging  his  complicated  story,  so  as 
to  maintain  the  reader's  interest  unbroken  to  the 
end.  But  the  public,  in  Watson's  day,  were  not 
very  fastidious  in  regard  to  the  sources  of  the  infor- 
mation on  which  a  narrative  was  founded.  Nor 
was  it  easy  to  obtain  access  to  those  impublished 
documents  which  constitute  the  best  sources  of 
information.  Neither  can  it  be  denied  that  Wat- 
son himself  was  not  so  solicitous  as  he  should 


? 


IV 


PREFACE. 


have  been  to  profit  by  opportunities  which  a  lit- 
tle pains  might  have  put  within  his  reach, — 
presenting,  in  this  respect,  a  contrast  to  his  more 
celebrated  predecessor,  Robertson ;  that  he  con- 
tented himself  too  easily  with  such  cheap  and 
commonplace  materials  as  lay  directly  in  his  path ; 
and  that,  consequently,  the  foundations  of  his  his- 
tory are  much  too  slight  for  the  superstructure. 
For  these  reasons,  the  reign  of  Philip  the  Second 
must  still  be  regarded  as  open  ground  for  Eng- 
lish and  American  writers. 

And  at  no  time  could  the  history  of  this  reign 
have  been  UDdertaken  with  the  same  advantages 
as  at  present,  when  the  more  enlightened  policy 
of  the  European  governments  has  opened  their  na- 
tional archives  to  the  inspection  of  the  scholar; 
when  he  is  allowed  access,  in  particular,  to  the 
Archives  of  Simancas,  which  have  held  the  secrets 
of  the  Spanish  monarchy  hermetically  sealed  for 
ages. 

The  history  of  Philip  the  Second  is  the  history 
of  Europe  during  the  latter  half  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  It  covers  the  period  when  the  doctrines 
of  the  Reformation  were  agitating  the  minds  of 
men  in  so  fearful  a  manner  as  to  shake  the  very 
foundations  of  the  Romish  hierarchy  in  the  fierce 


PREFACE. 


contest  which  divided  Christendom.  Philip,  both 
from  his  personal  character,  and  from  his  position 
as  sovereign  of  the  most  potent  monarchy  in  Eu- 
rope, was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  party  which 
strove  to  uphold  the  fortunes  of  the  ancient 
Church ;  and  thus  his  policy  led  him  perpetually 
to  interfere  in  the  internal  afiairs  of  the  other 
European  states,  —  making  it  necessary  to  look 
for  the  materials  for  his  history  quite  as  much 
without  the  Peninsula  as  within  it.  In  this  re- 
spect the  reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  presents 
a  strong  contrast  to  that  of  Philip  the  Second ; 
and  it  was  the  consideration  of  this,  when  I  had 
completed  my  history  of  .  the  former,  and  pro- 
posed at  some  future  day  to  enter  upon  that  of 
the  latter,  that  led  me  to  set  about  a  collection 
of  authentic  materials  from  the  public  archives  in 
the  great  European  capitals.  It  was  a  work  ol 
difliculty ;  and,  although  I  had  made  some  prog- 
ress in  it,  I  did  not  feel  assured  of  success  until 
I  had  the  good  fortune  to  obtain  the  cooperation 
of  my  friend,  Don  Pascual  de  Gayangos,  Professor 
of  Arabic  in  the  University  of  Madrid.  This 
eminent  scholar  was  admirably  qualified  for  the 
task  which  he  so  kindly  undertook;  since,  with 
a  remarkable  facility  —  such  as  long  .practice  only 


n 


PBEFACE. 


can  give  —  in  deciphering  the  mysterious  hand- 
writing of  the  sixteenth  century,  he  combined 
Buch  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  history  of 
his  country  as  enabled  him  to  detect,  amidst  the 
ocean  of  manuscripts  which  he  inspected,  such 
portions  as  were  essential  to  my  purpose. 

With  unwearied  assiduity  he  devoted  himself 
to  the  examination  of  many  of  the  principal  col- 
lections, both  in  England  and  on  the  Continent. 
Among  these  may  be  mentioned  the  British  Mu- 
seum and  the  State-Paper  Oifice,  in  London ;  the 
Library  of  the  Dukes  of  Burgundy,  in  Brussels ; 
that  of  the  University  of  Leyden  ;  the  Eoyal 
Library,  at  the  Hague  ;  the  Royal  Library  of 
Paris,  and  the  Archives  of  the  Kingdom,  in  the 
H6tel  Soubise;  the  Library  of  the  Academy  of 
History,  the  National  Library  at  Madrid,  and, 
more  important  than  either,  the  ancient  Archives 
of  Simancas,  within  whose  hallowed  precincts 
Seiior  Gayangos  was  one  of  the  first  scholars 
permitted  to  enter. 

Besides  these  public  repositories,  there  are  sev- 
eral private  collections  to  the  owners  of  which  I 
am  largely  indebted  for  the  liberal  manner  in  which 
they  have  opened  them  for  my  benefit.  I  may  men- 
tion, in  particular,  the  late  Lady  Holland,  who  kind- 


PREFACE. 


vu 


ly  permitted  copies  to  be  made  by  Senor  Gayangos 
from  the  manuscripts  preserved  in  Holland  House; 
Sir  Thomas  Phillips,  Bart.,  who  freely  extended 
the  same  courtesy  in  respect  to  the  present  work 
which  he  had  shown  to  me  on  a  former  occasion ; 
and  Patrick  Fraser  Tytler,  Esq.,  the  late  excellent 
historian  of  Scotland,  who  generously  placed  ^t 
my  disposal  sundry  documents  copied  by  him  iiji 
the  public  offices  with  his  own  hand,  for  the  illus- 
tration of  the  reign  of  Mary  Tudor. 

In  Spain  the  collection  made  by  Seiior  Gay- 
angos was  enriched  by  materials  drawn  from  the 
family  archives  of  the  marquis  of  Santa  Cruz, 
whose  illustrious  ancestor  first  had  charge  of  the 
Spanish  armada  ;  from  the  archives  of  Medina 
Sidonia,  containing  papers  of  the  duke  who  suc- 
ceeded to  the  command  of  that  ill-starred  expedi- 
tion; and  from  the  archives  of  the  house  of  Alva, — 
a  name  associated  with  the  most  memorable  acts 
of  the  government  of  Philip. 

The  manuscripts,  thus  drawn  from  various  quar- 
ters, were  fortified  by  such  printed  works  as,  having 
made  their  appearance  in  the  time  of  Philip  the 
Second,  could  throw  any  light  on  his  government. 
Where  such  works  were  not  to  be  purchased, 
Seflor   Gayangos   caused    copies    to    be    made  of 


TUl 


TREFACE. 


PREFACE. 


IX 


them,  or  of  those  portions  which  were  important 
to  my  purpose.  The  result  of  his  kind,  untiring 
labors  has  been  to  put  me  in  possession  of  such 
a  collection  of  authentic  materials  for  the  illus- 
tration of  the  reign  of  Philip  as  no  one  before 
had  probably  attempted  to  make.  Nor  until  now 
had  the  time  come  for  making  the  attempt  with 

success. 

There  still  remained,  however,  some  places  to 
be  examined  where  I  might  expect  to  find  docu- 
ments that  would  be  of  use  to  me.  Indeed,  it  is 
in  the  nature  of  such  a  collection,  covering  so 
wide  an  extent  of  ground,  that  it  can  never  be 
complete.  The  historian  may  be  satisfied,  if  he 
has  such  authentic  materials  at  his  command,  as, 
while  they  solve  much  that  has  hitherto  been 
enigmatical  in  the  accounts  of  the  time,  will  ena- 
ble him  to  present,  in  their  true  light,  the  charac- 
ter of  Philip  and  the  policy  of  his  government.  I 
must  acknowledge  my  obligations  to  more  than 
one  person,  who  has  given  me  important  aid  in 
prosecuting  my  further  researches. 

One  of  the  first  of  them  is  my  friend,  Mr 
Edward  Everett,  who,  in  his  long  and  brilliant 
career  as  a  statesman,  has  lost  nothing  of  that 
love   of  letters  which  formed  his   first   claim   to 


distinction.     The  year  before  his  appointment  to 
the  English  mission  he  passed  on  the  Continent, 
where,  with  the  kindness  that  belongs  to  his  na- 
ture, he  spent  much  time  in  examining  for  me 
the  great  libraries,  first  in  Paris,  and  afterwards 
more  effectually  in  Florence.     From  the  Archivio 
Mediceo,  in  which  he  was  permitted  by  the  grand 
duke  to  conduct  his  researches,  he  obtained  copies 
of  sundry  valuable  documents,  and  among  them 
the  letters  of  the  Tuscan  ministers,  which  have 
helped   to   guide    me   in   some   of   the    most  in- 
tricate    parts    of   my   narrative.      A    still    larger 
amount  of  materials  he  derived  from  the  private 
library  of  Count  Guicciardini,  the  descendant  of 
the  illustrious  historian  of  that  name.     I  am  hap- 
py to   express   my  lively   sense   of  the   courtesy 
shown  by  this  nobleman;   also  my  gratitude  for 
kind  offices  rendered  me  by  Prince  Corsini ;  and 
no   less  by   the    Marquis   Gino   Capponi,    whose 
name  will  be  always  held  in  honor  for  the  enlight- 
ened patronage  which  he  has  extended  to  learn- 
ing, while  suffering,  himself,  under   the  severest 
privation  that  can  befall  the  scholar. 

There  was  still  an  important  deficiency  in  my 
collection,  —  that  of  the  JRelazioni  Venete^  as  the 
reports  are  called  which  were  made  by  ambassa- 


YOL.  I. 


h 


PREFACE. 


PREFACE. 


XI 


dors  of  Venice  on  their  return  from  their  foreign 
missions.     The  value  of  these  reports,  for  the  in- 
formation  they  give   of  the   countries  visited  by 
the  envoys,   is   well  known   to  historians.     The 
deficiency  was  amply  supplied  by  the  unwearied 
kindness  of  my  friend,  Mr.  Fay,  who  now  so  ably 
fills  the  post  of  minister  from  the  United  States  to 
Switzerland.     When  connected  with  the  American 
legation  at  Berlin,  he,  in  the  most  obliging  man- 
ner, assisted  me  in  making  arrangements  for  ob- 
taining the  documents  I  desired,  which,  with  other 
papers  of  importance,  were  copied  for  me  from  the 
manuscripts  in  the  Royal  Library  of  Berlin,  and  the 
Ducal  Library  of  Gotha.     I  have  also,  in  connec- 
tion with  this,  to  express  my  obligations  to  the 
distinguished  librarian  of  the  former  institution, 
Mr.  Pertz,  for  the  good-will  which  he  showed  in 
promoting  my  views. 

Through  Mr.  Fay,  I  also  obtained  the  authority 
of  Prince  Mettemich  to  inspect  the  Archives  of 
the  Empire  in  Vienna,  which  I  inferred,  from  the 
intimate  relations  subsisting  between  the  courts 
of  Madrid  and  Vienna  in  that  day,  must  contain 
much  valuable  matter  relevant  to  my  subject. 
The  result  did  not  correspond  to  my  expecta- 
tions.    I  am  happy,  however,   to  have   the  op. 


portunity  of  publicly  offering  my  acknowledg- 
ments to  that  eminent  scholar.  Dr.  Ferdinand 
Wolf,  for  the  obliging  manner  in  which  he  con- 
ducted the  investigation  for  me,  as  well  in  the 
archives  above  mentioned,  as,  with  better  results, 
in  the  Imperial  Library,  with  which  he  is  offi- 
'^ially  connected. 

In  concluding  the  list  of  those  to  whose  good 
offices  I  have  been  indebted,  I  must  not  omit  the 
names  of  M.  de  Salvandy,  minister  of  public  in 
struction  in  France  at  the  time  I  was  engaged 
in  making  my  collection;  Mr.  Rush,  then  the 
minister  of  the  United  States  at  the  French  court; 
Mr.  Rives,  of  Virginia,  his  successor  in  that 
office;  and  last,  not  least,  my  friend.  Count  de 
Circourt,  a  scholar  whose  noble  contributions  to 
the  periodical  literature  of  his  country,  on  the 
greatest  variety  of  topics,  have  given  him  a  prom- 
inent place  among  the  writers  of  our  time. 

I  am  happy,  also,  to  tender  my  acknowledg- 
ments for  the  favors  I  have  received  from  Mr. 
Van  de  Weyer,  minister  from  Belgium  to  the 
court  of  St.  James ;  from  Mr.  B.  Homer  Dixon, 
consul  for  the  Netherlands  at  Boston ;  and  from 
my  friend  and  kinsman,  Mr.  Thomas  Hickling, 
consul  for  the  United  States  at  St  Michael's,  who 


i: 


xu 


PREFACE. 


kindly  furnished  me  with  sundry  manuscripts  ex 
hibiting  the  condition  of  the  Azores  at  the  period 
when  those  islands  passed,  with  Portugal,  undei 
the  sceptre  of  Philip  the  Second- 

Having  thus  acquainted  the  reader  with  the 
sources  whence  I  have  derived  my  materials,  I 
must  now  say  a  few  words  in  regard  to  the 
conduct  of  my  narrative.  An  obvious  difficulty 
in  the  path  of  the  historian  of  this  period  arises 
from  the  nature  of  the  subject,  embracing,  as 
it  loes,  such  a  variety  of  independent,  not  to 
say  incongruous  topics,  that  it  is  no  easy  matter 
to  preserve  anything  like  unity  of  interest  in  the 
btory.  Thus  the  Revolution  of  the  Netherlands, 
although,  strictly  speaking,  only  an  episode  to 
the  main  body  of  the  narrative,  from  its  impor- 
tance, well  deserves  to  be  treated  in  a  separate 
and  independent  narrative  by  itself*     Running 


♦  It  is  gratifjing  to  learn  that  before  long  such  a  history  may  be 
expected,  —  if,  indeed,  it  should  not  appear  before  the  publication  of 
this  work,  —  from  the  pen  of  our  accomplished  countrj-man,  Mr  J. 
Lothrop  Motley,  who,  during  the  last  few  years,  for  the  better  prose- 
cution of  his  labors,  has  established  his  residence  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  scenes  of  his  narrative.  No  one  acquainted  with  the  fine  pow- 
ers of  mind  possessed  by  this  scholar,  and  the  earnestness  with  which 
lie  has  devoted  himself  to  his  task,  can  doubt  that  he  will  do  full  jii» 
lioe  to  his  important,  but  difficult  subject 


PREFACE. 


•  •• 
XUl 


along  through  the  whole  extent  of  Philip's  reign, 
it  is  continually  distracting  the  attention  of  the 
historian,  creating  an  embarrassment,  something 
like  that  which  arises  from  what  is  termed  a  double 
plot  in  the  drama.  The  best  way  of  obviating 
this  is  to  keep  in  view  the  dominant  principle 
which  controlled  all  the  movements  of  the  com- 
plicated machinery,  so  to  speak,  and  impressed 
on  them  a  unity  of  action.  This  principle  is  to 
be  found  in  the  policy  of  Philip,  the  great  aim 
of  which  was  to  uphold  the  supremacy  of  the 
Church,  and,  as  a  consequence,  that  of  the  crown. 
*'  Peace  and  public  order,"  he  writes  on  one  occa- 
sion, "are  to  be  maintained  in  my  dominions 
only  by  maintaining  the  authority  of  the  Holy 
See."  It  was  this  policy,  almost  as  sure  and 
steady  in  its  operation  as  the  laws  of  Nature  her- 
self, that  may  be  said  to  have  directed  the  march 
of  events  through  the  whole  of  his  long  reign; 
and  it  is  only  by  keeping  this  constantly  in  view 
that  the  student  will  be  enabled  to  obtain  a  clew 
to  guide  him  through  the  intricate  passages  in 
the  history  of  Philip,  and  the  best  means  of  solv- 
ing what  would  otherwise  remain  enigmatical  in 
his  conduct 

In  the  composition  of  the  work,  I  have,  for  the 


XIV 


PREFACE. 


PREFACE. 


XV 


most  part,  conformed  to  the  plan  which  I  had 
before   adopted.     Far  from   confining  myself   to 
a  record  of  political  events,  I  have  endeavored  to 
present  a  picture  of  the  intellectual  culture  and  the 
manners  of  the  people.     I  have  not  even  refused 
such  aid  as  could  be  obtained  from  the  display  of 
pageants,  and  court  ceremonies,  which,  although 
exhibiting  little  more  than   the  costume  of  the 
time,  may  serve  to  bring  the  outward  form  of  a 
picturesque  age  more  vividly  before  the  eye  of  the 
reader.     In  the  arrangement  of  the  naiTative,  I 
have  not  confined  myself  altogether  to  the  chron- 
ological order  of  events,  but   have   thrown   them 
into  masses,  according   to  the  subjects  to  which 
they  relate,  so  as  to  produce,  as  far  as  possible, 
a  distinct  impression  on  the  reader.     And  in  this 
way  I  have  postponed  more  than  one  matter  of 
importance  to  a  later  portion  of  the  work,  which 
a  strict  regard  to  time  would  assign  more  prop- 
erly to  an  earlier  division  of  the  subject.    Finally, 
I  have  been  careful  to  fortify  the  text  with  cita- 
tions  from  the  original  authorities  on  which  it  de- 
pends, especially  where  these  are  rare  and  difficult 
of  access. 

In  the  part  relating  to  the  Netherlands  I  have 
pursued  a  course  somewhat  different  from  what  I 


have   done  in   other    parts   of   the    work.     The 
scholars  of  that  country,  in  a  truly  patriotic  spirit, 
have  devoted  themselves  of  late  years  to  explor- 
ing  their  own  archives,  as  well  as  those  of  Siman- 
cas,  for  the  purpose  of  illustrating  their  national 
annals.     The  results  they  have  given  to  the  world 
in  a  series  of  publications,  which  are  still  in  prog 
ress.     The  historian  has  reason  to  be  deeply  grate- 
ful  to  those  pioneers,  whose  labors  have  put  him 
in  possession  of  materials  which  afford  the  most 
substantial  basis  for  his  narrative.     For  what  basis 
can  compare   with   that   afforded  by  the   written 
correspondence   of  the  parties   themselves.     It  is 
on  this  sure  ground  that  I  have  mainly  relied  in 
this  part  of  my  story ;  and  I  have  adopted  the 
practice  of  incorporating  extracts  from  the  letters 
in  the  body  of  the  text,  which,  if  it  may  some- 
times  give   an   air  of  prolixity   to   the  narrative, 
will  have   the   advantage  of  bringing  the  reader 
into   a   sort   of   personal    acquaintance   with   the 
actors,  as  he  listens  to  the  words  spoken  by  them- 
selves. 

In  the  earlier  part  of  this  Preface,  I  have  made 
the  acknowledgments  due  for  assistance  I  have 
received  in  the  collection  of  my  materials;  and 
I  must  not  now  conclude  without  recording  my 


1) 


xn 


PREFACE. 


obligations,  of  another  kind,  to  two  of  my  per- 
sonal friends,  — Mr.  Charles  Folsom,  the  learned 
librarian  of  the  Boston  Athenseum,  who  has  re- 
peated the  good  offices  he  had  before  rendered 
me  in  revising  my  manuscript  for  the  press ;  and 
Mr.  John  Foster  Kirk,  whose  familiarity  with  the 
history  and  languages  of  Modem  Europe  has 
greatly  aided  me  in  the  prosecution  of  my  re- 
searches, while  his  sagacious  criticism  has  done 
me  no  less  service  in  the  preparation  of  these  vol- 
umes. 

Notwithstanding  the  advantages  I  have  enjoyed 
for  the  composition  of  this  work,  and  especially 
those  derived  from  the  possession  of  new  and 
original  materials,  I  am  fully  sensible  that  I 
am  far  from  having  done  justice  to  a  subject 
so  vast  in  its  extent  and  so  complicated  in  its 
relations.  It  is  not  necessary  to  urge  in  my  de- 
fence any  physical  embarrassments  under  which 
I  labor;  since  that  will  hardly  be  an  excuse  for 
not  doing  well  what  it  was  not  necessary  to  do 
at  all.  But  I  may  be  permitted  to  say,  that 
what  I  have  done  has  been  the  result  of  careful 
preparation ;  that  I  have  endeavored  to  write  in 
a  spirit  of  candor  and  good  faith ;  and  that,  what- 
ever may  be  the  deficiencies  of  my  work,  it  can 


PREFACE. 


xvii 


hardly  fail  —  considering  the  advantages  I  have 
enjoyed  over  my  predecessors  —  to  present  the 
reader  with  such  new  and  authentic  statements  of 
facts  as  may  aflbrd  him  a  better  point  of  view 
than  that  which  he  has  hitherto  possessed  for  sur- 
veying the  history  of  Philip  the  Second. 

Boston,  July^  1855. 


VOL.  1. 


CONTENTS 


OP 


VOLUME   FIRST. 


BOOK    I. 


CHAPTER   I. 

Abdication  of  Charles  the  Fifth          ....  1 

Rise  of  the  Spanish  Empire 2 

Internal  Tranquillity  of  Spain 3 

Charles  V.  not  a  Spaniard 4 

State  of  Europe  at  his  Accession 5 

Ilis  Warlike  Career     . 6 

Reverses  of  his  Later  Years 7 

His  Ill-Health  and  Melancholy 8 

He  determines  to  abdicate 9 

Convenes  the  Estates  of  the  Netherlands      .        .        .        .  10 

His  Appearance  in  the  Assembly 11 

Speech  to  the  Deputies 14 

Address  to  Philip 16 

Emotions  of  the  Audience 17 

Speeches  of  Philip  and  Granvelle 18 

Charles  resigns  the  Crown  of  Spain 19 

Retains  the  Title  of  Emperor 19 

Leaves  the  Netherlands 20 

Arrives  at  Laredo 21 

His  Journey  to  Valladolid ,  22 

He  takes  Leave  of  his  Family          ......  28 

His  Stay  at  Jarandilla ,        .  24 

Description  of  Yuste 25 


XX 


CONTEXTS. 


CONTEXTS. 


XXI 


CHAPTER    II. 


Fably  Days  of  Philip 27 

Birth  of  Philip  n. «7 

Recognition  as  Heir  to  the  Crown .29 

His  Tutors 80 

Death  of  his  Mother 83 

His  early  Familiarity  with  Affairs 84 

First  Lesson  in  War 86 

He  is  made  Regent 87 

His  Father's  Counsel  to  him 87 

Bride  selected  for  Philip 89 

The  Infanta  sets  out  for  Castile 40 

Arrives  at  Salamanca 42 

Royal  ^larriage 48 

Death  of  the  Princess 48 

Philip  summoned  to  Flanders 45 

Remodels  his  Household 48 

Arrives  at  Genoa 4g 

Receives  Embassies 49 

Entertainment  at  Milan 50 

Honors  paid  him  on  the  Route 53 

Reception  at  Brussels 54 

Charles  his  Instructor  in  Politics m 

Tour  through  the  Provinces     .        ,       • 56 

Loyal  Demonstrations 57 

Tourney  in  Brussels 5^^ 

PhiUp's  Skill  with  the  Lance gi 

His  Dislike  to  Active  Exercises 62 

Unpopularity  in  Flanders    ..•..,,  es 

Scheme  for  securing  to  him  the  Imperial  Crown       ...  64 

Ferdinand  refuses  to  waive  his  Claims           ....  65 

Philip  disliked  by  the  Germans        ..."..  66 

The  Project  unpopular  in  Spain 57 

Private  Compact ,68 

Philip  leaves  the  Netherlands        ...,,,  09 

Resumes  the  Government  of  Spain 70 

State  of  Sp^n »2 

Strength  of  the  National  Spirit 7^ 

Philip  the  Type  of  the  Spanish  Character    ....  74 


CHAPTER    III 


P»f* 

English  ALLIA^'CE 

.       75 

Reli^nous  Revolution  in  England 

75 

Indifference  of  the  People        .... 

.       77 

Micbeli's  Description  of  England 

78 

His  Portrait  of  Mary 

.       80 

Her  Bigotry 

88 

Proofs  of  her  Sincerity 

.       S3 

Her  Treatment  of  Elizabeth 

34 

Persecution  of  the  Protestants 

.       86 

Charles  V.'s  Relations  with  Mary 

87 

Scheme  for  uniting  her  to  Philip 

.      89 

Crafty  Mode  of  Proceeding 

90 

Coquetry  of  Mary 

.       91 

OfTer  of  Philip's  Hand          .... 

92 

Efforts  to  prevent  the  Match    .... 

.      95 

Mary's  Vow 

96 

Remonstrance  of  the  Commons 

.       97 

Egmont's  Embassy 

98 

Mary's  Prudery 

.       99 

The  Marriage  Treaty 

100 

Popular  Discontent 

.     101 

Insurrection 

102 

The  Queen's  Intrepidity           .... 

.     102 

The  Rebels  defeated     .        .        . 

104 

CHAPTER   IV. 


English  Alliance 

Ratification  of  the  Treaty    . 

Mary's  Message  to  Philip 

His  Disinclination  to  the  Match 

He  sends  an  Embassy  to  Mary 

Joanna  made  Regent  of  Spain 

Her  Character 

Philip  sails  for  England 

Lands  at  Southampton 

His  Reception 

His  Affability  .        .        .        . 


106 

106 
107 
108 
109 
110 
111 
1J3 
114 
115 
116 


xxu 


CONTEXTS. 


Pag* 

Projrress  to  Winchester 1 1 ' 

Interviews  with  Mary H^ 

The  Marriage  Ceremony  performed 120 

Banquet  and  Ball .123 

Public  Entry  into  London 125 

Residence  at  Hampton  Court 127 

Philip's  Discretion 128 

Punctiliousness  in  Reh'gious  Observances  .         .         .         .129 

Sincerity  of  his  Religious  Belief 130 

Arrival  of  the  Legate 131 

Character  of  Pole 181 

Meeting  of  Parliament 132 

England  reconciled  to  the  Church 133 

Persecution •        .  134 

Denounced  by  the  King's  Confessor      .        .        .        .        .  135 
Phihp's  Influence  with  Mary    .        .        .        .        .        .        .136 

Her  Pregnancy  announced 137 

Mortifying  Result 138 

Philip's  Discontent 139 

Unpopularity  of  the  Spaniards 140 

Philip  leaves  England          .....••.  141 

Arrives  at  Brussels 142 

CHAPTER   V. 

War  with  the  Pope 143 

Extent  of  Philip's  Possessions 143 

His  Powerful  Position 144 

Absolute  Authority 145 

Relations  with  the  Pope 14$ 

Early  History  of  Paul  IV 147 

His  Enmity  to  the  Emperor 149 

Denunciations  of  the  Spaniards 150 

Character  of  the  Pope ,        ^        ^  ^5^ 

His  Nephews -,^9 

Relations  with  France 15  ♦ 

Character  of  Henry  II j^^ 

The  Constable  Montmorency jjg 

Francis,  Duke  of  Guise ^mj 

Caraffa  succeeds  in  his  Mission j5g 

Terms  of  the  Treaty             ••.....  159 


CONTENTS 


XXUl 


Musters  an  Army 
Enters  the  Papal  Territory 
Rapid  Successes   . 
Paul's  Fiery  Temper 
The  Papal  Forces 
Ostia  besieged 
Unsuccessful  Assault    . 
The  Place  surrenders 


IGO 
161 
162 
163 
164 
165 


Spaniards  maltreated  by  Paul 

Alva  Viceroy  of  Naples 

His  Early  Career 

His  Military  Talents 

Council  of  Theologians 

Sanctions  Retaliatory  Measures 

Alva  issues  a  Manifesto 166 

167 

168 

169 

170 

171 

.     *     .     .     •     *     •      X  i  O 

174 

175 

176 


Negotiations  and  Truce 


CHAPTER    VL 


War  with  the  Pope     . 

The  French  Army 
The  Italian  Powers 
Duke  of  Ferrara  breaks  with  Guise 
Paul  renews  the  War 
Campli  taken  by  the  French 
Italy  in  the  Sixteenth  Century 
Guise  lays  Siege  to  Civitella 
Discontents  in  the  French  Army 
Alva's  Preparations   . 
He  takes  the  Field 
Raises  the  Siege  of  Civitella 
Retreat  of  the  French    . 
Alva's  Slow  Pursuit  . 
Successes  of  Colon na 
Capture  and  Sack  of  Segni 
Paul  refuses  to  make  Concessions 
Alva  plans  an  Attack  on  Rome 
Abandons  the  Design    . 
Various  Opinions  as  to  the  Affair 
Alarm  of  the  Romans    . 
Departure  of  Guise    . 


178 

178 
179 
180 
181 
182 
182 
185 
186 
187 
189 
190 
191 
192 
193 
194 
195 
195 
197 
198 
199 
200 


XXIV 


CONTENTS. 


CONTEXTS. 


Negotiations  opened 

Concessions  made  by  Alva 

He  enters  Rome   .        .        .        • 

Receives  Absolution  from  the  Pope 

Results  of  the  War 

Paul  the  Chief  Sufferer      . 

His  Treatment  of  his  Kinsmen 

Rigid  Church-Discipline    . 

Riots  at  his  Death 

His  Patriotism 


200 
201 
202 
203 
204 
205 
206 
207 
208 
208 


CHAPTER  VII. 

War  with  France      .        .  ...        •       •        .210 

Preparations  in  the  Netherlands  .        .        .        •        •  210 

Philip  visits  England -1  ^ 

Pretexts  for  War  with  France 212 

War  proclaimed 213 

Mary's  Forlorn  Condition 213 

Excuses  for  her  Errors 214 

Forces  rjused  by  Philip .  215 

Duke  of  Savoy  appointed  General 216 

His  Character 217 

Plan  of  the  Campaign .        .218 

St.  Quentin  invested 219 

Coligni  undertakes  the  Defence 220 

Condition  of  the  Place 222 

Attempt  to  reinforce  it 224 

Montmorency  brings  up  his  Army      .....  224 

Takes  up  a  Position 225 

Sends  Troops  across  the  Somme 226 

Cavalry  detached  against  him 227 

His  Self-Confidence 229 

He  endeavors  to  retire 230 

Is  overtaken  by  Egmont    .        .        .        .        .        .        .  23 1 

Battle  of  St.  Quentin 232 

French  Cavalry  routed       .....,,  233 

The  Infantry  makes  a  Stand  .....  233 

Overpowered  by  Numbers  .  234 

Dreadful  Carnage 284 

Retreat  to  La  Fere  .        ,        .  285 


The  Victory  complete  . 
Philip  visits  the  Camp 
Disposes  of  the  Prisoners 
Proposal  to  march  on  Paris 
Rejected  by  Philip 
Siege  of  St.  Quentin  resumed 
Efforts  of  the  Besieged 
Preparations  for  the  Assault 
Struirde  at  the  Breaches 
Capture  of  the  Town 
Maltreatment  of  the  Inhabitants 
Philip  protects  them 
Further  Successes 
Operations  suspended 
Results  of  the  Campaign 


CHAPTER    VIII. 


War  with  France 

National  Spirit  aroused  in  France 

New  Army  raised      . 

Desire  to  recover  Calais 

Its  Defenceless  State 

Capture  of  the  Forts     . 

Surrender  of  the  Town 

Sensation  in  England  and  France 

Inactivity  of  Guise     . 

Foray  into  Flanders 

Retreat  of  the  French  intercepted 

Dispositions  of  Termes 

Battle  of  Gravelines 

Overthrow  of  the  French 

Spoils  of  Victory 

The  Monarchs  take  the  Field 

Both  weary  of  the  War      . 

Their  Financial  Embarrassments 

Religious  Difficulties 

Negotiations  opened 

Congress  meets  at  Cercamps 

Death  of  Mary  Tudor   .         * 


XXI 

236 
287 
239 
240 
241 
241 
242 
244 

,  245 
246 

.  247 
248 

.  250 
251 

.  252 


Feria*s  Mission  to  England 
▼OL.  I.  d 


253 

253 

254 

254 

255 

256 

257 

257 

258 

259 

261 

262 

263 

265 

266 

267 

268 

269 

270 

271 

273 

274 

275 


XXVI 


CONTEXTS. 


Mary's  Character 276 

MicheH's  Portrait  of  Elizabeth 278 

Philip  offers  her  his  Hand 280 

Remonstrates  against  Religious  Changes      .        .        .        •  282 

His  Suit  unsuccessful 283 

Negotiations  at  Cateau-Cambresis 284 

Difficulties  in  Regard  to  Calais 285 

Question  brought  to  an  Issue 286 

Treaty  signed 287 

Terms  advantageous  to  Philip 288 

His  Reputation  increased 289 

Marriage  Contract  with  Isabella 291 

Elizabeth  of  England  piqued 292 

Marriage  of  Philip  by  Proxy 29S 

Death  of  Henry  II 295 


CHAPTER    IX. 

Latter  Days  of  Charles  the  Fifth  ....  297 

The  Jeronymite  Convent  at  Yuste 298 

The  Buildings  enlarged 299 

Furniture  of  Charles's  Apartments 800 

Works  of  Art SOI 

The  Emperor's  Garden 302 

Present  Appearance  of  Yuste 303 

The  Emperor's  Arrival 306 

His  Household 307 

Mode  of  employing  his  Time 309 

His  Devotion "  ,         .         ^         ^  3^^ 

Fondness  for  Music 312 

Turn  for  Mechanical  Arts 313 

His  Timepieces     .....,,.  314 

Reception  of  Visitors 515 

Erroneous  Opinions  respecting  his  Seclusion  .         .         .         .817 

Advice  sought  by  the  Government     .         .         .         .         .  s^g 

His  Anxiety  during  the  War sj^ 

Projects  respecting  Portugal 320 

He  assists  in  raising  Supplies 321 

Denounces  Delinquents  at  Seville       .         .^        .         .         .  322 

State  of  his  Health        •••.....  823 

Death  of  Queen  Eleanor •94 


CONTENTS. 


XXVll 


Charles's  Bigotry  and  Intolerance 

Declining  Health 

Rehearsal  of  his  Obsequies 

Not  mentioned  in  Letters 

Authority  for  the  Story 

Misstatement  of  Dates 

Morbid  Tastes  of  Charles 

His  Last  Illness 

He  arranges  his  Affairs 

His  Injunctions  to  Philip    . 

Religious  Preparations 

His  Death 

Disposal  of  his  Remains 

Funeral  Honors  at  Brussels 

Peculiarities  of  Charles 

His  Tardy  Development     . 

His  Self-Reliance 

Vastness  of  his  Schemes     • 

His  Gluttony 

His  Memoirs 

Translation  of  a  French  Poem 

Desire  of  Posthumous  Fame 

His  Bigotry 

Manuscript  Work  of  Gonzalez   . 

Stirling,  Amdd^e  Pichot,  and  Mignet 


Pag« 
825 

826 

827 

828 

829 

881 

332 

383 

884 

835 

836 

837 

838 

840 

848 

844 

845 

846 

848 

850 

852 

853 

855 

857 

858 


BOOK     II. 


CHAPTER    L 

View  of  the  Netherlands '^® 

Provinces  of  the  Netherlands 8^1 

Condition  in  the  Middle  Ages    •         •         -         .         .         .  862 

Not  fiised  into  a  Nation 868 

A  Confederacy  of  States 864 

Power  of  the  Sovereign         .....••  865 

Ascendency  of  Charles  V. 866 

Manufactures  of  the  Netherlands    .        .  .        •        .867 


xxvni 


CONTKNTS. 


CONTEXTS. 


XXIX 


if 


PaRW 

Extent  of  their  Commerce 869 

Antwerp  the  Conmiercial  Capital 370 

Prosperity  of  all  Classes 872 

Diffusion  of  Education •        .873 

Introduction  of  Protestantism 374 

Laws  for  its  Suppression 375 

Establishment  of  an  Inquisition 376 

Different  from  the  Spanish 377 

Number  of  its  Victims       .        .    ^ 379 

Injury  to  Trade 381 

Ke venues  of  the  Netherlands     .        .        .        *        .        .  382 

CHAPTER    II. 

SrSTKM   ESTABLISHED   BY   PHILIP              •            .            .            .            .  884 

Philip  visits  the  Provinces 885 

His  Chilling  Demeanor 385 

He  renews  the  Edicts 886 

The  Ecclesiastical  Establishment 387 

Scheme  of  New  Bishoprics '  388 

Philip's  Financial  Policy 389 

Candidates  for  the  Regency 390 

Margaret  of  Parma 391 

Her  Education  and  Early  Career 392 

Her  Character .  898 

She  arrives  at  Brussels 395 

The  States-General  at  Ghent         .        .        ,        .        .        .396 

Remonstrate  against  Spanish  Garrisons       .        .        ,        .  397 

Philip's  Displeasure ,  399 

He  takes  Leave  of  the  States 401 

Instructions  to  the  Regent     •••....  40S 

Her  Chief  Advisers ^q^ 

Granvelle ^qk 

Eariy  distinguished .406 

Succeeds  his  Father ^qj 

Obtains  the  Confidence  of  Philip 409 

Philip  completes  his  Arrangements ^n 

l-eaves  the  Netherlands      .         .         ,        ^         ,        ,         ^  ^|j 


CHAPTER    IIL 


Protestantism  in  Spain 

The  Royal  Fleet  wrecked 

Philip's  Narrow  Escape 

He  resumes  the  Government 

Spain  affected  by  the  Reformation 

Circulation  of  Protestant  Books 

Powers  of  the  Inquisition  enlarged 

The  Reformers  detected     . 

Great  Number  arrested 

Disclosures  extorted 

Autos  de  Fe 

Description  of  one  at  Valladolid 

The  Procession 

Assembly  in  the  Square     . 

The  Sermon  and  the  Oath     . 

The  "  Reconciled  "    .        .        . 

The  Martyrs 

Carlos  de  Seso 

Domingo  de  Roxas 

Place  of  Execution    . 

Bartolom^  de  Carranza 

Suspicions  of  his  Orthodoxy 

His  Arrest    .... 

Council  of  Trent  remonstrates    . 

Cause  carried  to  Rome 

Decision  of  Gregory  XIII. 

Carranza's  Death 

Heresy  extinguished  in  Spain     . 

Effects  of  the  Persecution 


CHAPTER    IV 


Philip's  Third  Marriage 

Isabella  arrives  in  Spain 
Preparations  to  welcome  her 
Meeting  with  Philip 
Her  Beauty 
Don  Carlos 


415 

415 
415 
416 
417 
418 
420 
422 
423 
424 
425 
426 
427 
428 
429 
430 
430 
432 
431 
435 
437 
439 
440 
441 
442 
443 
444 
445 
446 


449 

449 
451 
452 
453 
454 


XXX  CONTENTS. 

Pmfgt 

Festivities  at  Guadalajara ^^^ 

Reception  at  Toledo ^^^ 

The  Spanish  Character      ....•••  ^^^ 

Illness  of  Isabella '^^^ 

Her  Popularity 460 

Taste  and  Profusion  in  Dress         .        .        .         .         .        .462 

Custom  of  Dining  in  Public 463 

The  Capital  of  Spain     ........  464 

Madrid  exalted  by  the  Spaniards 466 

Different  View  of  Foreigners 467 

CHAPTER    V. 

Discontent  in  the  Netherlands          ....  469 

The  Reformation 469 

Philip  its  Great  Opponent 470 

Orthodoxy  of  the  Spaniards 472 

Different  Spirit  in  the  Netherlands 47JI 

Philip's  Course  erroneous 476 

Elements  of  Discontent •  477 

Antipathy  to  the  Spaniards 478 

Need  of  a  Considerate  Policy 479 

The  Prince  of  Orange 480 

Educated  at  Court 481 

Esteemed  by  Charies  V.        . 482 

Opposed  to  the  Designs  of  Philip 483 

Mutual  Aversion 484 

William's  Second  Marriage 486 

His  Convivial  Habits     .        .        •        .        .        .        .        .487 

Impenetrable  Reserve •        .  488 

Tact  and  Eloquence      ........  489 

Indifference  to  Religion     .......  489 

Tolerant  Spirit %        ,        .  491 

CHAPTER    VI. 
* 

Opposition  to  the  Government 492 

Detention  of  the  Spanish  Troops 492 

Their  Lax  Discipline    ...•,.,,  493 

The  Regent  dismisses  them 494 

Dilatoriness  of  Philip   ..••.••»  415 


CONTENTS  XXXI 

Pace 

New  Ecclesiastical  System 496 

Obstacles  to  its  Introduction 499 

Odium  cast  on  Granvelle *^^ 

His  Position  and  Authority ^<^2 

Mode  of  conducting  Affairs •  503 

Sumptuous  Style  of  Living .  504 

Complaints  of  Orange  and  Egmont 505 

Religious  Troubles  in  France 507 

Meeting  of  the  Golden  Fleece 509 

Montigny  sent  to  Spain        .         .        .        •        •        •        •  510 

Open  Hostility  to  Granvelle 512 

Montigny's  Report 514 

Suggestions  of  Philip 515 

Calvinist  Propagandism 516 

Tumult  at  Valenciennes •        .517 

Difficulty  of  executing  the  Edicts          .        .        .        *        .  519 

Granvelle*s  Unpopularity 520 

CHAPTER    VIL 

jRANVElle  compelled  to  withdraw     ....  523 

Continued  Attacks  on  Granvelle 523 

Leajme  formed  against  him 524 

Petition  for  his  Removal 525 

Philip  requires  Specific  Charges 527 

Second  Letter  of  the  Lords 529 

Tliey  withdraw  from  the  Council 531 

Granvelle  abandoned  by  the  Regent ^533 

His  Couraije .  535 

Feelins:  at  Madrid    .        .        .        .        .        .        .        -        .536 

Alva's  Advice 537 

Philip  hesitates 538 

Margaret  presse|  for  a  Decision 538 

He  desires  Granvelle  to  withdraw 540 

His  Haughty  Letter  to  the  Lords 541 

Granvelle  announces  his  Departure 543 

Joy  of  the  Country       .        •      • 544 

The  Liveries 545 

Granvelle  leaves  Brussels 546 

The  Lords  reenter  the  Council 547 

Granvelle  in  Retirement 549 

The  Granvelle  Papers      • obO 


xxxu 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    VIIL 

r«lAN0K8    DEMANDED  BY  THE  LoRDS          .           .           •           •  ^^^ 

Philip's  Policy 553 

Causes  of  his  Unpopularity 554 

His  Inflexibility ^54 

Changes  in  the  Netherlands •  555 

Philip  a  Foreigner 555 

Zeal  of  the  Nobles 557 

Their  Influence  with  Margaret 558 

Opposition  of  Viglius 551) 

Mutual  Accusations 561 

Aims  of  the  Lords 564 

The  Edicts  unexecuted  .        .        .        .        .        .         .565 

Financial  Difficulties 568 

The  Council  of  Trent 570 

Opposition  to  its  Decrees 571 

E(nnont*8  Mission  .        .        .        .        .        .        •         .572 

His  Instructions 574 

Discussion  in  the  Council      .        .        .        •        •        .        .574 

Pledge  of  Egmont's  Friends       .        .        .        .        .        .  576 

Banquet  at  Cambray 577 

Egmont's  Reception  at  Madrid 578 

Question  propounded  by  Philip 57U 

Delusion  of  Egmont 581 


CHAPTER    IX. 

Philip's  Lvflexibility .       .  682 

Result  of  Egmont's  Mission 682 

General  Dissatisfaction ,        ,  58;i 

Margaret  remonstrates  with  the  King  ....  585 

His  Equivocal  Conduct 585 

Granvelle's  Correspondence 588 

Granvelle  sent  to  Rome 539 

The  Royal  Determination  announced  ....  690 

The  Despatch  received  at  Brussels 592 

Its  Publication 593 

Despair  of  the  People 594 

Seditious  Discussions    ••••••.,  595 


CONTENTS. 


XXXIU 


The  Lower  Nobility 597 

The  Union  and  the  Compromise           .....  598 

The  Leaders  of  the  Party 600 

Its  Rapid  Increase 602 

Refusals  to  execute  the  Edicts 60S 

Conference  of  Bayonne        ...              ....  605 

Its  Real  Object        .        .  #            606 

Panic  in  the  Netherlands 608 

Painful  Situation  of  the  Regent 609 

Her  Preparations  for  Defence       -        .        .                .        .  610 
Temperate  Conduct  of  Orange         .                •        .        .        .612 

Consultation  of  the  Nobles 615 

Impulsive  Character  of  Egmont Sl< 


fOL.  r. 


/ 


/ 


-^ 


//.      -  ^,.../  .       ^ ^^/. 


^fj'^'l 


r 


f  - 


^/>. 


/ 


^f/yi        /At:      •_'/*•  f  r //,/ . 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


The  portraits  in  these  volumes  are  taken,  with  one  exception,  from  water 
colored  drawings,  executed  by  an  eminent  Spanish  artist,  Don  Valentin 
Carderera,  and  copied  by  him  from  the  originals  in  Spain.    That  of  Philip  th£ 
Second  is  taken  from  one  of  the  many  pictures  of  that  monarch  from  the  hand 
of  Titian.    Philip  fully  estimated  the  powers  of  the  great  Italian,  and,  like  his 
father,  the  emperor,  wished  to  have  his  features  transmitted  by  his  pencil  to 
posterity.    The  original  hangs  in  the  Mmeo,  at  Madrid.    It  represents  the 
king  in  a  rich  suit  of  armor,  — a  dress  more  appropriate  to  his  father 
than  to  him.    It  is  said  that  Philip  was  pleased  with  the  idea  of  being  rep- 
resented  in  armor ;  perhaps  from  the  very  circumstance  that  his  unwar- 
like  habits  gave  him  but  little  claim  to  it.    The  likeness  was  taken  at  an 
cariy  period  of  life,  before  Time  had  laid  his  heavy  hand  on  his  slight  and 
well-made  form ;  when  his  light^colored  hair  had  not  yet  been  touched  with 
gray,  and  his  pale  features  were  not  yet  darkened  with  the  sullen,  sombre 
expression  of  later  years,  as  they  appear  in  the  portrait  of  Pantoja  de  la 
Cruz.    Yet  there  is  something  in  the  sinister  look  of  the  eye  which  is  far 
from  winning  our  confidence. 

The  portrait  of  Margaret^  Regent  of  the  Net/ierhnds,  was  copied  from  a  print 
in  Arend*s  "  Algemeene  Geschiedenis  des  Vaderlands.**  The  engravings  in  that 
work  appear  to  have  been  executed  with  care ;  and  in  the  Low  Countriea, 
where  it  is  pubUshed,  it  was  doubdess  easy  for  the  engraver  to  get  access  to 

originals. 

The  likenesses  of  Don  Carlos  are  rare.  That  prefixed  to  the  second  vol 
ime  of  this  History  was  taken  from  a  picture  in  Madrid  that  belongs  » 
Count  de  Oriati,  grandee  of  Spain.  It  is  supposed  to  have  been  painted  by 
a  disciple  of  Abnso  Sanchez  Coello.  The  nice  attention  given  to  the  cos- 
tume is  characteristic  of  his  school.  The  doublet  of  cloth  of  gold  is  pro 
tected  by  a  rich  mantle,  edged  with  ermine ;  and  round  the  neck  is  a  massive 
chain,  of  elaborate  workmanship.  The  costume,  indeed,  is  the  best  part  of 
the  picture.  The  general  air  of  the  person  is  mean.  The  elevation  of  tht 
•boulders  amounts  almost  to  deformity ;  and  there  is  a  sheepish  expressioc 


XXXVl 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


in  the  countenance,  with  its  downcast  eye.  which  augurs  nothing  fayorable, 
in  an  intellectnal  or  moral  point  of  Tiew. 

The  portrait  of  the  Jhike  of  Aha  is  copied  from  an  original  by  Titian, 
that  hangs  in  the  palace  of  the  present  duke.  It  is  eminenUy  characteristic 
of  the  man.  The  gaunt  perton  is  sheathed  in  complete  maH.  The  wiry 
lineaments  of  the  countenance  seem  to  haye  the  hardness  of  steeL  One 
sees  that  it  must  be  a  true  copy  of  the  iron-hearted  chief  who  trampled  under 
foot  the  liberties  of  the  Netherlands. 


HISTORY 


OF 


PHILIP   THE   SECOND. 


BOOK  I. 

CHAPTER    I. 

ABDICATION   OF    CHARLES   THE   FIFTH. 

Introductory  Remarks.  —  Spain  under  Charles  the  Fifth. —  He  pre- 
pares to  resign  the  Crown.  —  His  Abdication.  —  His  Return  to 
Spain.  —  His  Journey  to  Yuste. 

1555. 

In  a  former  work,  I  have  endeavored  to  portray 
the  period  when  the  different  provinces  of  Spain 
were  consolidated  into  one  empire  under  the  rule 
of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella;  when,  by  their  wise 
and  beneficent  policy,  the  nation  emerged  from  the 
obscurity  in  which  it  had  so  long  remained  behind 
the  Pyrenees,  and  took  its  place  as  one  of  the 
great  members  of  the  European  commonwealth. 
I  now  propose  to  examine  a  later  period  in  the 
history  of  the  same  nation,  —  the  reign  of  Philip 
the  Second ;  when,  with  resources  greatly  enlarged, 
and   territory  extended  by  a  brilliant   career  of 

VOL    I.  1 


m 


ABDICATION  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.      [Book  I 


?M.  I.] 


SPAIN  UNDER  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


3 


discovery  and  conquest,  it  had  risen  to  the  zenith 
of  its  power;  but  when,  under  the  mischievous 
policy  of  the  administration,  it  had  excited  the 
jealousy  of  its  neighbors,  and  already  disclosed 
those  germs  of  domestic  corruption  which  gradu- 
ally  led  to  its  dismemberment  and  decay. 

By  the  marriage  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  most 
of  the  states  of  the  Peninsula  became  united  un- 
der one  common  rule;  and  in  1516,  the  sceptre 
of  Spain,  with  its  dependencies  both  in  the  Old 
and  the  New  World,  passed  into  the  hands  of 
their  grandson,  Charles  the  Fifth,  who,  though 
he  shared  the  throne  nominally  with  his  mother, 
Joanna,  became,  in  consequence  of  her  incapacity, 
the  real  sovereign  of  this  vast  empire.  He  had 
before  inherited,  through  his  father,  Philip  the 
Handsome,  that  fair  portion  of  the  ducal  realm 
of  Burgundy  which  comprehended  Franche  Comte 
and  the  Netherlands.  In  1519,  he  was  elected  to 
the  imperial  crown  of  Germany.  Not  many  years 
elapsed  before  his  domain  w^as  still  further  en- 
larged by  the  barbaric  empires  of  Mexico  and 
Peru;  and  Spain  then  first  realized  the  magnifi- 
cent vaunt,  since  so  often  repeated,  that  the  sun 
never  set  within  the  borders  of  her  dominions. 

Yet  the  importance  of  Spain  did  not  rise  with 
the  importance  of  her  acquisitions.  She  was,  in 
a  manner,  lost  in  the  magnitude  of  these  acquisi- 
tions. Some  of  the  rival  nations  which  owned 
the  sway  of  Charles,  in  Europe,  were  of  much 
greater    importance    than    Spain,    and    attracted 


much  more  attention  from  their  contemporaries. 
In  the  earlier  period  of  that  monarch's  reign, 
there  was  a  moment  when  a  contest  was  going 
forward  in  Castile,  of  the  deepest  interest  to  man- 
kind. Unfortunately,  the  "War  of  the  Comuni" 
dades"  as  it  was  termed,  was  soon  closed  by  the 
ruin  of  the  patriots ;  and,  on  the  memorable  field 
of  Villalar,  the  liberties  of  Spain  received  a  blow 
from  which  they  were  destined  not  to  recover  for 
centuries.  From  that  fatal  hour,  —  the  bitter 
fruit  of  the  jealousy  of  castes  and  the  passions  of 
the  populace,  —  an  unbroken  tranquillity  reigned 
throughout  the  country;  such  a  tranquillity  as 
naturally  flows  not  from  a  free  and  well-conducted 
government,  but  from  a  despotic  one.  In  this 
political  tranquillity,  however,  the  intellect  of 
Spain  did  not  slumber.  Sheltered  from  invasion 
by  the  barrier  of  the  Pyrenees,  her  people  were 
allowed  to  cultivate  the  arts  of  peace,  so  long  as 
they  did  not  meddle  with  politics  or  religion,  —  in 
other  words,  with  the  great  interests  of  humanity ; 
while  the  more  adventurous  found  a  scope  for 
their  prowess  in  European  wars,  or  in  exploring 
the  boundless  regions  of  the  Western  world. 

While  there  was  so  little  passing  in  Spain  to 
attract  the  eye  of  the  historian,  Germany  became 
the  theatre  of  one  of  those  momentous  struggles 
which  have  had  a  permanent  influence  on  the  des- 
tinies of  mankind.  It  was  in  this  reign  that  the 
great  battle  of  religious  liberty  was  begim;  and 
the   attention   and   personal   presence   of  Charles 


4  ABDICATION  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.      ^Book  1 

were  necessarily  demanded  most  in  the  country 
where  that  battle  was  to  be  fought.  But  a  small 
part  of  his  life  was  passed  in  Spain,  in  comparison 
with  what  he  spent  in  other  parts  of  his  dominions. 
His  early  attachments,  his  lasting  sympathies,  were 
with  the  people  of  the  Netherlands ;  for  Flanders 
was  the  place  of  his  birth.  He  spoke  the  Ian 
guage  of  that  coimtry  more  fluently  than  the  Cas- 
tilian;  although  he  knew  the  various  languages 
of  his  dominions  so  well,  that  he  could  address 
his  subjects  from  every  quarter  in  their  native 
dialect.  In  the  same  manner,  he  could  accom- 
modate himself  to  their  peculiar  national  mannei-s 
and  tastes.  But  this  flexibility  was  foreign  to  the 
genius  of  the  Spaniard.  Charles  brought  noth- 
ing from  Spain  but  a  religious  zeal,  amounting  to 
bigotry,  which  took  deep  root  in  a  melancholy 

I  temperament  inherited  from  his  mother.  His 
tastes  were  all  Flemish.  He  introduced  the  gor- 
geous ceremonial  of  the  Burgundian  court  into 
his  own  palace,  and  mto  the  household  of  his 
son.  He  drew  his  most  trusted  and  familiar  coun- 
sellors from  Flanders ;  and  this  was  one  great 
cause  of  the  troubles  which,  at  the  beginning  of 
his  reign,  distracted  Castile.  There  was  little  to 
gratify  the  pride  of  the  Spaniard  in  the  position 

I  which  he  occupied  at  the  imperial  court.  Charles 
regarded  Spain  chiefly  for  the  resources  she  af- 
forded for  carrying  on  his  ambitious  enterprises. 
When  he  visited  her,  it  was  usually  to  draw  sup- 
plies from  the  cortes.     The  Spaniards  understood 


Ch.  I]  SPxVIN  IINT)ER  CHARLES   THE  FIFTH. 


this,  and  bore  less  affection  to  his  person  than  to 
many  of  their  monarchs  far  inferior  to  him  in  the 
qualities  for  exciting  it.  They  hardly  regarded 
him  as  one  of  the  nation.  There  was,  indeed, 
nothing  national  in  the  reign  of  Charles.  His 
most  intimate  relations  were  with  Germany;  and 
as  the  Emperor  Charles  the  Fifth  of  Germany, 
not  as  King  Charles  the  First  of  Spain,  he  was 
known  in  his  own  time,  and  stands  recorded  on 
the  pages  of  history. 

When  Charles  ascended  the  throne,  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  sixteenth  century,  Europe  may  be 
said  to  have  been  in  much  the  same  condition,  in 
one  respect,  as  she  was  at  the  beginning  of  the 
eighth.  The  Turk  menaced  her  on  the  east,  in 
the  same  manner  as  the  Arab  had  before  menaced 
her  on  the  west.  The  hour  seemed  to  be  fast 
approaching  which  was  to  decide  whether  Chris- 
tianity or  Mahometanism  should  hold  the  ascend- 
ant. The  Ottoman  tide  of  conquest  rolled  up  to 
the  very  walls  of  Vienna;  and  Charles,  who,  as 
head  of  the  empire,  was  placed  on  the  frontier  of 
Christendom,  was  called  on  to  repel  it.  When 
thirty-two  years  of  age,  he  marched  against  the 
formidable  Solyman,  drove  him  to  an  ignomini- 
ous retreat,  and,  at  less  cost  of  life  than  is  often 
expended  in  a  skirmish,  saved  Europe  from  in- 
vasion. He  afterwards  crossed  the  sea  to  Tunis, 
then  occupied  by  a  horde  of  pirates,  the  scourge 
of  the  Mediterranean.  He  beat  them  in  a  bloody 
battle,  slew  their  chief,  and   liberated  ten  thon- 


ABDICATION  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.      [Book  L 


sand  captives  from  their  duBgeons.  All  Europe 
rang  with  the  praises  of  the  young  hero,  who  thus 
conseci-ated  his  arms  to  the  service  of  the  Cross, 
and  stood  fonvard  as  the  true  champion  of  Chris- 
tendom. 

But  from  this  high  position  Charles  was  re- 
peatedly summoned  to  other  contests,  of  a  more 
personal  and  far  less  honorable  character.  Such 
was  his  long  and  bloody  quarrel  with  Francis  the 
First.  It  was  hardly  possible  that  two  princes,  so 
well  matched  in  years,  power,  pretensions,  and, 
above  all,  love  of  military  glory,  with  dominions 
touching  on  one  another  through  their  whole  ex- 
tent, could  long  remain  without  cause  of  rivalry 
and  collision.  Such  rivalry  did  exist  from  the 
moment  that  the  great  prize  of  the  empire  was 
adjudged  to  Charles;  and  through  the  whole  of 
their  long  struggle,  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
reverses,  the  superior  genius  of  the  emperor  tri- 
umphed over  his  bold,  but  less  politic  adversary. 

There  was  still  a  third  contest,  on  which  the 
strength  of  the  Spanish  monarch  was  freely  ex- 
pended through  the  greater  part  of  his  reign,  — 
his  contest  with  the  Lutheran  princes  of  Ger- 
many. Here,  too,  for  a  long  time,  fortune  favored 
him.  But  it  is  easier  to  contend  against  man  than 
against  a  great  moral  principle.  The  principle 
of  reform  had  struck  too  deep  into  the  mind  of 
Germany  to  be  eradicated  by  force  or  by  fraud. 
Charles,  for  a  long  time,  by  a  course  of  crafty  pol- 
icy,  succeeded  in  baflJing  the  Protestant  league: 


Ch.  I.J 


SPAIN  UNDER  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 


and,  by  the  decisive  victory  at  Muhlberg,  seemed, 
at  last,  to  have  broken  it  altogether.  But  his  suc- 
cess only  ministered  to  his  ruin.  The  very  man 
on  whom  he  bestowed  the  spoils  of  victory  turned 
them  against  his  benefactor.  Charles,  ill  in  body 
and  mind,  and  glad  to  escape  from  his  enemies 
under  cover  of  the  night  and  a  driving  tempest, 
was  at  length  compelled  to  sign  the  treaty  of  Pas- 
sau,  which  secured  to  the  Protestants  those  relig- 
ious immunities  against  which  he  had  contended 
through  his  whole  reign. 

Not  long  after,  he  experienced  another  humil- 
iating reverse  from  France,  then  ruled  by  a  younger 
rival,  Henry  the  Second,  the  son  of  Francis.  The 
good  star  of  Charles  —  the  star  of  Austria  —  seemed 
to  have  set ;  and,  as  he  reluctantly  raised  the  siege 
of  Metz,  he  was  heard  bitterly  to  exclaim,  "For- 
tune is  a  strumpet,  who  reserves  her  favors  for 
the  young ! " 

With  spirits  greatly  depressed  by  his  reverses, 
and  still  more  by  the  state  of  his  health,  which 
precluded  him  from  taking  part  in  the  manly  and 
martial  exercises  to  which  he  had  been  accustomed, 
he  felt  that  he  had  no  longer  the  same  strength  as 
formerly  to  bear  up  under  the  toils  of  empire. 
When  but  little  more  than  thirty  years  of  age,  he 
had  been  attacked  by  the  gout,  and  of  late  had 
been  so  sorely  afflicted  with  that  disorder,  that  he 
had  nearly  lost  the  use  of  his  limbs.  The  man 
who,  cased  in  steel,  had  passed  whole  days  and 
nights  in  the  saddle,  indifferent  to  the  weather  and 


ABDICATION  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.      [Book  L 

(he  season,  could  now  hardly  di-ag  himself  along 
with  the  aid  of  his  staff.  For  days  he  was  con- 
fined to  his  bed ;  and  he  did  not  leave  his  room 

[  for  weeks  together.  His  mind  became  oppressed 
with  melancholy,  which  was,  to  some  extent,  a 
constitutional  infirmity.  His  chief  pleasure  was  in 
listening  to  books,  especially  of  a  religious  char- 
acter. He  denied  himself  to  all  except  his  most 
intimate  and  trusted  coimsellors.  He  lost  his  in- 
terest in  affairs ;  and  for  whole  months,  according 
to  one  of  his  biographers,  who  had  access  to  his 
person,  he  refused  to  receive  any  public  communi- 
cation, or  to  subscribe  any  document,  or  even  let^ 
ter.^  One  cannot  understand  how  the  business  of 
the  nation  could  have  been  conducted  in  such  a 
state  of  things.     After  the  death  of  his  mother, 

I  Joanna,  his  mind  became  more  deeply  tinctured 
with  those  gloomy  fancies  which  in  her  amounted 
to  downright  insanity.     He  imagined  he  heard  her 

I  voice  calling  on  him  to  follow  her.  His  thoughts 
were  now  turned  from  secular  concerns  to  those  of 
his  own  soul ;  and  he  resolved  to  put  in  execution 


Ch.i.]      he  prepares  to  resign  the  crown. 


9 


*  "  Post  annum  aetatis  quinqua- 
gcsimiun,  prementibos  morbis,  tan- 
topere  negotionim  odium  cepit,  ut 
iliutios  interdum  nee  se  adiri  aut 
conTcniri  praeterquam  ab  intimis 
I>ateretur,  nee  libellis  subscribere 
nnimum  induceret,  non  sine  sus' 
picUme  mentis  imminulas;  itaque 
constat  novem  mensibus  nuUi  nee 
libcllo  nee  diplomati  subscripsisse, 
4Uod  cum  magno  incommodo  rei- 


publicte  populariumque  dispendfo 
fiebat,  cum  a  tot  nationibus,  et  qui- 
busdam  longissime  jus  inde  pete- 
retur,  et  certe  summa  negotia  ad 
ipsum  fere  rejicerentur."  (Sepul- 
vedae  Opera,  (Matriti,  1780,)  vol. 
n.  p.  539.)  The  author,  who  was 
in  the  court  at  the  time,  had  fre- 
quent access  to  the  royal  presence, 
and  speaks,  therefore,  from  per- 
sonal observation. 


a  plan  for  resigning  his  crown  and  withdrawing  to 
some  religious  retreat,  where  he  might  prepare  for 
his  latter  end.  This  plan  he  had  conceived  many 
years  before,  in  the  full  tide  of  successful  ambition. 
So  opposite  were  the  elements  at  work  in  the  char- 
acter of  this  extraordinary  man ! 

Although  he  had  chosen  the  place  of  his  retreat, 
he  had  been  deterred  from  immediately  executing 
his  purpose  by  the  forlorn  condition  of  his  mother, 
and  the  tender  age  of  his  son.  The  first  obstacle 
was  now  removed  by  the  death  of  Joanna,  after  a 
reign  —  a  nominal  reign  —  of  half  a  century,  in 
which  the  cloud  that  had  settled  on  her  intellect 
at  her  husband's  death  was  never  dispelled. 

The  age  of  Philip,  his  son  and  heir,  was  also  no 
longer  an  objection.  From  early  boyhood  he  had 
been  trained  to  the  duties  of  his  station,  and,  when 
very  young,  had  been  intrusted  with  the  govern- 
ment of  Castile.  His  father  had  surrounded  him 
with  able  and  experienced  counsellors,  and  their  pu- 
pil, who  showed  a  discretion  far  beyond  his  years, 
had  largely  profited  by  their  lessons.  He  had 
now  entered  his  twenty-ninth  year,  an  age  when 
the  character  is  formed,  and  when,  if  ever,  he 
might  be  supposed  qualified  to  assume  the  duties 
of  government.  His  father  had  already  ceded  to 
him  the  sovereignty  of  Naples  and  Milan,  on  occa- 
sion of  the  prince's  marriage  with  Mary  of  Eng- 
land. He  was  on  a  visit  to  that  country,  when 
Charles,  having  decided  on  the  act  of  abdication, 
sent  to  require  his  son's  attendance  at  Brussels, 


/ 


VOL.  I. 


10 


ABDICATION  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.      [Book  I. 


Cm.  L] 


CEREMONY  OF  ABDICATION. 


n 


w 


1^1 

i 

111 


where  the  ceremony  was  to  be  performed.  The 
different  provinces  of  the  Netherlands  were  also 
summoned  to  send  their  deputies,  with  authority 
to  receive  the  emperor's  resignation,  and  to  transfer 
their  allegiance  to  his  successor.  As  a  preliminary 
step,  on  the  twenty-second  of  October,  1555,  he 
conferred  on  Philip  the  grand-mastership  —  which, 
as  lord  of  Flanders,  was  vested  in  himself —  of  the 
ioison  dor,  the  order  of  the  Golden  Fleece,  of  Bur- 
gundy; the  proudest  and  most  coveted,  at  that 
day,  of  all  the  military  orders  of  knighthood. 

Preparations  were  then  made  for  conducting  the 
ceremony  of  abdication  with  all  the  pomp  and  so- 
lemnity suited  to  so  august  an  occasion.  The  great 
hall  of  the  royal  palace  of  Brussels  was  selected  for 
the  scene  of  it.  The  walls  of  the  spacious  apart- 
ment were  himg  with  tapestry,  and  the  floor  was 
covered  with  rich  carpeting.  A  scaffold  was  erect- 
ed, at  one  end  of  the  room,  to  the  height  of  six  or 
seven  steps.  On  it  was  placed  a  throne,  or  chair 
of  state,  for  the  emperor,  with  other  seats  for 
Philip,  and  for  the  great  Flemish  lords  who  were 
to  attend  the  person  of  their  sovereign.  Above  the 
throne  was  suspended  a  gorgeous  canopy,  on  which 
were  emblazoned  the  arms  of  the  ducal  house  of 
Burgundy.  In  front  of  the  scaffolding,  accommo- 
dations  were  provided  for  the  deputies  of  the  prov- 
inces, who  were  to  be  seated  on  benches  arranged 
according  to  their  respective  rights  of  precedence.* 

«  A  minute  account  of  this  im-    a  MS.  in  the  Archives  of  Siman- 
posing  ceremony  is  to  be  found  in    cas,  now  published  in  the  Colec- 


On  the  twenty-fifth  of  October,  the  day  fixed 
for  the  ceremony,  Charles  the  Fifth  executed  an 
instrument  by  which  he  ceded  to  his  son  the  sov- 
ereignty of  Flanders.*  Mass  was  then  performed ; 
and  the  emperor,  accompanied  by  Philip  and  a 
numerous  retinue,  proceeded  in  state  to  the  great 
hall,  where  the  deputies  were  already  assembled.* 

Charles  was,  at  this  time,  in  the  fifty-sixth  year 
of  his  age.  His  form  was  slightly  bent,  —  but  it 
was  by  disease  more  than  by  time,  —  and  on  his 
countenance  might  be  traced  the  marks  of  anxiety 
and  rough  exposure.  Yet  it  still  wore  that  ma- 
jesty of  expression  so  conspicuous  in  his  portraits 
by  the  inimitable  pencil  of  Titian.  His  hair,  once 
of  a  light  color,  approaching  to  yellow,  had  begun 
to  turn  before  he  was  forty,  and,  as  well  as  his 
beard,  was  now  gray.  His  forehead  was  broad  and 
expansive;  his  nose  aquiline.     His  blue  eyes  and 


cion  de  Documentos  Ineditos  para 
la  Historia  de  Espafia,  (Madrid, 
1845,)  torn.  VII.  p.  534  et  seq. 

An  official  report  of  these  pro- 
ceedings, prepared  by  order  of 
the  government,  and  preserved  at 
Bnissels,  in  the  Archives  du  Roy- 
aume,  has  been  published  by  M. 
Gachard  in  his  valuable  collection, 
Analectes  Belgiques,  (Paris,  1880,) 
pp.  75-81. 

3  A  copy  of  the  original  deed  of 
abdication  was  preserved  among 
the  papers  of  Cardinal  Granvelle, 
at  Besanijon,  and  is  incorporated 
in  the  valuable  collection  of  docu- 
ments published  by  order  of  the 
French  government  under  the  di- 


rection of  the  learned  Weiss,  Pa- 
piers  d'Etat  du  Cardinal  de  Gran- 
velle, d*apr^s  les  Manuscrits  de  la 
Bibliotheque  de  Besangon,  (Paris, 
1843,)  tom.  IV.  p.  486. 

4  It  is  strange  that  the  precise 
date  of  an  event  of  such  notoriety 
as  the  abdication  of  Charles  the 
Fifth  should  be  a  matter  of  dis- 
crepancy among  historians.  Most 
writers  of  the  time  assign  the  date 
mentioned  in  the  text,  confirmed 
moreover  by  the  Simancas  MS. 
above  cited,  the  author  of  which 
enters  Into  the  details  of  the  c^re* 
mony  with  the  minuteness  of  »n 
evewitness. 


If 


ABDICATION  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.      [Book  I 


fidr  complexion  intimated  his  Teutonic  descent 
The  only  feature  in  his  countenance  decidedly  bad 
was  his  lower  jaw,  protruding  with  its  thick,  heavy 
lip,  80  characteristic  of  the  physiognomies  of  the 
Austrian  dynasty.* 

In  stature  he  was  about  the  middle  height.  His 
limbs  were  strongly  knit,  and  once  well  formed, 
though  now  the  extremities  were  sadly  distorted 
by  disease.  The  emperor  leaned  for  support  on  a 
staff  with  one  hand,  while  with  the  other  he  rested 
on  the  arm  of  William,  of  Orange,  who,  then 
young,  was  destined  at  a  later  day  to  become  the 
most  formidable  enemy  of  his  house.  The  grave 
demeanor  of  Charles  was  rendered  still  more  im- 
pressive by  his  dress ;  for  he  was  in  mourning  for 
his  mother ;  and  the  sable  hue  of  his  attire  was 
relieved  only  by  a  single  ornament,  the  superb 
collar  of  the  Golden  Fleece,  which  hung  from  his 
neck. 

Behind  the  emperor  came  Philip,  the  heir  of  his 
vast  dominions.  He  was  of  a  middle  height,  of 
much  the  same  proportions  as  his  father,  whom 
he  resembled  also  in  his  lineaments,  —  except  that 
those  of  the  son  wore  a  more  sombre,  and  perhaps 
a  sinister  expression;  while  there  was  a  reserve  in 
his  manner,  in  spite  of  his  efforts  to  the  contrary, 


*  '*  Erat  Carolus  statura  me- 
diocri,  sed  brachiis  et  cruribus 
crassis  compactisque,  et  roboris 
wngularis,  ceteris  membris  propor- 
tione  magnoque  commensu  respon- 
dentibus.  colore  albus,  crine  bar- 


baque  ad  flavnm  inclinante ;  facie 
liberal!,  nisi  quod  mentum  promi- 
nens  et  parum  cohajientia  labra 
nonnihil  earn  deturpabant."  Se- 
pulvedae  Opera,  vol.  H.  p.  527. 


Ch.  1.J 


CEREMONY  OF  ABDICATION. 


13 


as  if  he  would  shroud  liis  thoughts  from  observa- 
tion. The  magnificence  of  his  dress  corresponded 
with  his  royal  station,  and  formed  a  contrast  to 
that  of  his  father,  who  was  quitting  the  pomp  and 
grandeur  of  the  world,  on  which  the  son  was  about 
to  enter. 

Next  to  Philip  came  Mary,  the  emperor's  sister, 
formerly  queen  of  Hungary.  She  had  filled  the 
post  of  regent  of  the  Low  Countries  for  nearly 
twenty  years,  and  now  welcomed  the  hour  when 
she  was  to  resign  the  burden  of  sovereignty  to  her 
nephew,  and  withdi*aw,  like  her  imperial  brother, 
into  private  life.  Another  sister  of  Charles,  Elea- 
nor, widow  of  the  French  king,  Francis  the  First, 
also  took  part  in  these  ceremonies,  previous  to  her 
departure  for  Spain,  whither  she  was  to  accompany 
the  emperor. 

After  these  members  of  the  imperial  family 
came  the  nobility  of  the  Netherlands,  the  knights 
of  the  Golden  Fleece,  the  royal  counsellors,  and 
the  great  officers  of  the  household,  all  splendidly 
attired  in  their  robes  of  state,  and  proudly  dis- 
playing the  insignia  of  their  orders.  When  the 
emperor  had  mounted  his  throne,  with  Philip  on 
his  right  hand,  the  Regent  Mary  on  his  left,  and 
the  rest  of  his  retinue  disposed  along  the  seats 
prepared  for  them  on  the  platform,  the  president 
of  the  council  of  Flanders  addressed  the  assembly. 
He  briefly  explained  the  object  for  which  they  had 
been  summoned,  and  the  motives  which  had  in- 
duced their  master  to  abdicate  the  throne ;  and  he 


•I 


w 


ti  ABDICATION  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.     [Book  1. 

concluded  by  requiring  them,  in  their  sovereign's 
name,  to  transfer  their  allegiance  from  himself  to 
PhiHp,  his  son  and  rightful  heir. 

After  a  pause,  Charles  rose  to  address  a  few 
parting  words  to  his  subjects.  He  stood  with 
apparent  difficulty,  and  rested  his  right  hand  on 
the  shoulder  of  the  prince  of  Orange,  —  intimat- 
ing, by  this  preference  on  so  distinguished  an 
occasion,  the  high  favor  in  which  he  held  the 
young  nobleman.  In  the  other  hand  he  held  a 
paper,  containing  soita*  hints  for  his  discourse, 
and  occasionally  cast  his  eyes  on  it,  to  refresh 
his  memory.  He  spoke  in  the  French  Ian- 
guage. 

He  was  unwilling,  he  said,  to  part  from  his 
people  without  a  few  words  from  his  own  lips. 
It  was  now  forty  years  since  he  had  been  intrusted 
with  the  sceptre  of  the  Netherlands.  He  was 
soon  after  called  to  take  charge  of  a  still  more 
extensive  empire,  both  in  Spain  and  in  Germany, 
involving  a  heavy  responsibility  for  one  so  young. 
He  had,  however,  endeavored  earnestly  to  do  his 
duty  to  the  best  of  his  abilities.  He  had  been  ever 
mindful  of  the  interests  of  the  dear  land  of  his 
birth,  but,  above  all,  of  the  great  interests  of 
Christianity.  His  first  object  had  been  to  main- 
tain these  mviolate  against  the  infidel.  In  this 
he  had  been  thwarted,  partly  by  the  jealousy  of 
neighboring  powers,  and  partly  by  the  factions 
of  the  heretical  princes  of  Germany. 

In  the  performance  of  his  great  work,  he  had 


Cii.  I  ] 


CEREMOXY  OF  ABDICATION. 


1^ 


never  consulted  his  ease.  His  expeditions,  in  war 
and  in  peace,  to  France,  England,  Germany,  Italy, 
Spain,  and  Flanders,  had  amounted  to  no  less  than 
forty.  Four  times  he  had  crossed  the  Spanish 
seas,  and  eight  times  the  Mediterranean.  He  had 
shrunk  from  no  toil,  while  he  had  the  strength  to 
endure  it.  But  a  cruel  malady  had  deprived  him 
of  that  strength.  Conscious  of  his  inability  to 
discharge  the  duties  of  his  station,  he  had  long 
since  come  to  the  resolution  to  relinquish  it.  From 
this  he  had  been  diverted  in/nly  by  the  situation 
of  his  unfortunate  parent,  and  by  the  inexperience 
of  his  son.  These  objections  no  longer  existed ; 
and  he  should  not  stand  excused,  in  the  eye  of 
Heaven  or  of  the  world,  if  he  should  insist  on  still 
holding  the  reins  of  government  when  he  was 
incapable  of  managing  them,  —  when  every  year 
his  incapacity  must  become  more  obvious. 

He  begged  them  to  believe  that  this,  and  no 
other  motive,  induced  him  to  resign  the  sceptre 
which  he  had  so  long  swayed.  They  had  been 
to  him  dutiful  and  loving  subjects ;  and  such,  he 
doubted  not,  they  would  prove  to  his  successor. 
Above  all  things,  he  besought  them  to  maintain 
the  purity  of  the  faith.  If  any  one,  in  these 
licentious  times,  had  admitted  doubts  into  his 
bosom,  let  such  doubts  be  extirpated  at  once.  "  I 
know  well,"  he  concluded,  "  that,  in  my  long 
administration,  I  have  fallen  into  many  errors,  and 
committed  some  wrongs.  But  it  was  from  igno- 
rance;   and,  if  there  be  any  here  whom  I  have 


16 


ABDICATION  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.      [Book  1 


Ch.  I  ] 


CEREMONY  OF  ABDICATION. 


n 


wronged,  they  will  believe  that  it  was  not  in- 
tended, and  grant  me  their  forgiveness."  • 

While  the  emperor  was  speaking,  a  breathless 
silence  pervaded  the  whole  audience.  Charles  had 
ever  been  dear  to  the  people  of  the  Netherlands, — 
the  land  of  his  birth.  They  took  a  national  pride 
in  his  achievements,  and  felt  that  his  glory  re- 
flected a  peculiar  lustre  on  themselves.  As  they 
now  gazed  for  the  last  time  on  that  revered  form, 
and  listened  to  the  parting  admonitions  from  his 
lips,  they  were  deeply  affected,  and  not  a  dry  eye 
was  to  be  seen  in  the  assembly. 

After  a  short  interval,  Charles,  turning  to  Philip, 
who,  in  an  attitude  of  deep  respect,  stood  awaiting 
his  commands,  thus  addressed  him :  "  If  the  vast 
possessions  which  are  now  bestowed  on  you  had 
come  by  inheritance,  there  would  be  abundant 
cause  for  gratitude.  How  much  more,  when  they 
come  as  a  free  gift,  in  the  lifetime  of  your  father ! 
But,  however  large  the  debt,  I  shall  consider  it  all 
repaid,  if  you  only  discharge  your  duty  to  your 
subjects.  So  rule  over  them,  that  men  shall  com- 
mend, and  not  censure  me  for  the  part  I  am  now 


•  The  speech  is  given,  with  suf- 
ficient conformity,  by  two  of  the 
persons  who  heanl  it ; — a  Flemish 
writer,  whose  MS.,  preserved  in 
the  Archives  du  Royaume,  has 
lately  been  published  by  Gachard, 
in  the  Analectes  Belgiques,  (p. 
87;)  and  Sir  John  Mason,  the 
British  minister  at  the  court  of 
Charles,  who  describes  the  whole 


ceremony  in  a  communication  to 
his  government,  (The  Order  of 
the  Cession  of  the  Low  Countries 
to  the  King's  Majesty,  MS.)  The 
historian  Sandoval  also  mves  a  full 
report  of  the  speech,  on  the  author- 
ity of  one  who  heard  it.  Historia 
de  la  Vida  y  Hechos  del  Empera- 
dor  Carlos  V.,  (Amberes,  1681,) 
torn.  n.  p.  599. 


acting.  Go  on  as  you  have  begun.  Fear  God; 
live  justly;  respect  the  laws;  above  all,  cherish 
the  interests  of  religion ;  and  may  the  Almighty 
bless  you  with  a  son,  to  whom,  when  old  and 
stricken  with  disease,  you  may  bef^  able  to  resign 
your  kingdom  with  the  same  good-will  with  which 
I  now  resign  mine  to  you." 

As  he  ceased,  Philip,  much  affected,  would  have 
thrown  himself  at  his  father's  feet,  assuring  him 
of  his  intention  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  merit 
such  goodness ;  but  Charles,  raising  his  son,  ten- 
derly embraced  him,  while  the  tears  flowed  fast 
down  his  cheeks.  Every  one,  even  the  most 
stoical,  was  touched  by  this  affecting  scene; 
"and  nothing,"  says  one  who  was  present,  "was 
to  be  heard,  throughout  the  hall,  but  sobs  and 
ill-suppressed  moans."  Charles,  exhausted  by  his 
efforts,  and  deadly  pale,  sank  back  upon  his  seat ; 
while,  with  feeble  accents,  he  exclaimed,  as  he  gazed 
on  his  people,  "  God  bless  you  !  God  bless  you  ! "  ^ 


'  Sandoval,  Hist  de  Carlos  V., 
torn.  II.  pp.  697  -  599.  —  Leti, 
Vita  del  Catolico  M  Filippo  11., 
(Coligni,  1679,)  torn.  I.  pp.  240- 
242. —  Vera  y  Figueroa,  Epitome 
de  la  Vida  y  Hechos  del  invicto 
Emperador  Carlos  Quinto,  (Ma- 
drid, 1649,)  pp.  119,  120. 

Sir  John  Mason  thus  describes 
the  affecting  scene :  "  And  here 
he  broke  into  a  weeping,  where- 
unto,  besides  the  dolefulness  of  the 
matter,  I  think  he  was  much  pro- 
voked by  seeing  the  whole  com- 
pany to  do  the  like  before,  being, 

VOL.  I.  i 


in  mine  opinion,  not  one  man  in 
the  whole  assembly,  stranger  or 
other,  that  during  the  time  of  a 
good  piece  of  his  oration  poured 
not  out  abundantly  tears,  some 
more,  some  less.  And  yet  he 
prayed  them  to  bear  with  his  im- 
perfection, proceeding  of  sickly 
age,  and  of  the  mentioning  of  so 
tender  a  matter  as  the  departing 
from  such  a  sort  of  dear  and  most 
loving  subjects.**  The  Order  of 
the  Cession  of  the  Low  Countries 
to  the  King's  Majesty,  MS. 


18 


ABDICATION  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.     [Book  1 


Cii.  I] 


CEREMONY  OF  ABDICATION. 


19 


m 


After  these  emotions  had  somewhat  subsided, 
Philip  arose,  and,  delivering  himself  in  French, 
briefly  told  the  deputies  of  the  regret  which  he 
felt  at  not  being  able  to  address  them  in  their  na^ 
tive  language,  and  to  assure  them  of  the  favor  and 
high  regard  in  which  he  held  them.  This  would 
be  done  for  him  by  the  bishop  of  Arras. 

This  was  Antony  Perennot,  better  known  as 
Cardinal  Granvelle,  son  of  the  famous  minister 
of  Charles  the  Fifth,  and  destined  himself  to  a 
still  higher  celebrity  as  the  minister  of  Philip  the 
Second.  In  clear  and  fluent  language,  he  gave 
the  deputies  the  promise  of  their  new  sovereign 
to  respect  the  laws  and  liberties  of  the  nation ; 
invoking  them,  on  his  behalf,  to  aid  him  with 
their  counsels,  and,  like  loyal  vassals,  to  maintain 
the  authority  of  the  law  in  his  dominions.  After 
a  suitable  response  from  the  deputies,  filled  with 
sentiments  of  regret  for  the  loss  of  their  late 
monarch,  and  with  those  of  loyalty  to  their  new 
one,  the  Regent  Mary  formally  abdicated  her 
authority,  and  the  session  closed.  So  ended  a 
ceremony,  which,  considering  the  importance  of 
its  consequences,  the  character  of  the  actors,  and 
the  solemnity  of  the  proceedings,  is  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  in  history.  That  the  crown  of 
the  monarch  is  lined  with  thorns,  is  a  trite  maxim ; 
and  it  requires  no  philosophy  to  teach  us  that 
happmess  does  not  depend  on  station.  Yet,  nu- 
merous as  are  the  instances  of  those  who  have 
wad(^  to  a  throne  through  seas  of  blood,  there 


are  but  few  who,  when  they  have  once  tasted  the 
sweets  of  sovereignty,  have  been  content  to  resign 
them;  still  fewer  who,  when  they  have  done  so, 
have  had  the  philosophy  to  conform  to  their 
change  of  condition,  and  not  to  repent  it.  Charles, 
as  the  event  proved,  was  one  of  these  few. 

On  the  sixteenth  day  of  January,  1556,  in  the 
presence  of  such  of  the  Spanish  nobility  as  were  at 
the  court,  he  executed  the  deeds,  by  which  he  ceded 
the  sovereignty  of  Castile  and  Aragon,  with  their 
dependencies,  to  Philip.® 

The  last  act  that  remained  for  him  to  perform 
was  to  resign  the  crown  of  Germany  in  favor  of 
his  brother  Ferdinand.  But  this  he  consented  to 
defer  some  time  longer,  at  the  request  of  Ferdi- 
nand himself,  who  wished  to  prepare  the  minds 
of  the  electoral  college  for  this  unexpected  transfer 
of  the  imperial  sceptre.  But,  while  Charles  con- 
sented to  retain  for  the  present  the  title  of  Em- 
peror, the  real  power  and  the  burden  of  sover- 
eignty would  remain  with  Ferdinand.* 


*  The  date  of  this  renuncia- 
tion is  also  a  subject  of  disagree- 
ment among  contemporary  histori- 
ans, although  it  would  seem  to  be 
settled  by  the  date  of  the  instru- 
ment itself,  which  is  published  by 
Sandoval,  in  his  Hist  de  Carlos  V., 
torn.  II.  pp.  603  -  606. 

•  Lanz,  Correspondenz  des  Kai- 
eers  Karl  V.,  B.  III.  s.  708. 

Five  years  before  this  period 
Charles  had  endeavored  to  per- 
suade Ferdinand  to  relinquish  to 


Philip  the  pretensions  which,  as 
king  of  the  Romans,  he  had  to  the 
empire.  This  negotiation  failed, 
as  might  have  been  expected. 
Ferdinand  was  not  weary  of  the 
world ;  and  Charles  could  offer  no 
bribe  large  enough  to  buy  off  an 
empire.  See  the  account  given  by 
Marillac,  ap.  Eaumer,  Sixteenth 
and  Seventeenth  Centuries,  (Lon- 
don, 1835,  Eng.  trans.,}  vol.  L  jk 
28  et  seq. 


20 


ABDICATION  OF   CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.     [Book  I 


Ch.  I ; 


HIS  RETURN  TO  SPAIN. 


21 


At  the  time  of  abdicating  the  throne  of  the 
Netherlands,  Charles  was  still  at  war  with  France. 
He  had  endeavored  to  negotiate  a  permanent  peace 
with  that  country ;  and,  although  he  failed  in  this, 
he  had  the  satisfaction,  on  the  fifth  of  February, 
1556,  to  arrange  a  truce  for  five  years,  which  left 
both  powers  in  the  possession  of  their  respective 
conquests.  In  the  existing  state  of  these  conquests, 
the  truce  was  by  no  means  favorable  to  Spain. 
But  Charles  would  have  made  even  larger  conces- 
sions, rather  tha(i  leave  the  legacy  of  a  war  to  his 
less  experienced  successor. 

Having  thus  completed  all  his  arrangements,  by 
which  the  most  powerful  prince  of  Europe  de 
scended  to  the  rank  of  a  private  gentleman,  Charles 
had  no  longer  reason  to  defer  his  departure,  and 
he  proceeded  to  the  place  of  embarkation.  He 
was  accompanied  by  a  train  of  Flemish  courtiers, 
and  by  the  foreign  ambassadors,  to  the  latter  of 
whom  he  warmly  commended  the  interests  of  his 
son.  A  fleet  of  fifty-six  sail  was  riding  at  anchor 
in  the  port  of  Flushing,  ready  to  transport  him  and 
his  retinue  to  Spain.  From  the  imperial  household, 
consisting  of  seven  hundred  and  sixty-two  persons, 
he  selected  a  hundred  and  fifty  as  his  escort ;  and 
accompanied  by  his  sisters,  after  taking  an  affec- 
tionate farewell  of  Philip,  whose  affairs  detained 
him  in  Flanders,  on  the  seventeenth  of  September 
he  sailed  from  the  harbor  of  Flushing. 

The  passage  was  a  boisterous  one ;  and  Charles, 
who  suffered  greatly  from  his  old  enemy,  the  gout, 


landed,  in  a  feeble  state,  at  Laredo,  in  Biscay,  on 
the  twenty-eighth  of  the  month.  Scarcely  had 
he  left  the  vessel,  when  a  stoim  fell  with  fury  on 
the  fleet,  and  did  some  mischief  to  the  shipping 
in  the  harbor.  The  pious  Spaniard  saw  in  this 
the  finger  of  Providence,  which  had  allowed  no 
harm  to  the  squadron  till  its  royal  freight  had 
been  brought  safely  to  the  shore.^ 

On  landing,  Charles  complained,  and  with  some 
reason,  of  the  scanty  preparations  that  had  been 
made  for  him.  Philip  had  written  several  times  to 
his  sister,  the  regent,  ordering  her  to  have  every- 
thing ready  for  the  emperor  on  his  arrival.^^  Jo- 
anna had  accordingly  issued  her  orders  to  that 
effect.  But  promptness  and  punctuality  are  not 
virtues  of  the  Spaniard.  Some  apology  may  be 
found  for  their  deficiency  in  the  present  instance ; 
as  Charles  himself  had  so  often  postponed  his  de- 
parture from  the  Low  Countries,  that,  when  he  did 
come,  the  people  were,  in  a  manner,  taken  by  sur- 
prise. That  the  neglect  was  not  intentional  is  evi- 
dent from  their  subsequent  conduct.^ 


10  «  Favor  sin  duda  del  Cielo,* 
Bays  Sandoval,  who  gives  quite  a 
miraculous  air  to  the  event,  by  add- 
ing that  the  emperor's  vessel  en- 
countered the  brunt  of  the  storm, 
and  foundered  in  port.  (Hist  de 
Carlos  V. ,  torn.  U.  p.  607.)  But  this 
and  some  other  particulars  told  by 
the  historian  of  Charles's  landing, 
nnconfirmed  as  they  are  by  a  sin- 
gle eyewitness,  may  be  reckoned 
among  the  myths  of  the  voyage. 


U  The  last  of  Philip's  letters, 
dated  September  8,  is  ^ven  entire 
in  the  MS.  of  Don  Tomas  Gon- 
zales, (Retiro,  Estancia,  y  Muerte 
del  Emperador  Carlos  Quinto  en 
el  Monasterio  de  Yuste,)  which 
forms  the  basis  of  Mignet's  inter- 
esting account  of  Charles  the 
Fifth. 

12  Among  other  disappointment* 
was  that  of  not  receiving  four 
thousand  ducats  which  Joanna  had 


1 


22  ABDICATION  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.      pBooK  1 

Charles,  whose  weakness  compelled  him  to  be 
borne  in  a  litter,  was  greeted,  everywhere  on  the 
road,  like  a  sovereign  returning  to  his  dominions. 
At  Burgos,  which  he  entered  amidst  the  ringing  of 
bells  and  a  general  illumination  of  the  town,  he 
passed  three  days,  experiencing  the  hospitalities  of 
the  great  constable,  and  receiving  the  homage  of 
the  northern  lords,  as  well  as  of  the  people,  who 
thronged  the  route  by  which  he  was  to  pass.  At 
Torquemada,  among  those  who  came  .to  pay  their 
respects  to  their  former  master  was  Gasca,  the  good 
president  of  Peru.  He  had  been  sent  to  America 
to  suppress  the  insurrection  of  Gonzalo  Pizarro, 
and  restore  tranquillity  to  the  country.  In  the 
execution  of  this  delicate  mission,  he  succeeded  so 
well,  that  the  emperor,  on  his  return,  had  raised 
him  to  the  see  of  Plasencia ;  and  the  excellent  man 
now  lived  in  his  diocese,  where,  in  the  peaceful 
discharge  of  his  episcopal  functions,  he  probably 
enjoyed  far  greater  contentment  than  he  could 
have  derived  from  the  dazzling,  but  difficult  post 
of  an  American  viceroy. 

From  Torquemada,  Charles  slowly  proceeded  to 
Valladolid,  where  his  daughter,  the  Regent  Jo- 
anna, was  then  holding  her  court.     Preparations 


ordered  to  be  placed  at  the  em- 
peror'a  disposition  on  his  landin<r. 
This  appears  from  a  letter  of  the 
emperor's  secretary,  Gaztelu,  to 
Vazquez  de  Molina,  October  6, 
1556.  *'E1  emperador  tovo  por 
cierto  que  llegado  aqui,  hallaria  lo8 


cuatro  mil  ducados  que  el  rey  le 
dijo  habia  mandado  proveer,  y 
visto  que  no  se  ha  hecho,  me  ha 
mandado  lo  escribiese  luego  k  Vu« 
estra  Merced,  para  que  se  haya, 
porque  son  mucho  menester."  MS 


Ca.  I.] 


HIS  JOURNEY  TO   YUSTE. 


23 


were  made  for  receiving  him  in  a  manner  suited 
to  his  former  rank.  But  Charles  positively  de 
clined  these  honors,  reserving  them  for  his  two 
sisters,  the  queens  of  France  and  Hungary,  who 
accordingly  made  their  entrance  into  the  capital  in 
great  state,  on  the  day  following  that  on  which 
their  royal  brother  had  entered  it  with  the  sim- 
plicity of  a  private  citizen. 

He  remained  here  some  days,  in  order  to  recov- 
er  from  the  fatigue  of  his  journey ;  and,  although 
he  took  no  part  in  the  festivities  of  the  court,  he 
gave  audience  to  his  ancient  ministers,  and  to  such 
of  the  Castilian  grandees  as  were  eager  to  render 
him  their  obeisance.  At  the  court  he  had  also  the 
opportunity  of  seeing  his  grandson  Carlos,  the  heir 
of  the  monarchy ;  and  his  quick  eye,  it  is  said,  in 
this  short  time,  saw  enough  in  the  prmce's  deport- 
ment to  fill  him  with  ominous  forebodings. 

Charles  prolonged  his  stay  fourteen  days  in  Valla- 
dolid, during  which  time  his  health  was  much 
benefited  by  the  purity  and  the  dryness  of  the 
atmosphere.  On  his  departure,  his  royal  sisters 
would  have  borne  him  company,  and  even  have 
fixed  their  permanent  residence  near  his  own.  But 
to  this  he  would  not  consent ;  and,  taking  a  tender 
farewell  of  every  member  of  his  family,  —  as  one 
who  was  never  to  behold  them  again,  —  he  re- 
sumed his  journey.  He  took  with  him  a  number 
of  followers,  mostly  menials,  to  wait  on  his  person. 

The  place  he  had  chosen  for  his  retreat  was  the 
monastery  of  Yuste,  in  the  province  of  Estrema- 


M 


ABDICATION  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.     [Book  I. 


dura,  not  many  miles  from  Plasencia.    On  his  way 
thither  he  halted  near  three  months  at  Jarandilla, 
the  residence   of  the  coimt  of  Oropesa,  waiting 
there  for  the  completion  of  some  repairs  that  were 
going  on  in  the  monastery,  as  well  as  for  the  remit- 
tance of  a  considerable  sum  of  money,  which  he  was 
daily  expecting.     This  he  required  chiefly  to  dis- 
charge the  arrears  due  to  some  of  his  old  retainers ; 
and  the  failure  of  the  remittance  has  brought  some 
obloquy  on  Philip,  who  could  so  soon  show  him- 
self unmindful  of  his  obligations   to   his   father. 
But  the  blame  should  rather  be  charged  on  Philip's 
ministers  than  on  Philip,  absent  as  he  was  at  that 
time  from  the  country,  and  incapable  of  taking 
personal  cognizance  of  the  matter.     Punctuality  in 
his  pecuniary  engagements  was  a  virtue  to  which 
neither  Charles  nor  Philip  —  the  masters  of  the 
Indies  — could  at  any  time  lay  claim.     But  the 
imputation  of  parsimony,  or  even  indifierence,  on 
the   part  of  the  latter,  in  his  relations  with  his 
father,  is  fully  disproved  by  the  subsequent  history 
of  that  monarch  at  the  convent  of  Yuste.^^ 


^3  Sandoval  makes  no  allusion 
to  the  affiur,  which  rests  on  the 
report  of  Strada,  (De  Bello  Bel- 
gico,  (Antverpise,  1640,)  torn.  I. 
p.  12,)  and  of  Cabrera,  —  the  lat- 
ter, as  one  of  the  roval  household 
and  the  historiographer  of  Castile, 
by  far  the  best  authority.  In  the 
narration  he  does  not  spare  his  mas- 
ter. *'  En  Jarandilla  ameno  lusar 
iel  Conde  de  Oropesa,  espero  tre- 


inta  dias  treinta  mil  escudos  con 
que  pagar  y  dispedir  sus  criados 
que  llegaron  eon  tarda  provision  y 
mano;  terrible  tentacion  para  no 
dar  todo  su  aver  antes  de  la  mu- 
erte.**  Filipe  Segundo  Rey  de 
Espana,  (Madrid,  1619,)  lib.  II. 
cap.  11. 

The  letters  from  Jarandilla  at 
this  time  show  the  embarrassments 
under  which  the  emperor  labored 


Oh.  I.] 


ms  JOURNEY  TO  YUSTE. 


25 


This  place  had  attracted  his  eye  many  years  be- 
fore, when  on  a  visit  to  that  part  of  the  countrj% 
and  he  marked  it  for  his  future  residence.  The 
convent  was  tenanted  by  monks  of  the  strictest 
order  of  Saint  Jerome.  But,  however  strict  in  their 
monastic  rule,  the  good  fathers  showed  much  taste 
ill  the  selection  of  their  ground,  as  well  as  in  the 
embellishment  of  it.  It  lay  in  a  wild,  romantic 
country,,  embosomed  among  hills  that  stretch 
along  the  northern  confines  of  Estremadura.  The 
building,  which  was  of  great  antiquity,  had  been 
surrounded  by  its  inmates  with  cultivated  gar 
dens,  and  with  groves  of  orange,  lemon,  and  myr- 
tle, whose;  fragrance  was  tempered  by  the  refresh- 
ing coolness  of  the  waters  that  gushed  forth  in 
abundance  from  the  rocky  sides  of  the  hills.  It 
was  a  delicious  retreat,  and,  by  its  calm  seclusion 
and  the  character  of  its  scenery,  was  well  suited  to 
withdraw  the  mind  from  the  turmoil  of  the  world, 
and  dispose  it  to  serious  meditation.  Here  the 
monarch,  after  a  life  of  restless  ambition,  proposed 
to  spend  the  brief  remainder  of  his  days,  and  dedi- 
cate it  to  the  salvation  of  his  soul.  He  could  not, 
however,   as   the   event   proved,   close    his    heart 


from  want  of  funds.  His  exchequer 
was  so  low,  indeed,  that  on  one 
occasion  he  was  obliged  to  borrow 
a  hundred  reals  for  his  ordinary 
expenses  from  his  major-domo. 
*'  Los  ultimos  dos  mil  ducados  que 
trujo  el  criado  de  Hernando  Ochoa 
se  han  acabo,  porque  cuando  lle- 
garon, se  debian  ya  la  nutad,  de 
VOL.  I.  4 


manera  que  no  tenemos  un  real 
para  el  gasto  ordinario,  que  para 
socorrer  hoy  he  dado  yo  cien 
reales,  ni  se  sabe  de  donde  ha- 
berlo.**  Carta  de  Luis  Quixada  a 
Juan  Vazquez,  ap.  Gachard,  Re- 
traite  et  Mort  de  Charles-Quint, 
(Bruxelles,  1554,)  torn.  I.  p.  76. 


26 


ABDICATION  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.     [Book  L 


against  all  sympathy  with  mankind,  nor  refuse  to 
take  some  part  in  the  great  questions  which  then 
agitated  the  world.  Charles  was  not  master  of 
that  ignoble  philosophy  which  enabled  Diocletian 
to  turn  with  contentment  from  the  cares  of  an  em- 
pire to  those  of  a  cabbage-garden.  —  In  this  retire- 
ment we  must  now  leave  the  royal  recluse,  while 
we  follow  the  opening  career  of  the  prince  whose 
reign  is  the  subject  of  the  present  history. 


CHAPTER   II. 


EARLY  DAYS  OP  PHILIP. 


Birth  of  Philip  the  Second.  —  His  Education.  —  Intrusted  with  tht 
Regency. — Marries  Mary  of  Portugal — "Visit  to  Flanders.— 
Public  Festiyities.  —  Ambitious  Schemes.  —  Beturns  to  Sp£un. 

1527-1551. 

Philip  the  Second  was  bom  at  Valladolid,  on 
the  twenty-first  of  May,  1527.  His  mother  was  the 
Empress  Isabella,  daughter  of  Emanuel  the  Great 
of  Portugal.  By  his  father  he  was  descended 
from  the  ducal  houses  of  Burgundy  and  Austria. 
By  both  father  and  mother  he  claimed  a  descent 
from  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  the  Catholic  of  Spain. 
As  by  blood  he  was  half  a  Spaniard,  so  by  tem- 
perament and  character  he  proved  to  be  wholly  so. 

The  ceremony  of  his  baptism  was  performed 
with  all  due  solemnity,  by  Tavera,  archbishop  of 
Toledo,  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  June,  when  the  royal 
infant  received  the  name  of  Philip,  after  his  pa- 
ternal grandfather,  Philip  the  Handsome,  whose 
brief  reign  —  for  which  he  was  indebted  to  his 
union  with  Joanna,  queen-proprietor  of  Castile  — 
has  hardly  secured  him  a  place  in  the  line  of 
Castilian  sovereigns. 


28 


EABLY  DAYS  OF  PHILIP. 


[Book  I. 


The  birth  of  a  son  — the  heir  of  so  magnificent 
an  empire  —  was  hailed  with  delight  both  by 
Charles  and  by  the  whole  nation,  who  prepared  to 
celebrate  it  in  a  style  worthy  of  the  event,  when 
tidings  reached  them  of  the  capture  of  Pope 
Clement  the  Seventh  and  the  sack  of  Rome  by 
the  Spanish  troops  under  the  constable  de  Bour- 
bon. The  news  of  this  event,  and  the  cruelties 
inflicted  by  the  conquerors,  filled  all  Europe  with 
consternation.  Even  the  Protestants,  who  had 
no  superfluous  sympathy  to  spare  for  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  pope,  were  shocked  by  the  perpetration 
of  atrocities  compared  with  which  the  conduct 
of  Attila  and  Alaric  might  almost  be  deemed 
merciful.  Whatever  responsibility  may  attach  to 
Charles  on  the  score  of  the  expedition,  it  would 
be  injustice  to  him  to  suppose  that  he  did  not 
share  in  the  general  indignation  at  the  manner  in 
which  it  was  conducted.  At  all  events,  he  could 
hardly  venture  to  outrage  the  feelings  of  Chris- 
tendom  so  far  as  to  take  the  present  moment  for 
one  of  public  rejoicing.  Orders  were  instantly 
issued  to  abandon  the  intended  festivities,  greatly 
to  the  discontent  of  the  people,  whose  sympathy 
for  the  pope  did  not  by  any  means  incline  them 
to  put  this  restraint  on  the  expression  of  their 
loyalty ;  and  they  drew  from  the  disappointment  an 
uncomfortable  augury  that  the  reign  of  the  young 
prince  boded  no  good  to  the  Catholic  religion.^ 

»  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib.    FeKpe    el     Prudente,    (Madrid, 
F.cap.1.  — Vanderhammen,    Don    1625,)  p.  l.  — Breve  Compendio 


Ch.  n.] 


HIS  EDUCATION. 


2£f 


It  was  not  long,  however,  before  the  people  of 
Castile  had  an  opportunity  for  the  full  display  of 
their  enthusiasm,  on  the  occasion  of  Philip's  recog- 
nition as  rightful  heir  to  the  crown.  The  cere- 
mony was  conducted  with  great  pomp  and  splen- 
dor in  the  cortes  at  Madrid,  on  the  nineteenth  of 
April,  1528,  when  he  was  but  eleven  months  old 
The  prince  was  borne  in  the  arms  of  his  mother, 
who,  with  the  emperor,  was  present  on  the  occa- 
sion ;  while  the  nobles,  the  clergy,  and  the  com- 
mons took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  royal 
infant,  as  successor  to  the  crown  of  Castile.  The 
act  of  homage  was  no  sooner  published,  than  the 
nation,  as  if  by  way  of  compensation  for  the  past, 
abandoned  itself  to  a  general  jubilee.  Illumina- 
tions and  bonfires  were  lighted  up  in  all  the  towns 
and  villages;  while  everywhere  were  to  be  seen 
dancing,  bull-fights,  tilts  of  reeds,  and  the  other 
national  games  of  that  chivalrous  and  romantic 
land. 

Soon  after  this,  Charles  was  called  by  his  af- 
fairs to  other  parts  of  his  far-extended  empire,  and 
he  left  his  infant  son  to  the  care  of  a  Portuguese 
lady,  Dofla  Leonor  Mascarefias,  or  rather  to  that 


de  la  Vida  Privada  del  Rey  D. 
Felipe  Segundo  atribuido  k  Pedro 
Mateo  Coronista  mayor  del  Reyno 
de  Francia,  MS.  —  Leti,  Vita  di 
Filippo  n.,  torn.  I.  p.  69  et  seq. 

*'  Andauano  sussurando  per  le 
strade,  cauando  da  questa  proi- 
bitione  di  solennit^  pronostici  di 


cattiyi  auguril ;  gli  vni  diceoano, 
che  questo  Prencipe  doueua  esser 
causa  di  grandi  afflittione  alia 
Chiesa ;  gli  altri ;  Cbe  cominci- 
ando  a  nascere  colle  tenebre,  non 
poteua  portar  che  ombra  alia 
Spagna."  Leti,  Vita  di  Filippo 
n.,  torn.  I.  p.  73. 


30 


EARLY  DAYS  OF  PHILIP. 


[Book  I. 


Ch.  n.] 


fflS  EDUCATION. 


31 


of  the  Empress  Isabella,  in  whose  prudence  and 
maternal  watchfulness  he  could  safely  confide. 
On  the  emperor's  return  to  Spain,  when  his  son 
was  hardly  seven  years  old,  he  formed  for  him  a 
separate  establishment,  and  selected  two  persons 
for  the  responsible  office  of  superintending  his 
education.* 

One  of  these  personages  was  Juan  Martinez 
Siliceo,  at  that  time  professor  in  the  College  of 
Salamanca.  He  was  a  man  of  piety  and  learning, 
of  an  accommodating  temper,  —  too  accommodat- 
ing, it  appears  from  some  of  Charles's  letters,  for 
the  good  of  his  pupil,  though  not,  as  it  would 
seem,  for  his  own  good,  since  he  found  such  favor 
with  the  prince,  that,  from  an  humble  ecclesiastic, 
he  was  subsequently  preferred  to  the  highest  dig- 
nities of  the  Church. 

Under  him,  Philip  was  instructed  in  the  ancient 
classics,  and  made  such  progress  in  Latin,  that  he 
could  write  it,  and  did  write  it  frequently  in  after 
life,  with  ease  and  correctness.  He  studied,  also, 
Italian  and  French.  He  seems  to  have  had  little 
knowledge  of  the  former,  but  French  he  could 
speak  indifferently  well,  though  he  was   rarely 


•  IKd.,  torn.  I.  p.  74.  —  Notacia 
de  los  Ayes  y  Maestros  de  Felipe 
Se^i^ndo  y  Carios  su  Hijo,  MS. 

*^  £t  pass6  i  primi  anni  et  la 
maggior  parte  delP  eta  sua  in  quel 
regno,  onde  per  usanza  del  paese, 
et  per  la  volant^  della  madre  ehe 
^ra  di  Portogallo  fu  allevato  con 


quella  riputatione  et  con  quel  ri- 
spetto  che  parea  convenirsi  ad  un 
figliuolo  del  maggior  Imperatore 
che  fosse  mai  fra  Christiani.**  Re- 
latione di  Spagna  del  Cavaliere 
Miehele  Soriano,  Ambasciatore  al 
Re  FUipo,  MS. 


inclined  to  venture  beyond  his  own  tongue.  He 
showed  a  more  decided  taste  for  science,  especially 
the  mathematics.  He  made  a  careful  study  of  the 
principles  of  architecture;  and  the  fruits  of. this 
study  are  to  be  seen  in  some  of  the  noblest  monu- 
ments erected  in  that  flourishing  period  of  the  arts. 
In  sculpture  and  painting  he  also  made  some  pro- 
ficiency, and  became  in  later  life  no  contemptible 
critic,  —  at  least  for  a  sovereign. 

The  other  functionary  charged  with  Philip's 
education  was  Don  Juan  de  Zufiiga,  commendador 
mayor  of  Castile.  He  taught  his  pupil  to  fence, 
to  ride,  to  take  his  part  at  the  tilts  and  tourneys, 
and,  in  short,  to  excel  in  the  chivalrous  exercises 
familiar  to  cavaliers  of  his  time.  He  encouraged 
Philip  to  invigorate  his  constitution  by  the  hardy 
pleasures  of  the  chase,  to  which,  however,  he  was 
but  little  addicted  as  he  advanced  in  years. 

But,  besides  these  personal  accomplishments,  no 
one  was  better  qualified  than  Zuiliga  to  instruct 
his  pupil  in  the  duties  belonging  to  his  royal 
station.  He  was  a  man  of  ancient  family,  and 
had  passed  much  of  his  life  in  courts.  But  he 
had  none  of  the  duplicity  or  of  the  suppleness 
which  often  marks  the  character  of  the  courtier. 
He  possessed  too  high  a  sentiment  of  honor  to 
allow  him  to  trifle  with  truth.  He  spoke  his 
mind  plainly,  too  plainly  sometimes  for  the  taste 
of  his  pupil.  Charles,  who  understood  the  char- 
acter of  Zuiiiga,  wrote  to  his  son  to  honor  and  to 
cherish  him.     "  If  he  deals  plainly  with  you,"  he 


7 


r 


32 


EAKLY  DAYS  OF  PHELTP. 


[Book  I 


said,  "  it  is  for  the  love  he  bears  you.  If  he  were 
to  flatter  you,  and  be  only  solicitous  of  ministering 
to  your  wishes,  he  would  be  like  all  the  rest  of 
the  world,  and  you  would  have  no  one  near  to 
tell  you  the  truth ;  —  and  a  worse  thing  cannot 
happen  to  any  man,  old  or  young ;  but  most  of  all 
to  the  young,  from  their  want  of  experience  to 
discern  truth  from  error."  The  wise  emperor, 
who  knew  how  rarely  it  is  that  truth  is  permitted 
to  find  its  way  to  royal  ears,  set  a  just  value  on 
the  man  who  had  the  courage  to  speak  it.* 

Under  the  influence  of  these  teachers,  and,  still 
more,  of  the  cu-cumstances  in  which  he  was  placed, 
— the  most  potent  teachers  of  all, — Philip  grew  in 
years,  and  slowly  unfolded  the  peculiar  qualities  of 
his  disposition.  He  seemed  cautious  and  reserved 
in  his  demeanor,  and  slow  of  speech;  yet  what 
he  said  had  a  character  of  thought  beyond  his  age. 
At  no  time  did  he  discover  that  buoyancy  of  spirit, 
or  was  he  betrayed  into  those  sallies  of  temper, 
which  belong  to  a  bold  and  adventurous,  and  often 
to  a  generous  nature.  His  deportment  was  marked 
by  a  seriousness  that  to  some  might  seem  to  savor 
of  nvelancholy.  He  was  self-possessed,  so  that  even 
as  a  boy  he  was  rarely  off"  his  guard.* 


'  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  a  manuscript  copy,  bas  been  pub- 

I.  cap.  1.  —  Leti,  Vita  di  Filippo  lished  in  the  Scminario  Erudito, 

n.,  torn.  T.  p.  97.  —  Noticia  de  los  (Madrid,  1788,)  torn.  XIV.  p.  156 

Aro9,  MS. — Relatione  di  Michele  et  seq. 

Soriano,  MS.  —  Relatione  di  Fede-        *  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  libt 

rico  Badoaro,  MS.  I.  cap.  1. 

Cbaries's  letter,  of  which  I  have 


fl 


Ch.  U.] 


HIS  EDUCATION. 


33 


The   emperor,  whose   affairs   called  hini   away 
from  Spain  much  the  greater  part  of  his  time,  had 
not  the  power  of  personally  superintending   the 
education  of  his  son.     Unfortunately  for  the  lat- 
ter, his  excellent  mother  died  when  he  was  but 
twelve  years  old.     Charles,  who  loved  his  wife  as 
much  as  a  man  is  capable  of  loving  whose  soul 
is  filled  with  schemes  of  boundless  ambition,  was 
at  Madrid  when  he  received  tidings  of  her  ill- 
ness.    He  posted  in  all  haste  to  Toledo,  where  the 
queen  then  was,  but  arrived  there  only  in  time  to 
embrace  her  cold  remains  before  they  were  con- 
signed to  the   sepulchre.     The  desolate  monarch 
abandoned  himself  to  an  agony  of  grief,  and  was 
with  difficulty  withdrawn  from  the  apartment  by 
his  attendants,  to  indulge  his  solitary  regrets  in  the 
neighboiing  monastery  of  La  Sisla. 

Isabella  well  deserved  to  be  mourned  by  her  hus- 
band. She  was  a  woman,  from  all  accounts,  pos- 
sessed of  many  high  and  generous  qualities.  Such 
was  her  fortitude,  that,  at  the  tune  of  her  confine- 
ment,  she  was  never  heard  to  utter  a  groan.  She 
seemed  to  thmk  any  demonstration  of  suffering  a 
weakness,  and  had  the  chamber  darkened  that  her 
attendants  might  not  see  the  distress  painted  on 
her  countenance.*  With  this  constancy  of  spirit, 
she  united  many  feminine  virtues.  The  palace,' 
under  her  rule,  became  a  school  of  industry.  In- 
stead   of  wastmg  her  leisure  hours  in  frivolous 

«  Florez,  Memoriaa  de  las  Reynas  CathoUcas,  (Madrid,  1770,)  toau 
n.  p.  869.  1 

VOL.  I.  I 


34 


EARLY  DAYS  OF  PHILU'. 


[Book  I. 


pleasures,  slie  might  be  seen  busily  occupied,  with 
her  maidens,  in  the  elegant  labors  of  the  loom; 
and,  like  her  ancester,  the  good  Queen  Isabella  the 
Catholic,  she  sent  more  than  one  piece  of  tapestry, 
worked  by  her  own  hands,  to  adorn  the  altars  of 
Jerusalem.  These  excellent  qualities  were  en- 
hanced by  manners  so  attractive,  that  her  effigy 
was  struck  on  a  medal,  with  a  device  of  the 
three  Graces  on  the  reverse  side,  bearing  the 
motto,  Has  habet  et  superat^ 

Isabella  was  but  thirty-six  years  old  at  the  time 
of  her  death.  Charles  was  not  forty.  He  never 
married  again.  Yet  the  bereavement  seems  to 
have  had  little  power  to  soften  his  nature,  or  in- 
cline him  to  charity  for  the  misconduct,  or  compas- 
sion for  the  misfortunes  of  others.  It  was  but  a 
few  months  after  the  death  of  his  wife,  that,  on 
occasion  of  the  insurrection  of  Ghent,  he  sought 
a  jmssage  through  the  territory  of  his  ancient 
enemy  of  France,  descended  on  the  offending  city, 
and  took  such  vengeance  on  its  wretched  inhabit- 
ants as  made  all  Europe  ring  with  his  cruelty."^ 

Philip  was  too  young  at  this  time  to  take  part 
in  the  administration  of  the  kingdom  during  his 
father's  absence.  But  he  was  surrounded  by  able 
statesmen,  who  familiarized  him  with  ideas  of  gov- 
ernment, by  admitting  him  to  see  the  workings  of 
the  machinery  which  he  was  one  day  to  direct. 

•  n)id.,  torn.  II.  p.  877.  Hist  de  Carlos  Quinto,  torn.  11 

'  "  Tomo  la  posta  yestado  en    p.  285. 
hito  come  viudo/'  says  SandoTal, 


Cn.  n.j 


HIS  EDUCATION. 


35 


Charles  was  desirous  that  the  attention  of  his  son, 
even  in  boyhood,  should  be  turned  to  those  affairs 
which  were  to  form  the  great  business  of  his  future 
life.  It  seems  even  thus  early  —  at  this  period  of 
mental  depression  —  the  emperor  cherished  the 
plan  of  anticipating  the  natural  consequence  of  his 
decease,  by  resigning  his  dominions  into  the  hands 
of  Philip  so  soon  as  he  should  be  qualified  to  rule 
them. 

No  event  occurred  to  disturb  the  tranquillity  of 
Spain   during    the   emperor's    absence   from   that 
country,  to  which  he  returned  in  the  winter  of 
1541.      It  was    after    his    disastrous    expedition 
against  Algiers,  —  the  most  disastrous  of  any  that 
he  had  yet  undertaken.     He  there  saw  his  navy 
sunk  or  scattered  by  the  tempest,  and  was  fortu- 
nate in  finding  a  shelter,  with  its  shattered  rem- 
nants, in  the  port  of  Carthagena.     Soon  after  land- 
ing, he   received  a  letter  from  Philip,  condoling 
with  him  on  his  losses,  and  striving  to  cheer  him 
with  the  reflection,  that  they  had  been  caused  by 
the  elements,  not  by  his  enemies.     With  this  tone 
of  philosophy  were  mingled  expressions  of  sympa- 
thy ;  and  Charles  may  have  been  gratified  with  the 
epistle,  —  if  he  could  believe  it  the  composition  of 
his  son.^     Philip  soon  after  this  made  a  journey  to 
the  south ;  and,  in  the  society  of  one  who  was  now 
tlie  chief  object  of  his  affections,  the  emperor  may 
have  found  the  best  consolation  in  his  misfortunes. 


•  The  letter  is  given  by  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  I.  cap.  2. 


86 


EARLY  DAYS  OF  PHILIP. 


[Book  1. 


The  French  had  availed  themselves  of  the 
troubled  state  of  Charles's  affairs  to  make  a  descent 
upon  Roussillon ;  and  the  dauphin  now  lay  in  some 
strength  before  the  gates  of  Perpignan.  The  em- 
peror  considered  this  a  favorable  moment  for  Philip 
to  take  his  first  lesson  in  war.  The  prince  accord- 
ingly posted  to  Valladolid.  A  considerable  force 
was  quickly  mustered ;  and  Philip,  taking  the  com- 
mand,  and  supported  by  some  of  the  most  expe- 
rienced of  his  father's  generals,  descended  rapidly 
towards  the  coast.  But  the  dauphin  did  not  care 
to  wait  for  his  approach;  and,  breaking  up  his 
camp,  he  retreated,  without  striking  a  blow,  in  all 
haste,  across  the  mountains.  Philip  entered  the 
town  in  triumph,  and  soon  after  returned,  with  the 
unstained  laurels  of  victory,  to  receive  his  father's 
congratulations.  The  promptness  of  his  move- 
ments on  this  occasion  gained  him  credit  with  the 
Spaniards ;  and  the  fortunate  result  seemed  to  fur- 
nish a  favorable  augury  for  the  future. 

On  his  return,  the  prince  was  called  to  preside 
over  the  cortes  at  Monzon, — a  central  town,  where 
the  deputies  of  Aragon,  Catalonia,  and  Valencia 
continued  to  assemble  separately,  long  after  those 
provinces  had  been  united  to  Castile.  Philip, 
with  all  the  forms  prescribed  by  the  constitution, 
received  the  homage  of  the  representatives  assem- 
bled, as  successor  to  the  crown  of  Aragon. 

The  war  with  France,  which,  after  a  temporary 
suspension,  had  broken  out  with  greater  violence 
than  ever,  did  not  permit  the  emperor  long  to  pro- 


Ch.  II.] 


INTRUSTED  WITH  THE  REGENCY. 


3-^ 


tract  his  stay  in  the  Peninsula.  Indeed,  it  seemed 
to  his  Spanish  subjects  that  he  rarely  visited  them, 
except  when  his  exchequer  required  to  be  replen- 
ished for  carrying  on  his  restless  enterprises,  and 
that  he  stayed  no  longer  than  was  necessary  to 
effect  this  object.  On  leaving  the  country,  he 
intrusted  the  regency  to  Philip,  under  the  general 
direction  of  a  council  consisting  of  the  duke  of 
Alva,  Cardinal  Tavera,  and  the  Commendador 
Cobos.  Some  time  after  this,  while  still  linger- 
ing in  Catalonia,  previous  to  his  embarkation, 
Charles  addressed  a  letter  to  his  son,  advising  him 
as  to  his  political  course,  and  freely  criticizing  the 
characters  of  the  great  lords  associated  with  him 
in  the  government.  The  letter,  which  is  alto- 
gether a  remarkable  document,  contains,  also, 
some  wholesome  admonitions  on  Philip's  private 
conduct.  "  The  duke  of  Alva,"  the  emperor  em- 
phatically wrote,  "  is  the  ablest  statesman  and  the 
best  soldier  I  have  iri  my  dominions.  Consult 
him,  above  all,  in  military  affairs ;  but  do  not 
depend  on  him  entirely  in  these  or  in  any  other 
matters.  Depend  on  no  one  but  yourself.  The 
grandees  will  be  too  happy  to  secure  your  favor, 
and  through  you  to  govern  the  land.  But,  if  you 
are  thus  governed,  it  will  be  your  ruin.  The 
mere  suspicion  of  it  will  do  you  infinite  prejudice. 
Make  use  of  all;  but  lean  exclusively  on  none. 
In  your  perplexities,  ever  trust  in  your  Maker. 
Have  no  care  but  for  him."  The  emperor  then 
passes  some  strictures  on  the  Commendador  Cobos, 


38 


EARLY  DAYS  OF  PHILIP. 


[Boor  I 


as  too  much  inclined  to  pleasure,  at  the  same  time 
admonishing  Philip  of  the  consequences  of  a  liber- 
tine  career,  fatal  alike,  he  tells  him,  to  both  soul 
and  body.  There  seems  to  have  been  some  ground 
for  this  admonition,  as  the  young  prince  had  shown 
a  disposition  to  gallantry,  which  did  not  desert  him 
in  later  life.  "  Yet,  on  the  whole,"  says  the  mon- 
arch,  "  I  will  admit  I  have  much  reason  to  be  sat- 
isfied with  your  behavior.  But  I  would  have  you 
perfect ;  and,  to  speak  frankly,  whatever  other  per- 
sons  may  tell  you,  you  have  some  things  to  mend 
yet.  Your  confessor,"  he  continues,  "  is  now  your 
old  preceptor,  the  bishop  of  Carthagena,"  —  to 
which  see  the  worthy  professor  had  been  recently 
raised.  "He  is  a  good  man,  as  all  the  world 
knows;  but  I  hope  he  will  take  better  care  of 
your  conscience  than  he  did  of  your  studies,  and 
that  he  will  not  show  quite  so  accommodating  a 
temper  in  regard  to  the  former  as  he  did  with  the 

latter."  » 

On  the  cover  of  this  curious  epistle  the  emperor 
indorsed  a  direction  to  his  son,  to  show  it  to  no 
living  person ;  but,  if  he  found  himself  ill  at  any 
time,  to  destroy  the  letter,  or  seal  it  up  under 
cover  to  him.  It  would,  indeed,  have  edified 
those  courtiers,  who  fancied  they  stood  highest  in 
the  royal  favor,  to  see  how,  to  their  very  depths, 


»  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  I.  et  seq.  —  Breve  Compendio,  MS 

tap.  2.  —  Leti,  Vita  di  Filippo  II.,  —Charles's  letter,  in  the  Semii» 

torn.  I  p.  132.—  Sandoval,  Hist  rio  Erudito,  torn.  XIV.  p.  156. 
de  Carlos  Quinto,  torn.  H.  p.  299 


Ch.  II.] 


MARRIES  MARY  OF  PORTUGAL. 


39 


their  characters  were  sounded,  and  how  clearly 
their  schemes  of  ambition  were  revealed  to  the 
eye  of  their  master.  It  was  this  admirable  per- 
ception of  character  which  enabled  Charles,  so 
generally,  to  select  the  right  agent  for  the  execu- 
tion of  his  plans,  and  thus  to  insure  their  success. 

The  letter  from  Palamos  is  one  among  many 
sunilar  proofs  of  the  care  with  which,  even  from  a 
distance,  Charles  watched  over  his  son's  course, 
and  endeavored  to  form  his  character.  The  ex- 
perienced navigator  would  furnish  a  chart  to  the 
youthful  pilot,  by  which,  without  other  aid,  he 
might  securely  steer  through  seas  strange  and 
unknown  to  him.  Yet  there  was  little  danger  in 
the  navigation,  at  this  period ;  for  Spain  lay  in  a 
profound  tranquillity,  unruffled  by  a  breath  from 
the  rude  tempest,  that,  in  other  parts  of  Europe, 
was  unsettling  princes  on  their  thrones. 

A  change  was  now  to  take  place  in  Philip's 
domestic  relations.  His  magnificent  expectations 
made  him,  in  the  opinion  of  the  world,  the  best 
match  in  Europe.  His  father  had  long  contem- 
plated  the  event  of  his  son's  marrying.  He  had 
fii-st  meditated  an  alliance  for  him  with  Margaret, 
daughter  of  Francis  the  First,  by  which  means  the 
feud  with  his  ancient  rival  might  be  permanently 
healed.  But  Philip's  inclination  was  turned  to  an 
alliance  with  Portugal.  This  latter  was  finally 
adopted  by  Charles;  and,  in  December,  1542, 
Philip  was  betrothed  to  the  Infanta  Mary,  daugh- 
ter  of  John    the    Third   and    of  Catharine,   the 


40 


EARLY  DAYS  OF  PHTLIP. 


[Book  1 


emperor's  sister.  She  was,  consequently,  cousin 
german  to  Philip.  At  the  same  time,  Joanna, 
Charles's  youngest  daughter,  was  affianced  to  the 
eldest  son  of  John  the  Third,  and  heir  to  his 
crown.  The  intermarriages  of  the  royal  houses 
of  Castile  and  Portugal  were  so  frequent,  that  the 
several  members  stood  in  multiplied  and  most  per- 
plexing degrees  of  affinity  with  one  another. 

Joanna  was  eight  years  younger  than  her  broth- 
er. Charles  had  one  other  child,  Mary,  bom  the 
year  after  Philip.  She  was  destined  to  a  more 
splendid  fortune  than  her  sister,  as  bride  of  the 
future  emperor  of  Germany.  Since  Philip  and  the 
Portuguese  princess  were  now  both  more  than  six- 
teen years  old,  being  nearly  of  the  same  age,  it 
was  resolved  that  their  marriage  should  no  longer 
be  deferred.  The  place  appointed  for  the  cere- 
mony was  the  ancient  city  of  Salamanca. 

In  October,  1543,  the  Portuguese  infanta  quitted 
her  father's  palace  in  Lisbon,  and  set  out  for  Cas- 
tile. She  was  attended  by  a  numerous  train  of 
nobles,  with  the  archbishop  of  Lisbon  at  their 
head.  A  splendid  embassay  was  sent  to  meet  her 
on  the  borders,  and  conduct  her  to  Salamanca. 
At  its  head  was  the  duke  of  Medina  Sidonia, 
chief  of  the  Guzmans,  the  wealthiest  and  most 
powerful  lord  in  Andalusia.  He  had  fitted  up 
his  palace  at  Badajoz  in  the  most  costly  and  sump- 
tuous style,  for  the  accommodation  of  the  princess. 
The  hangings  were  of  cloth  of  gold ;  the  couches, 
the  sideboards,  and  some  of  the  other  furniture, 


Ch.  n.] 


IkLA^RKrES  llARY   OF  POETUGAL. 


^n 


of  burnished  silver.  The  duke  himself  rode  in  a 
superb  litter,  and  the  mules  which  carried  it  were 
shod  with  gold.  The  members  of  his  household 
and  his  retainers  swelled  to  the  number  of  three 
thousand,  well  mounted,  wearing  the  liveries  and 
cognizance  of  their  master.  Among  them  was  the 
luke's  private  band,  including  several  natives  of 
the  Indies,  —  then  not  a  familiar  sight  in  Spain,  — 
displaying  on  their  breasts  broad  silver  escutcheons, 
on  which  were  emblazoned  the  arms  of  the  Guz- 
mans. The  chronicler  is  diffuse  in  his  account  of 
the  infanta's  reception,  from  which  a  few  particu- 
lars may  be  selected  for  such  as  take  an  interest 
in  the  Spanish  costume  and  manners  of  the  six- 
teenth century. 

The  infanta  was  five  months  younger  than 
Philip.  She  was  of  the  middle  size,  with  a  good 
figure,  though  somewhat  inclined  to  embonpoint^ 
and  was  distinguished  by  a  graceful  carriage  and 
a  pleasing  expression  of  countenance.  Her  dress 
was  of  cloth  of  silver,  embroidered  with  flowers 
of  gold.  She  wore  a  capa,  or  Castilian  mantle,  of 
violet-colored  velvet,  figured  with  gold,  and  a  hat 
of  the  same  materials,  surmounted  by  a  white  and 
azure  plume.  The  housings  of  the  mule  were  of 
rich  brocade,  and  Mary  rode  on  a  silver  saddle. 

As  she  approached  Salamanca,  she  was  met  by 
the  rector  and  professors  of  the  university,  in  their 
academic  gowns.  Next  followed  the  judges  and 
regidores  of  the  city,  in  their  robes  of  office,  of 
crimson  velvet,  with   hose  and  shoes  of  spotless 


VOL.  I. 


« 


42 


EABLY  DAYS  OF  PHILIP. 


[Book  L 


white.  After  these  came  the  military,  —  horse 
and  foot,  —  in  their  several  companies,  making  a 
brilliant  show,  with  their  gay  uniforms ;  and,  after 
going  through  their  various  evolutions,  they  formed 
into  an  escort  for  the  princess.  In  this  way,  amidst 
the  sound  of  music  and  the  shouts  of  the  multi- 
tude, the  glittering  pageant  entered  the  gates  of 
the  capital. 

The  infanta  was  there  received  under  a  superb 
canopy,  supported  by  the  magistrates  of  the  city. 
The  late  ambassador  to  Portugal,  Don  Luis  Sar- 
miento,  who  had  negotiated  the  marriage  treaty, 
held  the  bridle  of  her  mule ;  and  in  this  state  she 
arrived  at  the  palace  of  the  duke  of  Alva,  destined 
for  her  reception  in  Salamanca.  Here  she  was 
received  with  all  honor  by  the  duchess,  in  the 
presence  of  a  brilliant  company  of  cavaliers  and 
noble  ladies.  Each  of  the  ladies  was  graciously 
permitted  by  the  infanta  to  kiss  her  hand ;  but  the 
duchess,  the  chronicler  is  careful  to  inform  us,  she 
distinguished  by  the  honor  of  an  embrace. 

All  the  while,  Philip  had  been  in  the  presence 
of  the  infanta,  unknown  to  herself  Impatient  to 
see  his  destined  bride,  the  young  prince  had  sallied 
out,  with  a  few  attendants,  to  the  distance  of  five 
or  six  miles  from  the  city,  all  in  the  disguise  of 
huntsmen.  He  wore  a  slouched  velvet  hat  on  his  * 
head,  and  his  face  was  effectually  concealed  under 
a  gauze  mask,  so  that  he  could  mingle  in  the 
crowd  by  the  side  of  the  infanta,  and  make  his 
own  scmtiny,  unmarked  by  any  one.     In  this  way 


Ch.  il] 


MARRIES  MARY  OF  PORTUGAL. 


4^ 


he  accompanied  the  procession  during  the  five 
hours  which  it  lasted,  until  the  darkness  had 
set  in;  "if  darkness  could  be  spoken  of,"  says 
the  chronicler,  "  where  the  blaze  of  ten  thousand 
torches  shed  a  light  stronger  than  day." 

The  following  evening,  November  the  twelfth, 
was  appointed  for  the  marriage.  The  duke  and 
duchess  of  Alva  stood  as  sponsors,  and  the  nuptial 
ceremony  was  performed  by  Tavera,  archbishop  of 
Toledo.  The  festivities  were  prolonged  through 
another  week.  The  saloons  were  filled  with  the 
beauty  of  Castile.  The  proudest  aristocracy  in 
Europe  vied  with  each  other  in  the  display  of 
magnificence  at  the  banquet  and  the  tourney ;  and 
sounds  of  merriment  succeeded  to  the  tranquillity 
which  had  so  long  reigned  in  the  cloistered  shades 

of  Salamanca. 

On  the  nineteenth  of  the  month  the  new-married 
pair  transferred  their  residence  to  Valladolid,  —  a 
city  at  once  fortunate  and  fatal  to  the  princess. 
Well  might  the  chronicler  call  it  "  fatal " ;  for,  in 
less  than  two  years,  July  8,  1545,  she  there  gave 
birth  to  a  son,  the  celebrated  Don  Carlos,  whose 
mysterious  fate  has  furnished  so  fruitful  a  theme 
for  speculation.  Mary  survived  the  birth  of  her 
child  but  a  few  days.  Had  her  life  been  spared,  a 
mother's  care  might  perhaps  have  given  a  different 
direction  to  his  character,  and,  through  this,  to  his 
fortunes.  The  remains  of  the  infanta,  first  depos- 
ited in  the  cathedml  of  Granada,  were  afterwards 
removed  to  the  Escorial,  that  magnificent  mauso- 


44 


EAKLY  DAYS  OF  PHILIP. 


IBOOK  I. 


uh.  n] 


VISIT  TO  FLANDERS. 


49 


leiim  prepared  by  her  husband  for  the  royalty  of 
Spain.^^ 

In  the  following  year  died  Tavera,  archbishop 
of  Toledo.  He  was  an  excellent  man,  and  greatly 
valued  by  the  einperor;  who  may  be  thought  to 
have  passed  a  sufficient  encomium  on  his  worth 
when  he  declared,  that  "  by  his  death  Philip  had 
suffered  a  greater  loss  than  by  that  of  Mary ;  for 
he  could  get  another  wife,  but  not  another  Tave- 
ra." His  place  was  filled  by  Siliceo,  Philip's  early 
preceptor,  who,  after  having  been  raised  to  the 
archiepiscopal  see  of  Toledo,  received  a  cardinal's 
hat  from  Rome.  The  accommodating  spirit  of  the 
good  ecclesiastic  had  doubtless  some  influence  in 
his  rapid  advancement  from  the  condition  of  a  poor 
teacher  in  Salamanca  to  the  highest  post,  —  as  the 
see  of  Toledo,  vrith  its  immense  revenues  and  au- 
thority, might  be  considered, — next  to  the  papacy, 
in  the  Christian  Church. 

For  some  years,  no  event  of  importance  occurred 
to  disturb  the  repose  of  the  Peninsula.  But  the 
emperor  was  engaged  in  a  stormy  career  abroad, 
in  which  his  arms  were  at  length  crowned  with 
success  by  the  decisive  battle  of  Muhlberg. 

This  victory,  which  secured  him  the  person  of 
his  greatest  enemy,  placed  him  in  a  position  for 

W  Florez,Reyna8Catolica8,toiii.        For  the  particulars  relating  to 

n.  pp.  883  -  889.  —  Cabrera,  Fi-  the  wedding,  I  am  chiefly  indebted 

lipe  Segundo,  lib.  I.  cap.  2.  — Leti,  to  Florez,  who  is  as  minute  in  hit 

Vita  di  FiUppo  JL,  torn.  I.  p.  142.  account  of  court  pageants  as  any 

—  Breve  Compendio,  MS.  — Ke-  master  of  ceremonies, 
lazione  AnonimOi  MS. 


dictating  terms  to  the  Protestant  princes  of  Ger- 
many. He  had  subsequently  withdrawn  to  Brus- 
sels, where  he  received  an  embassy  from  Philip, 
congratulating  him  on  the  success  of  his  arms. 
Charles  was  desirous  to  see  his  son,  from  whom  he 
had  now  been  separated  nearly  six  years.  He 
wished,  moreover,  to  introduce  him  to  the  Nether- 
lands, and  make  him  personally  acquainted  with 
the  people  over  whom  he  was  one  day  to  rule. 
He  sent  instructions,  accordingly,  to  Philip,  to  re- 
pair to  Flanders,  so  soon  as  the  person  appointed 
to  relieve  him  in  the  government  should  arrive  in 

CastUe. 

The  individual  selected  by  the  emperor  for  this 
office  was  Maximilian,  the  son  of  his  brother  Fer- 
dinand. Maximilian  was  a  young  man  of  good 
parts,  correct  judgment,  and  popular  manners, — 
well  qualified,  notwithstanding  his  youth,  for  the 
post  assigned  to  him.  He  was  betrothed,  as  al- 
ready mentioned,  to  the  emperor's  eldest  daughter, 
his  cousin  Mary;  and  the  regency  was  to  be  de- 
livered  into   his  hands   on  the  marriage   of  the 

parties. 

Philip  received  his  father's  commands  while  pre- 
siding at  the  cortes  of  Monzon.  He  found  the 
Aragonese  legislature  by  no  means  so  tractable  as 
the  Castilian.  The  deputies  from  the  mountains 
of  Aragon  and  from  the  sea-coast  of  Catalonia  were 
alike  sturdy  in  their  refusal  to  furnish  further  sup- 
plies for  those  ambitious  enterprises,  which,  what- 
ever glory  they  might  bring  to  their  sovereign. 


46 


EARLY  DAYS  OF  PHILIP. 


[Book  I. 


were  of  little  benefit  to  them.  The  independent 
people  of  these  provinces  urged  their  own  claims 
with  a  pertinacity,  and  criticized  the  conduct  of 
their  rulers  with  a  bluntness,  that  was  little  grate- 
ful to  the  ear  of  majesty.  The  convocation  of.  the 
Aragonese  cortes  was,  in  the  view  of  the  king  of 
Spain,  what  the  convocation  of  a  general  council 
was  in  that  of  the  pope,  —  a  measure  not  to  be 
resorted  to  but  from  absolute  necessity. 

On  the  arrival  of  Maximilian  in  Castile,  his 
marriage  with  the  Infanta  Mary  was  immediately 
celebrated.  The  ceremony  took  place,  with  all 
the  customary  pomp,  in  the  courtly  city  of  Valla- 
dolid.  Among  the  festivities  that  followed  may  be 
noticed  the  performance  of  a  comedy  of  Ariosto,  — 
a  proof  that  the  beautiful  Italian  literature,  which 
had  exercised  a  visible  influence  on  the  composi- 
tions of  the  great  Castilian  poets  of  the  time,  had 
now  commended  itself,  in  some  degree,  to  the 
popular  taste. 

Before  leaving  the  country,  Philip,  by  his  fa- 
ther's orders,  made  a  change  in  his  domestic  estab- 
lishment, which  he  formed  on  the  Burgundian 
model.  This  was  more  ceremonious,  and  fer  more 
'  costly,  than  the  primitive  usage  of  Castile.  A 
multitude  of  new  offices  was  created,  and  the  most 
important  were  filled  by  grandees  of  the  highest 
class.  The  duke  of  Alva  was  made  mayor-domo 
mayor ;  Antonio  de  Toledo,  his  kmsman,  master 
of  the  horse ;  Figueroa,  count  of  Feria,  captain 
of  the  body-guard.     Among  the  chamberlains  was 


Ch.  iij 


VISIT  TO  FLANDERS. 


41 


Ruy  Gomez  ^e  Silva,  prince  of  Eboli,  one  of  the 
most  important    members   of   the   cabinet   under 
Philip.      Even  th<;  menial  offices  connected  with 
the  person  and  table  of  the  prince  were  held  by 
men  of  rank.     A  guard  was  lodged  in  the  palace.  * 
Philip  dined  in  public  in  great  state,  attended  by 
his  kings-at-arms,  and  by  a  host  of  minstrels  and 
musicians.     One  is  reminded  of  the  pompous  eti- 
quette of  the  court  of  Louis  the  Fourteenth.     All 
this,  however,  was   distasteful  to   the   Spaniards, 
who  did  not  comprehend  why  the  prince  should 
relinquish  the  simple  usages  of  his  own  land  for 
the  fashions  of  Burgundy.     Neither  was  it  to  the 
taste  of  Philip  himself;  but  it  suited  that  of  his 
father,  who  was  desirous  that  his  son  should  flat- 
ter the  Flemings  by  the  assumption  of  a  state  to 
which  they  had  been  accustomed  in  their  Burgun- 
dian princes.^^ 

Philip,  having  now  completed  his  arrangements, 
and  surrendered  the  regency  into  the  hands  of  his 
brother-in-law,  had  no  reason  longer  to  postpone 
his  journey.  He  was  accompanied  by  the  duke 
of  Alva,  Enriquez,  high-admiral  of  Castile,  Ruy 
Gomez,  prince  of  Eboli,  and  a  long  train  of  per- 
sons  of  the  highest  rank.  There  was,  besides,  a 
multitude  of  younger  cavaliers  of  family.  The 
proudest  nobles  of  the  land  contended  for  the 
honor  of  having  their  sons  take  part  in  the  expe- 
dition.    The  number  was  still  further  augmented 

"  Cabrera,  FiUpe  Segiindo,  lib.    D.,  torn.  I  pp.  166.  185  et  seq.— 
L  cap.  2.  — Leti,  Vita  dd  Filippo    Sepulved«  Opera,  vol.  H.  p.  846. 


48 


EARLY  DATS  OF  PHILIP. 


[Book  I 


by  a  body  of  artists  and  men  of  science.     The  em 
peror  was  desirous   that  Philip  should  make  an 
appearance  that  would  dazzle  the  imaginations  of 
the  people  among  whom  he  passed. 

With  this  brilliant  company,  Philip  began  his 
journey  in  the  autumn  of  1548.  He  took  the  road 
to  Saragossa,  made  an  excursion  to  inspect  the  for- 
tifications of  Perpignan,  offered  up  his  prayers  at 
the  shrine  of  Our  Lady  of  Montserrat,  passed  a 
day  or  two  at  Barcelona,  enjoying  the  fete  pre- 
pared for  him  in  the  pleasant  citron-gardens  of  the 
cardinal  of  Trent,  and  thence  proceeded  to  the 
port  of  Rosas,  where  a  Genoese  fleet,  over  which 
proudly  waved  the  imperial  banner,  was  riding  at 
anchor,  and  awaiting  his  arrival.  It  consisted  of 
fifty-eight  vessels,  furnished  by  Genoa,  Sicily,  and 
Naples,  and  commanded  by  the  veteran  of  a  hun- 
dred battles,  the  famous  Andrew  Doria. 

Philip  encountered  some  rough  weather  on  his 
passage  to  Genoa.  The  doge  and  the  principal 
senators  came  out  of  port  in  a  magnificent  galley 
to  receive  him.  The  prince  landed,  amidst  the 
roar  of  cannon  from  the  walls  and  the  adjacent 
fortifications,  and  was  forthwith  conducted  to  the 
mansion  of  the  Dorias,  preeminent,  even  in  this 
city  of  palaces,  for  its  architectural  splendor. 

During  his  stay  in  Genoa,  Philip  received  all 
the  attentions  which  an  elegant  hospitality  could 
devise.  But  his  hours  were  not  wholly  resigned 
to  pleasure.  He  received,  every  day,  embassies 
from   the  different  Italian   states,  one   of  which 


Ch.  ilj 


VISIT  TO  FLANDERS. 


49 


came  from  the  pope,  Paul  the  Thud,  with  his 
nephew,  Ottavio  Famese,  at  its  head.  Its  es- 
pecial object  was  to  solicit  the  prince's  interest 
with  his  father,  for  the  restitution  of  Parma  and 
Placentia  to  the  Holy  See.  Philip  answered  in 
terms  complimentary,  indeed,  says  the  historian, 
"but  sufficiently  ambiguous  as  to  the  essential."^ 
He  had  already  learned  his  first  lesson  in  king- 
craft. Not  long  after,  the  pope  sent  him  a  conse- 
crated sword,  and  the  hat  worn  by  his  holiness 
on  Christmas  eve,  accompanied  by  an  autograph 
letter,  in  which,  after  expatiating  on  the  mystic 
import  of  his  gift,  he  expressed  his  confidence  that 
in  Philip  he  was  one  day  to  find  the  true  cham- 
pion of  the  Church. 

At  the  end  of  a  fortnight,  the  royal  traveller 
resumed  his  journey.  He  crossed  the  famous 
battle-field  of  Pavia,  and  was  shown  the  place 
where  Francis  the  First  surrendered  himself  a 
prisoner,  and  where  the  Spanish  ambuscade  sal- 
lied out  and  decided  the  fortune  of  the  day.  His 
bosom  swelled  with  exultation,  as  he  rode  over  the 
ground  made  memorable  by  the  most  brilliant  vic- 
tory achieved  by  his  father,  —  a  victory  which 
opened  the  way  to  the  implacable  hatred  of  his 
vanquished  rival,  and  to  oceans  of  blood. 

From  Pavia  he  passed  on  to  Milan,  the  flourish- 
ing capital  of  Lombardy,  —  the  fairest  portion  of 

w  "Non   rispose  che  in  sens!    Leti,  '>nta  di  Filippo  II.,  torn.  L 
ambigui  circa  al  punto  essenziale,    p.  189. 
ma  molto  ampi  ne*  complimenti." 

VOL.  I.  7 


50 


EARLY  DATS  OF  PHILIP. 


[Book  L 


the  Spanish  dommions  in  Italy.  Milan  was,  ut 
that  time,  second  only  to  Naples  in  population. 
It  was  second  to  no  city  in  the  elegance  of  its 
buildings,  the  splendor  of  its  aristocracy,  the  opu- 
lence and  mechanical  ingenuity  of  its  burghers. 
It  was  renowned,  at  the  same  time,  for  its  delicate 
fabrics  of  silk,  and  its  armor,  curiously  wrought 
and  inlaid  with  gold  and  silver.  In  all  the  arts 
of  luxury  and  material  civilization,  it  was  unsur- 
passed by  any  of  the  capitals  of  Christendom. 

As  the  prince  approached  the  suburbs,  a  counts 
less  throng  of  people  came  forth  to  greet  him. 
For  fifteen  miles  before  he  entered  the  city,  the 
road  was  spanned  by  triumphal  arches,  garlanded 
with  flowers  and  fruits,  and  bearing  inscriptions, 
both  in  Latin  and  Italian,  filled  with  praises  of 
the  father  and  prognostics  of  the  future  glory 
of  the  son.  Amidst  the  concourse  were  to  be  seen 
the  noble  ladies  of  Milan,  in  gay,  fantastic  cars, 
shining  in  silk  brocade,  and  with  sumptuous  ca- 
parisons for  their  horses.  As  he  drew  near  the 
tovm,  two  hundred  mounted  gentlemen  came  out 
to  escort  him  into  the  place.  They  were  clothed 
in  complete  mail  of  the  fine  Milanese  workman- 
ship, and  were  succeeded  by  fifty  pages,  in  gaudy 
livery,  devoted  to  especial  attendance  on  the  prince's 
person,  during  his  residence  in  Milan. 

Philip  entered  the  gates  under  a  canopy  of  state, 
with  the  cardinal  of  Trent  on  his  right  hand,  and 
Philibert,  prince  of  Piedmont,  on  his  left.  He  was 
received,  at  the  entrance,  by  the  governor  of  the 


Ch.  II.] 


VISIT  TO  FLANDERS. 


51 


l)lace,  attended  by  the  members  of  the  senate,  in 
their  robes  of  office.  The  houses  which  lined  the 
long  street  through  which  the  procession  passed 
were  hung  with  tapestries,  and  with  paintings 
of  the  great  Italian  masters.  The  balconies  and 
verandahs  were  crowded  with  spectators,  eager  to 
behold  their  future  sovereign,  and  rending  the  air 
with  their  acclamations.  The  ceremony  of  recep- 
tion was  closed,  in  the  evening,  by  a  brilliant  dis- 
play of  fireworks,  —  in  which  the  Milanese  ex- 
celled,—  and   by  a  general   illumination   of  the 

city. 

Philip's  time  glided  away,  during  his  residence 
at  Milan,  in  a  succession  of  banquets,  fttes^  and 
spectacles  of  every  description  which  the  taste  and 
ingenuity  of  the  people  could  devise  for  the  amuse- 
ment of  their  illustrious  guest.  With  none  was  he 
more  pleased  than  with  the  theatrical  entertain- 
ments, conducted  with  greater  elegance  and  refine- 
ment in  Italy  than  in  any  of  the  countries  beyond 
the  Alps.  Nor  was  he  always  a  passive  specta- 
tor at  these  festivities.  He  was  especially  fond 
of  dancing,  in  which  his  light  and  agile  figure 
fitted  him  to  excel.  In  the  society  of  ladies  he 
lost  much  of  his  habitual  reserve ;  and  the  digni- 
fied courtesy  of  his  manners  seems  to  have  made  a 
favorable  impression  on  the  fair  dames  of  Italy, 
who  were  probably  not  less  pleased  by  the  display 
of  his  munificence.  To  the  governor's  wife,, who 
had  entertained  him  at  a  splendid  ball,  he  presentr> 
ed  a  diamond  ring  worth  five  thousand  ducats ;  and 


52 


EARLY  DATS  OF  PpiLIP. 


[Book  I 


Ch.  II.] 


VISIT  TO  FLAXDERS. 


53 


to  her  da  ighter  he  gave  a  necklace  of  rubies  worth 
three  thcusand.  Similar  presents,  of  less  value, 
he  bestowed  on  others  of  the  court,  extending  his 
liberality  even  to  the  musicians  and  inferior  per- 
sons who  had  contributed  to  his  entertainment. 
To  the  churches  he  gave  still  more  substantial 
proofs  of  his  generosity.  In  short,  he  showed,  on 
all  occasions,  a  munificent  spirit  worthy  of  his  royal 
station. 

He  took  some  pains,  moreover,  to  reciprocate  the 
ci\ilities  he  had  received,  by  entertaining  his  hosts 
in  return.  He  was  particularly  fortunate  in  exhib- 
iting to  them  a  curious  spectacle,  which,  even  with 
this  pleasure-loving  people,  had  the  rare  merit  of 
novelty.  This  was  the  graceful  tourney  introduced 
into  Castile  from  the  Spanish  Arabs.  The  highest 
nobles  in  his  suite  took  the  lead  in  it.  The  cava- 
liers were  arranged  in  six  quadrilles,  or  factions, 
each  wearing  its  distinctive  livery  and  badges,  with 
their  heads  protected  by  shawls,  or  turbans, 
wreathed  around  them  in  the  Moorish  fashion. 
They  were  mounted  a  la  gineta^  that  is,  on  the 
light  jennet  of  Andalusia,  —  a  cross  of  the  Arabian. 
In  their  hands  they  brandished  their  slender  lances, 
.with  long  streamers  attached  to  them,  of  some  gay 
color,  that  denoted  the  particular  faction  of  the 
cavalier.  Thus  lightly  equipped  and  mounted,  the 
Spanish  knights  went  through  the  delicate  ma- 
noeuvres of  the  Moorish  tilt  of  reeds,  showing  an 
easy  horsemanship,  and  performing  feats  of  agility 
and  grace,  which  delighted   the   Italians,  keenly 


alive  to  the  beautiful,  but  hitherto  accustomed  only 
to  the  more  ponderous  and  clumsy  exercises  of  the 
European  tourney.^* 

After   some  weeks,   Prince   Philip  quitted  the 
hospitable  walls  of  Milan,   and   set   out   for  the 
north.     Before  leaving  the  place,  he  was  joined 
by  a  body  of  two  hundred  mounted  arquebusiers, 
wearing  his  own  yellow  uniform,  and  commanded 
by  the  duke  of  Arschot.     They  had  been  sent  to 
him  as  an  escort  by  his  father.     He  crossed  the 
Tyrol,  then  took  the  road  by  the  way  of  Munich, 
Trent,  and  Heidelberg,  and  so  on  towards  Flan- 
ders.    On  all  the  route,  the  royal  party  was  beset 
by  multitudes  of  both  sexes,  pressing  to  catch  a 
glimpse  of  the  young  prince  who  was  one  day  to 
sway  the  mightiest  sceptre  in  Europe.     The  magis- 
trates of  the  cities  through  which  he  passed  wel- 
comed him  with    complimentary    addresses,   and 
with  presents,  frequently  in  the  form  of  silver  urns, 
or  goblets,  filled  with  golden  ducats.     Philip  re- 
ceived the  donatives  with  a  gracious  condescension ; 
and,  in  truth,  they  did  not  come  amiss  in  this  sea- 
son of  lavish  expenditure.     To  the  addresses,  the 
duke  of  Alva,  who  rode  by  the  prince's  side,  usu- 
ally  responded.     The  whole  of  the  long  journey 
was  performed  on  horseback,  —  the  only  sure  mode 
of  conveyance  in  a  country  where  the  roads  were 
seldom  practicable  for  carriages. 

i3  Estrella,  El  Felicissimo  Viaje  1-21,  32.  —  Leti,  Vita  di  Filippo 

del  Principe  Don  Phelipe  desde  II.,  torn.  I.  p.  189.  — Breve  Comr- 

Espana  a  sus  Tierras  de  la  Baxa  pendio,  MS. 
Aleiuaiia,   (Anveres,    1552,)  pp. 


54 


EAKLY  DAYS  OF  PHTLIP. 


[BookI 


Ch  nj 


VISIT  TO  FLANDERS. 


5a 


At  length,  after  a  journey  of  four  months,  the 

royal  cavalcade  drew  near  the  city  of  Brussels 

Their  approach  to  a  great  town  was  intimated  by 

the  crowds  who  came  out  to  welcome  them ;  and 

Philip  was  greeted  with  a  tumultuous  enthusiasm, 

which  made  him  feel  that  he  was  now  indeed  in 

the  midst  of  his  own  people.     The  throng  was  soon 

swelled  by  bodies  of  the  military ;  and  with  this 

loyal  escort,  amidst  the  roar  of  artillery  and  the 

ringing  of  bells,  which   sent  forth  a  merry  peal 

from  every  tower  and  steeple,  Philip  made  his  first 

entrance  into  the  capital  of  Belgium. 

The  Regent  Mary  held  her  court  there,  and  her 
brother,  the  emperor,  was  occupying  the  palace 
with  her.     It  was  not  long  before  the  father  had 
again  the  satisfaction  of  embracing  his  son,  from 
whom  he  had  been  separated  so  many  years.     He 
must  have  been  pleased  with  the  alteration  which 
time  had  wrought  in  Philip's  appearance.     He  was 
now  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  was  distinguished 
by  a  comeliness  of  person,  remarked  upon  by  more 
than  one  who  had  access  to  his  presence.     Their 
report  is  confirmed  by  the  portraits  of  him  from 
the  penca  of  Titian,  —  taken  before  the  freshness 
of  youth  had  faded  into  the  saUow  hue  of  disease, 
and  when  care  and  anxiety  had  not  yet  given  a 
sombre,  perhaps  sullen,  expression  to  his  features. 
He  had  a  fair,  and  even  delicate  complexion. 
His  hair  and  beard  were  of  a  light  yellow.    His  eyes 
were  blue,  with  the  eyebrows  somewhat  too  closely 
knit  together.     His  nose  was  thin  and  aquiline 


The  principal  blemish  in  his  countenance  was  hia 
thick  Austrian  lip.  His  lower  jaw  protruded  even 
more  than  that  of  his  father.  To  his  father,  in- 
deed, he^bore  a  great  resemblance  in  his  lineaments, 
though  those  of  Philip  were  of  a  less  intellectual 
cast.  In  stature  he  was  somewhat  below  the  mid- 
dle height,  with  a  slight,  symmetrical  figure  and 
well-made  limbs.  He  was  attentive  to  his  dress, 
which  was  rich  and  elegant,  but  without  any  affec- 
tation of  ornament.  His  demeanor  was  grave, 
with  that  ceremonious  observance  which  marked 
the  old  Castilian,  and  which  may  be  thought  the 
natural  expression  of  Philip's  slow  and  phlegmatic 

temperament.^* 

During  his  long  residence  in  Brussels,  Charles 
had  the  opportunity  of  superintending  his  son's 
education  in  one  department  in  which  it  was  defi- 
eient,  —  the  science  of  government.  And,  surely, 
no  instructor  could  have  been  found  with  larger 
experience  than  the  man  who  had  been  at  the  head 
of  all  the  great  political  movements  in  Europe  for 
the  last  quarter  of  a  century.  Philip  passed  somi^ 
time,  every  day,  in  his  father's  cabinet,  convers- 
ing with  him  on  public  affairs,  or  attending  the 

"  Et  benche  sla  picciolo  di  per- 
sona, e  per6  cosi  ben  fatto  et  con 
ogni  parte  del  corpo  cosi  ben  pro- 
portionato  et  corrispondente  aJ 
tutti,  et  veste  con  tanta  politezza  el 
con  tanto  giudicio  che  non  si  pu6 
Tedere  cosa  piu  perfetta/*  Rela 
tione  di  Michele  Soriano,  MS. 


fil 


M  "  Sua  altezza  si  trova  bora  in 
XXIII.  anni,  di  complessione  deli- 
eatissima  e  di  statura  minore  che 
mediocre,  nella  faccia  simiglia  assai 
al  Padre  e  nel  mento."  Relatione 
del  Clarissimo  Monsig.  Marino  Ca- 
vallo  tomato  Ambasciatore  del 
Impcratore  Carlo  Quinto  I'anno 
1551,  MS. 


56 


EARLY  DAYS  OF  PHILIP. 


[Book  I 


sessions  of  the  council  of  state.  It  can  hardly  be 
doubted  that  Charles,  in  his  private  instruction,  in- 
culcated on  his  son  two  principles  so  prominent 
throughout  Philip's  administration,  —  to  maintain 
the  royal  authority  in  its  full  extent,  and  to  enforce 
a  strict  conformity  to  the  Roman  Catholic  commun- 
ion. It  is  probable  that  he  found  his  son  an  apt 
and  docile  scholar.  Philip  acquired,  at  least,  such 
habits  of  patient  application,  and  of  watching  over 
the  execution  of  his  own  plans,  as  have  been  pos- 
sessed by  few  princes.^ 

The  great  object  of  Philip's  visit  to  the  Low 
Countries  had  been,  to  present  himself  to  the  peo- 
ple of  the  different  provinces,  to  study  their  pecu- 
liar characters  on  their  own  soil,  and  obtain  their 
recognition  as  their  future  sovereign.  After  a  long 
residence  at  Brussels,  he  set  out  on  a  tour  through 
the  provinces.  He  was  accompanied  by  the  queen- 
regent,  and  by  the  same  splendid  retinue  as  on  his 
entrance  into  the  country,  with  the  addition  of  a 
large  number  of  the  Flemish  nobles. 

The    Netherlands    had    ever    been    treated   by 
Charles  with  particular  favor,  and,  under  this  royal 


'*  Man'no  Cavallo,  tbe  ambas- 
ndor  at  the  imperial  court,  who 
Btates  the  facts  mentioned  in  the 
text,  expresses  a  reasonable  doubt 
whether  Phih'p,  with  all  his  train- 
injr,  would  ever  equal  his  father. 
•*  Nelle  cose  d*  importanza,  facen- 
dolo  andarc  1'  imperatore  ogni  gior- 
nio  per  due  o  tre  bore  nella  sua 
eamera,  parte  in  Consiglio  et  parte 


per  ammaestrarlo  da  solo  a  solo, 
dicesi  che  fin  bora  a  fatto  profitto 
assai,  et  da  speranza  di  proceder 
piu  oltre,  ma  la  grandezza  di  suo 
padre  et  V  esser  nato  grande  et  non 
haver  fin  qui  provato  travaglio 
alcuno,  non  lo  fara  mai  comparirse 
^  gran  giunta  eguale  all*  Impera- 
tore.'* Relatione  di  Marino  Ca* 
vallo,  MS. 


Ch.  n.] 


PUBLIC  FESTIVITIES. 


57 


patronage,  although  the  countiy  did  not  develop 
its  resources  as  under  its  own  free  institutions  of  a 
later  period,  it  had  greatly  prospered.    It  was  more 
thickly  studded  with  trading  towns  than  any  coun- 
try of  similar  extent  in  Europe ;  and  its  flourishing 
communities  held  the  first  rank  in  wealth,  indus- 
try, and  commercial  enterprise,  as  well  as  in  the 
splendid  way  of  living  maintained  by  the  aristoc 
racy.     On  the  present  occasion,  these  communities 
vied  with  one  another  in  their  loyal  demonstrations 
towards  the  prince,  and  in  the  splendor  of  the  recep- 
tion which  they  gave  him.     A  work  was  compiled 
by  one  of  the  royal  suite,  setting  forth  the  manifold 
honors  paid  to  Philip  through  the  whole  of  the 
tour,  which,  even  more  than  his  former  journey, 
had  the  aspect  of  a  triumphal  progress.     The  book 
grew,  under  the  hands  of  its  patriotic  author,  to  the 
size  of  a  bulky  folio,  which,  however  interesting  to 
his  contemporaries,  would  have  but  slender  attrac- 
tion for  the  present  generation.^^     The  mere  in- 
scriptions emblazoned   on   the   triumphal   arches, 
and  on  the  public  buildings,  spread  over  a  multi- 
tude of  pages.     They  were  both  in  Latin  and  in 
the  language  of  the   country,  and  they  augured 
the  happy  days  in  store  for  the  nation,  when,  under 
the  benignant  sceptre  of  Philip,  it  should  enjoy  the 
sweets  of  tranquillity  and  freedom.     Happy  augu- 


W  This  is  the  work  by  Estrella    progress.     The  work,  which  waa 
already  quoted,    (El    Felicissimo    never  reprinted,  has  m\vr  become. 
Viage  del  Principe  Don  Phelipe,)     extremely  rare. 
—  the  best  authority  fc*  this  royal 

VOL.  I.  8 


58 


EARLY  DAY'S  OF  PHILIP 


[Book  I 


lies !  which  showed  that  the  prophet  was  not  gift- 
ed with  the  spirit  of  prophecy.^^ 

In  these  solemnities,  Antwerp  alone  expended 
fifty  thousand  pistoles.  But  no  place  compared 
with  Brussels  in  the  costliness  and  splendor  of  its 
festivities,  the  most  remarkable  of  which  was  a 
tournament.  Under  their  Burgundian  princes  the 
Flemings  had  been  familiar  with  these  chivalrous 
pageants.  The  age  of  chivalry  was,  indeed,  fast 
fading  away  before  the  use  of  gunpowder  and  other 
improvements  in  militaiy  science.  But  it  was 
admitted  that  no  tourney  had  been  maintained  with 
so  much  magnificence  and  knightly  prowess  since 
the  days  of  Charles  the  Bold.  The  old  chronicler's 
narrative  of  the  event,  like  the  pages  of  Froissart, 
seems  instinct  with  the  spirit  of  a  feudal  age.  I 
will  give  a  few  details,  at  the  hazard  of  appearing 
trivial  to  those  who  may  think  we  have  dwelt  long 
enough  on  the  pageants  of  the  courts  of  Castile 
and  Burgundy.  But  such  pageants  form  part  of  the 
natural  accompaniment  of  a  picturesque  age,  and  the 
illustrations  they  afford  of  the  manners  of  the  time 
may  have  an  interest  for  the  student  of  history. 

The  Journey  was  held  in  a  spacious  square,  in- 
closed  for  the  purpose,  in  front  of  the  great  palace 
of  Brussels.  Four  knights  were  prepared  to  main- 
tain the  field  against  all  comers,  and  jewels  of  price 
were   to  be  awarded  as  the  prize  of  the  victors. 

17  Take  the  following  samples,    the  gate  at  Dordrecht : 

the  former  being  one  of  the  inscrip-        «  ci«n«ti.  UmaWtur  thronu.  ^  n 
tions  at  Arras,  the  latter,  one  over      « le  d«ce  ubrtw  tmnquiiia  p^  b«.ut  - 


Cn.  nj 


PUBLIC  FESTIVITIES. 


59 


The  four  challengers  were  Count  Mansfeldt,  Count 
Hoome,  Count  Areniberg,  and  the  Sieur  de  Huber- 
mont ;  among  the  judges  was  the  duke  of  Alva ; 
and  in  the  list  of  the  successful  antagonists  we  find 
the  names  of  Prince  Philip  of  Spain,  Emanuel  Phi- 
libert,  duke  of  Savoy,  and  Count  Egmont.  These 
are  names  famous  in  history.  It  is  curious  to  ob- 
serve how  the  men  who  were  soon  to  be  at  deadly 
feud  with  one  another  were  thus  sportively  met  to 
celebrate  the  pastimes  of  chivalry. 

The  day  was  an  auspicious  one,  and  the  lists 
were  crowded  with  the  burghers  of  Brussels  and 
the  people  of  the  surrounding  country.  The  gal- 
leries which  encompassed  the  area  were  graced 
with  the  rank  and  beauty  of  the  capital.  A  cano- 
py, embroidered  with  the  imperial  arms  in  crimson 
and  gold,  indicated  the  place  occupied  by  Charles 
the  Fifth  and  his  sisters,  the  regent  of  the  Nether 
lands  and  the  dowager  queen  of  France. 

For  several  hours,  the  field  was  gallantly  main- 
tained by  the  four  challengers  against  every  knight 
who  was  ambitious  to  prove  his  prowess  in  the 
presence  of  so  illustrious  an  assembly.  At  length 
the  trumpets  sounded,  and  announced  the  entrance 
of  four  cavaliers,  whose  brilliant  train  of  followers 
intimated  them  to  be  persons  of  high  degree.  The 
four  knights  were  Prince  Philip,  the  duke  of 
Savoy,  Count  Egmont,  and  Juan  Manriquez  de 
Lara,  major-domo  of  the  emperor.  They  were 
clothed  in  complete  mail,  over  which  they*  wore 
surcoats  of  violet-colored  velvet,  while  the  capari* 
sons  of  their  horses  were  of  cloth  of  gold. 


60 


EARLY  DAYS  OF  PHILIP. 


[Boon  I 


Philip  ran  the  first  course.  His  antagonist  was 
the  Count  Mansfeldt,  a  Flemish  captain  of  great 
renown.  At  the  appointed  signal,  the  two  knights 
spurred  against  each  other,  and  met  in  the  centre 
of  the  lists,  with  a  shock  that  shivered  their  lances 
to  the  very  grasp.  Both  knights  reeled  in  their 
saddles,  but  neither  lost  his  seat  The  arena  re- 
sounded with  the  plaudits  of  the  spectators,  not  the 
less  hearty  that  one  of  the  combatants  was  the  heir 
apparent. 

The  other  cavaliers  then  tilted,  with  various  suc- 
cess. A  general  tournament  followed,  in  which 
every  knight  eager  to  break  a  lance  on  this  fair 
occasion  took  part ;  and  many  a  feat  of  arms  was 
performed,  doubtless  long  remembered  by  the  citi- 
zens of  Brussels.  At  the  end  of  the  seventh  hour, 
a  flourish  of  trumpets  announced  the  conclusion 
o£  the  contest;  and  the  assembly  broke  up  in 
admirable  order,  the  knights  retiring  to  exchange 
their  heavy  panoplies  for  the  lighter  vestments 
of  the  ball-room.  A  banquet  was  prepared  by  the 
municipality,  in  a  style  of  magnificence  worthy  of 
their  royal  guests.  The  emperor  and  his  sisters 
honored  it  with  their  presence,  and  witnessed  the 
distribution  of  the  prizes.  Among  these,  a  brilliant 
ruby,  the  prize  awarded  for  the  lan^a  de  las  damas^ 
—the  "ladies'  lance,"  in  the  language  of  chival- 
ry, — was  assigned  by  the  loyal  judges  to  Prince 
Philip  of  Spain. 

Dancing  succeeded  to  the  banquet;  and  the 
high-bred  courtesy  of  the  prince  was  as  much  com- 


Cn.  n.] 


PUBLIC  FESTIVITIES. 


61 


mended  in  the  ball-room  as  his  prowess  had  been 
in  the  lists.  Maskers  mingled  with  the  dancers, 
in  Oriental  costume,  some  in  the  Turkish,  others 
in  the  Albanian  fashion.  The  merry  revels  were 
not  prolonged  beyond  the  hour  of  midnight,  when 
the  company  broke  up,  loudly  commending,  as  they 
withdrew,  the  good  cheer  afforded  them  by  the 
hospitable  burghers  of  Brussels.^^ 

Philip  won  the  prize  on  another  occasion,  when 
he  tilted  against  a  valiant  knight  named  Quiiiones. 
He  was  not  so  fortunate  in  an  encounter  with  the 
son  of  his  old  preceptor,  Zufliga,  in  which  he  was 
struck  with  such  force  on  the  head,  that,  after  being 
carried  some  distance  by  his  horse,  he  fell  senseless 
from  the  saddle.     The  alarm  was  great,  but  the  ac- 
cident passed  away  without  serious  consequences.^^ 
There  were  those  who  denied  him  skill  in  the 
management  of  his  lance.    Marillac,  the  French  am- 
bassador at  the  imperial  court,  speaking  of  a  tourney 
given  by  Philip  in  honor  of  the  princess  of  Lorraine, 
at  Augsburg,  says  he  never  saw  worse  lance-playing 
in  his  life.     At  another  time,  he  remarks  that  the 
Spanish  prince  could  not  even  hit  his  antagonist.^ 


18  «  Assi  fueron  a  palacio  siendo 
ya  casi  la  media  noche,  quando  se 
viiieron  apeado  muy  content08  de 
la  fiesta  y  Vanquete,  que  la  villa 
les  hiziera.**  Estrella,  Viage  del 
Principe  Phelipe,  p.  73. 

19  "  Ictum  aceepit  in  capite  ga- 
leaque  tam  vehementem,  ut  vecors 
ac  dormienti  similis  parumper  in- 
Tdctus  ephippio  delaberetur,  et  in 


caput  armis  superiorem  corporis 
partem  gravius  deprimentibus  ca- 
deret  Itaque  semianimis  pulvere 
spiritum  intercludente  jacuit,  donee 
a  suis  sublevatus  est**  Sepulveda 
Opera,  vol.  U.  p.  381. 

so  Raumer,  Sixteenth  and  Sev- 
enteenth Centuries,  vol.  I.  p.  24. 

Von  Raumer's  abstract  of  the 
MSS.  in  the    Royal  Library  at 


S2 


EAKLT  DAYS  OF  PHILIP. 


[Book  L 


Ch.  n.] 


PUBLIC  FESTIVITIES 


63 


It  must  have  been  a  very  palpable  hit  to  be  noticed 
by  a  Frenchman.  The  French  regarded  the  Span- 
iards of  that  day  in  much  the  sam^  manner  as  they 
regarded  the  English  at  an  earlier  period,  or  as 
they  have  continued. to  regard  them  at  a  later. 
The  long  rivalry  of  the  French  and  Spanish  mon- 
archs  had  infused  into  the  breasts  of  their  subjects 
such  feelings  of  mutual  aversion,  that  the  opinions 
of  either  nation  in  reference  to  the  other,  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  must  be  received  with  the  great- 
est distrust. 

But,  whatever  may  have  been  Philip's  success 
in  these  chivalrous  displays,  it  is  quite  certain 
they  were  not  to  his  taste.  He  took  part  in  them 
only  to  conform  to  his  father's  wishes,  and  to  the 
humor  of  the  age.  Though  in  his  youth  he  some* 
times  hunted,  he  was  neither  fond  of  field-sports 
nor  of  the  athletic  exercises  of  chivalry.  His  con- 
stitution was  far  from  robust.  He  sought  to  invig- 
orate it  less  by  exercise  than  by  diet.  He  confined 
himself  almost  wholly  to  meat,  as  the  most  nutri- 
tious food;  abstaining  even  from  fish,  as  well  as 
from  fruit*^     Besides  his  indisposition  to   active 


Paris  contains  some  very  curious 
particulars  for  the  illustration  of 
the  reigns  both  of  Charles  the 
Fifth  and  of  Philip. 

•1 "  E  S.  M.  di  complessione  molto 
delicata,  et  per  questo  vive  sempre 
con  regola,  usando  per  1*  ordinario 
cibi  di  gran  nodrimento,  lasciando 
i  pesci,  frutti  et  simili  cose  che 
fenerano  cattivi  humori  ;  dorme 


molto,  fa  per6  essercitio,  et  i  suoi 
trattenimenti  domestici  sono  tutti 
quieti;  et  benche  nell'  essercitio 
habbi  mostrato  un  poco  di  pron- 
tezza  et  di  vivacity,  pero  si  yede 
che  ha  sforzato  la  natura,  la  quale 
inclina  piu  alia  quiete  che  all'  es- 
sercitio, piu  al  reposo  che  al  tra- 
vaglio.'*  Relatione  di  Michele 
Soriano,  MS. 


exercises,  he  had  no  relish  for  the  gaudy  spectacles 
iso   fashionable  in  that  romantic  age.      The  part 
he  had  played  in  the  pageants,  during  his  long 
tour,  had  not  been  of  his  own  seeking.     Though 
ceremonious,  and  exacting  deference  from  all  who 
approached  him,  he  was  not  fond  of  the  pomp  and 
parade  of  a  court  life.     He  preferred  to  pass  his 
hours  in  the  privacy  of  his  own  apartment,  where 
he  took  pleasure  in  the  conversation  of  a  few  whom 
he  honored  with  his  regard.     It  was  with  difliculty 
that  the  emperor  could  induce  him  to  leave  his 
retirement  and  present  himself  in  the  audience- 
chamber,  or  accompany  him  on  visits  of  ceremony.^ 
These  reserved  and  quiet  tastes  of  Philip  by  no 
means  recommended  him  to  the  Flemings,  accus- 
tomed as  they  were  to  the  pomp  and  profuse  mag- 
nificence of  the  Burgundian  court.     Their  free  and 
social  tempers  were  chilled  by  his*  austere  demeanor. 
They  contrasted  it  with  the  affable  deportment  of 
his  father,  who  could  so  well  conform  to  the  cus- 
toms of  the  different  nations  under  his  sceptre,  and 
who  seemed  perfectly  to  comprehend  their  charac- 
ters, —  the  astute  policy  of  the  Italian,  the  home- 
bred simplicity  of  the  German,  and  the  Castilian 
propriety  and  point  of  honor.^   With  the  latter  only 


89  "  Rarisslme  volte  va  fuora  in 
Campagna,  ha  piacere  di  starsi  in 
Camera,  co  suoi  favoriti,  a  ragio- 
nare  di  cose  private ;  et  se  tall*  hora 
r  Imperatore  lo  manda  in  visita,  si 
icusa  per  godere  la  solit^  quiete." 
Eelati  Dne  di  Marino  Cavallo,  MS. 


23  "  Pare  che  la  natura  I'habbia 
fatto  atto  con  la  familiarity  e  do- 
mestichezza  a  gratificare  a  Fiam- 
menghi  et  Borgognoni,  con  1*  in- 
gegno  et  prudentia  a  gl'  Italiani, 
con  la  riputatione  et  seventh  alii 
Spagnuoli ;  vedendo  hora  in  suo 


61 


EABLY  DAYS  OF  PHILIP. 


[Book  1 


of  these  had  Philip  anything  in  common.  He  was 
in  everything  a  Spaniard.  He  talked  of  nothing, 
seemed  to  think  of  nothing,  but  Spain.^  The  Neth- 
erlands were  to  him  a  foreign  land,  with  which  he 
had  little  sympathy.  His  counsellors  and  compan- 
ions were  wholly  Spanish.  The  people  of  Flanders 
felt,  that,  imder  his  sway,  little  favor  was  to  be 
shown  to  them ;  and  they  looked  forward  to  the 
time  when  all  the  offices  of  trust  in  their  own 
country  would  be  given  to  Castilians,  in  the  same 
maimer  as  those  of  Castile,  in  the  early  days  of 
Charles  the  Fifth,  had  been  given  to  Flemings.^ 

Yet  the  emperor  seemed  so  little  aware  of  his 
son's  unpopularity,  that  he  was  at  this  very  time 
making  arrangements  for  securing  to  him  the  im- 
perial crown.  He  had  summoned  a  meeting  of 
the  electors  and  great  lords  of  the  empire,  to  be 
held  at  Augsburg,  in  August,  1550.  There  he 
proposed  to  secure  Philip's  election  as  king  of  the 
Romans,  so  soon  as  he  had  obtained  his  brother 
Ferdinand's  surrender  of  that  dignity.  But  Charles 
did  not  show,  in  all  this,  his  usual  knowledge  of 
human  nature.  The  lust  of  power  on  his  son's  ac- 
count —  ineffectual  for  happiness  as  he  had  found 


figliulo  altrimente  sentono  non  pic- 
ciolo  dispiacere  di  questo  cambio.** 
Ibid.  MS. 

^  "  Philippus  ip8e  Hispanise  de- 
•iderio  magnopere  aestuabat,  nee 
aliud  quam  Hispaniam  loqueba- 
tur.**  Sepulvedae  Opera,  vol.  II. 
p.  401. 


**  "  Si  fa  giudicio,  cbe  quando 
egli  succederA  al  govemo  delH 
stati  8Uoi  debba  servirsi  in  tutto  et 
per  delli  ministri  Spagnuoli,  alia 
qual  natione  ^  inelinato  piQ  di 
quelle,  che  si  convenga  a  preneipe, 
cbe  voglia  dominare  a  diverse." 
Relatione  di  Marino  Cavallo,  MS. 


Ca.  n.] 


AMBITICUS  SCHEMES. 


65 


the  possession  of  it  in  his  own  case  —  seems  to 
have  entirely  blinded  him. 

He  repaired  with  Philip  to  Augsburg,  where 
they  were  met  by  Ferdinand  and  the  members  of 
the  German  diet.  But  it  was  in  vain  that  Charles 
solicited  his  brother  to  waive  his  claim  to  the 
imperial  succession  in  favor  of  his  nephew.  Nei- 
ther solicitations  nor  arguments,  backed  by  the  en- 
treaties, even  the  tears,  it  is  said,  of  their  common 
sister,  the  Regent  Mary,  could  move  Ferdinand  to 
forego  the  splendid  inheritance.  Charles  was  not 
more  successful  when  he  changed  his  ground,  and 
urged  his  brother  to  acquiesce  in  Philip's  election 
as  his  successor  in  the  dignity  of  king  of  the 
Romans ;  or,  at  least,  in  his  being  associated  in 
that  dignity  —  a  thing  unprecedented  —  with  his 
cousin  Maximilian,  Ferdinand's  son,  who,  it  was 
understood,  was  destined  by  the  electors  to  succeed 
his  father. 

This  young  prince,  who  meanwhile  had  been 
summoned  to  Augsburg,  was  as  little  disposed  as 
Ferdinand  had  been  to  accede  to  the  proposals  of 
his  too  grasping  father-in-law;  though  he  cour- 
teously alleged,  as  the  ground  of  his  refusal,  that 
he  had  no  right  to  interfere  with  the  decision  of 
the  electors.  He  might  safely  rest  his  cause  on 
their  decision.  They  had  no  desire  to  perpetuate 
the  imperial  sceptre  in  the  line  of  Castilian  mon- 
archs.  They  had  suffered  enough  from  the  des- 
potic temper  of  Charles  the  Fifth ;  and  this  temper 
they  had  no  reason  to  think  would  be  mitigated 


VOL.  I. 


9 


66 


EABLY  DAYS  OF  PHTLIP 


[Book  I 


Ch.  n.] 


AMBITIOUS   SCHEMES. 


6' 


11 


in  the  person  of  Philip.  They  desired  a  German 
to  rule  over  them,  —  one  who  would  understand 
the  German  character,  and  enter  heartily  into  the 
feelings  of  the  people.  Maximilian's  directness 
of  purpose  and  kindly  nature  had  won  largely 
on  the  affections  of  his  countrymen,  and  proved 
him,  in  their  judgment,  worthy  of  the  throne.* 

Philip,  on  the  other  hand,  was  even  more  dis- 
tasteful to  the  Germans  than  he  was  to  the  Flem- 
ings. It  was  in  vain  that,  at  their  banquets,  he 
drank  twice  or  thrice  as  much  as  he  was  accus- 
tomed to  do,  imtil  the  cardinal  of  Trent  assured 
him  that  he  was  fast  gaining  in  the  good  graces 
of  the  people.^  The  natural  haughtiness  of  his 
temper  showed  itself  on  too  many  occasions  to  be 
mistaken.  When  Charles  returned  to  his  palace, 
escorted,  as  he  usually  was,  by  a  train  of  nobles 
and  princes  of  the  empire,  he  would  courteously 
take  them  by  the  hand,  and  raise  his  hat,  as  he 
parted  from  them.  But  Philip,  it  was  observed. 
on  like  occasions,  walked  directly  into  the  pal- 
ace, without  so  much  as  turning  round,  or  con- 
descending in  any  way  to  notice  the  courtiers  who 
had  accompanied  him.  This  was  taking  higher 
ground  even  than  his  father  had  done.  In  fact,  it 
was  said  of  him,  that  he  considered  himself  greater 


«  Cabrera,  FiKpe  Segundo,  lib.  and  Seventeenth  Centuries,  voL  I. 

L  cap.  8.  —  Leti,  Vita  di  Filippo  p.  28  et  seq. 
II,  torn.  I.  pp.  195-198.  — Sepul-        »7  Marillac,  ap.  Raumer,    Six. 

vedae  Opera,  vol.  11.  pp.  899  -  401.  teenth  and  Seventeenth  Centuriei, 

—  Marillac,  ap.  Raumer,  Sixteenth  vol.  L  p.  80. 


than  his  father,  inasmuch  as  the  son  of  an  emperor 
was  greater  than  the  son  of  a  king !  ^  —  a  fool- 
ish vaunt,  not  the  less  indicative  of  his  character, 
that  it  was  made  for  him,  probably,  by  the  Ger- 
mans. In  short,.  PhUip's  manners,  which,  in  the 
language  of  a  contemporary,  had  been  little  pleas- 
ing to  the  Italians,  and  positively  displeasing  fo 
the  Flemings,  were  altogether  odious  to  the  Ger- 


29 


mans. 

Nor  was  the  idea  of  Philip's  election  at  all  more 
acceptable  to  the  Spaniards  themselves.  That  nation 
had  been  long  enough  regarded  as  an  appendage  to 
the  empire.  Their  pride  had  been  wounded  by  the 
light  in  which  they  were  held  by  Charles,  who 
seemed  to  look  on  Spain  as  a  royal  domain,  valu- 
able chiefly  for  the  means  it  afforded  him  for  play- 
ing his  part  on  the  great  theatre  of  Europe.  The 
haughty  Castilian  of  the  sixteenth  century,  con- 
scious of  his  superior  pretensions,  could  ill  brook 
this  abasement.  He  sighed  for  a  prince  bom  and 
bred  in  Spain,  who  would  be  content  to  pass  his 
life  in  Spain,  and  would  have  no  ambition  uncon- 
nected  with  her  prosperity  and  glory.  The  Span- 
iards were  even  more  tenacious  on  this  head  than 
the  Germans.     Their  remote  situation  made  them 


38  Ranke,  Ottoman  and  Spanish 
Empires  in  the  Sixteenth  and  Sev- 
enteenth Centuries,  (Eng.  trans., 
London,  1843,)  p.  81. 

29  •*  Da  cosi  fktta  educatione  ne 
segui  quando  S.  M.  usci  la  prima 
rolta  da    Spagna,  et    passA    per 


Italia  et  per  Grermania  in  Fiandra, 
Ia8ci6  impressione  da  per  tiitto  che 
fosse  d'anirao  severo  et  intrattabile ; 
et  pero  fu  poco  grato  a  Italiani, 
ingratissimo  a  Fiamenghi  et  a  Te- 
deschi  odioso."  Relatione  di  Mi' 
chcle  Soriano,  MS. 


68 


BARLY  DAYS  OF  PHILIP. 


[Book  1. 


more  exclusive,  more  strictly  national,  and  less 
tolerant  of  foreign  influence.  They  required  a 
Spaniard  to  rule  over  them.  Such  was  Philip; 
and  they  anticipated  the  hour  when  Spain  should 
be  divorced  from  the  empire,  and,  under  the  sway 
of  a  patriotic  prince,  rise  to  her  just  preeminence 
among  the  nations. 

Yet  Charles,  far  from  yielding,  continued  to 
press  the  point  with  such  pertinacity,  that  it 
seemed  likely  to  lead  to  an  open  rupture  between 
the  different  branches  of  his  family.  For  a  time, 
Ferdinand  kept  his  apartment,  and  had  no  inter- 
course with  Charles  or  his  sister.*^  Yet  in  the 
end  the  genius  or  the  obstinacy  of  Charles  so  far 
prevailed  over  his  brother,  that  he  acquiesced  in  a 
private  compact,  by  which,  while  he  was  to  retain 
possession  of  the  imperial  crown,  it  was  agreed  that 
Philip  should  succeed  him  as  king  of  the  Romans, 
and  that  Maxunilian  should  succeed  Philip.*^  Fer- 
dinand hazarded  little  by  concessions  which  could 
never  be  sanctioned  by  the  electoral  college.  The 
reverses  which  befell  the  emperor's  arms  in  the 
course  of  the  following  year  destroyed  whatever 


30  Marlllac,  ap.  Raumer,  Six- 
teenth and  Seventeenth  Centuries, 
Tol.  I.  p.  32. 

See  also  the  characteristic  letter 
of  Charles  to  his  sister,  the  regent 
of  the  Netherlands,  (December  16, 
1550,)  full  of  angry  expressions 
against  Ferdinand  for  his  ingrati- 
tude and  treachery.  The  scheme, 
according  to  Charles's  view  of  it, 


was  calculated  for  the  benefit  of 

both  parties,  —  "ctf  que  convenoil 

pour  establir  noz  maisons.*'    Lanz, 

Correspondenz  des  Kaisers  Karl 

v.,  (Leipzig,  1846,)  B.  III.  s.  18. 

31  A  copy  of  the  instrument 

containing  this  agreement,  dated 

March  9, 1551,  is  preserved  in  the 

archives  of  Belgium.     See  Mignet^ 

Charles-Quint,  p.  42,  note. 


Ch.  n.] 


EETURNS  to   SPAIN. 


69 


influence  he  might  have  possessed  in  that  body ; 
and  he  seems  never  to  have  revived  his  schemes 
for  aggrandizing  his  son  by  securing  to  him  the 
succession  to  the  empire. 

Philip  had  now  accomplished  the  great  object  of 
his  visit.     He  had  presented  himself  to  the  people 
of  the  Netherlands,  and  had  received  their  homage 
as  heir  to  the  realm.     His  tour  had  been,  in  some 
respects,  a  profitable  one.      It  was   scarcely  pos- 
sible that  a  young  man,  whose  days  had  hitherto 
been  passed  within  the  narrow  limits  of  his  own 
country,  for  ever  under  the  same  local  influences, 
should    not  have  his  ideas   greatly   enlarged  by 
going    abroad  and  mingling   with    different  na- 
tions.    It  was  especially  important  to  Philip   to 
make  himself  familiar,    as  none  but  a  resident 
can    be,   with  the   character   and   institutions    of 
those  nations  over  whom  he  was  one  day  to  pre- 
side.    Yet  his  visit  to  the  Netherlands  had  not 
been  attended  with  the  happiest  results.     He  evi- 
dently did  not  make  a  favorable   impression   on 
the  people.     The  more  they  saw  of  him,  the  less 
they  appeared  to  like  him.     Such  impressions  are 
usually  reciprocal ;  and  Philip  seems  to  have  part- 
ed from  the  country  with  little  regret.     Thus,  in 
the  first  interview  between  the  future  sovereign 
and  his  subjects,  the  symptoms  might  already  be 
discerned  of  that  alienation  which  was  afterwards 
to  widen  into  a  permanent  and  irreparable  breach. 
Philip,  anxious  to  reach  Castile,  pushed  forward 
fiis  journey,  without  halting  to  receive  the  civilities 


70 


EABLY  DAYS  OF  PHILIP. 


[Book  I 


Ch.  n.i 


CONDITION  OF  SPAIN. 


71 


I  I 


that  were  everywhere  tendered  to  him  on  his  route. 
He  made  one  exception,  at  Trent,  where  the  eccle- 
siastical council  was  holding  the  memorable  session 
that  occupies  so  large  a  share  in  Church  annals. 
On  his  approach  to  the  city,  the  cardinal  legate, 
attended  by  the  mitred  prelates  and  other  dignita- 
ries of  the  council,  came  out  in  a  body  to  receive 
him.  During  his  stay  there,  he  was  entertained 
with  masks,  dancing,  theatrical  exhibitions,  and 
jousts,  contrived  to  represent  scenes  in  Ariosto.^ 
These  diversions  of  the  reverend  fathers  formed  a 
whimsical  contrast,  perhaps  a  welcome  relief,  to 
their  solemn  occupation  of  digesting  a  creed  for 
the  Christian  world. 

From  Trent  Philip  pursued  his  way,  with  all 
expedition,  to  Genoa,  where  he  embarked,  under 
the  flag  of  the  veteran  Doria,  who  had  brought 
him  from  Spain.  He  landed  at  Barcelona,  on  the 
twelfth  day  of  July,  1551,  and  proceeded  at  once 
to  Valladolid,  where  he  resumed  the  government 
of  the  kingdom.  He  was  fortified  by  a  letter  from 
his  father,  dated  at  Augsburg,  which  contained 
ample  instructions  as  to  the  policy  he  was  to 
pursue,  and  freely  discussed  both  the  foreign  and 
domestic  relations  of  the  country.  The  letter, 
which  is  very  long,  shows  that  the  capacious  mind 
of  Charles,  however  little  time  he  could  personally 
give  to  the  affairs  of  the  monarchy,  fully  compre- 

a  Leti,  Vita  di  Filippo  IT.,  torn,    escript  par  le  Controleur  de  St 
1.  p.  199. — Memorial  et  Recueil    Majesty,  MS. 
des  Voyages  da  fUA  des  Espagnes, 


hended  its  internal  condition  and  the  extent  of  ita 

resources.^ 

The  following  years  were  years  of  humiliation  to 
Charles;  years  marked  by  the  flight  from  Inns- 
bruck, and  the  disastrous  siege  of  Metz,  —  when, 
beaten  by  the  Protestants,  foiled  by  the  French,  the 
reverses  of  the  emperor  pressed  heavily  on  his  proud 
heart,  and  did  more,  probably,  than  all  the  homi- 
lies of  his  ghostly  teachers,  to  disgust  him  with  the 
world  and  its  vanities. 

Yet  these  reverses  made  little  impression   on 
Spain.     The  sounds  of  war  died  away  before  they 
reached  the  foot  of  the  Pyrenees.    Spain,  it  is  true, 
sent  forth  her  sons,  from  time  to  time,  to  serve  under 
the  banners  of  Charles ;  and  it  was  in  that  school 
that  was  perfected  the  admirable  system  of  disci- 
pline and  tactics  which,  begun  by  the  Great  Cap- 
tain, made  the  Spanish  infantry  the  most  redoubtable 
in  Europe.     But  the  great  body  of  the  people  felt 
little  interest  in  the  success  of  these  distant  enter- 
prises, where  success  brought  them  no  good.     Not 
that  the  mmd  of  Spain  was  inactive,  or  oppressed 
with  the  lethargy  which  stole  over  it  in  a  later  age. 
There  was,  on  the  contrary,  great  intellectual  ac- 
tivity.    She  was  excluded,  by  an  arbitrary  govern- 
ment, from  pushing  her  speculations  in  the  regions 
of  theological  or  political  science.     But  this,  to  a 

33  The  letter,  of  which  I  have  length  by  Sandoval,  in  his  Hist  de 

a  manuscript   copy,   taken   from  Carlos  V.,  where  it  occupies  twelve 

one  in  the  rich  coUection  of  Sir  pages  foHo.      Tom.  II.  p.  475  et 

Thomas  Phillips,  is  published  at  seq. 


72 


EARLY  DAYS  OF  PHILIP. 


[Book  L 


Ch.  n.] 


COKDITION  OF  SPAIN. 


73 


11 


considerable  extent,  was  the  case  with  most  of  the 
neighboring  nations ;  and  she  indemnified  herself 
for  this  exclusion  by  a  more  diligent  cultivation  of 
elegant  literature.  The  constellation  of  genius 
had  already  begun  to  show  itself  above  the  hori- 
zon, which  was  to  shed  a  glory  over  the  meridian 
and  the  close  of  Philip's  reign.  The  courtly  poets 
in  the  reign  of  his  father  had  confessed  the  influ- 
ence of  Italian  models,  derived  through  the  recent 
territorial  acquisitions  in  Italy.  But  the  national 
taste  was  again  asserting  its  supremacy ;  and  the 
fashionable  tone  of  composition  was  becoming 
more  and  more  accommodated  to  the  old  Castilian 
standard. 

It  would  be  impossible  that  any  departure  from 
a  national  standard  should  be  long  tolerated  in 
Spain,  where  the  language,  the  manners,  the  dress, 
the  usages  of  the  country,  were  much  the  same  as 
they  had  been  for  generations,  —  as  they  continued 
to  be  for  generations,  long  after  Cervantes  held  up 
the  mirror  of  fiction,  to  reflect  the  traits  of  the 
national  existence  more  vividly  than  is  permitted 
to  the  page  of  the  chronicler.  In  the  rude  r<h 
niances  of  the  fourteenth  and  the  fifteenth  century, 
the  Castilian  of  the  sixteenth  might  see  his  way  of 
life  depicted  with  tolerable  accuracy.  The  amor- 
ous cavalier  still  thrummed  his  guitar,  by  moon- 
light, under  the  balcony  of  his  mistress,  or  wore 
her  favors  at  the  Moorish  tilt  of  reeds.  The  com- 
mon people  still  sung  their  lively  seguidillas^  or 
crowded  to  the  ^e^fa^  detoros^  —  the  cruel  bull- 


fights,—  or  to  the  more  cruel  autosdefe.  This 
last  spectacle,  of  comparatively  recent  origm,— 
in  the  time  of  Ferdmand  and  Isabella,  —  was  the 
legitimate  consequence  of  the  long  wars  with  the 
Moslems,  which  made  the  Spaniard  intolerant  of 
religious  infidelity.  Atrocious  as  it  seems  in  a 
more  humane  and  enlightened  age,  it  was  regarded 
by  the  ancient  Spaniard  as  a  sacrifice  grateful  to 
Heaven,  at  which  he  was  to  rekindle  the  dormant 
embers  of  his  own  religious  sensibilities. 

The  cessation  of  the  long  Moorish  wars,  by  the 
fall  of  Granada,  made  the  most  important  change 
in  the  condition  of  the  Spaniards.  They,  however, 
found  a  vent  for  their  chivalrous  fanaticism,  in  a 
crusade  against  the  heathen  of  the  New  World. 
Those  who  returned  from  their  wanderings  brought 
back  to  Spain  little  of  foreign  usages  and  manners; 
for  the  Spaniard  was  the  only  civilized  man  whom 
they  found  in  the  wilds  of  America. 

Thus  passed  the  domestic  life  of  the  Spaniard, 
in  the  same  unvaried  circle  of  habits,  opinions,  and 
prejudices,  to  the  exclusion,  and  probably  con- 
tempt, of  everything  foreign.  Not  that  these 
habits  did  not  differ  m  the  different  provinces, 
where  their  distinctive  peculiarities  were  handed 
down,  with  traditional  precision,  from  father  to 
son.  But,  beneath  these,  there  was  one  com- 
mon basis  of  the  national  character.  Never  was 
there  a  people,  probably,  with  the  exception  of  the 
Jews,  distinguished  by  so  intense  a  nationality. 
It  was  among  such  a  people,  and  under  such  influ- 


VOL.  I. 


10 


74 


EABLT  DAYS  OF  PHILIP. 


[Book  1 


ences,  that  Philip  was  bom  and  educated.  His 
temperament  and  his  constitution  of  mind  pecu- 
liarly fitted  him  for  the  reception  of  these  influ- 
ences; and  the  Spaniards,  as  he  grew  in  years, 
beheld,  with  pride  and  satisfaction,  in  their  future 
sovereign,  the  most  perfect  type  of  the  national 
character. 


CHAPTER   III. 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


Condition  of  England.  —  Character  of  Mary.  —  PhiUp's  Proposals  d 
Marriage.— Marriage  Articles.— Insurrection  in  England. 

1553,  1554. 

In  the  summer  of  1553,  three  years  after  Philip's 
return  to  Spain,  occurred  an  event  which  was  to 
exercise  a  considerable  influence  on  his  fortunes. 
This  was  the  death  of  Edward  the  Sixth  of  Eng- 
land,—  after  a  brief  but  important  reign.  He 
was  succeeded  by  his  sister  Mary,  that  unfortunate 
princess,  whose  sobnquet  of  "  Bloody "  gives  her 
a  melancholy  distinction  among  the  sovereigns  of 
the  house  of  Tudor. 

The  reign  of  her  father,  Henry  the  Eighth,  had 
opened  the  way  to  the  great  revolution  in  re- 
ligion, the  effects  of  which  were  destined  to 
be  permanent.  Yet  Henry  himself  showed  his 
strength  rather  in  unsettling  ancient  institutions 
than  in  establishing  new  ones.  By  the  abolition  of 
the  monasteries,  he  broke  up  that  spiritual  militia 
which  was  a  most  efiicacious  instrument  for  main- 
taining the  authority  of  Rome ;  and  he  completed 
the  work  of  independence  by  seating  himself  boldly 


/ 


76 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  1 


in  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  and  assuming  the  au- 
thority of  head  of  the  Church.  Thus,  while  the 
supremacy  of  the  pope  was  rejected,  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion  was  maintained  in  its  essential 
piinciples  unimpaired.  In  other  words,  the  na- 
tion  remained  Catholics,  but  not  Papists. 

The  impulse  thus  given  under  Henry  was  fol- 
lowed up  to  more  important  consequences  imder 
his  son,  Edward  the  Sixth.  The  opinions  of  the 
German  Reformers,  considerably  modified,  espe- 
cially in  regard  to  the  exterior  forms  and  disci- 
pline of  worship,  met  with  a  cordial  welcome 
from  the  ministers  of  the  young  monarch.  Protes- 
tantism became  the  religion  of  the  land ;  and  the 
Church  of  England  received,  to  a  great  extent,  the 
peculiar  organization  which  it  has  preserved  to  the 
present  day.  But  Edward's  reign  was  too  brief  to 
allow  the  new  opinions  to  take  deep  root  in  the 
hearts  of  the  i)eople.  The  greater  part  of  the 
aristocracy  soon  showed  that,  whatever  religious 
zeal  they  had  affected,  they  were  not  prepared  to 
make  any  sacrifice  of  their  temporal  interests.  On 
the  accession  of  a  Catholic  queen  to  the  throne,  a 
reaction  soon  became  visible.  Some  embarrass- 
ment to  a  return  to  the  former  faith  was  found  in 
the  restitution  which  it  might  naturally  involve 
of  the  confiscated  property  of  the  monastic  orders. 
But  the  politic  concessions  of  Rome  dispensed 
with  this  severe  trial  of  the  sincerity  of  its  new 
proselytes;  and  England,  after  repudiating  her 
heresies,  was  received  into  the  fold  of  the  Roman 


Cii.  in.] 


CONDITION  OF  ENGLAND. 


Catholic  Church,  and  placed  once  more  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  its  pontiff. 

After  the  specimens  given  of  the  ready  ductility 
with  which  the  English  of  that  day  accommodated 
their  religious  creeds  to  the  creed  of  their  sove- 
reign, we  shall  hardly  wonder  at  the  caustic  criti- 
cism of  the  Venetian  ambassador,  resident  at  the 
court  of  London,  in  Queen  Mary's  time.  "The 
example  and  authority  of  the  sovereign,"  he  says, 
"  are  everything  with  the  people  of  this  country,  in 
matters  of  faith.  As  he  believes,  they  believe ; 
Judaism  or  Mahometanism,  —  it  is  all  one  to 
them.  They  conform  themselves  easily  to  his 
will,  at  least  so  far  as  the  outward  show  is  con- 
cerned ;  and  most  easily  of  all  where  it  concurs 
with  their  own  pleasure  and  profit."  ^ 

The  ambassador,  Giovanni  Micheli,  was  one  of 
that  order  of  merchant-princes  employed  by  Venice 
in  her  foreign  missions ;  men  whose  acquaintance 
with  affairs  enabled  them  to  comprehend  the  re- 
sources of  the  country  to  which  they  were  sent,  as 


1  •*  Quanto  alia  religione,  sia 
certa  Vra  Sen**  che  ogni  cosa 
puo  in  loro  V  essempio  et  V  autorita 
del  Principe,  che  in  tanto  gl*  In- 
glcsi  stimano  la  religione,  et  si 
muovono  per  essa,  in  quanto  sodis- 
fanno  all'  obligo  de*  sudditi  verso 
il  Principe,  yivendo  com*  ei  vive, 
credendo  cioche  ei  crede,  et  final- 
mente  facendo  tutto  quel  che  co- 
manda  conservirsene,  piOl  per  mo- 
ftra  esteriore,  per  non  incorrere  in 
lua  disgratia,  che  per  zelo  interi- 


ore ;  perche  il  medesimo  faciano 
della  Maumettana  o  della  Giudea, 
pur  che  1  Re  mostrasse  di  credere, 
et  volesse  cosi ;  et  s'  accommodari- 
ano  a  tutte,  ma  a  quella  piu  ^il- 
mente  dalla  quale  sperassero  o  ver* 
maggior  licentia  et  liberty  di  vi- 
vere,  o  vero  qualche  utile.**  Re- 
latione del  Clarissimo  M.  Giovanni 
Micheli,  ritomato  Ambasciatore 
alia  Regina  d*  Inghilterra  1'  anno 
1557,  MS. 


78 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  I. 


wtU  as  the  intrigues  of  its  court.  Their  observa- 
tions were  digested  into  elaborate  reports,  which, 
on  their  return  to  Venice,  were  publicly  read  be- 
fore the  doge  and  the  senate.  The  documents 
thus  prepared  form  some  of  the  most  valuable  and 
authentic  materials  for  the  history  of  Europe  in 
the  sixteenth  century.  Micheli's  report  is  diffuse 
on  the  condition  of  England  under  the  reign  of  ^ 
Queen  Mary ;  and  some  of  his  remarks  will  have 
interest  for  the  reader  of  the  present  day,  as  afford- 
ing a  standard  of  comparison  with  the  past.* 

London  he  eulogizes,  as  one  of  the  noblest  capi- 
tals in  Europe,  containing,  with  its  suburbs,  about 
a  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  souls.*  The  great 
lords,  as  in  France  and  Germany,  passed  most  of 
their  time  on  their  estates  in  the  country. 

The  kingdom  was  strong  enough,  if  united,  to 
defy  any  invasion  from  abroad.  Yet  its  navy 
was  small,  having  dwindled,  from  neglect  and  an 
ill-judged  economy,  to  not  more  than  forty  vessels 


2  Soriano  notices  the  courteous 
bearing  and  address  of  his  country- 
man Micheli,  as  rendering  him 
universally  popular  at  the  courts 
where  he  resided.  "H  Michiel  e 
gratissimo  a  tutti  fino  al  minore, 
per  la  dimestichezza  che  havea  con 
grandl,  et  per  la  dolcezza  et  cor- 
tesia  che  usava  con  gl*  altri,  et  per 
il  giudicio  che  mostrava  con  tutti.** 
Relatione  di  Michele  Soriano,  MS. 
Copies  of  Micheli's  interesting  Re- 
lation are  to  be  found  in  different 
public  libraries  of  Europe ;  among 


others,  in  the  collection  of  the 
Cottonian  MSS.,  and  of  the  Lan»- 
downe  MSS.,  in  the  British  Muse- 
um; and  in  the  Barberini  Library, 
at  Rome.  The  copy  in  my  posses- 
sion is  from  the  ducal  library  at 
Gotha.  Sir  Henry  Ellis,  in  the 
Second  Series  of  his  "  Original 
Letters,**  has  given  an  abstract  of 
the  Cottonian  MS. 

5  This  agrees  with  the  Lans- 
downe  MS.  The  Cottonian,  as 
given  by  Sir  Henry  Ellis,  puU  the 
population  at  150,000. 


ch.  m.] 


CONDITION  OF  ENGLAND. 


79 


of  war.  But  the  mercantile  marine  could  furnish 
two  thousand  igi^ore,  which,  at  a  short  notice,  could 
be  well  equipped  and  got  ready  for  sea.  The 
army  was  particularly  strong  in  artillery,  and 
provided  with  all  the  munitions  of  war.  The 
weapon  chiefly  in  repute  was  the  bow,  to  which 
the  English  people  were  trained  from  early  youth. 
In  their  cavalry  they  were  most  defective.  Horses 
were  abundant,  but  wanted  bottom.  They  were, 
for  the  most  part,  light,  weak,  and  grass-fed.*  The 
nation  was,  above  all,  to  be  envied  for  the  light 
ness  of  the  public  burdens.  There  were  no  taxes 
on  wine,  beer,  salt,  cloth,  nor,  indeed,  on  any  of  the 
articles  that  in  other  countries  furnished  the  great- 
est sources  of  revenue.^  The  whole  revenue  did 
not  usually  exceed  two  hundred  thousand  pounds. 
Parliaments  were  rarely  summoned,  except  to  save 
the  king  trouble  or  to  afford  a  cloak  to  his 
designs.  No  one  ventured  to  resist  the  royal  will ; 
servile  the  members  came  there,  and  servile  they 
remained.^  —  An  Englishman  of  the  nineteenth 
century  may  smile  at  the  contrast  presented  by 


*  "  Essendo  cayalli  deboli,  et  di 
poca  lena,  nutriti  solo  d*  erba,  vi- 
vendo  como  la  pecore,  et  tutti  gli 
altri  animali,  per  la  tcmpcrie  dell* 
aere  da  tutti  i  tempi  ne  i  pascoli  a 
la  campagna,  non  possono  far*  gran* 
pruove,  ne  sono  tenuti  in  stima." 
Relatione  di  Gio.  Micheli,  MS. 

*  "  Non  solo  non  sono  in  essere, 
ma  non  pur  si  considerano  gra- 
vezze  di  sorte  alcuna,  non  di  sale, 
Qon  di  vino  o  de  bira,  non  di  ma- 


cina,  non  di  came,  non  di  far 
pane,  et  cose  simili  necessarie  al 
vivere,  che  in  tutti  gli  altri  luoghi 
d*  Italia  specialmente,  ct  in  Fian- 
dra,  sono  di  tanto  maggior  utile, 
quanto  ^  pill  grande  il  numero  dei 
sudditi  che  le  consumano.**  Ibid. 
MS. 

^  "  Si  come  servi  et  sudditi  son 
quelli  che  v*  intervengono,  cosj 
servi  et  sudditi  son  1*  attione  che  ai 
trattano  in  essi.**    Ibid.  MS. 


80 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  I 


some  of  these  remarks  to  the  condition  of  the 
nation  at  the  present  day ;  though^in  the  item  of 
taxation  the  contrast  may  be  rather  fitted  to  pro- 
voke a  sigh. 

The  portrait  of  Queen  Mary  is  given  by  the 
Venetian  minister,  with  a  coloring  somewhat  dif- 
ferent from  that  in  which  she  is  commonly  de- 
picted   by   English    historians.      She  was    about 
thirty-six  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  her  acces- 
sion.    In  stature,  she  was  of  rather  less  than  the 
middle  size,  —not  large,  as  was  the  case  with  both 
her  father  and  mother,— and  exceedmgly  well  made. 
"The  portraits  of  her,"  says  Micheli,  "  show  that 
in  her  youth  she  must  have  been  not  only  good- 
looking,  but  even  handsome ;  —  though  her  coun- 
tenance, when  he   saw  her,  exhibited   traces   of 
early  trouble  and  disease."  ^    But  whatever  she  had 
lost  in  personal  attractions  was  fully  made  up  by 
those  of  the  mind.     She  was  quick  of  apprehen- 
sion,  and,  like  her  younger  sister,  Elizabeth,  was 
mistress  of  several  languages,  three  of  which,  the 
French,  Spanish,  and  Latm,  she  could  speak ;  the 
last  with  fluency.®    But  in  these  accomplishments 


7  "  il  donna  di  statoia  piccola, 
pid  presta  che  mediocre ;  i  di  per- 
sona magra  et  delicata,  dissimile  in 
tutto  al  padre,  che  fd  grande  et 
grosso ;  et  alia  madre,  che  se  non 
era  grande  era  perd  massiccia ;  et 
ben  formata  di  faccia,  per  quel  che 
mostrano  le  fattezze  et  li  linea- 
menti  che  si  veggono  da  i  ritratti, 
quando  era  pi«i  giovane,  non  pur* 


tenuta  honesta,  ma  piii  che  medio- 
cremente  bella;  al  presente  se  li 
scoprono  qualche  crespe,  causate 
piu  da  gli  affanni  che  dall*  eta,  che 
la  mostrano  attempata  di  qualche 
anni  di  piu."    Ibid.  MS. 

8  "  Quanto  se  li  potesse  levare 
delle  bellezze  del  corpo,  tarito  con 
verita,  et  senza  adulatione,  se  li 
pu6  aggiunger*  di  quelle  del  anmio, 


Ch.  m.] 


CHABACTER  OF  MARY. 


81 


she  was  surpassed  by  her  sister,  who  knew  the 
Greek  well,  and  could  speak  Italian  with  ease 
and  elegance.  Mary,  however,  both  spoke  and 
wrote  her  own  language  in  a  plain,  straightfor- 
w^ard  manner,  that  forms  a  contrast  to  the  am- 
biguous phrase  and  cold  conceits  in  which  Eliza- 
beth usually  conveyed,  or  rather  concealed,  her 
sentiments. 

Mary  had  the  misfortune  to  labor  under  a 
chronic  infirmity,  which  confined  her  for  weeks, 
and  indeed  months,  of  every  year  to  her  chamber, 
and  which,  with  her  domestic  troubles,  gave  her 
an  air  of  melancholy,  that  in  later  years  settled 
mto  a  repulsive  austerity.  The  tones  of  her  voice 
were  masculine,  says  the  Venetian,  and  her  eyes 
inspired  a  feeling,  not  merely  of  reverence,  but 
of  fear,  wherever  she  turned  them.  Her  spirit, 
he  adds,  was  lofty  and  magnanimous,  never  dis- 
composed by  danger,  showing  in  all  things  a 
blood  truly  royal.® 


perche  oltra  la  felicita  et  accortez- 
za  del  ingegno,  atto  in  capir  tutto 
quel  che  possa  ciascun  altro,  dico 
fuor  del  sesso  suo,  quel  che  in 
una  donna  parera  maraviglioso,  e 
instrutta  di  cinque  lingue,  le  quali 
non  solo  intende,  ma  quattro  ne 
parla  speditamente  ;  questi  sono 
oltre  la  sua  matema  et  naturale 
iuglese,  la  franzese,  la  spagnola,  et 
I'italiana."    Ibid.  MS. 

9  "  E  in  tuttq  coragiosa,  et  cosi 
resoluta,  che  per  nessiiua  adversity, 
ne  per  nessun  pericolo  nel  qual 

VOL.  I.  11 


si  sia  ritrovata,  non  ha  mai  pur 
mostrato,  non  che  commesso  atto 
alcuno  di  vilt^  ne  di  pusillanimita ; 
ha  sempre  tenuta  una  grandezza 
et  dignitA  mirabile,  cosi  ben  cono- 
scendo  quel  che  si  convenga  al  de- 
coro  del  Re,  come  il  piil  consum- 
mato  consigliero  che  ella  habbia; 
in  tanto  che  dal  procedere,  et  dalle 
maniere  che  ha  tenuto,  et  tiene 
tuttavia,  non  si  pu6  negare,  che 
non  mostri  d'  esser  nata  di  sangoe 
veramente  real."    Ibid.  MS. 


82 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  L 


Her  piety,  he  continues,  and  her  patience  under 
affliction,  cannot  be  too  greatly  admired.  Sus- 
tained,  as  she  was,  by  a  lively  faith  and  conscious 
innocence,  he  compares  her  to  a  light  which  the 
fierce  winds  have  no  power  to  extinguish,  but 
which  still  shines  on  with  increasing  lustre.^^  She 
waited  her  time,  and  was  plainly  reserved  by 
Providence  for  a  great  destiny.  — We  are  read- 
ing the  language  of  the  loyal  Catholic,  grateful  for 
the  services  which  Mary  had  rendered  to  the  faith. 

Yet  it  would  be  uncharitable  not  to  believe  that 
Mary  was  devout,  and  most  earnest  in  her  devotion. 
The  daughter  of  Katharine  of  Aragon,  the  grand- 
daughter  of  Isabella  of  Castile,  could  hardly  have 
been  otherwise.  The  women  of  that  royal  line 
were  uniformly  conspicuous  for  their  piety,  though 
this  was  too  often  tinctured  with  bigotry.  In 
Mary,  bigotry  degenerated  into  fanaticism,  and 
fanaticism  into  the  spirit  of  persecution.  The 
worst  evils  are  probably  those  that  have  flowed 
from  fanaticism.  Yet  the  amount  of  the  mischief 
does  not  necessarily  furnish  us  with  the  measure 
of  guilt  in  the  author  of  it.  The  introduction 
of  the  Inquisition  into  Spain  must  be  mainly 
charged  on  Isabella.     Yet  the  student  of  her  reign 


10  "Delia  qual  humiliUi,  pieta, 
et  religion  sua,  non  occorre  ra- 
gionare,  ne  renderne  testimonio, 
percbe  son  da  tutti  non  solo  co- 
noflciute,  ma  sommamente  predi- 
cate   con     le    prove Fosse 

oome  un  debol  lume  combattuto 


da  gran  venti  per  estinguerlo  del 
tutto,  ma  sempre  tenuto  vivo,  et 
difeso  della  sua  innocentia  et  viva 
fede,  accioche  havesse  a  risplender 
nel  modo  cbe  hora  fa.*'  Ibid. 
MS. 


Ch.  ini 


CHARACTER  OF  MARY. 


83 


will  not  refuse  to  this  great  queen  the  praise  of 
tenderness  of  conscience  and  a  sincere  desire  to  do 
the  right.  Unhappily,  the  faith  in  which  she,  as 
well  as  her  royal  granddaughter,  was  nurtured, 
taught  her  to  place  her  conscience  in  the  keeping 
of  ministers  less  scrupulous  than  herself;  and  on 
those  ministers  may  fairly  rest  much  of  the  re- 
sponsibility of  measures  on  which  they  only  were 
deemed  competent  to  determine. 

Mary's  sincerity  in  her  religious  professions  was 
placed  beyond  a  doubt  by  the  readiness  with  which 
she  submitted  to  the  sacrifice  of  her  personal  inter- 
ests whenever  the  interests  of  religion  seemed  to 
demand  it.  She  burned  her  translation  of  a  por 
tion  of  Erasmus,  prepared  with  great  labor,  at 
the  suggestion  of  her  confessor.  An  author  wiU 
readily  estimate  the  value  of  such  a  sacrifice.  One 
more  important,  and  intelligible  to  all,  was  the 
resolute  manner  in  which  she  persisted  in  re- 
storing the  Church  property  which  had  been  con- 
.fiscated  to  the  use  of  the  crown.  "The  crown 
is  too  much  impoverished  to  admit  of  it,"  remon- 
strated her  ministers.  "I  would  rather  lose  ten 
crowns,"  replied  the  high-minded  queen,  "than 
place  my  soul  in  peril."" 

Yet  it  cannot  be  denied,  that  Mary  had  inherit- 
ed, in  full  measure,  some  of  the  sterner  qualities  of 
her  father,  and  that  she  was  wanting  in  that  sym- 
pathy for  human  suffering  which  is  so  gracefid  in 


^1  Burnet,  History  of  the  Reformation,  (Oxford,  1816,)  vol.  IL  part 
il  p  557. 


84 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  I 


a  woman.  After  a  rebellion,  the  reprisals  were 
terrible.  London  was  converted  into  a  charnel- 
house  ;  and  the  squares  and  principal  streets  were 
garnished  with  the  unsightly  trophies  of  the  heads 
and  limbs  of  numerous  victims  who  had  fallen 
by  the  hand  of  the  executioner.^  This  was  in 
accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the  age.  But  the 
execution  of  the  unfortunate  Lady  Jane  Grey  — 
the  young,  the  beautiful,  and  the  good  — leaves  a 
blot  on  the  fame  of  Mary,  which  finds  no  parallel 
but  in  the  treatment  of  the  ill-fated  queen  of  Scots 

by  Elizabeth. 

Mary's  treatment  of  Elizabeth  has  formed  an- 
other subject  of  reproach,  though  the  grounds  of 
it  are  not  sufficiently  made  out ;  and,  at  all  events, 
many  circumstances  may  be  alleged  in  extenuation 
of  her  conduct.     She  had  seen  her  mother,  the 
noble-minded  Katharme,  exposed  to  the  most  cruel 
mdignities,  and  compelled   to   surrender  her  bed 
and  her  throne  to  an  artful  rival,  the  mother  of 
Elizabeth.     She  had  heard  herself  declared  illegiti-. 
mate,  and  her  right  to  the  succession  set  aside  in 
favor  of  her  younger  sister.     Even  after  her  in- 
trepid conduct  had  secured  to  her  the  crown,  she 
was  still  haunted  by  the  same  gloomy  apparition. 
Elizabeth's  pretensions  were   constantly  brought 
before  the  public ;  and  Mary  might  well  be  alarmed 
by  the  disclosure  of  conspiracy  after  conspiracy, 
the  object  of  which,  it  was  rumored,  was  to  seat 


W  Strype,  Memorials,  (London,  1721,)  vol.  III.  p  98. 


(^H.  m.] 


CHARACTER  OF  MARY. 


^0 


her  sister  on  the  throne.  As  she  advanced  in 
years,  Mary  had  the  further  mortification  of  seeing 
her  rival  gain  on  those  affections  of  the  people 
which  had  grown  cool  to  her.  Was  it  wonderful 
that  she  should  regard  her  sister,  under  these  cir- 
cumstances, with  feelings  of  distrust  and  aversion  ? 
That  she  did  so  regard  her  is  asserted  by  the  Vene- 
tian minister ;  and  it  is  plain  that,  during  the  first 
years  of  Mary's  reign,  Elizabeth's  life  hung  upon  a 
thread.  Yet  Mary  had  strength  of  principle  suffi- 
cient to  resist  the  importunities  of  Charles  the  Fifth 
and  his  ambassador,  to  take  the  life  of  Elizabeth, 
as  a  thing  indispensable  to  her  own  safety  and  that 
of  Philip.  Although  her  sister  was  shown  to  be 
privy,  though  not  openly  accessory,  to  the  grand 
rebellion  under  Wyatt,  Mary  would  not  constrain 
the  law  from  its  course  to  do  her  violence.  This 
was  something,  under  the  existing  circumstances, 
in  an  age  so  unscrupulous.  After  this  storm  had 
passed  over,  Mary,  whatever  restraint  she  imposed 
on  her  real  feelings,  treated  Elizabeth,  for  the  most 
part,  with  a  show  of  kindness,  though  her  name 
still  continued  to  be  mingled,  whether  with  or 
without  cause,  with  more  than  one  treasonable 
plot.^^  Mary's  last  act  —  i>erhaps  the  only  one  in 
which  she  openly  resisted  the  will  of  her  husband 
—  was  to  refuse  to  compel  her  sister  to  accept  the 

13  "  Non  si  scopri  mai  congiura  in  publico  con  ogni  sorte  d*  huma- 

alcuna,  nella    quale,  o    giusta   o  nita  et  d*  honore,  ne  mai  gli  parla, 

inoriustamente,  ella  non  sia  nomi-  se  non  di  cose  piacevole."    Kela- 

nata Ma    la  Regina   sforza  tione  di  Gio.  Micheli,  MS. 

^nando  sono  insieme  di  riceverla 


86 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


IBOOK  I 


hand  of  PhUibert  of  Savoy.  Yet  this  act  would 
have  relieved  her  of  the  presence  of  her  rival; 
and  by  it  Elizabeth  would  have  forfeited  her  inde- 
pendent  possession  of  the  crown,  —  perhaps  the 
possession  of  it  altogether.  It  may  be  doubted 
whether  Elizabeth,  under  similar  circumstances, 
would  have  shown  the  like  tenderness  to  the  inter- 
ests of  her  successor. 

But,  however  we  may  be  disposed  to  extenuate 
the  conduct  of  Mary,  and  in  spiritual  matters,  more 
especially,  to  transfer  the  responsibility  of  her  acts 
from  herself  to  her  advisers,  it  is  not  possible  to 
dwell  on  this  reign  of  religious  persecution  without 
feelings  of  profound  sadness.     Not  that  the  num- 
ber of  \ictims  compares  with  what  is  recorded  of 
many  similar  periods  of  persecution.     The  whole 
amount,  falling  probably  short  of  three  hundred 
who  perished  at  the  stake,  was  less  than  the  num- 
ber who  fell  by  the  hand  of  the  executioner,  or  by 
violence,  during  the  same  length  of  time  under 
Henry  the  Eighth.     It  was  not  much  greater  than 
might  be   sometimes  found   at  a  single  Spanish 
auto  deft.     But  Spain  was  the  land  in  which  this 
might  be  regarded  as  the  national  spectacle,  —  as 
much  so  as  H^^  fiesta  de  toros,  or  any  other  of  the 
popular  exhibitions  of  the  coimtry.     In  England, 
a  few  examples  had  not  sufficed  to  steel  the  hearts 
of  men  against  these  horrors.    The  heroic  company 
of  martyrs,  condemned  to  the  most  agonizing  of 
deaths  for  asserting  the  rights  of  conscience,  was 
a  sight  strange  and  shocking  to  Englishmen.     The 


Ch.  in.]        PHILIP'S  PROPOSALS  OF  MARRIAGE. 


81 


feelings  of  that  day  have  been  perpetuated  to  the 
present.  The  reign  of  religious  persecution  stands 
out  by  itself,  as  something  distinct  from  the  nat- 
ural course  of  events ;  and  the  fires  of  Smithfield 
shed  a  melancholy  radiance  over  this  page  of  the 
national  history,  from  which  the  eye  of  humanity 
turns  away  in  pity  and  disgust.  —  But  it  is  time  to 
take  up  the  narrative  of  events  which  connected 
for  a  brief  space  the  political  interests  of  Spain 
with  those  of  England. 

Charles  the  Fifth  had  always  taken  a  lively  in- 
terest  in  the  fortunes  of  his  royal  kinswoman. 
When  a  young  man  he  had  paid  a  visit  to  Eng- 
land, and  while  there  had  been  induced  by  his 
aunt.  Queen  Katharine,  to  contract  a  marriage 
with  the  Princess  Mary,  —  then  only  six  years  old, 
—  to  be  solemnized  on  her  arriving  at  the  suitable 
age.  But  the  term  was  too  remote  for  the  con- 
stancy of  Charles,  or,  as  it  is  said,  for  the  patience 
of  his  subjects,  who  earnestly  wished  to  see  their 
sovereign  wedded  to  a  princess  who  might  present 
him  with  an  heir  to  the  monarchy.  The  Eng- 
lish match  was,  accordingly,  broken  off,  and  the 
young  emperor  gave  his  hand  to  Isabella  of  Por- 
tugal.^* 

Mary,  who,  since  her  betrothal,  had  been  taught 
to  consider  herself  as  the  future  bride  of  the  em- 

a 

M  Hall,    Chronicle,    (London,  nutted  tlus  portion  of  his  history 

1809,)  pp.  692,  711.  —  SepulvedsB  to  the  revision  of  Cardinal  Pole,  aa 

Opera,  vol.  11.  pp.  46-48.  vre  learn  from  one  of  his  epistle* 

Sepulveda's  account  of  the  reign  to  that  prelate.      Opera,  tcni.  Ill 

Df  Mary  becomes  of  the  more  au-  p.  309. 
thority  from  the  fact  that  he  sub- 


88 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  I 


peror,  was  at  the  time  but  eleven  years  old.  She 
was  old  enough,  however,  to  feel  something  like 
jealousy,  it  is  said,  and  to  show  some  pique  at  this 
desertion  by  her  imperial  lover.  Yet  this  circum- 
stance did  not  prevent  the  most  friendly  relations 
from  subsisting  between  the  parties  in  after  years ; 
and  Charles  continued  to  watch  over  the  interests 
of  his  kinswoman,  and  interposed,  with  good  ef- 
fect, in  her  behalf,  on  more  than  one  occasion,  both 
during  the  reign  of  Henry  the  Eighth  and  of  his 
son,  Edward  the  Sixth.  On  the  death  of  the  latter 
monarch,  he  declared  himself  ready  to  assist  Mary 
in  maintaining  her  right  to  the  succession ;  ^*  and, 
when  this  was  finally  established,  the  wary  em- 
peror took  the  necessary  measures  for  turning  it  to 
his  own  account.^* 


15  Yet  the  emperor  seems  to 
nave  written  in  a  somewhat  differ- 
ent style  to  his  ambassador  at  the 
English  court.  "  Desfaillant  la 
force  pour  donner  assistance  k 
nostre-dicte  cousine  comme  aussy 
vous  scavez  qu'elle  deffault  pour 
rempeschement  que  Ton  nous 
donne  du  coustel  de  France,  nous 
ne  veons  aulcun  apparent  moyen 
pour  assheurer  la  personne  de  no- 
stre-dicte cousine.**  L'Empereur 
k  ses  Ambassadeurs  en  Angleterre, 
11  juiliet,  1553,  Papiers  d*Etat 
de  Granvelle,  torn.  IV.  p.  25. 

'<^  Charles,  in  a  letter  to  his  am- 
bassador in  London,  dated  July 
22,  1553,  after  much  good  counsel 
which  he  was  to  give  Queen  Mary, 
ill  the  emperor's  name,  respecting 
the  government  of  her  kingdom, 


directs  him  to  hint  to  her  that  the 
time  had  come  when  it  would  be 
well  for  the  queen  to  provide  her- 
self with  a  husband,  and  if  his  ad- 
vice could  be  of  any  use  in  the 
affair,  she  was  entirely  welcome  to 
it.  "  Et  aussy  lui  direz-vous  qu'il 
sera  besoin  que  pour  etre  sous- 
tenue  audit  royaulme,  emparee  et 
deffendue,  mesmes  en  choses  que 
ne  sont  de  la  profession  de  dames, 
il  sera  tr^s-requis  que  tost  elle 
prenne  party  de  mariaige  avee  qui 
il  luy  semblcra  estre  plus  convena- 
ble,  tenant  regard  h.  ce  que  dessus ; 
et  que  8*51  lui  plait  nous  faire  part 
avant  que  8*y  determiner,  nous 
ne  fauldrons  de,  avee  la  sinc^rit^ 
de  I'affection  que  lui  portons,  luy 
faire  entendre  liberalement,  sur  ce 
qu'elle  voudra  mettre  en  avant, 


Ch.  ni.]       PIIILIFS  PROPOSALS  OF  MAllRIAGE. 


89 


He  formed  a  scheme  for  uniting  Philip  with 
Mary,  and  thus  securing  to  his  son  the  possession 
of  the  English  crown,  in  the  same  manner  as  that 
of  Scotland  had  been  secured  by  marriage  to  the 
son  of  his  rival,  Henry  the  Second  of  France.  It 
was,  doubtless,  a  great  error  to  attempt  to  bring 
under  one  rule  nations  so  dissimilar  in  every  par- 
ticular, and  having  interests  so  incompatible  as  the 
Spaniards  and  the  English.  Historians  have  re- 
garded it  as  passing  strange,  that  a  prince,  who 
had  had  such  large  experience  of  the  difficulties  at- 
tending the  government  of  kingdoms  remote  from 
each  other,  should  seek  so  to  multiply  these  diffi- 
culties on  the  head  of  his  inexperienced  son.  But 
the  love  of  acquisition  is  a  universal  principle; 
nor  is  it  often  found  that  the  appetite  for  more  is 
abated  by  the  consideration  that  the  party  is  al 
ready  possessed  of  more  than  he  can  manage. 

It  was  a  common  opinion,  that  Mary  intended 
to  bestow  her  hand  on  her  young  and  handsome 
kinsman,  Courtenay,  earl  of  Devonshire,  whom 
she  had  withdrawn  from  the  prison  in  which  he 
had  languished  for  many  years,  and  afterwards 
treated  w^ith  distinguished  favor.  Charles,  aw^are 
of  this,  instructed  Renard,  his  minister  at  the 
court  of  London,  a  crafty,  intriguing  politician,^^ 


nostre  ad  vis,  et  de  I'ayder  et  favo-  ^^  Granvelle,  who  owed  no  good- 
riser  en  ce  qu'elle  se  d^terminera.**  will  to  the  minister  for  the  part 
L'Empereur  k  ses  Ambassadeurs  which  he  afterwards  took  in  the 
en  Angleterre,  22  juiliet,  1553,  troubles  of  Flanders,  frequently 
Ibid.,  p.  56.  puns  on  Renard's  name,  which  he 
VOL.  I.                                    12 


90 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  I 


to  sound  the  queen's  inclinations  on  the  subject, 
but  so  as  not  to  alarm  her.  He  was  to  dwell,  par- 
ticularly, on  the  advantages  Mary  would  derive 
from  a  connection  with  some  powerful  foreign 
prince,  and  to  offer  his  master  s  counsel,  in  this 
or  any  other  matter  in  which  she  might  desire  it. 
The  minister  was  to  approach  the  subject  of  the 
earl  of  Devonshire  with  the  greatest  caution ;  re- 
membering that,  if  the  queen  had  a  fancy  for  her 
cousin,  and  was  like  other  women,  she  would  not 
be  turned  from  it  by  anything  that  he  might  say, 
nor  would  she  readily  forgive  any  reflection  upon 
it.*®  Charles  seems  to  have  been  as  well  read  in 
the  characters  of  women  as  of  men;  and,  as  a  nat- 
ural consequence,  it  may  be  added,  had  formed  a 
high  estimate  of  the  capacity  of  the  sex.  In  proof 
of  which,  he  not  only  repeatedly  committed  the 
government  of  his  states  to  women,  but  intrusted 
them  with  some  of  his  most  delicate  political  ne- 
gotiations. 

Mary,  if  she  had  ever  entertained  the  views 
imputed  to  her  in  respect  to  Courtenay,  must 
have  soon  been  convinced  that  his  frivolous  dis- 


seems  to  have  thought  altogether 
significant  of  his  character. 

18  "Quant  a  Cortenay,  vous 
pourriez  bien  dire,  pour  6viter  au 
propoz  mencionne  en  voz  lettres, 
que  Ton  en  parle,  pour  veoir  ce 
qu'elle  dira;  mais  gardez-vous  de 
luy  tout  desfaire  et  mesmes  qu'elle 
n'aye  descouvert  plus  avant  son 
intention  ;  car  si  elle  y  avoit  fan- 
tasie,  elle  ne  layroit  (si  elle  est  du 


naturel  des  aultres  femmes)  de 
passer  oultre,  et  si  se  ressentiroit  k 
jamais  de  ce  que  vous  luy  en  pour- 
ries  avoir  dit  Bien  luy  pourri^s- 
vous  toucher  des  commoditez  plus 
grandes  que  pourroit  recepvoir  de 
mariaige  estrangier,  sans  trop  tou- 
cher k  la  personne  oQ  elle  pour- 
roit avoir  affection."  L'Evequo 
d' Arras  k  Renard,  14  aout,  1553, 
Ibid.,  p.  77. 


Ch.  in.]       PHELIT'S  PROPOSALS  OF  MARRIAGE. 


91 


position  would  ill  suit  the  seriousness  of  hers. 
However  this  may  be,  she  was  greatly  pleased 
when  Renard  hinted  at  her  marriage,  —  "laugh- 
ing," says  the  envoy,  "  not  once,  but  several  times, 
and  giving  me  a  significant  look,  which  showed 
that  the  idea  was  very  agreeable  to  her,  plainly  in- 
timating at  the  same  time  that  she  had  no  desire 
to  marry  an  Englishman."  ^^  In  a  subsequent  con- 
versation, when  Renard  ventured  to  suggest  that 
the  prince  of  Spain  was  a  suitable  match,  Mary 
broke  in  upon  him,  saying  that  "she  had  never 
felt  the  smart  of  what  people  called  love,  nor  had 
ever  so  much  as  thought  of  being  married,  until 
Providence  had  raised  her  to  the  throne ;  and  that, 
if  she  now  consented  to  it,  it  would  be  in  opposi- 
tion to  her  own  feelings,  from  a  regard  to  the  public 
good";  but  she  begged  the  envoy  to  assure  the 
emperor  of  her  wish  to  obey  and  to  please  him 
in  everything,  as  she  would  her  own  father ;  inti- 
mating, however,  that  she  could  not  broach  the 
subject  of  her  marriage  to  her  council ;  the  ques- 
tion could  only  be  opened  by  a  communication 
from  him.^ 


W  »*  Quant  je  luy  fiz  Touverture 
de  mariaige,  elle  se  print  k  rire, 
non  une  foys  ains  plusieurs  foys, 
me  regardant  d'un  ceil  signifiant 
Touverture  luy  estre  fort  aggrea- 
ble,  me  donnant  assez  k  cognoistre 
qu'elle  ne  taichoit  ou  d^siroit  ma- 
riaige d'Angleterre.**  Renard  k 
TEveque  d'Arras,  15  aout,  1553, 
Ibid.,  p.  78. 

^  ^^  Et,  sans  attendre  la  fin  de 


ces  propoz,  elle  jura  que  jamais 
elle  n'avoit  senti  esguillon  de  ce 
que  Ton  appelle  amor,  ny  entre  en 
pensement  de  volupte,  et  qu'elle 
n'avoit  jamais  pense  k  mariaige 
sinon  depuys  que  a  pleu  k  Dieu  la 
promovoir  k  la  couronne,  et  que 
celluy  qu'elle  fera  sera  eontre  sa 
propre  affection,  pour  le  respect 
de  la  chose  publiccjue;  qu'elle  se 
tient  toute  assuree  sa  majesty  aura 


92 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  t 


Charles,  who  readily  saw  through  Maiy's  co- 
quetry, no  longer  hesitated  to  prefer  the  suit  of 
Philip.  After  commending  the  queen's  course  in 
regard  to  Gourtenay,  he  presented  to  her  the 
advantages  that  must  arise  from  such  a  foreign 
alliance  as  would  strengthen  her  on  the  throne. 
He  declared,  in  a  tone  of  gallantry  rather  amus- 
ing, that,  if  it  were  not  for  his  age  and  increasing 
infirmities,  he  should  not  hesitate  to  propose  him- 
self as  her  suitor.^^  The  next  best  thing  was  to 
offer  her  the  person  dearest  to  his  heart,  —  his 
son,  the  prince  of  Asturias.  He  concluded  by 
deprecating  the  idea  that  any  recommendation  of 
his  should  interfere,  in  the  least  degree,  with  the 
exercise  of  her  better  judgment.^ 


oonsideratlon  k  ce  qu'elle  m*a  diet 
et  qu*elle  desire  I'ob^ir  et  com- 
plaire  en  tout  et  par  tout  comme 
son  propre  p^re ;  qu*elle  n'oseroit 
entrer  en  propoz  de  mariaige  avec 
ceulx  de  son  conseil,  que  fault,  le 
cas  advenant,  que  vienne  de  la 
meute  de  sa  majesty.**  Renard  k 
riveque  d'An^,  8  septembre, 
1558,  Ibid.,  p.  98. 

^  "  Vous  la  pourrez  asseurer 
qae,  n  nous  estions  en  eaige  et  dis- 
position telle  qu'il  conviendroit,  et 
que  jugissions  que  de  ce  peut  re- 
donder  le  bien  de  ses  affaires,  nous 
ne  Tooldrions  cboTsir  aoltre  party 
en  ce  monde  plus  tost  que  de  nous 
alier  nous-meames  avec  elle,  et 
leroit  bien  celle  que  nous  pourroit 
donner  austant  de  satisfaction." 
L*£mpereur  k  Renard,  20  septen.- 
bie,  1553,  Ibid.,  p.  112. ' 


«  Ibid.,  pp.  108-116. 

Simon  Renard,  the  imperial  am- 
bassador at  this  time  at  the  Eng- 
lish court,  was  a  native  of  Tranche 
Comte,  and  held  the  office  of 
maitre  aux  requites  in  the  house- 
hold of  the  emperor.  Renard, 
though  a  man  of  a  factious  turn, 
was  what  Granvelle's  correspond- 
ent, Morillon,  calls  *'  un  bon  poli- 
tique f**  and  in  many  respects  well 
suited  to  the  mission  on  which  he 
was  employed.  His  correspond- 
ence is  of  infinite  value,  as  show- 
ing the  Spanish  moves  in  this  com- 
plicated game,  which  ended  in  the 
marriage  of  Mary  with  the  heir  of 
the  Castilian  monarchy.  It  is  pre- 
served in  the  archives  of  Brussels. 
Copies  of'  these  MSS.,  amounting 
to  five  volumes  folio,  were  to  be 
Urnnd  in  the  collection  of  Cardinal 


Ou.  m.]        PHILIP'S  PROPOSALS  OF  MARRLA.GJ:. 


93 


Renard  was  further  to  intimate  to  the  queen  the 
importance  of  secrecy  in  regard  to  this  negotiation. 
If  she  were  disinclined  to  the  proposed  match,  it 
would  be  obviously  of  no  advantage  to  give  it 
publicity.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  as  the  emperor 
had  little  doubt,  she  looked  on  it  favorably,  but 
desired  to  advise  with  her  council  before  deciding, 
Kenard  was  to  dissuade  her  from  the  latter  step, 
and  advise  her  to  confide  in  him.^  The  wary 
emperor  had  a  twofold  motive  for  these  instruc- 
tions. There  was  a  negotiation  on  foot  at  this 
very  time  for  a  marriage  of  Philip  to  the  infanta 
of  Portugal,  and  Charles  wished  to  be  entirely 
assured  of  Mary's  acquiescence,  before  giving  such 
publicity  to  the  affair  as  might  defeat  the  Portu- 


Granvelle  at  Besan^on.  A  part 
of  them  was  lent  to  Griffet  for 
the  compilation  of  his  "  Nouveaux 
Eclaircissemens  sur  I'Histoire  de 
Iklarie  Reine  d'Angleterre.*'  Un- 
fortunately, Griffet  omitted  to  re- 
store the  MSS. ;  and  an  hiatus  is 
thus  occasioned  in  the  series  of  the 
Renard  correspondence  embraced 
in  the  Granvelle  Papers  now  in 
process  of  publication  by  the  French 
government.  It  were  to  be  wished 
that  this  hiatus  had  been  supplied 
from  the  originals,  in  the  archives 
of  Brussels.  Mr.  Tytler  has  done 
good  service  by  giving  to  the  world 
a  selection  from  the  latter  part  of 
Renard's  correspondence,  which 
had  been  transcribed  by  order  of 
the  Record  Conunission  from  the 
MSS.  in  Brussels. 


23  "  Car  si,  quant  k  soy,  il  luy 
semble  estre  chose  que  ne  luy  con- 
vint  ou  ne  flit  faisable,  il  ne  seroit 
Il  propoz,  comme  elle  I'entend  tres- 
bien,  d'en  fsdre  d^claracion  k  qui 
que  ce  soit ;  mais,  en  cas  aussi 
qu'elle  jugea  le  party  luy  estre 
convenable  et  qu'elle  y  print  incli- 
nacion,  si,  k  son  advis,  la  difficult^ 
tumba  sur  les  moyens,  et  que  en 
iceulx  elle  ne  se  peut  r^soldre  sans 
la  participation  d'aulcuns  de  son 
conseil,  vous  la  pourriez  en  ce  cas 
requ6rir  qu'elle  voulsit  prendre  de 
vous  confiance  pour  vous  decLurer 
k  qui  elle  en  vouldroit  tenir  pro- 
poz, et  ce  qu'elle  en  vouldroit  com- 
municquer  et  par  quelz  moyens." 
L'Empereur  k  Renard,  20  septem- 
bre, 1553,  Ibid.,  p.  114. 


94 


ENGLISH  ALLIaVNCE. 


[Book  I 


Ch.  in.]       PHILIP'S  PROPOSALS  OF  MARRIAGE. 


95 


guese  match,  which  would  still  remain  for  Philip, 
should  he  not  succeed  with  the  English  queen.^ 
In  case  Mary  proved  favorable  to  his  son's  suit, 
Charles,  who  knew  the  abhorrence  in  which  for- 
eigners were  held  by  the  English  beyond  all  other 
nations,^  wished  to  gain  time  before  communicat- 
ing with  Mary's  council.  With  some  delay,  he 
had  no  doubt  that  he  had  the  means  of  winning 
over  a  sufficient  number  of  that  body  to  support 
Philip's  pretensions.** 

These  communications  could  not  be  carried  on 
so  secretly  but  that  some  rumor  of  them  reached 
the  ears  of  Mary's  ministers,  and  of  Noailles,  the 
French  ambassador  at    the    court    of   London.*' 


^  The  Spanish  match  seems  to 
have  been  as  distasteful  to  the  Por- 
tuguese as  it  was  to  the  English,  and 
probably  for  much  the  same  rea- 
sons. See  the  letter  of  Granvelle, 
of  August  14,  1553,  Ibid.,  p.  77. 

*  "  Les  estrangiers,  qu*ilz  ab- 
horrissent  plus  que  nulle  aultre 
naeion.**  L'Empereur  k  Renard, 
20  scptembre,  1553,  Ibid.,  p.  113. 

38  "  Et  si  la  difficult^  se  treuvoit 
aux  conseillers  pour  leur  int^retz 
particulier,  commc  plus  ilz  sont  in- 
t^ressez,  il  pourroit  estre  que  Ton 
anroit  meilleur  moyen  de  les  gai- 
gner,  assheurant  ceulx  par  le  moyen 
desquelz  la  chose  se  pourroit  con- 
duyre,  des  principaulx  offices  et 
charges  dudict  royaulme,  voyre  et 
*eur  oifrant  appart  sommes  notables 
de  deniers  ou  accroissance  de  ren- 
tes,  privileges    et   prerogatives." 


UEmpereur  k  Renard,  20  septem- 
bre,  1553,  Ibid.,  p.  113. 

^  In  order  to  carry  on  the  ne- 
gotiation with  greater  secrecy,  Re- 
nard's  colleagues  at  the  English 
court,  who  were  found  to  intermed- 
dle somewhat  unnecessarily  with 
the  business,  were  recalled ;  and 
the  whole  affair  was  intrusted  ex- 
clusively to  that  envoy,  and  to 
Granvelle,  the  bishop  of  Arras, 
who  communicated  to  him  the  views 
of  the  emperor  from  Brussels.  — 
"  Et  s'est  r^solu  tant  plus  Tempe- 
reur  rappeler  voz  collegues,  afin 
que  aulcung  d'iceulx  ne  vous  y 
traversa  ou  bien  empescha,  s'y 
estans  montrez  peu  affectionnez,et 
pour  non  si  bien  entendre  le  courp 
de  ceste  n^gociation,  et  pour  aussi 
que  vous  garderez  mieulx  le  secret 
qu*est  tant  requis  et  ne  se  pourroil 


This  person  was  a  busy  and  unscrupulous  politi- 
cian, who  saw  with  alarm  the  prospect  of  Spain 
strengthening  herself  by  this  alliance  with  Eng- 
land, and  determined,  accordingly,  in  obedience  to 
instructions  from  home,  to  use  every  effort  to  de- 
feat it.  The  queen's  ministers,  with  the  chan- 
cellor, Gardiner,  bishop  of  Winchester,  at  their 
head,  felt  a  similar  repugnance  to  the  Spanish 
match.  The  name  of  the  Spaniards  had  become 
terrible  from  the  remorseless  manner  in  which 
their  wars  had  been  conducted  during  the  present 
reign,  especially  in  the  New  World.  The  ambi- 
tion and  the  widely-extended  dominions  of  Charles 
the  Fifth  made  him  the  most  formidable  sovereign 
in  Europe.  The  English  looked  with  apprehen 
sion  on  so  close  an  alliance  with  a  prince  who  had 
shown  too  little  regard  for  the  liberties  of  his  own 
land  to  make.it  probable  that  he  or  his  son  would 
respect  those  of  another.  Above  all,  they  dreaded 
the  fanaticism  of  the  Spaniards ;  and  the  gloomy 
spectre  of  the  Inquisition  moving  in  their  train 
made  even  the  good  Catholic  shudder  at  the 
thought  of  the  miseries  that  might  ensue  from 
this  ill-omened  union. 

It  was  not  difficult  for  Noailles  and  the  chan- 
cellor to  communicate  their  own  distrust  to  the 
members  of  the  parKament,  then  in  session.  A 
petition  to  the  queen  was  voted  in  the  lower 
house,  in  which  the  commons  preferred  an  humble 

lure,  passant  ceste  negociation  par    ras  k  Renard,  13  septembre,  1553, 
plusieurs  mains."*    L'Eveque  d'Ar-    Ibid.,  p.  103. 


96 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  I 


request  that  she  would  marry  for  the  good  of  the 
realm,  but  besought  her,  at  the  same  time,  not  to 
go  abroad  for  her  husband,  but  to  select  him 
among  her  own  subjects.^ 

Mary's  ministers  did  not  understand  her  char- 
acter so  well  as  Charles  the  Fifth  did,  when  he 
cautioned  his  agent  not  openly  to  thwart  her. 
Opposition  only  fixed  her  more  strongly  in  her 
original  purpose.  In  a  private  interview  with 
Kenard,  she  told  him  that  she  was  apprised  of 
Gardiner's  intrigues,  and  that  Noailles,  too,  was 
doing  the  impossible  to  prevent  her  union  with 
Philip.  "But  I  will  be  a  match  for  them,"  she 
added.  Soon  after,  taking  the  ambassador,  at 
midnight,  into  her  oratory,  she  knelt  before  the 
host,  and,  having  repeated  the  hymn  Veni  Creator^ 
solemnly  pledged  herself  to  take  no  other  man  for 
her  husband  than  the  prince  of  Spain.^ 

This  proceeding  took  place  on  the  thirtieth  of 
October.  On  the  seventeenth  of  the  month  fol- 
lowing, the  commons  waited  on  the  queen  at  her 
palace  of  Whitehall,  to  which  she  was  confined 


*8  "  Pour  la  requerir  et  supplier 
d'esUre  ung  seigneur  de  son  pays 
pour  estre  son  mary,  et  ne  vouloir 
prendre  personnaige  en  mariaige, 
ny  leur  donner  prince  qui  leur 
puisse  commander  aultre  que  de  sa 
nation."  Ambassades  de  Noailles, 
(Leyde,  1763,)  torn.  IL  p.  234. 

29  "  Le  soir  du  30  octobre,  la 
reine  fit  venir  en  sa  chambre,  oik 
etoit  expos^  le  saint  sacrement, 
Tambassadeur  de  Tempereur,   et. 


apres  avoir  dit  le  Veni  creator^  lui 
dit  qu*elle  lui  donnoit  en  face  du- 
dit  sacrement  sa  promesse  d'^pou- 
ser  le  prince  d'Espagne,  laquelle 
elle  ne  changeroit  jamais ;  qu'elle 
avoit  feint  d'etre  malade  les  deux 
jours  precedents,  mais  que  sa  ma- 
ladie  avoit  etd  causee  par  le  travail 
qu'elle  avoit  eu  pour  prendre  cette 
resolution."  MS.  in  the  Belgian 
archives,  cited  by  Mignet,  Charles 
Quint,  p.  78,  note. 


Ch.  in.]        PHILIP'S  PROPOSALS  OP  MARRIAGE. 


97 


by  indisposition,  and  presented  their  address. 
Mary,  instead  of  replying  by  her  chancellor,  as 
was  usual,  answered  them  in  person.  She  told 
them,  that  from  God  she  held  her  crown,  and  that 
to  him  alone  should  she  turn  for  counsel  in  a  mat- 
ter so  important ;  ^  she  had  not  yet  made  up  her 
mind  to  marry;  but  since  they  considered  it  so 
necessary  for  the  weal  of  the  kingdom,  she  would 
take  it  into  consideration.  It  was  a  matter  in 
which  no  one  was  so  much  interested  as  herself. 
But  they  might  be  assured  that,  in  her  choice,  she 
would  have  regard  to  the  happiness  of  her  people, 
full  as  much  as  to  her  own.  The  commons,  who 
had  rarely  the  courage  to  withstand  the  frown 
of  their  Tudor  princes,  professed  themselves  con- 
tented with  this  assurance;  and,  from  this  mo- 
ment, opposition  ceased  from  that  quarter. 

Mary's  arguments  were  reinforced  by  more  con- 
ciliatory, but  not  less  efficacious  persuasives,  in 
the  form  of  gold  crowns,  gold  chains,  and  other 
compliments  of  the  like  nature,  which  were  dis- 
tributed pretty  liberally  by  the  Spanish  ambassa- 
dor among  the  members  of  her  council.^ 

In  the  following  December,  a  solemn  embassy 
left  Brussels,  to  wait  on  Mary  and  tender  her  the 
hand  of  Philip.     It  was  headed  by  Lamoral,  Count 


30  "Qu'elle  tenoit  de  dieu  la 
couronne  de  son  royaulme,  et  que 
en  luy  seul  esperoit  se  conseiller 
de  chose  si  importante."  Ambas- 
sades de  Noailles,  torn.  11.  p.  269. 

31  "  Le  dit  Lieutenant  a  feit  fon- 
TOL.  I.  IS 


dre  quatre  mil  escuz  pour  cluunes, 
et  les  autres  mil  se  repartiront  en 
argent,  comme  Ton  trouvera  mieulx 
con  venir"  Renard,  ap.  Tytler, 
Edward  VI.  and  Mary,  vol.  IL  pb 
325. 


98 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  1 


Egmont,  th3  Flemish  noble  so  distinguished  in 
later  years  by  his  military  achievements,  and  still 
more  by  his  misfortunes.  He  was  attended  by  a 
number  of  Flemish  lords  and  a  splendid  body  of 
retamers.  He  landed  in  Kent,  where  the  rumor 
went  abroad  that  it  was  Philip  himself;  and  so 
general  was  the  detestation  of  the  Spanish  match 
among  the  people,  that  it  might  have  gone  hard 
with  the  envoy,  had  the  mistake  not  been  discov- 
ered. Egmont  sailed  up  the  Thames,  and  went 
ashore  at  Tower  Wharf,  on  the  second  of  January, 
1554.  He  was  received  with  all  honor  by  Lord 
William  Howard  and  several  of  the  great  English 
nobles,  and  escorted  in  much  state  to  Westminster, 
where  his  table  was  supplied  at  the  charge  of  the 
city.  Gardiner  entertained  the  embassy  at  a  sump- 
tuous banquet ;  and  the  next  day  Egmont  and  his 
retinue  proceeded  to  Hampton  Court,  "  where  they 
had  great  cheer,"  says  an  old  chronicler,  "and 
hunted  the  deer,  and  were  so  greedy  of  their  de- 
struction, that  they  gave  them  not  fair  play  foi 
their  lives ;  for,"  as  he  peevishly  complains,  "  thej 
killed  rag  and  tag,  with  hands  and  swords."*^ 

On  the  twelfth,  the  Flemish  count  was  pre- 
sented to  the  queen,  and  tendered  her  proposal* 
of  marriage  in  behalf  of  Prince  Philip.  Mary, 
who  probably  thought  she  had  made  advances 
enough,  now  assumed  a  more  reserved  air.  "It 
was  not  for  a  maiden  queen,"  she  said,  "  thus  pub- 

»  Strype,  Memorials,  vol.  HI.    cles,  (London,  1808,)  vol.  IV.  pp 
pp.  58,  69.— Holinshed,  Chroni-    10,84,41. 


/ 


Ch.  III.] 


MAKBTAGE  ARTICLES. 


99 


L 


licly  to  enter  on  so  delicate  a  subject  as  her  own 
marriage.  This  would  be  better  done  by  her  min- 
isters, to  whom  she  would  refer  him.  But  this 
she  would  have  him  understand,"  she  added,  as 
she  cast  her  eyes  on  the  ring  on  her  finger,  "  her 
realm  was  her  first  husband,  and  none  other 
should  induce  her  to  violate  the  oath  which  she 
had  pledged  at  her  coronation." 

Notwithstanding  this  prudery  of  Mary,  she  had 
already  manifested  such  a  prepossession  for  her 
intended  lord  as  to  attract  the  notice  of  her  cour- 
tiers,  one  of  whom  refers  it  to  the  influence  of 
a  portrait  of  Philip,  of  which  she  had  become 
"greatly  enamored."^  That  such  a  picture  was 
sent  to  her  appears  from  a  letter  of  Philip's  aunt, 
the  regent  of  the  Netherlands,  in  which  she  tells 
the  English  queen  that  she  has  sent  her  a  por- 
trait of  the  prince,  from  the  pencil  of  Titian,  which 
she  was  to  return  so  soon  as  she  was  in  possession 
of  the  living  original.  It  had  been  taken  some 
three  years  before,  she  said,  and  was  esteemed  a 
good  likeness,  though  it  would  be  necessary,  as 
in  the  case  of  other  portraits  by  this  master,  to 
look  at  it  from  a  distance  in  order  to  see  the  re- 
semblance.** 


33  Strype,  (Memorials,  Vol.  HI. 
p.  196,)  who  quotes  a  passage  from 
a  MS.  of  Sir  Thomas  Smith,  the 
application  of  which,  though  the 
queen's  name  is  omitted,  cannot  be 
Viistaken. 

3*  "  Si  est-ce  qu*elle  verra  assez 
^lar  icelle  sa  ressemblance,  la  voy- 


ant  &  son  jour  et  de  loing,  comma 
sont  toutes  poinctures  dudict  Titian 
que  de  pr^s  ne  se  recongnoissent.** 
Marie,  Heine  de  Hongrie,  ^  TAm- 
bassadeur  Renard,  novembre  19, 
1553,  Papiers  d*fitat  de  Granvelle, 
tom.  IV.  p.  150. 
It  may  be  from  a  copy  of  thii 


\ 


100 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE, 


[Book  I 


The  marriage  treaty  was  drawn  up  with  great 
circumspection,  under  the  chancellor's  direction.  It 
will  be  necessary  to  notice  only  the  most  important 
provisions.  It  was  stipulated  that  Philip  should 
respect  the  laws  of  England,  and  leave  every  man 
in  the  full  enjoyment  of  his  rights  and  immunities. 
The  power  of  conferring  titles,  honors,  emolu* 
ments,  and  offices  of  every  description,  was  to  be 
reserved  to  the  queen.  Foreigners  were  to  be 
excluded  from  office.  The  issue  of  the  marriage, 
if  a  son,  was  to  succeed  to  the  English  crown  and 
to  the  Spanish  possessions  in  Burgundy  and  the 
Low  Countries.  But  in  case  of  the  death  of  Don 
Carlos,  Philip's  son,  the  issue  of  the  present  mar- 
riage was  to  receive,  in  addition  to  the  former 
inheritance,  Spain  and  her  dependencies.  The 
queen  was  never  to  leave  her  own  kingdom  with- 
out her  express  desire.  Her  children  were  not  to 
be  taken  out  of  it  without  the  consent  of  the 
nobles.  In  case  of  Mary's  death,  Philip  was  not 
to  claim  the  right  of  taking  part  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  country.  Further,  it  was  provided 
that  Philip  should  not  entangle  the  nation  in  his 
wars  with  France,  but  should  strive  to  maintain 
the  same  amicable  relations  that  now  subsisted 
between  the  two  countries.* 

Such  were  the  cautious  stipulations  of  this 
treaty,  which  had  more  the  aspect  of  a  treaty  for 
defence  against  an  enemy  than  a  marriage  con- 


portrait  that  the   engraving  was       35  See  the   treaty   in  Rymei 
made  which  is  prefixed  to  this  work.    Foedera,  vol.  XV.  p.  8  7  7. 


Ch.  m.] 


MAIIRLA.GE  ARTICLES. 


101 


I 


tract.  The  instrument  was  worded  with  a  care 
that  reflected  credit  on  the  sagacitj^  of  its  framers. 
All  was  done  that  parchment  could  do  to  secure 
the  independence  of  the  crown,  as  well  as  the 
liberties  of  the  people.  "  But  if  the  bond  be  vio- 
lated,"  asked  one  of  the  parliamentary  speakers  on 
the  occasion,  "who  is  there  to  sue  the  bond?" 
Every  reflecting  Englishman  must  have  felt  the 
inefficacy  of  any  guaranty  that  could  be  extorted 
from  Philip,  who,  once  united  to  Mary,  would 
find  little  difficulty  in  persuading  a  fond  and  obe- 
dient wife  to  sanction  his  own  policy,  prejudicial 
though  it  might  be  to  the  true  interests  of  the 
kingdom. 

No  sooner  was  the  marriage  treaty  made  public, 
than  the  popular  discontent,  before  partially  dis- 
closed, showed  itself  openly  throughout  the  coun- 
try. Placards  were  put  up,  lampoons  were  writ- 
ten, reviling  the  queen's  ministers  and  ridiculing 
the  Spaniards ;  ominous  voices  were  heard  from 
old,  dilapidated  buildings,  boding  the  ruin  of  the 
monarchy.  Even  the  children  became  infected 
with  the  passions  of  their  fathers.  Games  were 
played  in  which  the  English  were  represented 
contending  with  the  Spaniards ;  and  in  one  of 
these  an  unlucky  urchin,  who  played  the  part  of 
Philip,  nanrowly  escaped  with  his  life  from  the 
hands  of  his  exasperated  comrades.*^ 

36  "  Par  1^,**  adds  Noailles,  who  enfans  le  logent  au  gibet**    Am- 

tells  the  story,  "  vous  pouvez  veoir  bassades  de  Noailles,  torn.  III.  p. 

comme  le  prince  d'Espagne  sera  le  130. 
Sien  venu  en  ce  pays,  puisque  lea 


102 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  I 


IH 


But  something  more  serious  than  child's  play 
showed  itself,  in  three  several  insurrections  which 
broke  out  in  different  quarters  of  the  kingdom. 
The  most  formidable  of  them  was  the  one  led  by 
Sir  Thomas  Wyatt,  son  of  the  celebrated  poet  of 
that  name.  It  soon  gathered  head,  and  the  num- 
ber of  the  insurgents  was  greatly  augmented  by 
the  accession  of  a  considerable  body  of  the  royal 
forces,  who  deserted  their  colors,  and  joined  the 
rery  men  against  whom  they  had  been  sent.  Thus 
strengthened,  Wyatt  marched  on  London.  All 
there  were  filled  with  consternation,  —  all  but 
their  intrepid  queen,  who  showed  as  much  self- 
possession  and  indifference  to  danger  as  if  it  were 
only  an  ordinary  riot. 

Proceeding  at  once  into  the  city,  she  met  the 
people  at  Guildhall,  and  made  them  a  spirited 
address,  which  has  been  preserved  in  the  pages 
of  Holinshed.  It  concludes  in  the  following  bold 
strain,  containing  an  allusion  to  the  cause  of  the 
difficulties :  —  "  And  certainly,  if  I  did  either  know 
or  think  that  this  marriage  should  either  turn  to 
the  danger  or  loss  of  any  of  you,  my  loving  sub- 
jects, or  to  the  detriment  or  impairing  of  any  part 
or  parcel  of  the  royal  estate  of  this  realm  of  Eng- 
land, I  would  never  consent  thereunto,  neither 
would  I  ever  marry  while  I  lived.  And  on  the 
word  of  a  queen,  I  promise  and  assure  you,  that, 
if  it  shall  not  probably  appear  before  the  nobility 
and  commons,  in  the  high  court  of  parliament, 
that  this  marriage  shall  be  for  the  singular  benefit 


Ch  m.j 


INSURRECTION  IN  ENGLAND. 


105 


and  commodity  of  all  the  whole  realm,  that  then  I 
will  abstaiQ,  not  only  from  this  marriage,  but  also 
from  any  other  whereof  peril  may  ensue  to  this 
most  noble  realm.  Wherefore  now  as  good  and 
faithful  subjects  pluck  up  your  hearts,  and  like 
true  men  stand  fast  with  your  lawful  prince  against 
these  rebels,  both  our  enemies  and  yours,  and  fear 
them  not ;  for  I  assure  you  that  I  fear  them  noth- 
ing at  all!"^  Thfc  courageous  spirit  of  theix 
queen  communicated  itself  to  her  audience^and 
in  a  few  hours  twenty  thousand  citizens  enrolled 
themselves  under  the  royal  banner. 

Meanwhile,  the  rebel  force  continued  its  march, 
and  reports  soon  came  that  Wyatt  was  on  the 
opposite  bank  of  the  Thames ;  then,  that  he 
had  crossed  the  river.  Soon  his  presence  was 
announced  by  the  flight  of  a  good  number  of 
the  royalists,  among  whom  was  Courtenay,  who 
rode  off  before  the  enemy  at  a  speed  that  did  lit- 
tle credit  to  his  valor.  All  was  now  confusion 
again.  The  lords  and  ladies  in  attendance  gath- 
ered round  the  queen  at  Whitehall,  as  if  to  seek 
support  from  her  more  masculine  natui^e.  Her 
ministers  went  down  on  their  knees,  to  implore  her 
to  take  refuge  in  the  Tower,  as  the  only  place  of 
safety.  Mary  smiled  with  contempt  at  the  pusil- 
lanimous proposal,  and  resolved  to  remain  where 
she  was,  and  abide  the  issue. 

37  Holinshed,  vol.  IV.  p.  16.  —    as  given,  at  more  or  less  length,  it 
The  accounts  of  this  insurrection    every  history  of  the  period, 
are  fiuniliar  to  the  English  reader, 


104 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  1 


It  was  no;  long  in  coming.  Wyatt  penetrated 
as  far  as  Ludgate,  with  desperate  courage,  but  was 
not  well  seconded  by  his  followers.  The  few  who 
proved  faithful  were  surrounded  and  overwhelmed 
by  numbers.  Wyatt  was  made  prisoner,  and  the 
whole  rebel  rout  discomfited  and  dispersed.  By 
this  triumph  over  her  enemies,  Mary  was  seated 
more  strongly  than  ever  on  the  throne.  Hence- 
forward the  Spanish  match  did  not  meet  with  op- 
posi0)n  from  the  people,  any  more  than  from  the 
parliament 

Still  the  emperor,  after  this  serious  demonstra- 
tion of  hostility  to  his  son,  felt  a  natural  dis- 
quietude in  regard  to  his  personal  safety,  which 
made  him  desirous  of  obtaining  some  positive 
guaranty  before  trusting  him  among  the  turbulent 
islanders.  He  wrote  to  his  ambassador  to  require 
such  security  from  the  government.  But  no  bet- 
ter could  be  given  than  the  royal  promise  that 
everything  should  be  done  to  insure  the  prince's 
safety.  Renard  was  much  perplexed.  He  felt  the 
responsibility  of  his  own  position.  He  declined  to 
pledge  himself  for  the  quiet  deportment  of  the 
English;  but  he  thought  matters  had  already 
gone  too  far  to  leave  it  in  the  power  of  Spain  to 
recede.  He  wrote,  moreover,  both  to  Charles  and 
to  Philip,  recommending  that  the  prince  should 
not  bring  over  with  him  a  larger  retinue  of 
Spaniards  than  was  necessary,  and  that  the  wives 
of  his  nobles  — for  he  seems  to  have  regarded 
the  sex  as  the  source  of  evil  —  should  not  accom- 


t 


cb.  in.] 


INSURRECTION  IN  ENGLAND. 


105 


pany  them."  Above  all,  he  urged  Philip  and 
his  followers  to  lay  aside  the  Castilian  hauteur^ 
and  to  substitute  the  conciliatory  manners  which 
might  disarm  the  jealousy  of  the  English.® 


38  «  L'on  a  escript  d*Espaigne 
que  plusieurs  sieurs  deliberoient 
amener  leurs  femmes  avec  eulx 
parde^a.  Si  ainsi  est,  vostre  Ma- 
jest^  pourra  preveoir  ung  grand 
desordre  en  ceste  court"  Renard, 
ap.  Tytler,  Edward  VI.  and  Mary, 
vol.  n.  p.  351. 


39  "  SeuUement  sera  requis  que 
les  Espaignolez  qui  suyvront  vostre 
Alteze  comportent  les  fa^ons  de 
faire  des  Angloys,  et  soient  mo- 
destes,  confians  que  vostre  Alteze 
les  iucarassera  par  son  humanity 
costumiere."    Ibid.,  p.  335. 


TOI     L 


u 


CHAPTER   IV. 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 

Biai/s  Betrothal.  —  Joanna  Regent  of  Castile.  —  Philip  embarks  for 
England.  —  His  splendid  Reception.  — Marriage  of  Philip  and  Ma- 
ry.—  Royal  Entertainments.  —  Philip's  Influence.  —  The  Catholic 
Church  restored.  —  Philip's  Departure. 

1554,  1555. 

In  the  month  of  March,  1554,  Count  Egmont 
arrived  in  England,  on  a  second  embassy,  for  the 
purpose  of  exchanging  the  ratifications  of  the 
marriage  treaty.  He  came  in  the  same  state  as 
before,  and  was  received  by  the  queen  in  the  pres- 
ence of  her  council.  The  ceremony  was  conducted 
with  great  solemnity.  Mary,  kneeling  down,  called 
God  to  witness,  that,  in  contracting  this  marriage, 
she  had  been  influenced  by  no  motive  of  a  carnal 
or  worldly  nature,  but  by  the  desire  of  securing 
the  welfare  and  tranquillity  of  the  kingdom.  To 
her  kingdom  her  faith  had  first  been  plighted; 
and  she  hoped  that  Heaven  would  give  her  strength 
to  maintain  inviolate  the  oath  she  had  taken  at 
her  coronation. 

This  she  said  with  so  much  grace,  that  the  by- 
standers, says  Renard,  —  who  was  one  of  them,  — 


Cfl.  IV.J 


^RY'S  BETROTHAL. 


101 


were  all  moved  to  tears.  The  ratifications  were 
then  exchanged,  and  the  oaths  taken,  in  presence 
of  the  host,  by  the  representatives  of  Spain  and 
England ;  when  Mary,  again  kneeling,  called  on 
those  present  to  unite  with  her  in  prayer  to  the 
Almighty,  that  he  would  enable  her  faithfully  to 
keep  the  articles  of  the  treaty,  and  would  make 
her  marriage  a  happy  one. 

Count  Egmont  then  presented  to  the  queen  a 
diamond  ring  which  the  emperor  had  sent  her. 
Mary,  putting  it  on  her  finger,  showed  it  to  the 
company;  "and  assuredly,"  exclaims  the  Spanish 
minister,  "  the  jewel  was  a  precious  one,  and  well 
worthy  of  admiration."  Egmont,  before  depart- 
ing for  Spain,  inquired  of  Mary  whether  she 
would  intrust  him  with  any  message  to  Prince 
Philip.  The  queen  replied,  that  "he  might  ten- 
der to  the  prince  her  most  affectionate  regards,  and 
assure  him  that  she  should  be  always  ready  to  vie 
with  him  in  such  offices  of  kindness  as  became  a 
loving  and  obedient  wife."  When  asked  if  she 
would  write  to  him,  she  answered,  "Not  till  he 
had  begun  the  correspondence."  ^ 

This  lets  us  into  the  knowledge  of  a  little  fact, 
very  significant.  Up  to  this  time  Philip  had  nei- 
ther written,  nor  so  much  as  sent  a  single  token 


1  The  particulars  of  this  inter- 
view are  taken  from  one  of  Re- 
nard's  despatches  to  the  emperor, 
dated  March  8,  1554,  ap.  Tytler, 
England  under  the  Reigns  of  Ed- 
ward VJ.  and  Mary,  (vol.  II.  pp. 


826-329,) — a  work  in  which  the 
author,  by  the  publication  of  origi- 
nal documents,  and  his  own  saga* 
cious  commentary,  has  done  much 
for  the  illustration  of  this  portion 
of  English  history. 


108 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE, 


[Book  I. 


Ch.  IV] 


MARY'S  BETROTHAL. 


109 


of  regard,  to  his  mistress.  All  this  had  been  left 
to  his  father.  Charles  had  arranged  the  marriage, 
had  wooed  the  bride,  had  won  over  her  principal 
advisers,  —  in  short,  bad  done  all  the  courtship. 
Indeed,  the  inclinations  of  Philip,  it  is  said,  had 
taken  another  direction,  and  he  would  have  pre- 
ferred the  hand  of  his  royal  kinswoman,  Mary  of 
Portugal.*  However  this  may  be,  it  is  not  probable 
that  he  felt  any  great  satisfaction  in  the  prospect  of 
being  united  to  a  woman  who  was  eleven  years 
older  than  himself,  and  whose  personal  charms, 
whatever  they  might  once  have  been,  had  long  since 
faded,  under  the  effects  of  disease  and  a  constitu- 
tional melancholy.  But  he  loved  power ;  and  what- 
ever scruples  he  might  have  entertained  on  his  own 
account  were  silenced  before  the  wishes  of  his 
father.*  "Like  another  Isaac,"  exclaims  Sando- 
val, in  admiration  of  his  conduct,  "  he  sacrificed 
himself  on  the  altar  of  filial  duty."*    The  same 


*  Florez,  Reynas  Catholicas,  torn. 
n.  p.  890. 

3  Philip  would  have  preferred 
that  Charles  should  cany  out  his 
original  design,  by  taking  Mary 
for  his  own  wife.  But  he  acqui- 
esced, without  a  murmur,  in  the 
choice  his  father  made  for  him. 
Mignet  quotes  a  passage  from  a 
letter  of  Philip  to  the  emperor  on 
this  subject,  which  shows  him  to 
have  been  a  pattern  of  filial  obe- 
dience. The  letter  is  copied  by 
Gonzales  in  his  unpublished  work, 
Retiro  y  Estancia  de  Carlos  Quinto. 
•- "  Y  que  pues  piensan  proponer 


8U  matnmonio  con  Vuestra  Mage- 
stad,  hallandose  en  disposieion  para 
ello,  esto  seria  lo  mas  acertado. 
Pero  en  caso  que  Vuestra  Mage- 
stad  esta  en  lo  que  me  escribe  y  le 
pareciere  tratar  de  lo  que  k  mi  toca, 
ya  Vuestfa  Magestad  sabe  que,  co- 
mo  tan  obediente  hijo,  no  he  tener 
mas  voluntad  que  la  suya ;  cuanto 
mas  siendo  este  negocio  de  impor- 
tancia  y  calidad  que  es.  Y  asi  me 
ha  parecido  remitirlo  k  Vuestra 
Magestad  para  que  en  todo  haya 
lo  que  le  parecier4,  y  fuere  servi- 
do.**  Mignet,  Charles-Quint,  p.  76. 
4  "  Higo  en  esto  lo  que  un  Isaac 


I 


implicit  deference  which  Philip  showed  his  fathei 
in  this  delicate  matter,  he  afterwards,  under  similar 
circumstances,  received  from  his  own  son. 

After  the  marriage  articles  had  been  ratified, 
Philip  sent  a  present  of  a  magnificent  jewel  to  the 
English  queen,  by  a  Spanish  noble  of  high  rank, 
the  Marquis  de  las  Navas.^  The  marquis,  who 
crossed  from  Biscay  with  a  squadron  of  four  ships, 
landed  at  Plymouth,  and,  as  he  journeyed  towards 
London,  was  met  by  the  young  Lord  Herbert,  son 
of  the  earl  of  Pembroke,  who  conducted  him,  with 
an  escort  of  four  hundred  mounted  gentlemen,  to 
his  family  seat  in  Wiltshire.  "  And  as  they  rode 
together  to  Wilton,"  says  Lord  Edmund  Dudley, 
one  of  the  party,  "  there  were  certain  courses  at 
the  hare,  which  was  so  pleasant  that  the  marquis 
much  delighted  in  finding  the  course  so  readily 
appointed.  As  for  the  marquis's  great  cheer,  as 
'well  that  night  at  supper  as  otherwise  at  his 
breakfast  the  next  day,  surely  it  was  so  abundant, 
that  it  was  not  a  little  marvel  to  consider  that  so 
great  a  preparation  could  be  made  in  so  small  a 

warning Surely  it  was  not  a  little  comfort  to 

my  heart  to  see  all  things  so  honorably  used  for 
the  honor  and  service  of  the  queen's  majesty."® 


dexandose  sacrificar  por  hazer  la 
voluntad  de  su  padre,  y  por  el  bien 
de  la  Iglesia."  Sandoval,  Hist,  de 
Carlos  v.,  torn.  II.  p.  557. 

5  A  single  diamond  in  the  oma^ 
ment  which  Philip  sent  bis  queen 
was   valued   at   eighty  thousand 


crowns. — "Una  joya  que  don  Fi- 
lipe  le  enbiaba,  en  que  avia  un 
diamante  de  valor  de  ochenta  mil 
escudos.**  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segun- 
do,  lib.  I.  cap.  4. 

*  Letter  of  Lord  Edmund  Dud- 
ley to  the  Lords  of  the  Council; 


110 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


fBooK  I. 


Ch.  IV.] 


JOANNA  REGENT  OF  CASTILE. 


Ill 


'/ 


Meanwhile,  Philip  was  making  his  arrangements 
for  leaving  Spain,  and  providing  a  government  for 
the  country  during  his  absence.  It  was  decided 
by  the  emperor  to  intrust  the  regency  to  his  daugh- 
ter, the  Princess  Joanna.  She  was  eight  years 
younger  than  Philip.  About  eighteen  months 
before,  she  had  gone  to  Portugal  as  the  bride  of 
the  heir  of  that  kingdom.  But  the  fair  promise 
afforded  by  this  union  was  blasted  by  the  untimely 
death  of  her  consort,  which  took  place  on  the  sec- 
ond of  January,  1554.  Three  weeks  afterwards, 
the  unhappy  widow  gave  birth  to  a  son,  the  famous 
Don  Sebastian,  whose  Quixotic  adventures  have 
given  him  a  wider  celebrity  than  is  enjoyed  by  many 
a  wiser  sovereign.  After  the  cruel  calamity  which 
had  befallen  her,  it  was  not  without  an  effort  that 
Joanna  resigned  herself  to  her  father's  wishes,  and 
consented  to  enter  on  the  duties  of  public  life.  In 
July,  she  quitted  Lisbon,  —  the  scene  of  early  joys, 
and  of  hopes  for  ever  blighted,  —  and,  amidst  the 
regrets  of  the  whole  court,  returned,  under  a 
princely  escort,  to  Castile.  She  was  received  on 
the  borders  by  the  kmg,  her  brother,  who  con- 
ducted her  to  Valladolid.     Herc  she  was  installed, 


MS.  This  document,  with  other 
MSS.  relating  to  this  period,  was 
kindly  furnished  to  me  by  the  late 
lamented  Mr.  Tytler,  who  copied 
them  from  the  originals  in  the  State 
paper  Office. 

The  young  Lord  Herbert  men- 
tioned in  the  text  became  after- 
Wards  that  earl  of  Pembroke  who 


married,  for  his  second  wife,  the 
celebrated  sister  of  Sir  Philip  Sid- 
ney, to  whom  he  dedicated  the 
"  Arcadia,**  —  less  celebrated,  per- 
haps, from  this  dedication,  than 
from  the  epitaph  on  her  monu- 
ment, by  Ben  Jonson,  in  Saliebury 
Cathedral. 


with  due  solemnity,  in  her  office  of  regent.  A 
council  of  state  was  associated  with  her  in  the 
government.  It  consisted  of  persons  of  the  high- 
est consideration,  with  the  archbishop  of  Seville 
at  their  head.  By  this  body  Joanna  was  to  be 
advised,  and  indeed  to  be  guided  in  all  matters  of 
moment.  Philip,  on  his  departure,  left  his  sister 
an  ample  letter  of  instructions  as  to  the  policy  to 
be  pursued  by  the  administration,  especially  in 
affairs  of  religion.^ 

Joanna  seems  to  have  been  a  woman  of  discre- 
tion and  virtue,  —  qualities  which  belonged  to  the 
females  of  her  line.  She  was  liberal  in  her  bene- 
factions to  convents  and  colleges ;  and  their  clois- 
tered inmates  showed  their  gratitude  by  the  most 
lavish  testimony  to  her  deserts.  She  had  one  rather 
singular  practice.  She  was  in  the  habit  of  drop- 
ping her  veil,  when  giving  audience  to  foreign  am- 
bassadors. To  prevent  all  doubts  as  to  her  personal 
identity,  she  began  the  audience  by  raising  her 
veil,  sajing,  "  Am  I  not  the  princess  ? "  She  then 
again  covered  her  face,  and  the  conference  was  con- 
tinued without  her  further  exposing  her  features. 
"  It  was  not  necessary,"  says  her  biographer,  in  an 
accommodating  spirit,  "  to  have  the  face  uncovered 
in  order  to  hear."'     Perhaps  Joanna  considered 


7  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  bajadores  se  quejaban,  pretextando 

I.  cap.  4.  —  Florez,  Reynas  Catho-  que  no  sabian  si  hablaban  con  la 

licas,  tom.  II.  p.  873.  — Memorial  Princesa;   levantaba  el  manto  al 

ies  Voyages  du  Roi,  MS.  empezar  la  Audiencia,  preguntan- 

«  "  Y  prevenida  de  que  los  Em-  do  ,•  Soi/  la  Princesa  ?  y  en  oyen- 


\ 


112 


EN6USH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  1 


Ch.  IV.]  PHILIP  EMBARKS  FOR  ENGLAND. 


113 


f; 


this  reserve  as  suited  to  the  season  of  her  mourn 
ing,  intending  it  as  a  mark  of  respect  to  the  mem- 
ory of  her  deceased  lord.  In  any  other  view,  we 
might  suspect  that  there  entered  into  her  constitu- 
tion a  vein  of  the  same  madness  which  darkened 
so  large  a  part  of  the  life  of  her  grandmother  and 
namesake,  Joanna  of  Castile. 

Before  leaving  Valladolid,  Philip  formed  a  sep- 
arate establishment  for  his  son,  Don  Carlos,  and 
placed  his  education  under  the  care  of  a  preceptor, 
Luis  de  Vives,  a  scholar  not  to  be  confounded  with 
his  namesake,  the  learned  tutor  of  Mary  of  Eng- 
land. Having  completed  his  arrangements,  Philip 
set  out  for  the  place  of  his  embarkation  in  the  north. 
At  Compostella  he  passed  some  days,  offering  up 
his  devotions  to  the  tutelar  saint  of  Spain,  whose 
shrine,  throughout  the  Middle  Ages,  had  been  the 
most  popular  resort  of  pilgrims  from  the  western 
parts  of  Christendom. 

"VMiUe  at  Compostella,  Philip  subscribed  the 
marriage  treaty,  which  had  been  brought  over 
from  England  by  the  earl  of  Bedford.  He  then 
proceeded  to  Conmna,  where  a  fleet  of  more  than 
a  hundred  sail  was  riding  at  anchor,  in  readi- 
ness to  receive  him.  It  was  commanded  by  the 
admiral  of  Castile,  and  had  on  board,  besides  its 
complement  of  seamen,  four  thousand  of  the  best 

do    responder  que    si ;   volvia  ^  necessitaba  tener  la  cara  descubi- 

echarse  el  velo,  como  que  ya  cessa-  erta."    Florez,  Reynas  Catbolicas, 

bael  inconveniente  de  ignorar  con  torn.  11.  p.  873. 
quien  bablaban,  y  que  para  ver  no 


troops  of  Spain.  On  the  eleventh  of  July,  Philip 
embarked,  with  his  numerous  retinue,  in  which, 
together  with  the  Flemish  Counts  Egmont  and 
Hoorne,  were  to  be  seen  the  dukes  of  Alva  and  Me- 
dina Coeli,  the  prince  of  Eboli, — in  short,  the  flower 
of  the  Castilian  nobility.  They  came  attended  by 
their  wives  and  vassals,  minstrels  and  mummers, 
and  a  host  of  idle  followers,  to  add  to  the  splendor 
of  the  pageant  and  do  honor  to  their  royal  master. 
Yet  the  Spanish  ambassador  at  London  had  ex- 
pressly recommended  to  Philip  that  his  courtiers 
should  leave  their  ladies  at  home,  and  should  come 
in  as  simple  guise  as  possible,  so  as  not  to  arouse 
the  jealousy  of  the  English.* 

After  a  pleasant  run  of  a  few  days,  the  Spanish 
squadron  came  in  sight  of  the  combined  fleets  of 
England  and  Flanders,  under  the  command  of  the 
Lord  Admiral  Howard,  who  was  cruising  in  the 
channel  in  order  to  meet  the  prince  and  convoy 
him  to  the  English  shore.  The  admiral  seems  to 
have  been  a  blimt  sort  of  man,  who  spoke  his  mind 
with  more  candor  than  courtesy.  He  greatly  of- 
fended the  Flemings  by  comparing  their  ships  to 
muscle-shells.^^  He  is  even  said  to  have  fired  a 
gun  as  he  approached  Philip's  squadron,  in  order  to 
compel  it  to  lower  its  topsails  in  acknowledgment 


*  Letter  of  Bedford  and  Fitz- 
waters  to  tbe  Council,  ap.  Tytler, 
Edward  VI.  and  Mary,  vol.  II.  p. 
410.  —  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo, 
)ib.  I.  cap.  4,  5.  —  Sepulvedae 
Opera,  voL  II.  pp.  496,  497. 

VOL.  I.  15 


^0  "  II  appelle  les  navlres  de  la 
flotte  de  vostre  Majesty  coquillea 
de  monies,  et  plusieurs  semblables 
particularitez.'*  Letter  of  Renard, 
ap.  Tytler,  Edward  VL  and  Maiy, 
vol.  11.  p.  414. 


i 


114 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  I 


of  the  supremacy  of  the  English  in  the  "  narrow 
seas."  But  this  is  probably  the  patriotic  vaunt  of 
an  English  writer,  since  it  is  scarcely  possible  that 
the  haughty  Spaniard  of  that  day  would  have  inade 
such  a  concession,  and  still  less  so  that  the  British 
commander  would  have  been  so  discourteous  as 
to  exact  it  on  this  occasion. 

On  the  nineteenth  of  July,  the  fleets  came  to 
anchor  in  the  port  of  Southampton.  A  number  of 
barges  were  soon  seen  pushing  off  from  the  shore ; 
one  of  which,  protected  by  a  rich  awning  and 
superbly  lined  with  cloth  of  gold,  was  manned  by 
sailors  whose  dreSs  of  white  and  green  intimated 
the  royal  Hvery.  It  was  the  queen's  barge,  in- 
tended for  Philip;  while  the  other  boats,  all 
gaily  ornamented,  received  his  nobles  and  their 

retinues. 

The  Spanish  prince  was  welcomed,  on  landing,  by 
a  goodly  company  of  English  lords,  assembled  to 
pay  him  their  obeisance.  The  earl  of  Arundel  pre- 
sented  him,  in  the  queen's  name,  with  the  splendid 
insignia  of  the  order  of  the  Garter."  PhUip's 
dress,  as  usual,  was  of  plain  black  velvet,  with  a 
berret  cap,  ornamented,  after  the  fashion  of  the 
time,  with  gold  chains.  By  Mary's  orders,  a 
spirited  Andalusian  jennet  had  been  provided  for 
him,  which  the  prince  instantly  mounted.     He  was 

n  "  L'ordre  de  la  Jareticre,  que  ou  huict  mil  e«cuz,  et  joinctement 

la  Royne  et  les  Chevaliers  ont  con-  fait  feire  plusieurs  riches  habiUe- 

cbdx  luy  donner ;  et  en  a  feit  faire  mens  pour  son  Altese."    Ibid  ,  p. 

la  Royne,  qu'est  estimee  sept  416. 


Ch.  rvr.J  PHILIP'S  SPLENDID  RECEPTION. 


115 


a  good  rider,  and  pleased  the  people  by  his  cour- 
teous  bearing,  and  the  graceful  manner  in  which  he 
managed  his  horse. 

The  royal  procession  then  moved  forward  to  the 
ancient  church  of  the  Holy  Rood,  where  mass  was 
said,  and  thanks  were  offered  up  for  their  pros- 
perous  voyage.  PhQip,  after  this,  repaired  to  the 
quarters  assigned  to  him  during  his  stay  in  the 
town.  They  were  sumptuously  fitted  up,  and  the 
walls  of  the  principal  apartment  hung  with  arras, 
commemorating  the  doings  of  that  royal  polemic, 
Henry  the  Eighth.  Among  other  inscriptions  in 
honor  of  him  might  be  seen  one  proclaiming  him 
"  Head  of  the  Church,"  and  "  Defender  of  the 
Faith  " ;  —  words  which,  as  they  were  probably  in 
Latin,  could  not  have  been  lost  on  the  Spaniards." 

The  news  of  Philip's  landing  was  received  in 
London  with  every  demonstration  of  joy.  Guns 
were  fired,  bells  were  rung,  processions  were  made 
to  the  churches,  bonfires  were  lighted  in  all  the 
principal  streets,  tables  were  spread  in  the  squares, 
laden  with  good  cheer,  and  wine  and  ale  flowed 
freely  as  water  for  all  comers.^^  In  short,  the  city 
gave  itself  up  to  a  general  jubilee,  as  if  it  were 
celebrating  some  victorious  monarch  returned  to 
his  dominions,  and  not  the  man  whose  name  had 

|2  Salazar  de  Mendoza,  Monar-  L  cap.  5.  — Leti,  Vita  di  Filippo 

quia  de  Espafia,  (Madrid,  1770,)  II.,  torn.  L  p.  23L-.  Holinshed^ 

torn  n.  p.  I18.-Ambas8ades  de  vol.   IV.  p.   57.  -  Memorial  des 

Noailles,  torn.  IH.  pp.  288  -  286.  —  Voyages  du  Roi,  MS. 
Sepulved«  Opera,  vol.  H.  p.  498.        13  Strype,  l^emoriab,  rol.  m 

•-Cabrera,  Filipe   Segundo,  lib.  pp.  127,  128. 


116 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  1 


lately  been  the  object  of  such  general  execration. 
Mary  gave  instant  orders  that  the  nobles  of  hei 
court  should  hold  themselves  in  readiness  to  ac- 
company her  to  Winchester,  where  she  was  to  re- 
ceive the  prince ;  and  on  the  twenty-first  of  July 
she  made  her  entry,  in  great  state,  into  that  capi- 
tal, and  established  her  residence  at  the  episcopal 

palace. 

During  the  few  days  that  Philip  stayed  at  South- 
ampton, he  rode  constantly  abroad,  and  showed 
himself  frequently  to  the  people.     The  information 
he  had  received,  before  his  voyage,  of  the  state  of 
public  feeling,  had  suggested   to  him  some  nat- 
ural apprehensions  for  his  safety.     He  seems  to 
have  resolved,  from  the  first,  therefore,  to  adopt 
such  a  condescending,  and  indeed  affable  demean 
or,  as  would  disarm  the  jealousy  of  the  English, 
and  if  possible  conciliate  their  good-will.     In  this 
he  appears  to  have  been  very  successful,  although 
some  of  the  more  haughty  of  the  aristocracy  did 
take  exception  at  his  neglecting  to  raise  his  cap 
to  them.     That  he  should  have  imposed  the  de- 
gree of  restraint  which  he  seems  to  have  done  on 
the  indulgence  of  his  natural  disposition,  is  good 
proof  of  the  strength  of  his  apprehensions.^* 

The  favor  which  Philip  showed  the  English 
gave  umbrage   to  his   own  nobles.      They  were 


H  The  cliange  in  Philip's  man-  speaking,  in  one  of  his  letters,  ol 

ners  seems  to  have  attracted  gen-  the  report  of  it,  as  having  reached 

eral  attention.    We  find  Wotton,  his  ears  in  Paris.    Wotton  to  Sif 

fhe  ambassador  at  the  French  court,  W.  Petre,  August  10,  1554.  MS. 


Ch .  IV.] 


PHILIP'S  SPLENDID  RECEPTION. 


in 


still  more  disgusted  by  the  rigid  interpretation 
of  one  of  the  marriage  articles,  by  which  seme 
hundreds  of  their  attendants  were  prohibited,  as 
foreigners,  from  landing,  or,  after  landing,  were 
compelled  to  reembark,  and  return  to  Spain.^ 
Whenever  Philip  went  abroad  he  was  accompanied 
by  Englishmen.  He  was  served  by  Englishmen  at 
his  meals.  He  breakfasted  and  dined  in  public, — 
a  thing  but  little  to  his  taste.  He  drank  healths, 
after  the  manner  of  the  English,  and  encoui-aged 
his  Spanish  followers  to  imitate  his  example,  as  he 
quaffed  the  strong  ale  of  the  country.^^ 

On  the  twenty-third  of  the  month,  the  earl 
of  Pembroke  arrived,  with  a  brilliant  company  of 
two  hundred  mounted  gentlemen,  to  escort  the 
prince  to  Winchester.  He  was  attended,  more- 
over, by  a  body  of  English  archers,  whose  timics 
of  yellow  cloth,  striped  with  bars  of  red  velvet,  dis- 
played the  gaudy-colored  livery  of  the  house  of 
Aragon.  The  day  was  unpropitious.  The  rain 
fell  heavily,  in  such  torrents  as  might  have  cooled 


*5  According  to  Noailles,  Philip 
forbade  the  Spaniards  to  leave  their 
ships,  on  pain  of  being  hanged 
when  they  set  foot  on  shore.  This 
was  enforcing  the  provisions  of  the 
marriage  treaty  en  rigeur.  "  Apres 
que  ledict  prince  fust  dcscendu,  il 
fict  crier  et  commanda  aux  Espai- 
gnols  que  chascun  se  retirast  en  son 
navire  et  que  sur  la  peyne  d'estre 
pendu,  nul  ne  descendist  a  terre." 
Ambassades  de  Noailles,  torn.  III. 
0.  287. 


w  Leti,  Vita  di  Filippo  H.,  torn. 
L  pp.  231,  232. 

"Lors  il  appella  les  seigneurs 
Espaignols  qui  estoient  pres  de  luy 
et  leur  diet  qu'il  falloit  desormais 
oublier  toutes  les  coustumes  d'Es- 
paigne,  et  vifvre  de  tons  poincts  k 
I'Angloise,  k  quoy  il  voulloit  bien 
commancer  et  leur  monstrer  le 
chemin,  puis  se  fist  apporter  de  la 
biere  de  laquelle  il  beut."  Am- 
bassades de  Noailles,  torn.  III.  p. 
287. 


118 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  I 


the  enthusiasm  of  a  more  ardent  lover  than  Philip. 
But  he  was  too  gallant  a  cavalier  to  be  daunted  by 
the  elements.  The  distance,  not  great  in  itself, 
was  to  be  travelled  on  horseback,  —  the  usual 
mode  of  conveyance  at  a  time  when  roads  were 
scarcely  practicable  for  carriages. 

Philip  and  his  retinue  had  not  proceeded  far, 
when  they  were  encountered  by  a  cavalier,  riding 
at  full  speed,  and  bringing  with  him  a  ring  which 
Mary  had  sent  her  lover,  with  the  request  that 
he  would  not  expose  himself  to  the  weather,  but 
postpone  his  departure  to  the  following  day. 
The  prince,  not  understanding  the  messenger,  who 
spoke  in  English,  and  suspecting  that  it  was  in- 
tended by  Mary  to  warn  him  of  some  danger  in 
his  path,  instantly  drew  up  by  the  road-side,  and 
took  counsel  with  Alva  and  Egmont  as  to  what 
was  to  be  done.  One  of  the  courtiers,  who  per- 
ceived his  embarrassment,  rode  up  and  acquainted 
the  prince  with  the  real  purport  of  the  message. 
Relieved  of  his  alarm,  Philip  no  longer  hesitated, 
but,  with  his  red  felt  cloak  wrapped  closely  about 
him  and  a  broad  beaver  slouched  over  his  eyes, 
manfully  pushed  forward,  in  spite  of  the  tempest. 

As  he  advanced,  his  retinue  received  continual 
accessions  from  the  neighboring  gentry  and  yeo- 
manry, until  it  amounted  to  some  thousands  before 
he  reached  Winchester.  It  was  late  in  the  after- 
noon when  the  cavalcade,  soiled  with  travel  and 
thoroughly  drenched  with  rain,  arrived  before  the 
gates   of  the   city.      The  mayor    and    aldermen 


C«.  IV.]         MARRLA.GE  OF  PHILIP  AND  MARY. 


119 


dressed  in  their  robes  of  scarlet,  came  to  welcome 
the  prince,  and,  presenting  the  keys  of  the  city, 
conducted  him  to  his  quarters. 

That  evening  Philip  had  his  first  interview  with 
Mary.  It  was  private,  and  he  was  taken  to  her 
residence  by  the  chancellor,  Gardiner,  bishop  of 
Winchester.  The  royal  pair  passed  an  hour  or 
more  together;  and,  as  Mary  spoke  the  Castilian 
fluently,  the  interview  must  have  been  spared 
much  of  the  embarrassment  that  would  other- 
wise have  attended  it.^^ 

On  the  following  day  the  parties  met  in  public. 
Philip  was  attended  by  the  principal  persons  of  his 
suite,  of  both  sexes ;  and  as  the  procession,  making 
a  goodly  show,  passed  through  the  streets  on  foot, 
the  minstrelsy  played  before  them  till  they  reached 
the  royal  residence.  The  reception-room  was  the 
great  hall  of  the  palace.  Mary,  stepping  forward 
to  receive  her  betrothed,  saluted  him  with  a  loving 
kiss  before  all  the  company.  She  then  conducted 
him  to  a  sort  of  throne,  where  she  took  her  seat 
by  his  side,  under  a  stately  canopy.  They  re- 
mained there  for  an  hour  or  more,  conversing 
together,  while  their  courtiers  had  leisure  to  be- 
come acquainted  with  one  another,  and  to  find 


i^  According  to  Sepulveda,  Riil- 
ip  gave  a  most  liberal  construction 
to  the  English  custom  of  salutation, 
kissing  not  only  his  betrothed,  but 
a11  the  ladies  in  waiting,  matrons 
and  maidens,  without  distinction. 
'^  Intra  ledes  jirogressam  salutans 


Britannico  more  suayiavit;  habi« 
toque  longiore  et  jucundissimo  col* 
loquio,  Philippus  matronas  etiam 
et  Regias  virgines  sigillatim  salutat 
osculaturqut.**  Sepulvedae  Ope* 
ra,  vol.  n.  p.  499. 


120 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  I 


ample  food,  doubtless,  for  future  criticism,  in  the 
peculiarities  of  national  costume  and  manners. 
Notwithstanding  the  Spanish  blood  in  Mary's 
veins,  the  higher  circles  of  Spain  and  England 
had  personally  almost  as  little  intercourse  with 
one  another  at  that  period,  as  England  and  Japan 
have  at  the  present. 

The  ensuing  day,  the  festival  of  St.  James,  the 
patron  saint  of  Spain,  was  the  one  appointed  for 
the  marriage.  Philip  exchanged  his  usual  simple 
dress  for  the  bridal  vestments  provided  for  him  by 
his  mistress.  They  were  of  spotless  white,  as 
the  reporter  is  careful  to  inform  us,  satin  and 
cloth  of  gold,  thickly  powdered  with  pearls  and 
precious  stones.  Round  his  neck  he  wore  the  su- 
perb collar  of  the  Golden  Fleece,  the  famous  Bur- 
gimdian  order;  while  the  brilliant  riband  below 
his  knee  served  as  the  badge  of  the  no  less  illus- 
trious order  of  the  Garter.  He  went  on  foot  to 
the  cathedral,  attended  by  all  his  nobles,  vying 
with  one  another  in  the  ostentatious  splendor  of 
their  retinues. 

Half  an  hour  elapsed  before  Philip  was  joined 
by  the  queen  at  the  entrance  of  the  cathedral. 
Mary  was  surrounded  by  the  lords  and  ladies  of 
her  court.  Her  dress,  of  white  satin  and  cloth  of 
gold,  like  his  own,  was  studded  and  fringed  with 
diamonds  of  inestimable  price,  some  of  them, 
doubtless,  the  gift  of  Philip,  which  he  had  sent 
to  her  by  the  hands  of  the  prince  of  Eboli,  soon 
after  his  landing.      Her  bright-red  slippers,  and 


Ch.  IV.]         MARRIAGE  OF  PHILIP  AND  MARY. 


121 


her  mantle  of  black  velvet,  formed  a  contrast  to 
the  rest  of  her  apparel,  and,  for  a  bridal  costume, 
would  hardly  suit  the  taste  of  the  present  day. 
The  royal  party  then  moved  up  the  nave  of  the 
cathedral,  and  were  received  in  the  choir  by  the 
bishop  of  Winchester,  supported  by  the  great  prel- 
ates of  the  English  Church.  The  greatest  of  all, 
Cranmer,  the  primate  of  all  England,  who  should 
have  performed  the  ceremony,  was  absent,  —  in 
disgrace  and  a  prisoner. 

Philip  and  Mary  took  their  seats  under  a  royal 
canopy,  with  an  altar  between  them.  The  queen 
was  surrounded  by  the  ladies  of  her  court ;  whose 
beauty,  says  an  Italian  writer,  acquired  additional 
lustre  by  contrast  with  the  shadowy  complexions 
of  the  south.^  The  aisles  and  spacious  galleries 
were  crowded  with  spectators  of  every  degree, 
drawn  together  from  the  most  distant  quarters  to 
witness  the  ceremony. 

The  silence  was  broken  by  Figueroa,  one  of  the 
imperial  council,  who  read  aloud  an  instrument  of 
the  emperor,  Charles  the  Fifth.  It  stated  that 
this  marriage  had  been  of  his  own  seeking ;  and 
he  was  desirous  that  his  beloved  son  should  enter 
into  it  in  a  manner  suitable  to  his  own  expecta- 
tions and  the  dignity  of  his  illustrious  consort. 

M  "  Poco  dopo  comparve  ancora  bellezza  del  mondo,  ondc  gli  Spa- 
la  Regina  pomposamente  vestita,  gnoli  servivano  con  il  lore  Oliva- 
rilucendo  da  tutte  le  parti  pretio-  stro,  trJi  tanti  soli,  come  ombre." 
sissime  gemme,  accompagnata  da  Leti,  Vita  di  Filippo  II.,  torn.  L 
tante  e  eosi  belle  Pi-incipesse,  che  p.  232. 
pareva  ivi  ridotta  quasi  tutta  la 

VOL.  I.  16 


122 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  I 


Cb.  IV.] 


BOTAL  ENTERTAINMENTS. 


123 


He  therefore  resigned  to  him  his  entire  right  and 
sovereignty  over  the  kingdom  of  Naples  and  the 
duchy  of  Milan.  The  rank  of  the  parties  would 
thus  be  equal,  and  Mary,  instead  of  giving  her 
hand  to  a  subject,  would  wed  a  sovereign  like 
herself. 

Some  embarrassment  occurred  as  to  the  person 
who  should  give  the  queen  away,  —  a  part  of  the 
ceremony  not  provided  for.  After  a  brief  confer- 
ence, it  was  removed  by  the  marquis  of  Winches- 
ter and  the  earls  of  Pembroke  and  Derby,  who  took 
it  on  themselves  to  give  her  away  in  the  name  of 
the  whole  realm;  at  which  the  multitude  raised 
a  shout  that  made  the  old  walls  of  the  cathedral 
ring  again.  The  marriage  service  was  then  con- 
cluded by  the  bishop  of  Winchester.  Philip  and 
Mary  resumed  their  seats,  and  mass  was  performed, 
when  the  bridegroom,  rising,  gave  his  consort  the 
"kiss  of  peace,"  according  to  the  custom  of  the 
time.  The  whole  ceremony  occupied  nearly  four 
hours.  At  the  close  of  it,  Philip,  taking  Mary 
by  the  hand,  led  her  from  the  church.  The  royal 
couple  were  followed  by  the  long  train  of  prelates 
and  nobles,  and  were  preceded  by  the  earls  of 
Pembroke  and  Derby,  each  bearing  aloft  a  naked 
sword,  the  symbol  of  sovereignty.  The  effect  of 
the  spectacle  was  heightened  by  the  various  cos- 
tumes of  the  two  nations,  —  the  richly  tinted  and 
picturesque  dresses  of  the  Spaniards,  and  the  solid 
magnificence  of  the  English  and  Flemings,  min- 
gling together  in  gay  confusion.     The  glittering 


procession  moved  slowly  on,  to  the  blithe  soimds 
of  festal  music,  while  the  air  was  rent  with  the 
loyal  acclamations  of  the  populace,  delighted,  as 
usual,  with  the  splendor  of  the  pageant. 

In  the  great  hall  of  the  episcopal  palace,  a 
sumptuous  banquet  was  prepared  for  the  whole 
company.  At  one  end  of  the  apartment  was  a 
dais,  on  which,  under  a  superb  canopy,  a  table 
was  set  for  the  king  and  queen ;  and  a  third  seat 
was  added  for  Bishop  Gardiner,  the  only  one  of 
the  great  lords  who  was  admitted  to  the  distinction 
of  dining  with  royalty. 

Below  the  dais,  the  tables  were  set  on  either 
side  through  the  whole  length  of  the  hall,  for  the 
English  and  Spanish  nobles,  all  arranged  —  a  per- 
ilous point  of  etiquette  —  with  due  regard  to  their 
relative  rank.  The  royal  table  was  covered  with 
dishes  of  gold.  A  spacious  beaufet,  rising  to  the 
height  of  eight  stages,  or  shelves,  and  filled  with 
a  profusion  of  gold  and  silver  vessels,  somewhat 
ostentatiously  displayed  the  magnificence  of  the 
prelate,  or  of  his  sovereign.  Yet  this  ostentation 
was  rather  Spanish  than  English;  and  was  one 
of  the  forms  in  which  the  Castilian  grandee  loved 
to  display  his  opulence.^^ 

At  the  bottom  of  the  hall  was  an  orchestra,  oo- 

W  The  sideboard  of  the  duke  of  inventory  of  the  gold  and  silver 

Albuquerque,  who  died  about  the  vessels.     See  Dunlop*s  Memoirs  of 

widdle  of  the  seventewath  century,  Spain  during  the  Reigns  of  Philip 

was  mounted  by  forty  silver  lad-  IV.  and  Charles  II.,  (Edinbui^^ 

ders !  And,  when  he  died,  six  weeks  18&4,)  vol.  I.  p.  384. 
were  occupied  ir  making  out  the 


1^ 


!     '  'I 


III 


124 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  I 


Ch.  IV.] 


EOYAL  ENTERTAINMENTS. 


125 


cupied  by  a  band  of .  excellent  performers,  who 
enlivened  the  repast  by  their  music.  But  the 
most  interesting  part  of  the  show  was  that  of  the 
Winchester  boys,  some  of  whom  were  permitted  to 
enter  the  presence,  and  recite  in  Latin  their  epi- 
thalamiums  in  honor  of  the  royal  nuptials,  for 
which  they  received  a  handsome  guerdon  from  the 

queen. 

After  the  banquet  came  the  ball,  at  which,  if 
we  are  to  take  an  old  English  authority,  "the 
Spaniards  were  greatly  out  of  countenance  when 
they  saw  the  English  so  far  excel  them."^  This 
seems  somewhat  strange,  considering  that  dancing 
is,  and  always  has  been,  the  national  pastime  of 
Spain.  Dancing  is  to  the  Spaniard  what  music  is 
to  the  Italian,  —  the  very  condition  of  his  social 
existence.^  It  did  not  continue  late  on  the  pres- 
ent occasion,  and,  at  the  temperate  hour  of  nine, 
the  bridal  festivities  closed  for  the  evening.^ 


*>  Strype,  Memorials,  vol.  HI. 
p.  130. 

*1  Some  interesting  particulars 
respecting  the  ancient  national  dan- 
ces of  the  Peninsula  are  given  by 
Hcknor,  in  his  History  of  Spanish 
Literature,  (New  York,  1849,)  vol. 
II.  pp.  445-448;  a  writer  who, 
under  the  title  of  a  History  of  Litr 
erature,  has  thrown  a  flood  of  light 
on  the  social  and  political  institu- 
tions of  the  nation,  whose  charac- 
ter he  has  evidently  studied  under 
all  its  aspects. 

>3  *^  Relation  of  what  passed  at 
ike  Celebration  of  the  Marriage  of 


our  Prince  with  the  Most  Serene 
Queen  of  England,**  —  from  the 
original  at  Louvain,  ap.  Tytler, 
Edward  VI.  and  Mary,  vol.  H.  p. 
430.  —  Salazar  de  Mendoza,  Mo- 
narquia  de  Espafia,  torn.  II.  p.  1 1 7. 
—  Sandoval,  Historia  de  Carlos  V., 
torn.  H.  pp.  560-563.  —  Leti,  Vi- 
ta di  Filippo  II.,  torn.  I.  pp.  231  - 
233.  —  SepulvedsB  Opera,  vol.  H. 
p.  600.  —  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segun- 
do,  lib.  I.  cap.  6.  —  Memorial  de 
Voyages,  MS. — Miss  Strickland, 
Lives  of  the  Queens  of  England, 
vol.  V.  pp.  389  -  396. 
To  the  last  writer  I  am  especially 


Philip  and  Mary  passed  a  few  days  in  this 
merry  way  of  life,  at  Winchester,  whence  they 
removed,  with  their  court,  to  Windsor.  Here  a 
chapter  of  the  order  of  the  Garter  was  held,  for 
the  purpose  of  installing  King  Philip.  The  her- 
ald, on  this  occasion,  ventured  to  take  down  the 
arms  of  England,  and  substitute  those  of  Spain,  in 
honor  of  the  new  sovereign,  —  an  act  of  deference 
which  roused  the  indignation  of  the  English  lords, 
who  straightway  compelled  the  functionary  to  re- 
store the  national  escutcheon  to  its  proper  place.^ 

On  the  twenty-eighth  of  August,  Philip  and 
Mary  made  their  public  entry  into  London.  They 
rode  in  on  horseback,  passing  through  the  borough 
of  South wark,  across  London  Bridge.  Every  prep- 
aration was  made  by  the  loyal  citizens  to  give 
them  a  suitable  reception.  The  columns  of  the 
buildings  were  festooned  with  flowers,  triumphal 
arches  spanned  the  streets,  the  walls  were  hung 
with  pictures  or  emblazoned  with  legends  in  com- 
memoration of  the  illustrious  pair,  and  a  geneal- 
ogy was  traced  for  Philip,  setting  forth  his  descent 


indebted  for  several  particulars 
in  the  account  of  processions  and 
pageants  which  occupies  the  pre- 
ceding pages.  Her  information  is 
chiefly  derived  from  two  works,  nei- 
ther of  which  is  in  my  possession ; — 
the  Book  of  Precedents  of  Ralph 
Brook,  York  herald,  and  the  nar- 
rative of  an  Italian,  Baoardo,  an 
eyelntness  of  the  scenes  he  de- 
scribes.    Miss   Strickland's  inter- 


esting volumes  are  particularly  val- 
uable to  the  historian  for  the  copi- 
ous extracts  they  contain  from  cu- 
rious unpublished  documents,  which 
had  escaped  the  notice  of  writers 
too  exclusively  occupied  with  po- 
litical events  to  give  much  heed  to 
details  of  a  domestic  and  personal 
nature. 
«  Holinshed,  vol.  IV.  p.  «2. 


'fi 


1126 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  I 


Ch.  IV  ] 


PHILIFS  INFLUENCE. 


127 


from  John  of  Gaunt,  —  making  him  out,  in  short, 
as  much  of  an  Englishman  as  possible. 

Among  the  paintings  was  one  in  which  Henry 
the  Eighth  was  seen  holding  in  his  hand  a  Bible. 
This  device  gave  great  scandal  to  the  chancellor, 
Gardiner,  who  called  the  painter  sundry  hard 
names,  rating  him  roundly  for  putting  into  King 
Harry's  hand  the  sacred  volume,  which  should 
rather  have  been  given  to  his  daughter,  Queen 
Mary,  for  her  zeal  to  restore  the  primitive  worship 
of  the  Church.  The  unlucky  artist  lost  no  time 
in  repairing  his  error  by  brushing  out  the  offend- 
ing volume,  and  did  it  so  effectually,  that  he 
brushed  out  the  royal  fingers  with  it,  leaving  the 
old  monarch's  mutilated  stump  held  up,  like  some 
poor  mendicant's,  to  excite  the  compassion  of  the 
spectators.^ 

But  the  sight  which,  more  than  all  these  pa- 
geants, gave  joy  to  the  hearts  of  the  Londoners, 
was  an  immense  quantity  of  bullion,  which  Phil- 
ip caused  to  be  paraded  through  the  city  on  its 
way  to  the  Tower,  where  it  was  deposited  in  the 
royal  treasury.  The  quantity  was  said  to  be  so 
great,  that,  on  one  occasion,  the  chests  containing 
it  filled  twenty  carts.  On  another,  two  wagons 
were  so  heavily  laden  with  the  precious  metal  as  to 
require  to  be  drawn  by  nearly  a  hundred  horses.* 


M  Bwd.,  p.  63.  amount  of  gold  and  silver  in  the 

»  The  Spaniards  must  have  been  coffers  of  their  king,  —  a  sight  that 

quite  as  much  astonished  as  the  rarely  rejoiced  the  eyes  of  either 

English  at  the  sight  of  such  an  Charles  or  Philip,  though  lords  of 


The  good  people,  who  had  looked  to  the  coming  of 
the  Spaniards  as  that  of  a  swarm  of  locusts  which 
was  to  consume  their  substance,  were  greatly  pleased 
to  see  their  exhausted  coffers  so  well  replenished 
from  the  American  mines. 

From  London  the  royal  pair  proceeded  to  the 
shady  solitudes  of  Hampton  Court,  and  Philip, 
weary  of  the  mummeries  in  which  he  had  been 
compelled  to  take  part,  availed  himself  of  the  in- 
disposition of  his  wife  to  indulge  in  that  retire- 
ment and  repose  which  were  more  congenial  to  his 
taste.  This  way  of  life  in  his  pleasant  retreat, 
however,  does  not  appear  to  have  been  so  well 
suited  to  the  taste  of  his  English  subjects.  At 
least,  an  old  chronicler  peevishly  complains  that 

"the  hall-door  within  the  court  was  continuallv 

ft 

shut,  so  that  no  man  might  enter  unless  his  errand 
were  first  known ;  which  seemed  strange  to  Eng- 
lishmen that  had  not  been  used*  thereto."  ^ 

Yet  Philip,  although  his  apprehensions  for  his 
safety  had  doubtless  subsided,  was  wise  enough  to 
affect  the  same  conciliatory  manners  as  on  his  first 
landing,  —  and  not  altogether  in  vain.  "  He  dis- 
covered," says  the  Venetian  ambassador,  in  his 
report  to  the  senate,  "none  of  that  sosiego  —  the 
haughty  indifference  of  the  Spaniards  —  which  dis- 
tinguished him  when  he  first  left  home  for  Italy 

the    Indies.     A   hundred  horses  what  heavily,  and  not  the  less  that 

might  well  have  drawn  as  many  only  two  wagons  were  employed 

tonsofgold  and  silver, — an  amount,  to  carry  it. 
eonsidering  the  value  of  money  in        *  Holinshed,  ubi  supra, 
that  day,  that  taxes  our  faith  some- 


r: 


128 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  I 


and  Flanders.^  He  was,  indeed,  as  accessible  aa 
any  one  could  desire,  and  gave  patient  audience 
to  all  who  asked  it.  He  was  solicitous,"  continues 
Micheli,  "  to  instruct  himself  in  affairs,  and  showed 
a  taste  for  application  to  business,"  —  which,  it 
may  be  added,  grew  stronger  with  years.  "He 
spoke  little.  But  his  remarks,  though  brief,  were 
pertinent.  In  short,"  he  concludes,  "  he  is  a  prince 
of  an  excellent  genius,  a  lively  apprehension,  and 
a  judgment  ripe  beyond  his  age." 

Philip's  love  of  business,  however,  was  not  such 
as  to  lead  him  to  take  part  prematurely  in  the 
management  of  affairs.  He  discreetly  left  this  to 
the  queen  and  her  ministers,  to  whose  judgment 
he  affected  to  pay  the  greatest  deference.  He  par- 
ticularly avoided  all  appearance  of  an  attempt  to 
interfere  with  the  administration  of  justice,  unless 
it  were  to  obtain  some  act  of  grace.  Such  inter- 
ference only  served  to  gain  him  the  more  credit 
with  the  people.28 


37  Belataone  di  Gio.  Micheli, 
MS. 

Micbele  Soriano,  who  represent- 
ed Venice  at  Madrid,  in  1559,  bears 
similar  testimony,  in  still  strong- 
er language,  to  Philip's  altered 
deportment  while  in  England. 
"  Essendo  avvertito  prima  dal 
Cardinale  di  Trento,  poi  dalla  Re- 
gina  Maria,  et  con  piik  efficaccia 
dal  padre,  che  quella  riputatione 
et  severity  non  si*  conveniva  a  lui, 
che  dovea  dominar  nationi  varie  et 
popoli  di  costmni  diversi,  si  muto 


in  modo  che  passando  Y  altra  volta 
di  Spagna  per  andar  in  Inghilierra, 
ha  mostrato  sempre  una  dolcezza 
et  humaniti^  cosi  grande  che  non  c 
superato  da  Prencipe  alcuno  in 
questa  parte,  et  bench^  servi  in 
tutte  Tattioni  sue  riputatione  et 
gravity  regie  alle  quali  e  per  natu- 
ra  inclinato  et  per  costume,  non  ^ 
per6  manco  grato  anzi  fano  parerc 
la  cortesia  maggiore  che  S.  M.  usa 
con  tutti."  Relatione  dl  Michelc 
Soriano,  MS. 
^  "  Lasciando  V  essecution  delle 


Ca.  IV  ] 


PHILIP'S  INFLUENCE. 


129 


That  he  gained  largely  on  their  good-will  may 
be  inferred  from  the  casual  remarks  of  more  than 
one  contemporary  writer.  They  bear  emphatic 
testimony  to  the  affability  of  his  manners,  so  little 
to  have  been  expected  from  the  popular  reports 
of  his  character.  "  Among  other  things,"  writes 
Wotton,  the  English  minister  at  the  French .  court, 
"  one  I  have  been  right  glad  to  hear  of  is,  that  the 
king's  highness  useth  himself  so  gently  and  lov- 
ingly to  all  men.  For,  to  tell  you  truth,  I  have 
heard  some  say,  that,  when  he  came  out  of  Spain 
into  Italy,  it  was  by  some  men  wished  that  he  had 
showed  a  somewhat  more  benign  countenance  to 
the  people  than  it  was  said  he  then  did."®  Another 
contemporary,  in  a  private  letter,  written  soon  after 
the  king's  entrance  into  London,  after  describing 
his  person  as  "so  well  proportioned  that  Nature 
cannot  work  a  more  perfect  pattern,"  concludes 
with  commending  him  for  his  "  pregnant  wit  and 
most  gentle  nature."*^ 

Philip,  from  the  hour  of  his  landing,  had  been 
constant  in  all  his  religious  observances.  "He 
was  as  punctual,"  says  Micheli,  "  in  his  attendance 
at  mass,  and  his  observance  of  all  the  forms   of 


cose  di  ^ustitia  alia  Kegina,  et  a  i 
Ministri  quand*  occorre  di  condan- 
nare  alcuno,  o  nella  robba,  o  nella 
vita,  per  poter  poi  usarli  impetran- 
do,  come  fa,  le  gratie,  et  le  mercedi 
tutte ;  le  quai  cose  fanno,  che  quan- 
lo  alia  persona  sua,  non  solo  sia 
ben  volute,  et  amato  da  ciascuno, 
VOL.  I.  17 


ma  anco  desiderato."     Relatione 
di  Gio.  Micheli,  MS. 

29  Letter  of  Nicholas  Wotton 
to  Sir  WUliam  Petre,  MS. 

30  See  the  remarks  of  John  El- 
der, ap.  Tytler,  Edward  VI.  and 
Marj',  vol.  II.  p.  258. 


130 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  1. 


devotion,  as  any  monk ;  —  more  so,  as  some  people 
thought,  than  became  his  age  and  station.  The 
ecclesiastics,"  he  adds,  "with  whom  Philip  had 
constant  intercourse,  talk  loudly  of  his  piety."  ^ 

Yet  there  was  no  hypocrisy  in  this.  However 
willing  PhiUp  may  have  been  that  his  concern  for 
the  interests  of  religion  might  be  seen  of  men,  it  is 
no  less  true  that,  as  far  as  he  understood  these 
interests,  his  concern  was  perfectly  sincere.  The  ac- 
tual state  of  England  may  have  even  operated  as  an 
inducement  with  him  to  overcome  his  scruples  as 
to  the  connection  with  Mary.  "  Better  not  reign  at 
all,"  he  often  remarked,  "  than  reign  over  heretics." 
But  what  triumph  more  glorious  than  that  of  con- 
verting these  heretics,  and  bringing  them  back 
again  into  the  bosom  of  the  Church  1  He  was 
most  anxious  to  prepare  the  minds  of  his  new 
subjects  for  an  honorable  reception  of  the  papal 
legate,  Cardinal  Pole,  who  was  armed  with  full 
authority  to  receive  the  submission  of  England  to 
the  Holy  See.  He  employed  his  personal  influence 
with  the  great  nobles,  and  enforced  it  occasionally 
by  liberal  drafts  on  those  Peruvian  ingots  which  he 
had  sent  to  the  Tower.     At  least,  it  is  asserted  that 


91  "  Nella  religione, per  quel 

the  dair  esterior  si  vcde,  non  si 
potria  giudicar  meglio,  et  piQ  as- 
siduo,  et  attentissimo  alle  Messe,  a 
i  Vesperi,  et  alle  Prediche,  come 
un  religiose,  molto  pii^  che  a  lo 
Btato,  et  et^  sua,  a  molte  pare  che 
•i  convenga.    II  medisimo  confe- 


riscono  deir  intrinseco  oltra  certi 
frati  Theologi  suoi  predicatori  hu- 
oinini  certo  di  stinria,  et  anco  altri 
che  ogni  di  trattauo  con  lui,  che 
nelle  cose  della  conscicntia  non 
desiderano  ni  piii  pia,  n^  miglior 
intentione."  Relatione  di  Gio.  Mi- 
cheli,  MS. 


Ch  IV.] 


PHILIP'S  intllt:nce. 


131 


he  gave  away  yearly  pensions,  to  the  large  amount 
of  between  fifty  and  sixty  thousand  gold  crowns,  to 
sundrj'  of  the  queen's  ministers.  It  was  done  on 
the  general  plea  of  recompensing  their  loyalty  to 
their  mistress." 

Early  in  November,  tidings  arrived  of  the  land- 
ing of  Pole.  He  had  been  detained  some  weeks 
in  Germany,  by  the  emperor,  who  felt  some  dis- 
trust —  not  ill-founded,  as  it  seems  —  of  the  cardi 
nal's  disposition  in  regard  to  the  Spanish  match. 
Now  that  this  difficulty  was  obviated,  he  was 
allowed  to  resume  his  journey.  He  came  up  the 
Thames  in  a  magnificent  barge,  with  a  large  silver 
cross,  the  emblem  of  his  legatine  authority,  dis- 
played on  the  prow.  The  legate,  on  landing,  was 
received  by  the  king,  the  queen,  and  the  whole 
court,  with  a  reverential  deference  which  augured 
well  for  the  success  of  his  mission. 

He  was  the  man,  of  all  others,  best  qualified 
to  execute  it.  To  a  natural  kindness  of  temper 
he  united  an  urbanity  and  a  refinement  of  man- 
ners, derived  from  familiar  intercourse  with  the 
most  polished  society  of  Europe.  His  royal  de- 
scent entitled  him  to  mix  on  terms  of  equality 
with  persons  of  the  highest  rank,  and  made  him 
feel  as  much  at  ease  in  the  court  as  in  the  cloister. 
His  long  exile  had  opened  to  him  an  acquaintance 
with  man  as  he  is  found  in  various  climes,  while, 
as  a  native-bom  Englishman,  he  perfectly  under 


!^ 


Ml 


Ibid. 


132 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  I 


Ch.  IV.]        THE  CATHOLIC  CHLTICH  RESTORED. 


133 


* 


stood  the  prejudices  and  peculiar  temper  of  his 
own  countrymen.  "  Cardinal  Pole,"  says  the  Ve- 
netian minister,  "  is  a  man  of  unblemished  nobility, 
and  so  strict  in  his  integrity,  that  he  grants  noth- 
ing to  the  importunity  of  friends.  He  is  so  much 
beloved,  both  by  prince  and  people,  that  he  may 
well  be  styled  the  king  where  all  is  done  by  his 
authority."  ^  An  English  cardinal  was  not  of  too 
frequent  occurrence  in  the  sacred  coUege.  That 
one  should  have  been  found  at  the  present  jimc- 
ture,  with  personal  qualities,  moreover,  so  well 
suited  to  the  delicate  mission  to  England,  was  a 
coincidence  so  remarkable,  that  Philip  and  Mary 
might  well  be  excused  for  discerning  in  it  the 
finger  of  Providence. 

On  the  seventeenth  of  the  month,  parliament, 
owing  to  the  queen's  indisposition,  met  at  White- 
hall; and  Pole  made  that  celebrated  speech  in 
which  he  recapitulated  some  of  the  leading  events 
of  his  own  life,  and  the  persecutions  he  had  en- 
dured  for  conscience'  sake.  He  reviewed  the 
changes  in  religion  which   had  taken  place  in 


wibid. 

Mason,  the  Englisli  minister  at 
the  imperial  court,  who  had  had 
much  intercourse  with  Pole,  speaks 
of  him  in  terms  of  unqualified  ad- 
miration. "  Such  a  one  as,  for  his 
wisdom,  joined  with  learning,  vir- 
tue, and  godliness,  all  the  world 
seeketh  and  adoreth.  In  whom  it 
is  to  be  thought  that  God  hath 
chosen  a  special  place  of  habita- 


tion. Such  is  his  conversation 
adorned  with  infinite  godly  qual- 
ities, above  the  ordinary  sort  of 
men.  And  whosoever  within  the 
realm  liketh  him  worst,  I  would  he 
might  have  with  him  the  talk  of 
one  half-hour.  It  were  a  right 
stony  heart  that  in  a  small  time 
he  could  not  soften."  Letter  of 
Sir  John  Mason  to  the  QueeU; 
MS. 


England,  and  implored  his  audience  to  abjure  their 
spiritual  errors,  and  to  seek  a  reconciliation  with 
the  Catholic  Church.  He  assured  them  of  his 
plenary  power  to  grant  absolution  for  the  past ; 
and  —  what  was  no  less  important  —  to  authorize 
the  present  proprietors  to  retain  possession  of  the 
abbey  lands  which  had  been  confiscated  under  King 
Henry.  This  last  concession,  which  had  been  ex- 
torted with  difficulty  from  the  pope,  reconciling,  as 
it  did,  temporal  with  spiritual  interests,  seems  to 
have  dispelled  whatever  scruples  yet  lingered  in 
the  breasts  of  the  legislature.  There  were  few, 
probably,  in  that  goodly  company,  whose  zeal 
would  have  aspired  to  the  crown  of  martyrdom. 
The  ensuing  day,  parliament,  in  obedience  to 
the  royal  summons,  again  assembled  at  Whitehall. 
Philip  took  his  seat  on  the  left  of  Mary,  under 
the  same  canopy,  while  Cardinal  Pole  sat  at  a 
greater  distance  on  her  right.**  The  chancellor, 
Gardiner,  then  presented  a  petition  in  the  name 
of  the  lords  and  commons,  praying  for  reconcilia- 
tion with  the  papal  see.  Absolution  was  sol- 
emnly pronounced  by  the  legate,  and  the  whole 
assembly  received  his  benediction  on  their  bended 


34  If  we  are  to  credit  Cabrera, 
Philip  not  only  took  his  seat  in 
parliament,  but  on  one  occasion, 
the  better  to  conciliate  the  good- 
will of  the  legislature  to  the  leg- 
ate, delivered  a  speech,  which  the 
historian  gives  in  extenso.  If  he 
wer  made  the  speech,   it  could 


have  been  understood  only  by  a 
miracle.  For  Philip  could  not 
speak  English,  and  of  his  audience 
not  one  in  a  hundred,  probably, 
could  understand  Spanish.  But  to 
the  Castilian  historian  the  occasion 
might  seem  worthy  of  a  miracle,— 
dignus  vindice  nodus. 


134 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  X 


Ch.  IV.]        THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH  RESTORED. 


135 


knees.  England,  purified  from  her  heresy,  was 
once  more  restored  to  the  communion  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church. 

Philip  instantly  despatched  couriers,  with  the 
glad  tidings,  to  Rome,  Brussels,  and  other  capi- 
tals of  Christendom.  Everywhere  the  event  was 
celebrated  with  public  rejoicings,  as  if  it  had 
been  some  great  victory  over  the  Saracens.  As 
Philip's  zeal  for  the  faith  was  well  known,  and  as 
the  great  change  had  taken  place  soon  after  his 
arrival  in  England,  much  of  the  credit  of  it  was 
ascribed  to  him.*^  Thus,  before  ascending  the 
throne  of  Spain,  he  had  vindicated  his  claim  to  the 
title  of  Catholic,  so  much  prized  by  the  Spanish 
monarchs.  He  had  won  a  triumph  greater  than 
that  which  his  father  had  been  able  to  win,  after 
years  of  war,  over  the  Protestants  of  Germany ; 
greater  than  any  which  had  been  won  by  the  anns 
of  Cortes  or  Pizarro  in  the  New  World.  Their 
contest  had  been  with  the  barbarian ;  the  field  of 
Philip's  labors  was  one  of  the.  most  potent  and 
civilized  countries  of  Europe, 

The  work  of  conversion  was  speedily  followed 
by  that  of  persecution.  To  what  extent  Philip's 
influence  was  exerted  in  this  is  not  manifest.  In- 
deed, from  anything  that  appears,  it  would  not 


»  **  Obraron  de  suerte  Bon  Fe-  encia  de  la  Iglesia  Catolica  Roma- 

lipe  con  prudencia,  agrado,  honras,  na,  y  se  abjuraron  los  eirores  y 

y  mercedes,  y  su  famllia  con  la  heregias  que  corrian  en  aquel  Rey- 

cortesia  natural  de  EspaHa,  que  se  no,**  says  Vanderhammen,  Felip€ 

reduxo  Inglaterra  toda  ^  la  obedi-  el  Prudente,  p.  4. 


be  easy  to  decide  whether  his  influence  was  em 
ployed  to  promote  or  to  prevent  it.  One  fact  is 
certain,  that,  immediately  after  the  first  martyrs 
suffered  at  Smithfield,  Alfonso  de  Castro,  a  Spanish 
friar,  preached  a  sermon  in  which  he  bitterly  in- 
veighed against  these  proceedings.  He  denounced 
them  as  repugnant  to  the  true  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity, which  was  that  of  charity  and  forgiveness, 
and  which  enjoined  its  ministers  not  to  take  ven- 
geance on  the  sinner,  but  to  enlighten  him  as  to 
his  errors,  and  bring  him  to  repentance.^  This 
bold  appeal  had  its  effect,  even  in  that  season  of 
excitement.  For  a  few  weeks  the  arm  of  persecu- 
tion seemed  to  be  palsied.  But  it  was  only  for  a 
few  weeks.  Toleration  was  not  the  virtue  of  the 
sixteenth  century.  The  charitable  doctrines  of  the 
good  friar  fell  on  hearts  withered  by  fanaticism; 
and  the  spirit  of  intolerance  soon  rekindled  the 
fires  of  Smithfield  into  a  fiercer  glow  than  before. 

Yet  men  wondered  at  the  source  whence  these 
strange  doctrines  had  proceeded.  The  friar  was 
Philip's  confessor.  It  was  argued  that  he  would 
not  have  dared  to  speak  thus  boldly,  had  it  not 
been  by  the  command  of  Philip,  or,  at  least,  by  his 
consent.  That  De  Castro  should  have  thus  acted  at 
the  suggestion  of  his  master  is  contradicted  by  the 
whole  tenor  of  Philip's  life.  Hardly  four  years 
elapsed  before  he  countenanced  by  his  presence  an 
auto  de  fe  in  Valladolid,  where  fourteen  persons 

*  Strype,  Memorials,  toI.  IH.  p.  209. 


II 


136 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  I. 


Ch.  IV.] 


PHILIP'S  INFLUENCE. 


137 


perished  at  the  stake  ;  and  the  burning  of  heretics 
in  England  could  have  done  no  greater  violence 
to  his  feelings  than  the  burning  of  heretics  in 
Spain.  K  the  friar  did  indeed  act  in  obedience  to 
Philip,  we  may  well  suspect  that  the  latter  was 
influenced  less  by  motives  of  humanity  than  of 
policy ;  and  that  the  disgust  manifested  by  the 
people  at  the  spectacle  of  these  executions  may 
have  led  him  to  employ  this  expedient  to  relieve 
himself  of  any  share  in  the  odium  which  attached 
to  them.^ 

What  was  the  real  amount  of  Philip's  influence, 
in  this  or  other  matters,  it  is  not  possible  to  deter- 
mine. It  is  clear  that  he  was  careful  not  to  arouse 
the  jealousy  of  the  English  by  any  parade  of  it.® 
One  ob\ious  channel  of  it  lay  in  the  queen,  who 


37  Philip,  in  a  letter  to  the  Re- 
gent Joanna,  dated  Brussels,  1557, 
seems  to  claim  for  himself  the  merit 
of  having  extirpated  heresy  in 
England  by  the  destruction  of  the 
heretics.  '*  Aviendo  apartado  deste 
Beyno  las  sectas,  i  rcduzidole  a  la 
obediencia  de  la  Iglesia,  i  aviendo 
ido  sempre  en  acrecentamiento  con 
el  castigo  de  los  Ereges  tan  sin 
contradiciones  como  se  haze  en 
Inglaterra.**  (Cabrera,  Filipe  Se- 
gundo,  lib.  II.  cap.  6.)  The  em- 
peror, in  a  letter  from  Yuste,  in- 
dorses this  claim  of  his  son  to  the 
full  extent.  **  Pues  en  Ynglaterra 
8e  ban  hecho  y  hacen  tantas  y  tan 
crudas  justicias  hasta  obispos,  por 
la  orden  que  alli  ha  dado,  corao  si 
fiiera  su  Rey  natural,  y  se  lo  per- 


miteri.**  Carta  del  Emperador  a 
la  Princesa,  Mayo  25,  1558,  MS. 

3®  Micheli,  whose  testimony  is  of 
the  more  value,  as  he  was  known 
to  have  joined  Noailles  in  his  op- 
position to  the  Spanish  match,  tells 
us  that  Philip  was  scrupulous  in  his 
observance  of  everv  article  of  the 

m 

marriage  treaty.  "  Che  non  ha- 
vendo  alterato  cosa  alcuna  dello 
stile,  et  forma  del  govemo,  non 
essendo  uscito  un  pelo  della  capi- 
tolatione  del  matrimonio,  ha  in 
tutto  tolta  via  quella  paura  che  da 
principio  fu  grandissima,  che  egli 
non  volesse  con  imperio,  et  con  la 
potentia,  disporre,  et  eomandare 
delle  coee  k  modo  suo.**  Relatione 
di  Gio.  Micheli,  MS. 


seems  to  havie  doated  on  him  with  a  fondness  that 
one  would  hardly  have  thought  a  temper  cold  and 
repulsive,  like  that  of  Philip,  capable  of  exciting. 
But  he  was  young  and  good-looking.  His  man- 
ners had  always  been  found  to  please  the  sex,  even 
where  he  had  not  been  so  solicitous  to  please  as  he 
was  in  England.  He  was  Mary's  first  and  only 
love ;  for  the  emperor  was  too  old  to  have  touched 
aught  but  her  vanity,  and  Courtenay  was  too  frivo- 
lous to  have  excited  any  other  than  a  temporary 
feeling.  This  devotion  to  Philip,  according  to 
some  accounts,  was  ill  requited  by  his  gallantries. 
The  Venetian  ambassador  says  of  him,  that  "he 
well  deserved  the  tenderness  of  his  wife,  for  he 
was  the  most  loving  and  the  best  of  husbands." 
But  it  seems  probable  that  the  Italian,  in  nis  esti- 
mate  of  the  best  of  husbands,  adopted  the  liberal 
standard  of  his  own  country.^ 

About  the  middle  of  November,  parliament  was 
advised  that  the  queen  was  in  a  state  of  preg- 
nancy. The  intelligence  was  received  with  the  joy 
usually  manifested  by  loyal  subjects  on  like  occa- 
sions.    The  emperor  seems  to  have  been  particu- 


^  **D*amor  nasee  I'csser  inamo- 
rata come  ^  et  giustamente  del  ma- 
rito  per  quel  che  s*  ha  potuto  cono- 
scer  nel  tempo  che  i  stata  seco 
dalla  natura  et  modi  suoi,  certo  da 
innamorar  ognuno,  non  che  chi 
havesse  havuto  la  buona  compa- 
gnia  et  il  buon  trattamento  ch*  ell' 
ha  havuto.  Tale  in  verity  che  nes- 
«un'  altro  potrebbe  essergli  stato 

VOL.  I.  18 


nl  migliore  n^  piil  amorevol  ma- 

rito Se  appresso  al  martello 

8*  aggiungesse  la  gelosia,  della  qua! 
fin  hora  non  si  sa  che  patisca,  per- 
che  se  non  ha  il  Re  per  casto,  al- 
manco  dice  ella  so  che  e  libero  dell* 
amor  d'  altra  donna ;  se  fosse  dico 
gelosa,  sarebbe  veramente  misera." 
Relatione  di  Gio.  Mcheli,  MS. 


M 


:r 


136 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  I. 


perished  at  the  stake ;  and  the  burning  of  heretics 
in  England  could  have  done  no  greater  violence 
to  his  feelings  than  the  burning  of  heretics  in 
Spain.  If  the  friar  did  indeed  act  in  obedience  to 
Philip,  we  may  well  suspect  that  the  latter  was 
influenced  less  by  motives  of  humanity  than  of 
policy ;  and  that  the  disgust  manifested  by  the 
people  at  the  spectacle  of  these  executions  may 
have  led  him  to  employ  this  expedient  to  relieve 
himself  of  any  share  in  the  odium  which  attached 
to  them.*^ 

What  was  the  real  amount  of  Philip's  influence, 
in  this  or  other  matters,  it  is  not  possible  to  deter- 
mine. It  is  clear  that  he  was  careful  not  to  arouse 
the  jealousy  of  the  English  by  any  parade  of  it.® 
One  ob\ious  channel  of  it  lay  in  the  queen,  who 


^  Philip,  in  a  letter  to  the  Re- 
gent Joanna,  dated  Brussels,  1557, 
seems  to  claim  for  himself  the  merit 
of  having  extirpated  heresy  in 
England  by  the  destruction  of  the 
heretics.  "  Aviendo  apartado  deste 
Reyno  las  sectas,  i  reduzidole  a  la 
obediencia  de  la  Iglesia,  i  aviendo 
ido  sempre  en  acrecentamiento  con 
el  castigo  de  los  Ereges  tan  sin 
contradiciones  como  se  haze  en 
Inglaterra.'*  (Cabrera,  Filipe  Se- 
gundo,  lib.  II.  cap.  6.)  The  em- 
peror, in  a  letter  from  Yuste,  in- 
dorses this  claim  of  his  son  to  the 
full  extent.  **  Pues  en  Ynglaterra 
se  ban  hecho  y  hacen  tantas  y  tan 
crudas  justicias  hasta  obispos,  por 
la  orden  que  alii  ha  dado,  como  si 
fiiera  su  Rey  natural,  y  se  lo  per- 


miten."     Carta  del  Emperador  a 
la  Princesa,  Mayo  25,  1558,  MS. 

3®  Micheli,  whose  testimony  is  of 
the  more  value,  as  he  was  known 
to  have  joined  Noailles  in  his  op- 
position to  the  Spanish  match,  tells 
us  that  Philip  was  scrupulous  in  his 
observance  of  every  article  of  the 
marriage  treaty.  "  Che  non  ha- 
vendo  alterato  cosa  alcuna  dello 
stile,  et  forma  del  govemo,  non 
essendo  uscito  un  pelo  della  capi- 
tolatione  del  matrimonio,  ha  in 
tutto  tolta  via  quella  paura  che  da 
principio  fu  grandissima,  che  egli 
non  volesse  con  imperio,  et  con  la 
potentia,  disporre,  et  comandare 
delle  cose  k  modo  suo.**  Relatione 
di  Gio.  Micheli,  MS. 


Ch.  IV.] 


PHILIP'S  INFLUENCE. 


137 


seems  to  havie  doated  on  him  with  a  fondness  that 
one  would  hardly  have  thought  a  temper  cold  and 
repulsive,  like  that  of  Philip,  capable  of  exciting. 
But  he  was  young  and  good-looking.     His  man- 
ners had  always  been  found  to  please  the  sex,  even 
where  he  had  not  been  so  solicitous  to  please  as  he 
was  in  England.     He  was  Mary's  first  and  only 
love ;  for  the  emperor  was  too  old  to  have  touched 
aught  but  her  vanity,  and  Courtenay  was  too  frivo- 
lous to  have  excited  any  other  than  a  temporary 
feeling.      This   devotion   to   Philip,   according  to 
some  accounts,  was  ill  requited  by  his  gallantries. 
The  Venetian  ambassador  says  of  him,  that  "  he 
well  deserved  the  tenderness  of  his  wife,  for  he 
was  the  most  loving  and  the  best  of  husbands." 
But  it  seems  probable  that  the  Italian,  in  nis  esti- 
mate  of  the  best  of  husbands,  adopted  the  libei-al 
standard  of  his  own  country.^ 

About  the  middle  of  November,  parliament  was 
advised  that  the  queen  was  in  a  state  of  preg- 
nancy.  The  intelligence  was  received  with  the  joy 
usually  manifested  by  loyal  subjects  on  like  occa- 
sions.     The  emperor  seems  to  have  been  particu- 


38  **D'amor  nasee  I'esser  inamo- 
rata come  d  et  giustamente  del  ma- 
rito  per  quel  che  s*  ha  potuto  cono- 
scer  nel  tempo  che  l  stata  seco 
dalla  natura  et  modi  suoi,  certo  da 
innamorar  ognuno,  non  che  chi 
havesse  havuto  la  buona  compa- 
gnia  et  il  buon  trattamento  ch'  ell* 
ha  havuto.  Tale  in  verity  che  nes- 
lun'  altro  potrebbe  essergli  stato 

VOL.  I.  18 


n^  migliore  n^  piii  amorevol  ma- 

^^ Se  appresso  al  martello 

8*  aggiungesse  la  gelosia,  della  qual 
fin  hora  non  si  sa  che  patisca,  per- 
che  se  non  ha  il  Re  per  casto,  al- 
manco  dice  ella  so  che  e  libero  dell* 
amor  d*  altra  donna ;  se  fosse  dico 
gelosa,  sarebbe  veramente  misera." 
Relatione  di  Gio.  Mcheli,  MS. 


7 


138 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  I 


larly  pleased  with  this  prospect  of  an  heir,  who,  by 
the  terms  of  the  marriage  treaty,  would  make  a 
division  of  that  great  empire  which  it  had  been 
the  object  of  its  master's  life  to  build  up  and  con- 
solidate under  one  sceptre.  The  commons,  soon 
after,  passed  an  act  empowering  Philip,  in  case  it 
should  go  otherwise  than  well  with  the  queen  at 
the  time  of  her  confinement,  to  assume  the  re- 
gency, and  take  charge  of  the  education  of  her 
child  during  its  minority.  The  regency  was  to  be 
limited  by  the  provisions  of  the  marriage  treaty. 
But  the  act  may  be  deemed  evidence  that  Philip 
had  gained  on  the  confidence  of  his  new  subjects. 

The  symptoms  continued  to  be  favorable ;  and, 
as  the  time  approached  for  Mary's  confinement, 
messengers  were  held  in  readiness  to  bear  the  ti- 
dings to  the  different  courts.  The  loyal  wishes  of 
the  people  ran  so  far  ahead  of  reality,  that  the  rumor 
went  abroad  of  the  actual  birth  of  a  prince.  Bells 
were  rung,  bonfires  lighted ;  Te  Deum  was  sung  in 
some  of  the  churches ;  and  one  of  the  preachers 
"  took  upon  him  to  describe  the  proportions  of  the 
child,  how  fair,  how  beautiful  and  great  a  prince  it 
was,  as  the  like  had  not  been  seen ! "  "  But  for 
all  this  great  labor,"  says  the  caustic  chronicler, 
"  for  their  yoong  maister  long  looked  for  coming 
so  surely  into  the  world,  in  the  end  appeared  nei- 
ther yoong  maister  nor  yoong  maistress,  that  any 
man  to  this  day  can  hear  of"  ^ 


4»  Holinshed,  vol.  IV.  pp.  70,  82. 


Ch.  IV.] 


PHILIP'S  INFLUENCE. 


13& 


The   queen's   disorder  proved  to  be  a  dropsy. 
But,  notwithstanding  the  mortifying  results  of  so 
many  prognostics  and  preparations,  and  the  ridi- 
cule  which  attached  to  it,  Mary  stUl  cherished  the 
iUusion  of  one  day  giving  an  heir  to  the  crown. 
Her  husband  did  not  share  in  this  illusion ;  and, 
as  he  became  convinced  that  she  had  no  longer 
prospect  of  issue^  he  found  less  inducement  to  pro- 
ti-act  his  residence  in  a  country  which,  on  many 
accounts,  was  most  distasteful  to  hun.     Whatever 
show  of  deference  might  be  paid  to  him,  his  haugh- 
ty  spirit  could  not  be  pleased  by  the  subordinate 
part  which  he  was  compeUed  to  play,  in  pubUc,  to 
the  queen.     The  parliament  had  never  so  far  ac- 
ceded to  Mary's  wishes  as  to  consent  to  his  corona- 
tion as  king  of  England.     Whatever  weight  he 
may  have  had  in  the  cabinet,  it  had  not  been  such 
as  to  enable  him  to  make  the  politics  of  England 
subservient  to  his  own  interests,  or,  what  was  the 
same  thing,  to  those  of  his  father.     Parliament 
would  not  consent  to  swerve  so  far  from  the  ex- 
press provisions  of  the  marriage  treaty  as  to  become 
a  party  in  the  emperor's  contest  with  France." 

<i  Soriano  notices  the  little  au-  trov6  tent'  impedimenti  et  tente 

thonty  that  Philip  seemed  to  pos-  difficolte  che  mi  ricordo  havere  in- 

sess  in  England,  and  the  disgust  teso  da  un  personaggio  che  S.  Mta. 

which  It  occasioned  both  to  him  si  trova  ogni  giomo  pia  mal  con- 

and  his  father.  tente  d'  haver  atteso  a  quelb  pmt- 

L  Imperatore,  che  dissegnava  tica  perch^  non  haver  nel  re^nio  ne 

sempre  cose  grandi,  pensd  potersi  autoritSi  n^  obedienza,  n^  pure  la 

acquistare  U  regno  con  occasione  corona,  ma  solo  un  certo  nome  che 

dimatnmonio  di  queUa  regina  nel  serviva  piQ  in  apparenza  che  m 

tigUuolo ;  ma  non  gh  successe  quel  effetto.**    Relatione  di  Michele  So- 

che  desiderava,  perche  questo  Re  riano,  MS. 


^1 


/ 


140 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  I 


Nor  could  the  restraint  constantly  imposed  on 
Philip,  by  his  desire  to  accommodate  himself  to 
the  tastes  and  habits  of  the  English,  be  otherwise 
than  irksome  to  him.  If  he  had  been  more  suc- 
cessful in  this  than  might  have  been  expected,  yet 
it  was  not  possible  to  overcome  the  prejudices,  the 
settled  antipathy,  with  which  the  Spaniards  were 
regarded  by  the  great  mass  of  the  people,  as  was 
evident  from  the  satirical  shafts,  which,  from  time 
to  time,  were  launched  by  pamphleteers  and  ballad- 
makers,  both  against  the  king  and  his  followers. 

These  latter  were  even  more  impatient  than  their 
master  of  their  stay  in  a  country  where  they  met 
with  so  many  subjects  of  annoyance.  If  a  Span- 
iard bought  anything,  complains  one  of  the  na- 
tion, he  was  sure  to  be  charged  an  exorbitant 
price  for  it.*^  If  he  had  a  quarrel  with  an  English- 
man, says  another  writer,  he  was  to  be  tried  by 
English  law,  and  was  very  certain  to  come  off  the 
worst*^  Whether  right  or  wrong,  the  Span- 
iards  could  hardly  fail  to  find   abundant  cause 


^  "  Hispani  parum  bnmane  pa- 
nimque  hospitaliter  a  Britannis 
tractabantur,  ita  ut  res  necessarias 
longe  carius  communi  pretio  emere 
cogerentur."  Sepulvedae  Opera, 
voL  II.  p.  501. 

^  "  Quandooccoire  dispareretra 
un  Inglese  et  alcun  di  questi,  la 
giustitia  non  precede  in  quel  modo 

che  dovria. Son  tanti  le  ca- 

villationi,  le  lunghezze,  et  le  spese 
tenza  fine  di  quei  lor*  ^uditii,  che 
%1  torto,  o  al  diritto,  conviene  cb' 


il  forestiero  soccumba ;  ne  bisogna 
pensar  cbe  mai  si  sottomettessero 
r  In^lesi  come  I'altre  nationi  ad  uno 
cbe  chiamano  TAlcalde  della  Corte, 
spagnuole  di  natione,  cbe  precede 
sommariamente  contra  ogn*  uno, 
per  vie  per6,  et  termini  Spagnuoli ; 
bavendo  gl*  Inglesi  la  lor  legge, 
dalla  quale  non  solo  non  si  partiri- 
ano,  ma  vogbano  obligar  a  quelle 
tiitti  gl'  altre."  Relatione  di  Gia 
Micbeli,  MS. 


Ch.  IV.] 


PHILIP'S  DEPARTURE. 


Ul 


of  irritation  and  disgust.  The  two  nations  were 
too  dissimilar  for  either  of  them  to  comprehend  the 
other.  It  was  with  no  little  satisfaction,  therefore, 
that  Philip's  followers  learned  that  their  master 
had  received  a  summons  from  his  father  to  leave 
England,  and  join  him  in  Flanders. 

The  cause  of  this  sudden  inovement  was  one 
that  filled  the  Castilians,  as  it  did  all  Europe,  with 
astonishment,  —  the  proposed  abdication  of  Charles 
the  Fifth.  It  was  one  that  might  seem  to  admit  of 
neither  doubt  nor  delay  on  Philip's  part.  But  Mary, 
distressed  by  the  prospect  of  separation,  prevailed 
on  her  husband  to  postpone  his  departure  for  sev- 
eral weeks.  She  yielded,  at  length,  to  the  necessity 
of  the  case.  Preparations  were  made  for  Philip's 
journey;  and  Mary,  with  a  heavy  heart,  accompanied 
her  royal  consort  down  the  Thames  to  Greenwich. 
Here  they  parted ;  and  Philip,  taking  an  afiection- 
ate  farewell,  and  commending  the  queen  and  her 
concerns  to  the  care  of  Cardinal  Pole,  took  the 
road  to  Dover. 

After  a  short  detention  there  by  contrary  winds, 
he  crossed  over  to  Calais,  and  on  the  fourth  of 
September  made  his  entry  into  that  strong  place, 
the  last  remnant  of  all  their  continental  acquisi- 
tions that  still  belonged  to  the  English. 

Philip  was  received  by  the  authorities  of  the 
city  with  the  honors  due  to  his  mnk.  He  passed 
some  days  there  receiving  the  respectful  courtesies 
of  the  inhabitants,  and,  on  his  departure,  rejoiced 
the  hearts  of  the  garrison  by  distributing  among 


^1 


142 


ENGLISH  ALLIANCE. 


[Book  L 


them  a  thousand  crowns  of  gold.  He  resumed  his 
journey,  with  his  splendid  train  of  Castilian  and 
English  nobles,  among  whom  were  the  earls  of 
Arundel,  Pembroke,  Huntington,  and  others  of  the 
highest  station  in  the  realm.  On  the  road,  he  was 
met  by  a  military  escort  sent  by  his  father ;  and 
towards  the  latter  part  of  September,  1555,  Philip, 
with  his  gallant  retinue,  made  his  entry  into  the 
Flemish  capital,  where  the  emperor  and  his  court 
were  eagerly  awaiting  his  arrival.** 


«  Holinshed,  vol  IV.  p.  80.  — 
Strype,  Memorials,  vol.  III.  p.  227. 
—  Memorial  de  Vojages,  MS.— 


Leti,  Vita  dl  Filippo  II.,  torn.  L  pw 
236. 


CHAPTER    V. 

WAR  WITH  THE  POPE. 

Empire  of  PhUip.  —  Paul  the  Fourth.— Court  of  France.  —  League 
against  Spain.  — The  Duke  of  Alva.— Preparations  for  War- 
Victorious  Campaign. 

1555,  1556. 

Soon  after  Philip's  arrival  in  Brussels  took  place 
that  memorable  scene  of  the  abdication  of  Charles 
the  Fifth,  which  occupies  the  introductory  pages  of 
our  narrative.     By  this  event,  Philip  saw  himself 
master  of  the  most  widely  extended  and  powerful 
monarchy   in   Europe.     He   was   king   of   Spain, 
comprehending  under  that  name  Castile,  Amgon, 
and  Granada,  which,  after  surviving  as  independent 
states  for  centuries,  had  been  first  brought  under  one 
sceptre  in  the  reign  of  his  father,  Charles  the  Fifth. 
He  was  king  of  Naples  and  Sicily,  and  duke  of 
Milan,  which  important  possessions  enabled   him 
to  control,  to  a  great  extent,  the  nicely  balanced 
scales  of  Italian  politics.     He  was  lord  of  Franche 
Comte,  and  of  the  Low  Countries,  comprehending 
the  most  flourishing  and   populous   provinces   in 
Christendom,  whose  people  had  made  the  greatest 
progress  in  commerce,  husbandry,  and  the  various 


* 


144 


WAR  WITH  THE  POPE. 


[Book  I 


Ch.  v.] 


EMPIRE  OF  PHILIP. 


145 


mechanic  arts.  As  titular  king  of  England,  he 
eventually  obtained  an  influence,  which,  as  we  shall 
see,  enabled  him  to  direct  the  counsels  of  that 
country  to  his  own  purposes.  In  Africa  he  pos- 
sessed the  Cape  de  Verd  Islands  and  the  Canaries, 
as  well  as  Tunis,  Oran,  and  some  other  impor- 
tant places  on  the  Barbary  coast.  He  owned  the 
Philippines  and  the  Spice  Islands  in  Asia.  In 
America,  besides  his  possessions  in  the  West  In- 
dies,  he  was  master  of  the  rich  empires  of  Mexico 
and  Peru,  and  claimed  a  right  to  a  boundless  extent 
of  country,  that  ofiered  an  inexhaustible  field  to  the 
cupidity  and  enterprise  of  the  Spanish  adventurer. 
Thus  the  dominions  of  Philip  stretched  over  every 
quarter  of  the  globe.  The  flag  of  Castile  was  seen 
in  the  remotest  latitudes,  —  on  the  Atlantic,  the 
Pacific,  and  the  far-off"  Indian  seas,  —  passing  from 
port  to  port,  and  uniting  by  commercial  intercourse 
the  widely  scattered  members  of  her  vast  colonial 
empire. 

The  Spanish  army  consisted  of  the  most  formi- 
dable infantry  in  Europe ;  veterans  who  had  been 
formed  under  the  eye  of  Charles  the  Fifth  and  of 
his  generals,  who  had  fought  on  the  fields  of  Pa- 
via  and  of  Muhlberg,  or  who,  in  the  New  World, 
had  climbed  the  Andes  with  Almagro  and  Pizarro, 
and  helped  these  bold  chiefs  to  overthrow  the  dy- 
nasty of  the  Incas.  The  navy  of  Spain  and  Flanders 
combined  far  exceeded  that  of  any  other  power  in 
the  number  and  size  of  its  vessels ;  and  if  its  su- 
premacy might  be  contested  by  England  on  the 


"narrow  seas,"  it  rode  the  undisputed  mistress  of 
the  ocean.  To  supply  the  means  for  maintaining 
this  costly  establishment,  as  well  as  the  general 
machinery  of  government,  Philip  had  at  his  com- 
mand the  treasures  of  the  New  World;  and  if  the 
incessant  enterprises  of  his  father  had  drained 
the  exchequer,  it  was  soon  replenished  by  the  silver 
streams  that  flowed  in  from  the  inexhaustible  mines 
of  Zacatecas  and  Potosi. 

All  this  vast  empire,  with  its  magnificent  re- 
sources, was  placed   at   the   disposal  of  a  single 
man.     Philip  ruled  over  it  with  an  authority  more 
absolute   than   that   possessed   by   any   European 
prmce  since  the  days  of  the  Caesars.     The  Nether- 
lands, indeed,  maintained  a  show  of  independence 
under   the   shadow   of  their  ancient  institutions. 
But  they  consented  to  supply  the  necessities  of 
the  crown  by  a  tax  larger  than  the  revenues  of 
America.     Naples  and  Milan  were  ruled  by  Span- 
ish  viceroys.      Viceroys,   with    delegated   powers 
scarcely  less  than  those  of  their  sovereign,  presid- 
ed over  the  American  colonies,  which  received  their 
laws  from  the  parent  country.      In  Spain  itself, 
the  authority  of  the  nobles  was  gone.     First  as- 
sailed under  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  it  was  com- 
pletely broken    down   under  Charles    the   Fifth. 
The  liberties  of  the  commons  were  crushed  at  the 
fatal  battle  of  Villalar,  in  the  beginning  of  that 
monarch's  reign.     Without  nobles,  without  com 
mons,  the  ancient  cortes  had  faded  into  a  mere 
legislative  pageant,  with  hardly  any  other  right 


VOL.  I. 


19 


ll 


146 


WAR  WITH  THE  POPE. 


fBooK  1 


than  that  of  presenting  petitions,  and  of  occasion 
ally  mising  an  ineffectual  note  of  remonstrance 
against  abuses.  It  had  lost  the  power  to  redress 
them.  Thus  all  authority  vested  in  the  sovereign. 
His  will  was  the  law  of  the  land.  From  his  pal- 
ace  at  Madrid  he  sent  forth  the  edicts  which  be- 
came the  law  of  Spain  and  of  her  remotest  colo- 
nies. It  may  well  be  believed  that  foreign  nations 
watched  with  interest  the  first  movements  of  a 
prince  who  seemed  to  hold  in  his  hands  the  des- 
tinies of  Europe ;  and  that  they  regarded  with  no 
little  apprehension  the  growth  of  that  colossal 
power  which  had  already  risen  to  a  height  that 
cast  a  shadow  over  every  other  monarchy. 

From  his  position,  Philip  stood  at  the  head  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  princes.  He  was  in  temporal 
matters  what  the  pope  was  in  spiritual.  In  the 
existing  state  of  Christendom,  he  had  the  same 
interest  as  the  pope  in  putting  down  that  spirit 
of  religious  reform  which  had  begun  to  show  it- 
self, in  public  or  in  private,  in  every  corner  of 
Europe.  He  was  the  natural  ally  of  the  pope.  He 
understood  this  well,  and  would  have  acted  on  it. 
Yet,  strange  to  say,  his  very  first  war,  after  his 
accession,  was  with  the  pope  himself  It  was  a 
war  not  of  Philip's  seeking. 

The  papal  throne  was  at  that  time  filled  by 
Paul  the  Fourth,  one  of  those  remarkable  men, 
who,  amidst  the  shadowy  personages  that  have 
reigned  in  the  Vatican,  and  been  forgotten,  have 
vindicated  to  themselves  a  permanent  place  in  his- 


Ch.  v.] 


PAUL  THE  FOURTH. 


14' 


tory.  He  was  a  Neapolitan  by  birth,  of  the  noble 
family  of  the  Caraffas.  He  was  bred  to  the  re- 
ligious profession,  and  early  attracted  notice  by  his 
diligent  application  and  the  fruits  he  gathered  from 
it  His  memory  was  prodigious.  He  was  not 
only  deeply  read  in  theological  science,  •but  skilled 
in  various  languages,  ancient  and  modem,  several 
of  which  he  spoke  with  fluency.  His  rank,  sus- 
tained by  his  scholarship,  raised  him  speedily  to 
high  preferment  in  the  Church.  In  1513,  when 
thirty-six  years  of  age,  he  went  as  nuncio  to  Eng- 
land. In  1525,  he  resigned  his  benefices,  and, 
with  a  small  number  of  his  noble  friends,  he  insti- 
tuted a  new  religious  order,  called  the  Theatins.^ 
The  object  of  the  society  was,  to  combine,  to  some 
extent,  the  contemplative  habits  of  the  monk  with 
the  more  active  duties  of  the  secular  clergy.  The 
members  visited  the  sick,  buried  the  dead,  and 
preached  frequently  in   public,    thus   performing 


^  Relazione  di  Roma  di  Bernar- 
do Navagero,   1558,  published  in 
Rclazioni  degli  Ambasciatori  Ve 
neti,  Firenze,  1846,  vol.  VII.  p.  378. 

Navagero,  in  his  report  to  the 
senate,  dwells  minutely  on  the  per- 
sonal qualities  as  well  as  the  policy 
of  Paul  the  Fourth,  whose  charac- 
ter seems  to  have  been  regarded 
as  a  curious  study  by  the  sagacious 
Venetian. 

"  R'*^ornato  a  Eoma,  rinuncio  la 
Chiesa  di  Chieti,  che  aveva  prima, 
e  quella  di  Brindisi,  ritirandosi 
affatto,  e  mcnando  sempre  vita  pri- 


vata,  aliena  da  ogni  sorte  di  pub- 
lico affare,  anzi,  iasciata  dopo  il 
saco  Roma  stessa,  passo  a  Verona 
e  poi  a  Venezia,  quivi  trattenen- 
dosi  lungo  tempo  in  compagnia  di 
alcuni  buoni  Religiosi  della  mede- 
sima  inclinazione,  che  poi  crescen- 
do di  numero,  ed  in  santita  di  cos- 
tumi,  fondarono  la  Congregazione, 
che  oggi,  dal  Titolo  che  aveva  Pa- 
olo allora  di  Vescovo  Teatino,  de 
Teatini  tuttavia  ritiene  il  nome.** 

See  also  Relazione  della  Guerra 
fra  Paolo  Quarto  e  Filippo  Secon- 
do,  di  Pietro  Nores,  MS. 


148 


WAR  WITH  THE  POPE. 


[Book  L 


ji 


the  most  important  functions  of  the  priesthood. 
For  this  last  vocation,  of  public  speaking,  Caraffa 
was  peculiarly  qualified  by  a  flow  of  natural  elo- 
quence,  which,  if  it  did  not  always  convince, 
was  sure  to  carry  away  the  audience  by  its  in-e- 
sistible  fervor.*  The  new  order  showed  itself  par- 
ticularly zealous  in  enforcing  reform  in  the  Catho 
lie  clergy,  and  in  stemming  the  tide  of  heresy 
which  now  threatened  to  inundate  the  Church. 
Carafia  and  his  associates  were  earnest  to  intro- 
duce the  Inquisition.  A  life  of  asceticism  and 
penance  too  often  extinguishes  sympathy  with 
human  suffering,  and  leads  its  votaries  to  regard 
the  sharpest  remedies  as  the  most  effectual  for  the 
cm*e  of  spiritual  error. 

From  this  austere  way  of  life  Caraffa  was  called, 
in  1536,  to  a  situation  which  engaged  him  more 
directly  in  worldly  concerns.  He  was  made  car- 
dinal by  Paul  the  Third.  He  had,  as  far  back 
as  the  time  of  Ferdinand  the  C^holic,  been  one 
of  the  royal  council  of  Naples.  The  family  of 
Cai-afFa,  however,  was  of  the  Angevine  party,  and 
regarded  the  house  of  Aragon  in  the  light  of 
usurpers.  The  cardinal  had  been  educated  in 
this  political  creed,  and,  even  after  his  elevation 
to  his  new  dignity,  he  strongly  urged  Paul  the 
Third  to  assert  the  claims  of  the  holy  see  to  the 
sovereignty  of  Naples.  This  conduct,  which  came 
to  the  ears  of  Charles  the  Fifth,  so  disj^leased  that 


•  Relazione  di  Bernardo  Navagero. 


Ch.  v.] 


PAUL  THE  FOURTH. 


U9 


monarch  that  he  dismissed  Caraffa  from  the  coun 
cil.  Afterwards,  when  the  cardinal  was  named  by 
the  pope,  his  unfailing  patron,  to  the  archbishopric 
of  Naples,  Charles  resisted  the  nomination,  and 
opposed  all  the  obstacles  m  his  power  to  the  col- 
lection of  the  episcopal  revenues.  These  indigni- 
ties sank  deep  into  the  cardinal's  mind,  naturally 
tenacious  of  affronts ;  and  what,  at  first,  had  been 
only  a  political  animosity,  was  now  sharpened  into 
personal  hatred  of  the  most  implacable  character.^ 

Such  was  the  state  of  feeling  when,  on  the 
death  of  Marcellus  the  Second,  in  1555,  Cardinal 
Caraffa  was  raised  to  the  papal  throne.  His  elec- 
tion, as  was  natural,  greatly  disgusted  the  emper- 
or, and  caused  astonishment  throughout  Europe ; 
for  he  had  not  the  conciliatory  manners  which  win 
the  favor  and  the  suffrages  of  mankind.  But  the 
Catholic  Church  stood  itself  in  need  of  a  reformer, 
to  enable  it  to  resist  the  encroaching  spirit  of  Prot- 
estantism. This  was  well  understood,  not  only 
by  the  highest,  but  by  the  humblest  ecclesiastics ; 
and  in  Caraffa  they  saw  the  man  whose  qualities 
precisely  fitted  him  to  effect  such  a  reform.  He 
was,  moreover,  at  the  time  of  his  election,  in  his 
eightieth  year ;  and  age  and  infirmity  have  always 
proved  powerful  arguments  with  the  sacred  col- 
lege, as  affording  the  numerous  competitors  the 
best  guaranties  for  a  speedy  vacancy.     Yet  it  has 


3  Ibid.  —  Nores,  Guerra  fra  Pa-    Regno  dl  Napoli,  (Milano,  1823,) 
olo  Quarto  e  Filippo  Secondo,  MS.    torn.  X.  pp.  11-13. 
—  Giannone,    Istoiia    Civile    del 


15U 


WAR  WITH  THE  POPE.  . 


[Book  L 


v> 


more  than  once  happened  that  the  fortimate  can 
didate,  who  has  owed  his  election  mainly  to  his 
infirmities,  has  been  nnraculously  restored  by  the 
touch  of  the  tiara. 

Paul  the  Fourth  —  for  such  was  the  name  as- 
sumed by  the  new  pope,  in  gratitude  to  the  memory 
of  his  patron — adopted  a  way  of  life,  on  his  acces- 
sion, for  which  his  brethren  of  the  college  were  not 
at  all  prepared.  The  austerity  and  self-denial  of 
earlier  days  formed  a  strong  contrast  to  the  pomp 
of  his  present  establishment  and  the  profuse  luxury 
of  his  table.  When  asked  how  he  would  be  served, 
«  How  but  as  a  great  prince '? "  he  answered.  He 
usually  passed  three  hours  at  his  dinner,  which 
consisted  of  numerous  courses  of  the  most  refined 
and  epicm-ean  dishes.  No  one  dined  with  him, 
though  one  or  more  of  the  cardinals  were  usually 
present,  with  whom  he  freely  conversed ;  and  as  he 
accompanied  his  meals  with  large  draughts  of  the 
thick,  black  wine  of  Naples,  it  no  doubt  gave  addi- 
tional animation  to  his  discourse.*  At  such  times, 
his  favorite  theme  was  the  Spaniards,  whom  he 
denounced  as  the  scum  of  the  earth,  a  race  ac- 
cursed of  God,  heretics  and  schismatics,  the  spawn 
of  Jews  and  of  Moors.  He  bewailed  the  humilia- 
tion of  Italy,  gaUed  by  the  yoke  of  a  nation  so 
abject.     But  the  day  had  come,  he  would  thunder 


^  "Vuol  essere  servito  molto 
delicatamente ;  e  nel  principio  del 
suo  pontificate  non  bastavano  ven- 
ticinque  piatti ;  beve  moUo  piu  di 
quello  che  mangia ;  il  vino  ^  pos- 


sente  e  gagliardo,  nero  e  tanto  spes- 
80,  che  si  potria  quasi  tagliarc,  e 
dimandasi  mangiaguerra,  il  quale 
si  conduce  dal  regno  di  Napoli.' 
Kelazione  di  Bernardo  Navagero* 


Cu.  V.J 


PAUL  THE  FOURTH. 


151 


out;,  when  Charles  and  PhUip  were  to  be  called  to 
a  reckoning  for  their  ill-gotten  possessions,  and  be 
driven  from  the  land !  ^ 

Yet  Paul  did  not  waste  all  his  hours  in  this  idle 
vaporing,  nor  in  the  pleasures  of  the  table.  He 
showed  the  same  activity  as  ever  in  the  labors  of 
the  closet,  and  in  attention  to  business.  He  was 
irregular  in  his  hours,  sometimes  prolonging  his 
studies  through  the  greater  part  of  the  night,  and 
at  others  rising  long  before  the  dawn.  When  thus 
engaged,  it  would  not  have  been  well  for  any  one 
of  his  household  to  venture  into  his  presence,  with- 
out a  summons. 

Paul  seemed  to  be  always  in  a  state  of  nervous 
tension.  "He  is  all  nerve,"  the  Venetian  minis- 
ter, Navagero,  writes  of  him;  "and  when  he 
walks,  it  is  with  a  free,  elastic  step,  as  if  he  hard- 
ly touched  the  ground."  ^  His  natural  arrogance 
was  greatly  increased  by  his  elevation  to  the  first 
dignity  in  Christendom.  He  had  always  enter 
tained  the  highest  ideas  of  the  authority  of  the  sa- 


5  "Nazione  Spagnuola,  odiata 
da  lui,  e  che  egli  soleva  chiamar 
vile,  ed  abieta,  seme  di  Giudei,  e 
feccia  del  Mondo.*'  Nores,  Guerra 
fra  Paolo  Quarto  e  Filippo  Secon- 
do,  MS. 

"  Dicendo  in  presenza  di  molti : 
che  era  venuto  il  tempo,  che  sareb- 
bero  castigati  dei  loro  peccati ;  che 
perderebbero  li  stati,  e  che  1'  Italia 
laria  liberata."  Relazione  di  Ber- 
nardo Navagero. 

At  another  time  we  find  the  pope 


declaiming  against  the  Spaniards, 
now  the  masters  of  Italy,  wlio  had 
once  been  known  there  only  as  its 

cooks.     "  Dice di  sentire  in- 

finito  dispiacere,  che  quelli  che 
solevano  essere  cuochi  o  mozzi 
di  stalla  in  Italia,  ora  comandi- 
no."  Relazione  di  Bernardo  Na- 
vagero. 

^  "  Cammina  che  non  pare  che 
tocchi  terra ;  ^  tutto  nervo  con  po- 
ca  carne.**  Relazione  di  Bernardo 
Navagero. 


152 


WAR  WITH  THE  POPE. 


[Book  1 


Ch.  v.] 


PAUL  THE  FOURTH. 


153 


cerdotal  office ;  and  now  that  he  was  in  the  chair 
of  St.  Peter,  he  seemed  to  have  entire  confidence  in 
his  o\vn  infallibility.  He  looked  on  the  princes  of 
Europe,  not  so  much  as  his  sons — the  language 
of  the  Church — as  his  servants,  bound  to  do  his 
bidding.  Paul's  way  of  thinking  would  have  better 
suited  the  twelfth  century  than  the  sixteenth.  lie 
came  into  the  world  at  least  three  centuries  too 
late.  In  all  his  acts,  he  relied  solely  on  himself. 
He  was  impatient  of  counsel  from  any  one,  and 
woe  to  the  man  who  ventured  to  oppose  any  remon- 
strance, still  more  any  impediment  to  the  execution 
of  his  plans.  He  had  no  misgivings  as  to  the 
wisdom  of  these  plans.  An  idea  that  had  once 
taken  possession  of  his  mind  lay  there,  to  borrow  a 
cant  phrase  of  the  day,  like  "a  fixed  fact," — not 
to  be  flisturbed  by  argument  or  persuasion.  We 
occasionally  meet  with  such  characters,  in  which 
strength  of  will  and  unconquerable  energy  in 
action  pass  for  genius  with  the  world.  They,  in 
fact,  serve  as  the  best  substitute  for  genius,  by  the 
ascendency  which  such  qualities  secure  their  pos- 
sessors over  ordinary  minds.  Yet  there  were  ways 
of  approaching  the  pontiff,  for  those  who  under- 
stood his  character,  and  who,  by  condescending  to 
flatter  his  humors,  could  turn  them  to  their  own 
account.  Such  was  the  policy  pursued  by  some  of 
Paul's  kindred,  who,  cheered  by  his  patronage,  now 
came  forth  from  their  obscurity  to  glitter  in  the 
mys  of  the  meridian  sun. 

Paul  had  all  his  life  declaimed  against  nepotism 


as  an  opprobrious  sin  in  the  head  of  the  Church. 
Yet  no  sooner  did  he  put  on  the  tiara  than  he  gave 
a  glaring  example  of  the  sin  he  had  denounced,  in 
the  favors  which  he  lavished  on  three  of  his  o^vn 
nephews.  This  was  the  more  remarkable,  as  they 
were  men  whose  way  of  life  had  given  scandal 
even  to  the  Italians,  not  used  to  be  too  scrupulous 
in  their  judgments. 

The  eldest,  who  represented  the  family,  he  raised 
to  the  rank  of  a  duke,  providing  him  with  an 
ample  fortune  from  the  confiscated  property  of  the 
Colonnas, — which  illustrious  house  was  bitterly 
persecuted  by  Paul,  for  its  attachment  to  the  Span- 
ish interests. 

Another  of  his  nephews  he  made  a  cardinal, — a 
dignity  fox  which  he  was  indifferently  qualified  by 
his  former  profession,  which  was  that  of  a  soldier, 
and  still  less  fitted  by  his  life,  which  was  that  of 
a  libertine.  He  was  a  person  of  a  busy,  intriguing 
disposition,  and  stimulated  his  uncle's  vindictive 
feelings  against  the  Spaniards,  whom  he  himself 
hated,  for  some  affront  which  he  conceived  had 
been  put  upon  him  while  in  the  emperor's  service.^ 

But  Paul  needed  no  prompter  in  this  matter. 
He  very  soon  showed  that,  instead  of  ecclesiastical 
reform,  he  was  bent  on  a  project  much  nearer  to 


7  *'  Servi  lungo  tempore  l*  Im- 
peratore,  ma  con  infelicisslmo  even- 
to,  non  avendo  potuto  avere  alcuna 
ricompensa,  come  egli  stesso  diceva, 
in  premio  della  sua  miglior  eta,  e 
di  molte  fatiche,  e  pericoli  soste- 

VOL.  I  20 


nuti,  se  non  spese,  danni,  disfavore, 
esilio  ed  ultimamente  -un  inglustis- 
sima  prigionia."  Nores,  Guerra  fra 
Paolo  Quarto  e  Filippo  Secondo, 
MS.  —  Relazione  di  Bernardo  Na- 
vagero. 


154 


WAR  WITH  THE  POPE. 


[Book  1 


I 


J 


his  heart,  —  the  subversion  of  the  Spanish  power  in 
Naples.  Like  Julius  the  Second,  of  warlike  mem- 
ory,  he  swore  to  drive  out  the  barbarians  from 
Italy.  He  seemed  to  think  that  the  thunders  of 
the  Vatican  were  more  than  a  match  for  all  the 
strength  of  the  empire  and  of  Spain.  But  he  was 
not  weak  enough  to  rely  wholly  on  his  spiritual 
artillery  in  such  a  contest.  Through  the  French 
ambassador  at  his  court,  he  opened  negotiations 
with  France,  and  entered  into  a  secret  treaty  with 
that  power,  by  which  each  of  the  parties  agreed 
to  furnish  a  certain  contingent  of  men  and  money 
to  carry  on  the  war  for  the  recovery  of  Naples. 
The  treaty  was  executed  on  the  sixteenth  of 
December,    1555.® 

In  less  than  two  months  after  this  .event,  on 
the  fifth  of  February,  1556,  the  fickle  monarch  of 
France,  seduced  by  the  advantageous  offers  of 
Charles,  backed,  moreover,  by  the  ruinous  state  of 
his  own  finances,  deserted  his  new  ally,  and  signed 
the  treaty  of  Vaucelles,  which  secured  a  truce  for 
five  years  between  his  dominions  and  those  of 
Philip. 

Paul  received  the  news  of  this  treaty  while 
surromided  by  his  courtiers.  He  treated  the  whole 
with  scepticism,  but  expressed  the  pious  hope,  that 
such  a  peace  might  be  in  store  for  the  nations  of 
Christendom.     In  private  he  was  not  so  temperate. 

8  Nores,  Guerra  fra  Paolo  Quarto  di  Napoli,  (Napoli,  1675,)  torn.  IV. 
e  Filippo  Secondo,  MS  —  Sum-  p.  278.  —  Giannone,  Istoria  di  Na» 
moiite,  Ilistoriadella  Citt^  e  Regno    poH,  torn.  X.  p.  20. 


Ch.  V^ 


COURT  OF  FRANCE. 


]55 


But  without  expending  his  wrath  in  empty  men- 
aces, he  took  effectual  means  to  bring  things  back 
to  their  former  state, — to  induce  the  French  king 
to  renew  the  treaty  with  himself,  and  at  once  to 
begin  hostilities.  He  knew  the  vacillating  tem- 
per of  the  monarch  he  had  to  deal  with.  Car- 
dinal Caraffa  was  accordingly  despatched  on  a  mis- 
sion to  Paris,  fortified  with  ample  powers  for  the 
arrangement  of  a  new  treaty,  and  with  such 
tempting  promises  on  the  part  of  his  holiness  as 
might  insure  its  acceptance  by  the  monaich  and  his 
ministers. 

The  French  monarchy  was,  at  that  time,  xmder 
the  sceptre  of  Henry  the  Second,  the  son  of  Fran- 
cis the  First,  to  whose  character  his  own  bore  no 
resemblance;  or  rather  the  resemblance  consisted 
in  those  showy  qualities  which  lie  too  near  the 
surface  to  enter  into  what  may  be  called  character. 
He  affected  a  chivalrous  vein,  excelled  in  the 
exercises  of  the  tourney,  and  indulged  in  vague 
aspirations  after  military  renown.  In  short,  he 
fancied  himself  a  hero,  and  seems  to  have  imposed 
on  some  of  his  own  courtiers  so  far  as  to  persuade 
them  that  he  was  designed  for  one.  But  he  had 
few  of  the  qualities  which  enter  into  the  character 
of  a  hero.  He  was  as  far  from  being  a  hero  as 
he  was  from  being  a  good  Christian,  though  he 
thought  to  prove  his  orthodoxy  by  persecuting 
the  Protestants,  who  were  now  rising  into  a  for- 
midable sect  in  the  southern  parts  of  his  kingdom. 
He  had  little  reliance  on  his  own  resources,  leading 


H 


I  1 


156 


WAB  WITH  THE  POPE. 


[Book  I 


a  life  of  easy  indulgence,  and  trusting  the  direction 
of  his  affairs  to  his  favorites  and  his  mistresses. 

The  most  celebrated  of  these  was  Diana  of 
Poictiers,  created  by  Henry  duchess  of  Valenti- 
nois,  who  preserved  her  personal  charms  and  her 
influence  over  her  royal  lover  to  a  much  later 
period  than  usually  happens.  The  persons  of 
his  court  in  whom  the  king  most  confided  were 
the  Constable  Montmorency  and  the  duke  of 
Guise. 

Anne  de  Montmorency,  constable  of  France,  was 
one  of  the  proudest  of  the  French  nobility, — proud 
alike  of  his  great  name,  his  rank,  and  his  authority 
with  his  sovereign.  He  had  grown  gray  in  the 
service  of  the  court,  and  Henry,  accustomed  to  his 
society  from  boyhood,  had  learned  to  lean  on  him 
for  the  execution  of  his  measures.  Yet  his  judg- 
ments, though  confidently  given,  were  not  always 
sound.  His  views  were  far  from  being  enlarged ; 
and  though  full  of  courage,  he  showed  little 
capacity  for  military  affairs.  A  consciousness  of 
this,  perhaps,  may  have  led  him  to  recommend  a 
pacific  policy,  suited  to  his  own  genius.  He  was  a 
stanch  Catholic,  extremely  punctilious  in  all  the 
ceremonies  of  devotion,  and,  if  we  may  credit  Bran- 
tome,  would  strangely  mingle  together  the  military 
and  the  religious.  He  repeated  his  Pater-Noster 
at  certain  fixed  hours,  whatever  might  be  his  occu- 
pation at  the  time.  He  would  occasionally  break 
off  to  give  his  orders,  calling  out,  "  Cut  me  down 
such  a  man ! "    "  HaQg  up  another ! "    "  Run  those 


Ch.  v.] 


COURT  OF  FKANCE. 


157 


fellows  through  with  your  lances!"  "Set  fire  to 
that  village ! " — and  so  on;  when,  having  thus  re- 
lieved the  military  part  of  his  conscience,  he  would 
go  on  with  his  Pater-Nosters  as  before.^ 

A  very  different  character  was  that  of  his  young- 
er rival,  Francis,  duke  of  Guise,  uncle  to  Mary, 
queen  of  Scots,  and  brother  to  the  regent.  Of  a 
bold,  aspiring  temper,  filled  with  the  love  of  glory, 
brilliant  and  popular  in  his  address,  he  charmed 
the  people  by  his  manners  and  the  splendor  of  his 
equipage  and  dress.  He  came  to  court,  attended 
usually  by  three  or  four  hundred  cavaliers,  who 
formed  themselves  on  Guise  as .  their  model.  His 
fine  person  was  set  off  by  the  showy  costume  of  the 
time,  —  a  crimson  doublet  and  cloak  of  spotless 
ermine,  and  a  cap  ornamented  with  a  scarlet 
plume.  In  this  dress  he  might  often  be  seen, 
mounted  on  his  splendid  charger  and  followed  by 
a  gay  retinue  of  gentlemen,  riding  at  full  gallop 
through  the  streets  of  Paris,  and  attracting  the  ad- 
miration of  the  people. 

But  his  character  was  not  altogether  made  up  of 
such  vanities.  He  was  sagacious  in  counsel,  and 
had  proved  himself  the  best  captain  of  France.     It 


9  Brantome,  who  has  introduced 
the  constable  into  his  gallery  of 
I)ortraits,  has  not  omitted  this  char- 
acteristic anecdote.  "On  disait 
qu'il  se  falloit  garder  des  pate- 
nostres  de  M.  le  connestable,  car 
en  les  disant  et  marmottant  lors 
que  les  ocasions  se  presentoient, 
ijomme  force  desbordemens  et  de- 


sordres  y  arrivent  maintenant,  il  di- 
soit :  Allez  moy  prendre  un  tel ; 
attachez  celuy  la  a  cet  arbre ; 
faictes  passer  cestuy  Ik  par  les 
picques  tout  h  ceste  heure,  ou  les 
harquebuses  tout  devant  moy; 
taillez  moy  en  pieces  tous  ces  ma- 
rauts,"*  etc.  Brantome,  (Euvres. 
(Paris,  1822,)  torn.  11.  p.  372. 


k 


158 


WAR  WITH  THE  POPE. 


[Book  I 


was  he  who  commanded  at  the  memomble  siege  ol 
Metz,  and  foiled  the  efforts  of  the  imperial  forces 
under  Charles  and  the  duke  of  Alva.  Caraffa  found 
little  difficulty  in  winning  him  over  to  his  cause, 
as  he  opened  to  the  ambitious  chief  the  brilliant 
perspective  of  the  conquest  of  Naples.  The  argu- 
ments of  the  wily  Italian  were  supported  by  the 
duchess  of  Valentinois.  It  was  in  vain  that  the 
veteran  Montmorency  reminded  the  king  of  the 
ruinous  state  of  the  finances,  which  had  driven  him 
to  the  shameful  expedient  of  putting  up  public 
offices  to  sale.  The  other  party  represented  that 
the  condition  of  Spain,  after  her  long  struggle,  was 
little  better ;  that  the  reins  of  government  had  now 
been  transferred  from  the  wise  Charles  to  the  hands 
of  his  inexperienced  son ;  and  that  the  cooperation 
of  Rome  affi)rded  a  favorable  conjunction  of  circimi- 
stances,  not  to  be  neglected.  Henry  was  further 
allured  by  Caraffa's  assurance  that  his  uncle  would 
grant  to  the  French  monarch  the  investiture  of 
Naples  for  one  of  his  younger  sons,  and  bestow 
Milan  on  another.  The  offer  was  too  tempting  to 
be  resisted. 

One  objection  occurred,  in  certain  conscientious 
scruples  as  to  the  violation  of  the  recent  treaty  of 
Vaucelles.  But  for  this  the  pope,  who  had  antici- 
pated the  objection,  readily  promised  absolution. 
As  the  king  also  intimated  some  distrust  lest  the 
successor  of  Paul,  whose  advanced  age  made  his 
life  precarious,  might  not  be  inclined  to  carry  out 
the  treaty,  Caraffa  was  authorized  to  assure  him 


?H.  v.] 


LEAGUE  AGAINST  SPAIN. 


159 


that  this  danger  should  be  obviated  by  the  creation 
of  a  batch  of  French  cardinals,  or  of  cardinals  in 
the  French  interest. 

All  the  difficulties  being  thus  happily  disposed 
of,  the  treaty  was  executed  in  the  month  of  July, 
1556.  The  parties  agreed  each  to  furnish  about 
twelve  thousand  infantry,  five  hundred  men-at- 
arms,  and  the  same  number  of  light  horse.  France 
was  to  contribute  three  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand ducats  to  the  expenses  of  the  war,  and  Rome 
one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand.  The  French 
troops  were  to  be  supplied  with  provisions  by  the 
pope,  for  which  they  were  to  reimburse  his  holi- 
ness. It  was  moreover  agreed,  that  the  crown  of 
Naples  should  be  settled  on  a  younger  son  ot 
Henry,  that  a  considerable  tract  on  the  northern 
frontier  should  be  transferred  to  the  papal  terri- 
tory, and  that  ample  estates  should  be  provided 
from  the  new  conquests  for  the  three  nephews  of 
his  holiness.  In  short,  the  system  of  partition  was 
as  nicely  adjusted  as  if  the  quarry  were  actually  in 
their  possession,  ready  to  be  cut  up  and  divided 
among  the  parties.^^ 

Fmally,  it  was  arranged  that  Henry  should  invite 
the  Sultan  Solyman  to  renew  his  former  alliance 
with  France,  and  make  a  descent  with  his  galleys 
on  the  coast  of  Calabria.  Thus  did  his  most 
Christian  majesty,  with  the  pope  for  one  of  his 

W  Nores,  Guerra  fra  Paolo  Quar-  Napoli,    torn.    X.     p.     21.  —  D« 

W  e  Filippo  Secondo,  MS.  —  Sum-  Thou,  Histoire  Univei-selle,  torn, 

monte,   Historia  di  NapoH,    torn.  III.  p.  23  et  seq. 
IV.  p.  280.  —  Giannone,  Istoria  di 


160 


WAR  WITH  THE  POPE. 


[Book  L 


allies  and  the  Grand  Turk  for  the  other,  prepare  to 
make  war  on  the  most  Catholic  prince  in  Chris- 
tendom !  ^^ 

Meanwhile,  Paul  the  Fourth,  elated  by  the  pros- 
pect of  a  successful  negotiation,  threw  oif  the  little 
decency  he  had  hitherto  preserved  in  his  deport- 
ment. He  laimched  out  into  invectives  more 
bitter  than  ever  against  Philip,  and  in  a  tone  of 
defiance  told  such  of  the  Spanish  cardinals  as  were 
present  that  they  might  repeat  his  sayings  to  their 
master.  He  talked  of  instituting  a  legal  process 
against  the  king  for  the  recovery  of  Naples,  which 
he  had  forfeited  by  omitting  to  pay  the  yearly 
tribute  to  the  holy  see.  The  pretext  was  ill- 
founded,  as  the  pope  well  knew.  But  the  process 
went  on  with  suitable  gravity,  and  a  sentence  of 
forfeiture  was  ultimately  pronounced  against  the 
Spanish  monarch. 

With  these  impotent  insults,  Paul  employed 
more  effectual  means  of  annoyance.  He  perse- 
cuted all  who  showed  any  leaning  to  the  Spanish 
interest.  He  set  about  repairing  the  walls  of 
Rome,  and  strengthening  the  garrisons  on  the 
frontier.  His  movements  raised  great  alarm  among 
the  Romans,  who  had  too  vivid  a  recollection  of 
their  last  war  with  Spain,  under  Clement  the  Sev- 
enth, to  wish  for  another.  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega, 
who  had  represented  Philip,  during  his  father's 
reign,  at  the  papal  com*t,  wrote  a  full  account  of 
these  doings  to  the  viceroy  of  Naples.     Gai-cilasso 


"  Giannone,  Istoria  di  Napoli,  torn.  X  p.  19. 


Ch.  v.] 


THE  DUK^  OF  ALVA. 


161 


was  instantly  thrown  into  prison.  Taxis,  the 
Spanish  director  of  the  posts,  was  both  thrown 
into  prison  and  put  to  the  torture.  Saria,  the 
imperial  ambassador,  after  in  vain  remonstrating 
against  these  outrages,  waited  on  the  pope  to  df.- 
mand  his  passport,  and  was  kept  standing  a  full 
hour  at  the  gate  of  the  Vatican,  before  he  was 
admitted.^2 

Philip  had  full  intelligence  of  all  these  proceed- 
ings. He  had  long  since  descried  the  dark  storm 
that  was  mustering  beyond  the  Alps.  He  had 
provided  for  it  at  the  close  of  the  preceding  year, 
by  committing  the  government  of  Naples  to  the 
man  most  competent  to  such  a  crisis.  This  was 
the  duke  of  Alva,  at  that  time  governor  of  Milan, 
and  commander-in-chief  of  the  army  in  Italy.  As 
this  remarkable  person  is  to  occupy  a  large  space 
in  the  subsequent  pages  of  this  narrative,  it  may 
be  well  to  give  some  account  of  his  earlier  life. 

Fernando  Alvarez  de  Toledo  was  descended 
from  an  illustrious  house  in  Castile,  whose  name 
is  associated  vrith  some  of  the  most  memorable 
events  in  the  national  history.  He  was  bom  in 
1508,  and  while  a  child  had  the  misfortune  to  lose 
his  father,  who  perished  in  Africa,  at  the  siege 
of  Gelves.  The  care  of  the  orphan  devolved  on 
his  grandfather,  the  celebrated  conqueror  of  Na- 
varre.    Under  this  veteran  teacher  the  yoimg  Fer- 


<1 


13  Nores,Guerrafra  Paolo  Quarto  28  de  Julio,  1556,  MS— Gian- 

eFilippoSecondOjMS. — Carta  del  none,  Istoria  di  Napoli,  torn.  X 

^uque  de  Alba  k  la  Grobemadora,  pp.  15, 16. 
OL.  I.                                  21 


162 


WAR  WITH  THE  POPE. 


[Book  I 


Ch.  v.] 


THE  DUKE  OF  ALVA. 


166 


nando  received  his  first  lessons  in  war,  being  pres 
ent  at  more  than  one  skirmish  when  quite  a  boy. 
This  seems  to  have  sharpened  his  appetite  for  a 
soldier's  life,  for  we  find  him,  at  the  age  of  sixteen, 
secretly  leaving  his  home  and  taking  service  under 
the  banner  of  the  Constable  Velasco,  at  the  siege 
of  Fontarabia.  He  was  subsequently  made  gov- 
ernor of  that  place.  In  1527,  when  not  twenty 
years  of  age,  he  came,  by  his  grandfather's  death, 
into  possession  of  the  titles  and  large  patrimonial 
estates  of  the  house  of  Toledo. 

The  capacity  which  he  displayed,  as  well  as  his 
high  rank,  soon  made  him  an  object  of  attention ; 
and  as  Philip  grew  in  years,  the  duke  of  Alva 
was  placed  near  his  person,  formed  one  of  his  coun- 
cil, and  took  part  in  the  regency  of  Castile.  He 
accompanied  Philip  on  his  journeys  from  Spain, 
and,  as  we  have  seen,  made  one  of  his  retinue  both 
in  Flanders  and  in  England.  The  duke  was  of 
too  haughty  and  imperious  a  temper  to  condescend 
to  those  arts  which  are  thought  to  open  the  most 
ready  avenues  to  the  favor  of  the  sovereign.  He 
met  with  rivals  of  a  finer  policy  and  more  accom 
modating  disposition.  Yet  Philip  perfectly  com- 
prehended  his  character.  He  knew  the  strength 
of  his  understanding,  and  did  full  justice  to  his 
loyalty;  and  he  showed  his  confidence  in  his  in- 
tegrity by  placing  him  in  offices  of  the  highest 
responsibility. 

The  emperor,  with  his  usual  insight  into  char- 
acter, had  early  discerned  the  military  talents  of 


the  young  nobleman.  He  took  Alva  along  with 
him  on  his  campaigns  in  Germany,  where  from  a 
subordinate  station  he  rapidly  rose  to  the  first 
command  in  the  army.  Such  was  his  position  at 
the  unfortunate  siege  of  Metz,  where  the  Spanish 
infantry  had  nearly  been  sacrificed  to  the  obstinacy 
of  Charles. 

In  his  military  career  the  duke  displayed  some 
of  the  qualities  most  characteristic  of  his  country- 
men. But  they  were  those  qualities  which  belong 
to  a  riper  period  of  life.  He  showed  little  of  that 
romantic  and  adventurous  spirit  of  the  Spanish 
cavalier,  which  seemed  to  court  peril  for  its  own 
sake,  and  would  hazard  all  on  a  single  cast.  Cau- 
tion was  his  prominent  trait,  in  which  he  was  a 
match  for  any  graybeard  in  the  army ;  —  a  caution 
carried  to  such  a  length  as  sometimes  to  put  a 
curb  on  the  enterprising  spirit  of  the  emperor. 
Men  were  amazed  to  see  so  old  a  head  on  so 
young  shoulders.  f 

Yet  this  caution  was  attended  by  a  courage 
which  dangers  could  not  daunt,  and  by  a  constancy 
which  toil,  however  severe,  could  not  tire.  He 
preferred  the  surest,  even  though  the  slowest, 
means  to  attain  his  object.  He  was  not  ambi- 
tious of  efiect ;  never  sought  to  startle  by  a  bril- 
liant coujhde-main.  He  woidd  not  have  compro- 
mised a  single  chance  in  his  own  favor  by  appeal- 
ing to  the  issue  of  a  battle.  He  looked  steadily  to 
the  end,  and  he  moved  surely  towards  it  by  a 
system  of  operations  planned  with  the  nicest  fore* 


^. 


164 


WAR  WITH  THE  POPE. 


[Book  L 


cast.  The  result  of  these  operations  was  almost 
always  success.  Few  great  commanders  have  been 
more  uniformly  successful  in  their  campaigns. 
Yet  it  was  rare  that  these  campaigns  were  marked 
by  what  is  so  dazzling  to  the  imagination  of  the 
young  aspirant  for  glory,  —  a  great  and  decisive 
victory.  —  Such  were  some  of  the  more  obvious 
traits  in  the  military  character  of  the  chief  to 
whom  PhUip,  at  this  crisis,  confided  the  post  of 
viceroy  of  Naples.^' 

Before  commencing  hostilities  against  the  Church, 
the  Spanish  monarch  determined  to  ease  his  con- 
science, by  obtaining,  if  possible,  a  warrant  for  his 
proceedings  from  the  Church  itself.  He  assem- 
bled a  body  composed  of  theologians  from  Sala- 


ds I  have  three  biographies  of  the 
duke  of  Alva,  which  give  a  view  of 
his  whole  career.  The  most  impor- 
tant is  one  in  Latin,  by  a  Spanish 
Je^it  named  Ossorio,  and  entitled 
Ferdinandi  Toletani  Albae  Ducis 
Vita  tt  Res  Gestae  (Sahnanticae, 
1669).  The  author  wrote  nearly  a 
century  after  the  time  of  his  hero. 
But  as  he  seems  to  have  had  access 
to  the  b^st  sources  of  information, 
his  narrative  may  be  said  to  rest 
on  a  good  foundation.  He  writes 
in  a  sensible  and  business-like  man- 
ner, more  often  found  among  the 
Jesuits  than  among  the  members  of 
the  other  orders.  It  is  not  surpris- 
ing that  the  harsher  features  of  the 
portrait  should  be  smoothed  down 
under  the  friendly  hand  of  the 
Jesuit  commemorating  the  deeds 


of  the  great  champion  of  Cathol- 
icism. 

A  French  life  of  the  duke, 
printed  some  thirty  years  later,  is 
only  a  translation  of  the  preceding, 
Histoire  de  Ferdinand- Alvarez  de 
Tolede,  Due  d'Albe  (Paris,  1699). 
A  work  of  more  pretension  is  en- 
titled Resultas  de  la  Vida  de  Fer- 
nando  Alvarez  tercero  Duque  de 
Alva,  escrita  por  Don  Juan  Antd- 
nio  de  Vera  y  Figueroa,  Conde  de 
la  Roca  (1648).  It  belongs,  ap- 
parently, to  a  class  of  works  not  un- 
common in  Spain,  in  which  vague 
and  uncertain  statements  take  the 
place  of  simple  narrative,  and  the 
writer  covers  up  his  stilted  pane- 
gyric with  the  solemn  garb  of  mor- 
al philosophy. 


Ch.  v.] 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  WAR. 


165 


manca,  Alcala,  Valladolid,  and  some  other  places^ 
and  of  jurists  from  his  several  councils,  to  resolve 
certain  queries  which  he  propounded.  Among 
the  rest,  he  inquired  whether,  in  case  of  a  defen- 
sive war  with  the  pope,  it  would  not  be  lawful 
to  sequestrate  the  revenues  of  those  persons,  na- 
tives or  foreigners,  who  had  benefices  in  Spain, 
but  who  refused  obedience  to  the  orders  of  its  sov- 
ereign ;  —  whether  he  might  not  lay  an  embargo 
on  all  revenues  of  the  Church,  and  prohibit  any 
remittance  of  moneys  to  Rome ;  —  whether  a  coun- 
cil might  not  be  convoked  to  determine  the  valid- 
ity of  Paul's  election,  which,  in  some  particulars, 
was  supposed  to  have  been  irregular ;  —  whether 
inquiry  might  not  be  made  into  the  gross  abuses 
of  ecclesiastical  patronage  by  the  Roman  see,  and 
efiectual  measures  taken  to  redress  them.  The 
suggestion  of  an  ecclesiastical  council  was  a  men- 
ace that  grated  unpleasantly  on  the  pontifical  ear, 
and  was  used  by  European  princes  as  a  sort  of 
counter-blast  to  the  threat  of  excommunication. 
The  particular  objects  for  which  this  council  was 
to  be  summoned  were  not  of  a  kind  to  soothe  the 
irritable  nerves  of  his  holiness.  The  conclave  of 
theologians  and  jurists  made  as  favorable  responses 
as  the  king  had  anticipated  to  his  several  interrog 
atories ;  and  Philip,  under  so  respectable  a  sanc- 
tion, sent  orders  to  his  viceroy  to  take  effectual 
measures  for  the  protection  of  Naples.^* 

1*  Giannone,  Istoria  di  Napoli,    varios  letrados  y  t6ologos  relativa- 
iom.  X.  p.  27.  ^Consulta  hecha  a    mente  a  las  desavencncias  con  el 


166 


WAR  WITH  THE  POPE. 


[Book  I 


Ch.  v.] 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  WAR. 


167 


Alva  had  not  waited  for  these  orders,  but  had 
busily  employed  himself  in  mustering  his  resources, 
and  in  collecting  troops  from  the  Abruzzi  and  other 
parts  of  his  territory.     As  hostilities  were  inevita- 
ble, he  determined  to  strike  the  first  blow,  and 
carry  the  war  into  the  enemy's  country,  before  he 
had  time  to  cross  the  Neapolitan  frontier.     Like 
his  master,  however,  the  duke  was  willing  to  re- 
lease himself,  as  far  as  possible,  from  personal  re- 
sponsibility before  taking  up  arms  against  the  head 
of  the  Church.     He  accordingly  addressed  a  mani- 
festo to  the  pope  and  the  cardinals,  setting  forth 
in  glowing  terms  the  manifold  grievances  of  his 
sovereign ;  the  opprobrious  and  insulting  language 
of  Paul ;  the  indignities  offered  to  Philip's  agents, 
and  to  the  imperial  ambassador ;  the  process  insti- 
tuted  for  depriving   his  master  of  Naples;  and, 
lastly,   the   warlike   demonstrations    of   the   pope 
along  the  frontier,  which  left  no  doubt  as  to  his 
designs.     He  conjured  his  holiness  to  pause  before 
he  plunged  his  country  into  war.     As  the  head  of 
the  Church,  it  was  his  duty  to  preserve  peace,  not 
to  bring  war  into  Christendom.     He  painted  the 
inevitable  evils  of  war,  and  the  ruin  and  devasta- 
tion which  it  must  bring  on, the  fair  fields  of  Italy. 
If  this  were^  done,  it  would  be  the  pope's  doing, 
and  his  would  be  the  responsibility.     On  the  part 
of  Naples,  the  war  would  be  a  war  of  defence.    For 
himself,  he  had  no  alternative.     He  was  placed 

papa,  MS.    This  document  is  preserved  in  the  archiYes  of  Siman- 


there  to  maintain  the  possessions  of  his  sovereign ; 
and,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  he  would  maintain 
them  to  the  last  drop  of  his  blood.^ 

Alva,  while  making  this  appeal  to  the  pope, 
invoked  the  good  oflBlces  of  the  Venetian  gov- 
ernment in  bringing  about  a  reconciliation  be- 
tween Philip  and  the  Vatican.  His  spirited 
manifesto  to  the  pope  was  intrusted  to  a  special 
messenger,  a  person  of  some  consideration  in 
Naples.  The  only  reply  which  the  hot-headed 
pontiff  made  to  it  was  to  throw  the  envoy  into 
prison,  and,  as  some  state,  to  put  him  to  the  tor- 
ture. 

Meanwhile,  Alva,  who  had  not  placed  much 
reliance  on  the  success  of  his  appeal,  had  mus- 
tered a  force,  amounting  in  all  to  twelve  thou- 
sand infantry,  fifteen  hundred  horse,  and  a  train 
of  twelve  pieces  of  artillery.  His  infantry  was 
chiefly  made  up  of  Neapolitans,  some  of  whom 
had  seen  but  little  service.  The  strength  of  his 
army   lay  in   his   Spanish   veterans,  forming   one 


15  Nores,  Guerrafra  Paolo  Quar- 
to e  Filippo  Secondo,  MS.  —  An- 
drea, Guerra  de  Campafia  de  Ro- 
ma, (Madrid,  1589,)  p.  14.  — 
Summonte,  Historia  di  Napoli, 
torn.  IV.  p.  270. 

The  most  circumstantial  printed 
dceount  of  this  war  is  to  be  found 
in  the  work  of  Alessandro  Andrea, 
a  Neapolitan.  It  was  first  pub- 
lished in  Italian,  at  Venice,  and 
subsequently  translated  by  the 
yuthor  into  Castilian,  and  printed 


at  Madrid.  Andrea  was  a  soldier 
of  some  experience,  and  his  ac- 
count of  these  transactions  is  de- 
rived partly  from  personal  obser- 
vation, and  partly,  as  he  tells  us, 
from  the  most  accredited  witnesses. 
Tlie  Spanish  version  was  made  at 
the  suggestion  of  one  of  Philip's 
ministers,  —  pretty  good  evidence 
that  the  writer,  in  his  narrative, 
had  demeaned  himself  like  a  loyal 
subject. 


i 


168 


WAB  WITH  THE  POPE. 


[Book  I 


Ch.  V] 


VICTORIOUS  CAMPAIGN. 


169 


tliird  of  his  force.  The  place  of  rendezvous  was 
San  Germano,  a  town  on  the  northern  frontier  of 
the  kingdom.  On  the  first  of  September,  1556, 
Alva,  attended  by  a  gallant  band  of  cavaliers,  left 
the  capital,  and  on  the  fourth  arrived  at  the  place 
appointed.  The  following  day  he  crossed  the  bor- 
ders at  the  head  of  his  troops,  and  marched  on 
Pontecorvo.  He  met  with  no  resistance  from  the 
inhabitants,  who  at  once  threw  open  their  gates 
to  him.  Several  other  places  followed  the  exam- 
pie  of  Pontecorvo ;  and  Alva,  taking  possession  of 
them,  caused  a  scutcheon  displaying  the  arms  of 
the  sacred  college  to  be  himg  up  in  the  principal 
church  of  each  town,  with  a  placard  announcing 
that  he  held  it  only  for  the  college,  until  the 
election  of  a  new  pontiff.  By  this  act  he  pro- 
claimed to  the  Christian  world  that  the  object  of 
the  war,  as  far  as  Spain  was  concerned,  was  not 
conquest,  but  defence.  Some  historians  find  in  it 
a  deeper  policy,  —  that  of  exciting  feelings  of  dis- 
trust between  the  pope  and  the  cardinals.^^ 

Anagni,  a  place  of  some  strength,  refused  the 
duke's  summons  to  surrender.  He  was  detained 
three  days  before  his  guns  had  opened  a  practicable 
breach  in  the  walls.     He  then  ordered  an  assault. 


W  Giannone,  Istoria  di  Napoli, 
torn.  X  p.  25.  —  Carta  del  Duque 
de  Alba  k  la  Gobernadora,  8  de  Se> 
kiembre,  1556,  MS. 

**In  tal  mode,  non  solo  veniva 
a  mitigar  V  asprezze,  che  portava 
•eco  r  occupar  le  Terre  dello  stato 


ecclesiastico,  ma  veniva  a  spai^er 
semi  di  discordia,  e  di  sisma,  fra  li 
Cardinali,  ed  il  Papa,  tentando 
d'  alienarli  da  lui,  e  mostrargli  verso 
di  loro  riverenza,  e  rispetto.**  No- 
res,  Guerra  fra  Paolo  Quarto  e  Fi 
lippo  Secondo,  MS. 


The  town  was  stormed  and  delivered  up  to  sack, — > 
by  which  phrase  is  to  be  understood  the  perpetra- 
tion of  all  those  outrages  which  the  ruthless  code 
of  war  allowed,  in  that  age,  on  the  persons  and 
property  of  the  defenceless  inhabitants,  without 
regard  to  sex  or  age.^^ 

One  or  two  other  places  which  made  resistance 
shared  the  fate  of  Anagni;  and  the  duke  of 
Alva,  having  garrisoned  his  new  conquests  with 
such  forces  as  he  could  spare,  led  his  victorious 
legions  against  Tivoli,  —  a  town  strongly  situated 
on  elevated  ground,  commanding  the  eastern  ap- 
proaches to  the  capital.  The  place  surrendered 
without  attempting  a  defence ;  and  Alva,  willing 
to  give  his  men  some  repose,  made  Tivoli  his  head- 
quarters, while  his  army  spread  over  the  suburbs 
and  adjacent  country,  which  afforded  good  forage 
for  his  cavalry. 

The  rapid  succession  of  these  events,  the  fall  of 
town  after  town,  and,  above  all,  the  dismal  fate 
of  Anagni,  filled  the  people  of  Rome  with  terror. 
The  women  began  to  hurry  out  of  the  city ;  many 
of  the  men  would  have  followed  but  for  the  inter- 
ference of  Cardinal  Caraffa.  The  panic  was  as 
great  as  if  the  enemy  had  been  aheady  at  the 
gates  of  the  capital.  Amidst  this  general  conster- 
nation, Paul  seemed  to  be  almost  the  only  person 
who  retained  his  self-possession.  Navagero,  the 
Venetian  minister,  was  present  when  he  received 


*7  Nores,  Guerra  fra  Paolo  Quarto  e  Filippo  Secondo,  MS 
VOL.  I.  22 


! 


r 


%\ 


H 


no 


WAB  WITH  THE  POPE. 


[Book  1. 


Ch.  V.J 


VICTORIOUS  CAMPAIGN. 


171 


tidings  of  the  storming  of  Anagni,  and  bears 
witness  to  the  composure  with  which  he  went 
through  the  official  business  of  the  morning,  as 
if  nothing  had  happened.^  This  was  in  public; 
but  the  shock  was  sufficiently  strong  to  strike  out 
some  sparkles  of  his  fiery  temper,  as  those  found 
who  met  him  that  day  in  private.  To  the  Vene- 
tian agent  who  had  come  to  Rome  to  mediate  a 
peace,  and  who  pressed  him  to  enter  into  some 
terms  of  accommodation  with  the  Spaniaids,  he 
haughtily  replied,  that  Alva  must  first  recross  the 
frontier,  and  then,  if  he  had  aught  to  solicit,  pre- 
fer his  petition  like  a  dutiful  son  of  the  Church. 
This  course  was  not  one  very  likely  to  be  adopted 
by  the  victorious  general.^^ 

In  an  interview  with  two  French  gentlemen, 
who,  as  he  had  reason  to  suppose,  were  inter- 
esting themselves  iu  the  affair  of  a  peace,  he  ex- 
claimed :  "  Whoever  would  bring  me  into  a  peace 
Avith  heretics  is  a  servant  of  the  Devil.  Heaven 
will  take  vengeance  on  him.  I  will  pray  that 
God's  curse  may  fall  on  him.  If  I  find  that  you 
intermeddle  in  any  such  matter,  I  will  cut  your 
heads  oflf  your  shoulders.  Do  not  think  this  an 
empty  threat.     I  have  an  eye  in  my  back  on 


18  **  Stava  intrepido,  parlando 
delle  cose  appartenenti  a  quel*  uffi- 
zio,  come  se  non  vi  fusse  alcuna 
sospezione  di  guerra,  non  che  gl' 
tnimlci  fussero  vieini  alle  porte." 
Keiazione  di  Bernardo  Navagero. 

*9  ^  Pontifex  earn  conditionem 


ad  se  relatam  aspematus  in  eo  per- 
sistebat,  ut  Albanus  copias  domum 
reduceret,  deinde  quod  vellet,  a  se 
supplicibus  precibus  postularet," 
Sepulveda,  De  Rebus  Gestis  Phi* 
lippi  II.,  lib.  I.  cap.  1 7. 


you,"  —  quoting  an  Italian  proverb,  —  "  and  if  I 
find  you  playing  me  false,  or  attempting  to  entan- 
gle me  a  second  time  in  an  accursed  truce,  I  swear 
to  you  by  the  eternal  God,  I  will  make  your  heads 
fly  from  your  shoulders,  come  what  may  come  of 
it ! "  "  In  this  way,"  concludes  the  narrator,  one 
of  the  parties,  "  his  holiness  continued  for  nearly 
an  hour,  walking  up  and  down  the  apartment,  and 
talking  all  the  while  of  his  own  grievances  and  of 
cutting  off  our  heads,  until  he  had  talked  himself 
quite  out  of  breath."^ 

But  the  valor  of  the  pope  did  not  expend  itself 
in  words.  He  instantly  set  about  putting  the 
capital  in  the  best  state  of  defence.  He  taxed  the 
people  to  raise  funds  for  his  troops,  drew  in  the 
garrisons  from  the  neighboring  places,  formed  a 
body-guard  of  six  or  seven  hundred  horse,  and 
soon  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  his  Roman 
levies,  amounting  to  six  thousand  infantry,  well 
equipped  for  the  war.  They  made  a  brave 
show,  with  their  handsome  uniforms  and  their 
banners  richly  emblazoned  with  the  pontifical 
arms.  As  they  passed  in  review  before  his  holi- 
ness, who  stood  at  one  of  the  windows  of  his 
palace,  he  gave  them  his  benediction.  But  the 
edge  of  the  Roman  sword,  according  to  an  old 
proverb,  was  apt  to  be  blunt;  and  these  holiday 
troops  were  soon  found  to  be  no  match  for  the 
hardy  veterans  of  Spain. 

*  Sismondi,  Histoire  des  Fran<jais,  torn.  XVIH  p.  17 


172 


WAR  WITH  THE  POPE. 


[Book  I. 


Ch.  v.] 


VICTORIOUS  CAMPAIGN. 


173 


Among  the  soldiers  at  the  pope's  disposal  was  a 
body  of  German  mercenaries,  who  followed  war  as 
a  trade,  and  let  themselves  out  to  the  highest 
bidder.  They  were  Lutherans,  with  little  knowl- 
edge of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  and  less 
respect  for  it.  They  stared  at  its  rites  as  mummer- 
ies, and  made  a  jest  of  its  most  solemn  ceremonies, 
directly  under  the  eyes  of  the  pope.  But  Paul, 
who,  at  other  times,  would  have  punished  offences 
like  these  with  the  gibbet  and  the  stake,  could  not 
quarrel  with  his  defenders,  and  was  obliged  to 
digest  his  mortification  as  he  best  might.  It 
was  remarked  that  the  times  were  sadly  out  of 
joint,  when  the  head  of  the  Church  had  heretics 
for  his  allies  and  Catholics  for  his  enemies.^^ 

Meanwhile  the  duke  of  Alva  was  lying  at 
Tivoli.  If  he  had  taken  advantage  of  the  panic 
caused  by  his  successes,  he  might,  it  was  thought, 
without  much  difficulty,  have  made  himself  master 
of  the  capital.  But  this  did  not  suit  his  policy, 
which  was  rather  to  bring  the  pope  to  terms  than 
to  ruin  him.  He  was  desirous  to  reduce  the  city 
by  cutting  off  its  supplies.  The  possession  of  Tiv- 
oli, as  already  noticed,  enabled  him  to  command 
the  eastern  approaches  to  Rome,  and  he  now  pro- 
posed to  make  himself  master  of  Ostia,  and  thus 
destroy  the  communications  with  the  coast. 


*l  "  Quel  Pontefice,  cbe  per  cia-  fuoco,  le  tollerava  in  questi,  come 

Kuna  di  quests  cose  che  fosse  ca-  in  suoi  defensori."    Relazione  di 

tcata  in  un  processo,  avrebbe  con-  Bernardo  Navagero. 
dannato  ognuno  alia  morte  ed  al 


Accordingly,  drawiag  together  his  forces,  he 
quitted  Tivoli,  and  directed  his  march  across  the 
Campagna,  south  of  the  Roman  capital.  On  his 
way  he  made  himself  master  of  some  places  be- 
longing to  the  holy  see,  and  in  the  early  part  of 
November  arrived  before  Ostia,  and  took  up  a  po- 
sition on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber,  where  it  spread 
into  two  branches,  the  northern  one  of  which  was 
called  the  Fiumicino,  or  little  river.  The  town,  or 
rather  village,  consisted  of  only  a  few  straggling 
houses,  very  different  from  the  proud  Ostia,  whose 
capacious  harbor  was  once  filled  with  the  com- 
merce of  the  world.  It  was  protected  by  a  citadel 
of  some  strength,  garrisoned  by  a  small  but  picked 
body  of  troops,  so  indifferently  provided  with  mil- 
itary stores,  that  it  was  clear  the  government  had 
not  anticipated  an  attack  in  this  quarter. 

The  duke  ordered  a  number  of  boats  to  be  sent 
round  from  Nettuno,  a  place  on  the  coast,  of  which 
he  had  got  possession.  By  means  of  these  he 
formed  a  bridge,  over  which  he  passed  a  small  de- 
tachment of  his  army,  together  with  his  battering 
train  of  artillery.  The  hamlet  was  easily  taken, 
but,  as  the  citadel  refused  to  surrender,  Alva  laid 
regular  siege  to  it.  He  constructed  two  batteries, 
on  which  he  planted  his  heavy  guns,  commanding 
opposite  quarters  of  the  fortress.  He  then  opened 
a  lively  cannonade  on  the  outworks,  which  was 
returned  with  great  spirit  by  the  garrison. 

Meanwhile  he  detached  a  considerable  body  of 
horse,  under  Colonna,  who  swept  the  country  to 


n 


174 


WAR  WITH  THE  POPE. 


[Book  1. 


the  very  walls  of  Rome.  A  squadron  of  cavalry, 
whose  gallant  bearing  had  filled  the  heart  of  the 
old  pope  with  exultation,  sallied  out  against  the 
marauders.  An  encounter  took  place  not  far  from 
the  city.  The  Romans  bore  themselves  up  bravely 
to  the  shock;  but,  after  splintering  their  lances, 
they  wheeled  about,  and,  without  striking  another 
blow,  abandoned  the  field  to  the  enemy,  who  fol- 
lowed them  up  to  the  gates  of  the  capital.  They 
were  so  roughly  handled  in  their  flight,  that  the 
valiant  troopers  could  not  be  induced  again  to 
leave  their  walls,  although  Cardinal  Caraffa  —  who 
had  a  narrow  escape  from  the  enemy  —  sallied 
out  with  a  handful  of  his  followers,  to  give  them 
confidence." 

During  this  time  Alva  was  vigorously  pressing 
the  siege  of  Ostia;  but  though  more  than  a  week 
had  elapsed,  the  besieged  showed  no  disposition  to 
surrender.  At  length,  the  Spanish  commander,  on 
the  seventeenth  of  November,  finding  his  ammu- 
nition nearly  expended  and  His  army  short  of  pro- 
visions, determined  on  a  general  assault.  Early 
on  the  following  morning,  after  hearing  mass  as 
usual,  the  duke  mounted  his  horse,  and,  riding 
among  the  ranks  to  *  animate  the  spirits  of  his 
soldiers,  gave  orders  for  the  attack.  A  corps 
of  Italians  was  first  detached,  to  scale  the  works; 
but  they  were  repulsed  with  considembk  loss. 
It  was  found  impossible  for  their  officers  to  rally 


«  Nores,  Guerra  fra  Paolo  Quarto  e  Filippo  Secondo,  MS. 


Ch  v.] 


VICTORIOUS  CAMPAIGN. 


175 


them,  and  bring  them  back  to  the  assault.  A 
picked  body  of  Spanish  infantry  was  then  de- 
spatched on  this  dangerous  service.  With  incred- 
ible difficulty  they  succeeded  in  scaling  the  ram- 
parts, under  a  storm  of  combustibles  and  other 
missiles  hurled  down  by  the  garrison,  and  effected 
an  entrance  into  the  place.  But  here  they  were 
met  with  a  courage  as  dauntless  as  their  OAvn.  The 
struggle  was  long  and  desperate.  There  had  been 
no  such  fighting  in  the  course  of  the  campaign. 
At  length,  the  duke,  made  aware  of  the  severe 
loss  sustained  by  his  men,  and  of  the  impmctica- 
bility  of  the  attempt,  as  darkness  was  setting  in, 
gave  the  signal  for  retreat.  The  assailants  had 
doubtless  the  worst  of  it  in  the  conflict ;  but  the 
besieged,  worn  out  with  fatigue,  with  their  am- 
munition nearly  exhausted,  and  almost  without 
food,  did  not  feel  themselves  in  condition  to 
sustain  another  assault,  on  the  following  day. 
On  the  nineteenth  of  November,  therefore,  the 
morning  after  the  conflict,  the  brave  garrison  ca- 
pitulated, and  were  treated  with  honor  as  prisoners 
of  war.^ 

The  fate  of  the  campaign  seemed  now  to  be 
decided.  The  pope,  with  his  principal  towns  in 
the  hands  of  the  enemy,  his  communications  cut 

•J  The  details  of  the  siege  of  Catholic©  Don   Filippo   Secondo, 

Ostia  are  given  with  more  or  less  con  le  Guerre  de  suoi  Tempi,  (Vi- 

minuteness  by  Nores,  Guerra  fra  cenza,  1605,)  tom.  ILfol.  1^6, 147; 

Paolo  Quarto  e  Filippo  Secondo,  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  H 

MS.;  Andrea,  Guerra  de  Roma,  cap.  15. 
p.  72  et  seq.;  Campana,  Vita  del 


176 


WAB  WITH  THE  POPE. 


[Book  I 


off  both  with  the  country  and  the  coast,  may  well 
have  felt  his  inability  to  contend  thus  single- 
handed  against  the  power  of  Spain.  At  all  events, 
his  subjects  felt  it,  and  they  were  not  deterred 
by  his  arrogant  bearing  from  clamoring  loudly 
against  the  continuance  of  this  ruinous  war.  But 
Paul  would  not  hear  of  a  peace.  However  crip- 
pled by  his  late  reverses,  he  felt  confident  of  re- 
pauing  them  all  on  the  arrival  of  the  French, 
who,  as  he  now  learned  with  joy,  were  in  full 
march  across  the  territory  of  Milan.  He  was 
not  so  disinclined  to  a  truce,  which  might  give 
time  for  their  coming. 

Cardinal  Caraffa,  accordingly,  had  a  conference 
with  the  duke  of  Alva,  and  entered  into  negotia- 
tions with  him  for  a  suspension  of  arms.  The 
proposal  was  not  unwelcome  to  the  duke,  who, 
weakened  by  losses  of  every  kind,  was  by  no 
means  in  condition  at  the  end  of  an  active  cam- 
paign to  contend  with  a  fresh  army  under  the 
command  of  so  practised  a  leader  as  the  duke  of 
Guise.  He  did  not  care  to  expose  himself  a  sec- 
ond time  to  an  encounter  with  the  French  general, 
under  disadvantages  nearly  as  great  as  those  which 
had  foiled  him  at  Metz. 

With  these  amiable  dispositions,  a  truce  was 
soon  arranged  between  the  parties,  to  continue 
forty  days.  The  terms  were  honorable  to  Alva, 
since  they  left  him  in  possession  of  all  his  con- 
quests. Having  completed  these  arrangements, 
the  Spanish  commander  broke  up  his  camp  on  the 


c«.  v.] 


VICTORIOUS  CAMPAIGN. 


177 


southern  bank  of  the  Tiber,  recrossed  the  fron- 
tier, and  in  a  few  days  made  his  triumphant  entry, 
at  the  head  of  his  battalions,  into  the  city  of 
Naples.^ 

So  ended  the  first  campaign  ^  of  the  war  with 
Rome.  It  had  given  a  severe  lesson,  that  might 
have  shaken  the  confidence  and  humbled  the  pride 
of  a  pontiff  less  arrogant  than  Paul  the  Fourth. 
But  it  served  only  to  deepen  his  hatred  of  the 
Spaniards,  and  to  stimulate  his  desire  for  ven- 
geance. 


24  Nores,  Guerra  fra  Paolo  Quar- 
to e  Filippo  Secondo,  MS.  —  An- 
drea, Guerra  de  Eoma,  p.  86  et  seq. 

The  Emperor  Charles  the  Fifth, 
when  on  his  way  to  Yuste,  took  a 
verj-  different  view  from  Alva's  of 
the  truce,  rating  the  duke  roundly 
for  not  having  followed  up  the  cap- 
ture of  Ostia  by  a  decisive  blow, 
instead  of  allowing  the  French 
time  to  enter  Italy  and  combine 
with  the  pope.  —  "El  emperador 
oy6  todo  lo  que  v.  m*.  dize  del 
duque  y  de  Italia,  y  ha  tornado 
muy  mal  el  haver  dado  el  duque 


oidos  4  suspension  de  annas,  y  mu- 
cho  mas  de  haver  prorrogado  el 
plazo,  por  parecelle  que  seri  in- 
strumento  para  que  la  gente  del 
Rey  que  baxava  4  Piamonte  se 
juntasse  con  la  del  Papa,  6  questa 
dilacion  sera  necessitar  al  duque,  y 
estorvalle  el  effecto  que  pudiera 
hazer,  si  prosiguiera  su  vitoria  des- 
pues  de  haber  ganado  k  Osda,  y 
entre  dientes  dixo  otras  cosas  que 
no  pude  comprehender."  Carta 
de  Martin  de  Gaztelu  a  Juan  Vaz- 
quez, Enero  10,  1557,  MS. 


TOL.  L 


Ch.  VI.] 


GUISE  ENTERS  ITALY. 


179 


CHAPTER    VI. 


WAR  WITH  THE  POPE. 


Guise  enters  Italy.  —  Operations  in  tlie  Abruzzi.  — Siege  of  Civitella, 

—  Alva  drives  out  the  French. — Rome  menaced  by  the  Spaniards. 

—  Paul  consents  to  Peace. — Paul's  subsequent  Career. 

1557. 

While  the  events  recorded  in  the  preceding 
pages  were  passing  in  Italy,  the  French  army, 
under  the  duke  of  Guise,  had  arrived  on  the  bor- 
ders of  Piedmont.  That  commander,  on  leaving 
Paris,  found  himself  at  the  head  of  a  force  consist- 
ing of  twelve  thousand  infantry,  of  which  five 
thousand  were  Swiss,  and  the  rest  French,  in- 
cluding a  considerable  number  of  Gascons.  His 
cavalry  amounted  to  two  thousand,  and  he  was 
provided  with  twelve  pieces  of  artillery.  In  ad- 
dition to  this.  Guise  was  attended  by  a  gallant 
body  of  French  gentlemen,  young  for  the  most 
part,  and  eager  to  win  laurels  under  the  renowned 
defender  of  Metz. 

The  French  army  met  with  no  opposition  in  its 
passage  through  Piedmont.  The  king  of  Spain 
had  ordered  the  government  of  Milan  to  strengtlien 
the  garrisons  of  the  fortresses,  but  to  oppose  no 


resistance  to  the  French,  unless  the  latter  began 
hostilities.^  Some  of  the  duke's  counsellors  would 
have  persuaded  him  to  do  so.  His  father-in-law, 
the  duke  of  Ferrara,  in  particular,  who  had  brought 
him  a  reinforcement  of  six  thousand  troops,  strongly 
pressed  the  French  general  to  make  sure  of  the 
Milanese  before  penetrating  to  the  south ;  other- 
wise he  would  leave  a  dangerous  enemy  in  his 
rear.  The  Italian  urged,  moreover,  the  importance 
of  such  a  step  in  giving  confidence  to  the  Ange- 
vine  faction  in  Naples,  and  in  drawing  over  to 
France  those  states  which  hesitated  as  to  their 
policy,  or  which  had  but  lately  consented  to  an 
alliance  with  Spain. 

France,  at  this  time,  exercised  but  little  influ- 
ence in  the  counsels  of  the  Italian  powers.  Genoa, 
after  an  ineffectual  attempt  at  revolution,  was  de- 
voted to  Spain.  The  cooperation  of  Cosmo  de' 
Medici,  then  lord  of  Tuscany,  had  been  secured 
by  the  cession  of  Sienna.  The  duke  of  Parma, 
who  had  coquetted  for  some  time  with  the  French 
monarch,  was  won  over  to  Spain  by  the  restora- 
tion of  Placentia,  of  which  he  had  been  despoiled 
by  Charles  the  Fifth.  His  young  son,  Alexander 
Famese,  was  sent  as  a  hostage,  to  be  educated 
under  Philip's  eye,  at  the  court  of  Madrid,  —  the 
fruits  of  which  training  were  to  be  gathered  in  the 
war  of  the  Netherlands,  where  he  proved  himself 
fjie  most  consummate  captain  of  his  time.  Venice, 
from  her  lonely  watch-tower  on  the  Adriatic,  re- 

1  Sepulveda,  De  Rebus  Gestb  Philippi  H.,  p.  13. 


180 


WAB  WITH  THE  POPE. 


[Book  I 


garded  at  a  distance  the  political  changes  of  Italy, 
prepared  to  profit  by  any  chances  in  her  own  favor. 
Her  conservative  policy,  however,  prompted  her 
to  maintain  things  as  far  as  possible  in  their  pres- 
ent position.  She  was  most  desirous  that  the 
existing  equilibrium  should  not  be  disturbed  by 
the  introduction  of  any  new  power  on  the  theatre 
of  Italy ;  and  she  had  readily  acquiesced  in  the 
invitation  of  the  duke  of  Alva,  to  mediate  an 
accommodation  between  the  contending  parties. 
This  pacific  temper  found  little  encouragement 
from  the  belligerent  pontiff  who  had  brought  the 
war  upon  Italy. 

The  advice  of  the  duke  of  Ferrara,  however 
judicious  in  itself,  was  not  relished  by  his  son-in- 
law,  the  duke  of  Guise,  who  was  anxious  to  press 
forward  to  Naples  as  the  proper  scene  of  his  con- 
quests. The  pope,  too,  called  on  him,  in  the  most 
peremptory  terms,  to  hasten  his  march,  as  Naples 
was  the  object  of  the  expedition.  The  French 
commander  had  the  address  to  obtain  instructions 
to  the  same  effect  from  his  own  court,  by  which  he 
affected  to  be  decided.  His  Italian  father-in-law 
was  so  much  disgusted  by  this  determination,  that 
he  instantly  quitted  the  camp,  and  drew  off  his  six 
thousand  soldiers,  declaring  that  he  needed  all  he 
could  muster  to  protect  his  own  states  against  the 
troops  of  Milan.^ 

Thus   shorn   of  his  Italian   reinforcement,  the 


«  Nores,  Guerra  fra  Paolo  Quarto  e  Filippo  Secondo,  MS.  —  Andrea 
Gaerra  de  Roma,  p.  165. 


CfH.  VI.] 


OPERATIONS  IN  THE  ABRUZZI. 


181 


duke  of  Guise  resumed  his  march,  and,  entering 
the  States  of  the  Church,  followed  down  the  shores 
of  the  Adriatic,  passing  through  Ravenna  and 
Rimini ;  then,  striking  into  the  interior,  he  halted 
at  Gesi,  where  he  found  good  accommodations  for 
his  men  and  abundant  forage  for  the  horses. 

Leaving  his  army  in  their  pleasant  quarters,  he 
soon  after  repaired  to  Rome,  in  order  to  arrange 
with  the  pope  the  plan  of  the  campaign.  He  was 
graciously  received  by  Paul,  who  treated  him  with 
distinguished  honor  as  the  loyal  champion  of  the 
Church.  Emboldened  by  the  presence  of  the 
French  army  in  his  dominions,  the  pope  no 
longer  hesitated  to  proclaim  the  renewal  of  the 
war  against  Spain.  The  Roman  levies,  scattered 
over  the  Campagna,  assaulted  the  places  but  feebly 
garrisoned  by  the  Spaniards.  Most  of  them,  in- 
cluding Tivoli  and  Ostia,  were  retaken ;  and  the 
haughty  bosom  of  the  pontiff  swelled  with  exulta- 
tion as  he  anticipated  the  speedy  extinction  of  the 
Spanish  rule  in  Italy. 

After  some  days  consumed  in  the  Vatican,  Guise 
rejoined  his  army  at  Gesi.  He  was  fortified  by 
abundant  assurances  of  aid  from  his  hoUness,  and 
he  was  soon  joined  by  one  of  Paul's  nephews,  the 
duke  of  Montebello,  with  a  slender  reinforcement. 
It  was  determined  to  cross  the  Neapolitan  frontier 
at  once,  and  to  begin  operations  by  the  siege  of 
Campli. 

This  was  a  considerable  place,  situated  in  the 
aiidst  of  a  fruitful  territory.     The  native  popular 


182 


WAB  WITH  THE  POPE. 


[Book  I 


tion  had  been  greatly  increased  by  the  influx  of 
people  from  the  surrounding  country,  who  had 
taken  refuge  in  Campli  as  a  place  of  security.  But 
they  did  little  for  its  defence.  It  did  not  long 
resist  the  impetuosity  of  the  French,  who  carried 
the  town  by  storm.  The  men  —  all  who  made 
resistance  —  were  put  to  the  sword.  The  women 
were  abandoned  to  the  licentious  soldiery.  The 
houses,  first  pillaged,  were  then  fired;  and  the 
once  flourishing  place  was  soon  converted  into  a 
heap  of  smouldering  ruins.  The  booty  was  great, 
for  the  people  of  the  neighborhood  had  brought 
their  effects  thither  for  safety,  and  a  large  amount 
of  gold  and  silver  was  found  in  the  dwellings. 
The  cellars,  too,  were  filled  with  delicate  wines; 
and  the  victors  abandoned  themselves  to  feasting 
and  wassail,  while  the  wretched  citizens  wandered 
like  spectres  amidst  the  ruins  of  their  ancient  habi- 
tations.^ 

The  fate  of  Italy,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  was 
hard  indeed.  She  had  advanced  far  beyond  the 
age  in  most  of  the  arts  which  belong  to  a  civilized 
community.  Her  cities,  even  her  smaller  towns, 
throughout  the  country,  displayed  the  evidences  of 
architectural  taste.  They  were  filled  with  stately 
temples  and  elegant  mansions;  the  squares  were 
ornamented  with  fountains  of  elaborate  workman- 
ship; the  rivers  were  spanned  by  arches  of  solid 

'Nores,Guerrafra  Paolo  Quarto  Thou,  Histoire  Universelle,  torn. 
eFilippoSecondo,  MS.  — Andrea,  HI.  p.  86.  — Cabrera,  Filipe  Se. 
Guerra  de  Roma,  p.  220.  —  De    gundo,  lib.  IH.  cap.  9. 


Cb.  VLl 


OPERATIONS  IN  THE  ABRUZZL 


185 


masonry.  The  private  as  well  as  public  edifices 
were  furnished  with  costly  works  of  art,  of  which 
the  value  was  less  in  the  material  than  in  the  exe- 
cution. A  generation  had  scarcely  passed  since 
Michael  Angelo  and  Raphael  had  produced  their 
miracles  of  sculpture  and  of  painting ;  and  now  Cor- 
reggio,  Paul  Veronese,  and  Titian  were  filling  their 
country  with  those  immortal  productions  which  have 
been  the  delight  and  the  despair  of  succeeding  ages. 
Letters  kept  pace  with  art.  The  magical  strains  of 
Ariosto  had  scarcely  died  away  when  a  greater  bard 
had  arisen  in  Tasso,  to  take  up  the  tale  of  Chris- 
tian chivalry.  This  extraordinary  combination  of 
elegant  art  and  literary  culture  was  the  more  re- 
markable, from  the  contrast  presented  by  the  con- 
dition of  the  rest  of  Europe,  then  first  rising  into 
the  light  of  a  higher  civilization.  But,  with  all 
this  intellectual  progress,  Italy  was  sadly  deficient 
in  some  qualities  found  among  the  hardier  sons  of 
the  north,  and  which  seem  indispensable  to  a  na- 
tional existence.  She  could  boast  of  her  artists, 
her  poets,  her  politicians ;  but  of  few  real  patriots, 
few  who  rested  their  own  hopes  on  the  indepen- 
dence of  their  country.  The  freedom  of  the  old 
Italian  republics  had  passed  away.  There  was 
scarcely  one  that  had  not  surrendered  its  liberties 
to  a  master.  The  principle  of  imion  for  defence 
against  foreign  aggression  was  as  little  understood 
as  the  principle  of  political  liberty  at  home.  The 
states  were  jealous  of  one  another.  The  cities 
were  jealous  of  one  another,  and  were  often  torn 


WAR  WITH  THE  POPE. 


[Book  I 


Cb.  VL] 


SIEGE  OF  CIVITELLA. 


185 


by  factions  within  themselves.  Thus  their  in- 
dividual strength  was  alike  ineffectual,  whether 
for  self-government  or  self-defence.  The  gift  of 
beauty  which  Italy  possessed  in  so  extraordinary 
a  degree  only  made  her  a  more  tempting  prize  to 
the  spoiler,  whom  she  had  not  the  strength  or  the 
courage  to  resist.  The  Turkish  corsair  fell  upon 
her  coasts,  plundered  her  maritime  towns,  and 
swept  off  their  inhabitants  into  slavery.  The 
European,  scarcely  less  barbarous,  crossed  the 
Alps,  and,  striking  into  the  interior,  fell  upon 
the  towns  and  hamlets  that  lay  sheltered  among 
the  hills  and  in  the  quiet  valleys,  and  converted 
them  into  heaps  of  ruins.  Ill  fares  it  with  the 
land  which,  in  an  age  of  violence,  has  given  itself 
up  to  the  study  of  the  graceful  and  the  beautiful, 
to  the  neglect  of  those  hardy  virtues  which  can 
alone  secure  a  nation's  independence. 

From  the  smoking  ruins  of  Campli,  Guise  led 
his  troops  against  Civitella,  a  town  but  a  few  miles 
distant.  It  was  buUt  round  a  conical  hill,  the  top 
of  which  was  crowned  by  a  fortress  well  lined  with 
artillery.  It  was  an  important  place  for  the  com- 
mand of  the  frontier,  and  the  duke  of  Alva  had 
thrown  into  it  a  garrison  of  twelve  hundred  men 
under  the  direction  of  an  experienced  officer,  the 
marquis  of  Santa  Fiore.  The  French  general  con- 
sidered that  the  capture  of  this  post,  so  soon  fol- 
lowing the  sack  of  Campli,  would  spread  terror 
among  the  Neapolitans,  and  encourage  those  of 
the  Angevine  faction  to  declare  openly  in  his  favor 


As  the  place  refused  to  surrender,  he  prepared 
to  besiege  it  in  form,  throwing  up  intrenchments, 
and  only  waiting  for  his  heavy  guns   to  begin 
active  hostilities.      He  impatiently  expected  their 
arrival  for  some  days,  when  he  caused  four  bat- 
teries to    be   erected,   to   operate    simultaneously 
against  four  quarters  of  the  town.     After  a  brisk 
cannonade,  which  was   returned  by  the  besieged 
with  equal  spirit,  and  with  still  greater  loss  to  the 
enemy,  from  his  exposed  position,  the  duke,  who 
had  opened  a  breach  in  the  works,  prepared  for  a 
general  assault.     It  was  conducted  with  the  usual 
impetuosity  of  the  French,  but  was  repulsed  with 
courage  by  the  Italians.     More  than  once  the  as- 
sailants were  brought  up   to  the  breach,  and  as 
often  driven  back  with    slaughter.      The   duke, 
convinced  that  he  had  been  too  precipitate,  was 
obliged  to  sound  a  retreat,  and  again  renewed  the 
cannonade  from  his  batteries,  keeping  it  up  night 
and  day,  though,  from  the  vertical  direction  of  the 
fire,  with  comparatively  little  effect.     The  French 
camp  offered  a  surer  mark  to  the  guns  of  Civi- 
tella. 

The  women  of  the  place  displayed  an  intre- 
pidity equal  to  that  of  the  men.  Armed  with 
buckler  and  cuirass,  they  might  be  seen  by  the 
side  of  their  husbands  and  brothers,  in  the  most 
.exposed  situations  on  the  ramparts;  and,  as  one 
was  shot  down,  another  stepped  forward  to  take 
the  place  of  her  fallen   comrade.*    The  fate   of 


VOL.  I. 


4  Andrea,  Guerra  de  Roma,  p.  226. 
24 


186 


WAR  WITH  THE  POPE, 


[Book  L 


Ch.  VI] 


SIEGE  OF  CIVITELUL 


187 


Campli  had  taught  them  to  expect  no  mercy  from 
the  victor,  and  they  preferred  death  to  dishonor. 

As  day  after  day  passed  on  in  the  same  monoto- 
nous manner,  Guise's  troops  became  weary  of  their 
inactive  life.  The  mercurial  spirits  of  the  French 
soldier,  which  overleaped  every  obstacle  in  his  path, 
were  often  found  to  evaporate  in  the  tedium  of 
protracted  operations,  where  there  was  neither  inci- 
dent nor  excitement.  Such  a  state  of  things  was 
better  suited  to  the  patient  and  persevering  Span- 
iard. The  men  began  openly  to  murmur  against 
the  pope,  whom  they  regarded  as  the  cause  of 
their  troubles.  They  were  led  by  priests,  they 
said,  "  who  knew  much  more  of  praying  than  of 
fighting."  * 

Guise  himself  had  causes  of  disgust  with  the 
pontiff  which  he  did  not  care  to  conceal.  For  all 
the  splendid  promises  of  his  holiness,  he  had  re- 
ceived few  supplies  either  of  men,  ammunition,  or 
money;  and  of  the  Angevine  lords  not  one  had 
ventured  to  declare  in  his  favor  or  to  take  service 
under  his  banner.  He  urged  all  this  with  much 
warmth  on  the  pope's  nephew,  the  duke  of  Monte- 
bello.  The  Italian  recriminated  as  warmly,  till 
the  dialogue  was  abruptly  ended,  it  is  said,  by 
the  duke  of  Guise  throwing  a  napkin,  or,  accoixi- 
ing  to  some  accounts,  a  dish,  at  the  head  of  his 
ally.®  However  this  may  be,  Montebello  left  the 
camp  in  disgust  and  returned  to  Rome.     But  the 

«  Giannone,  Istoria  di  Napoli,        6  Sismondi,  Histoire  des  Fran- 
torn.  X.  p.  40.  ^ais,  torn.  XVIH.  p.  39. 


defender  of  the  Church  was  too  important  a  per- 
son to  quarrel  with,  and  Paul  deemed  it  pru- 
dent, for  the  present,  at  least,  to  stifle  his  re- 
sentment. 

Meanwhile  heavy  rains  set  in,  causing  great 
annoyance  to  the  French  troops  in  their  quarters, 
spoiling  their  provisions,  and  doing  great  damage 
to  their  powder.  The  same  rain  did  good  service 
to  the  besieged,  by  filling  their  cisterns.  "God," 
exclaimed  the  profane  Guise,  "  must  have  turned 
Spaniard."^ 

While  these  events  were  taking  place  in  the 
north  of  Naples,  the  duke  of  Alva,  in  the  south, 
was  making  active  preparations  for  the  defence  of 
the  kingdom.  He  had  seen  with  satisfaction  the 
time  consumed  by  his  antagonist,  first  at  Gesi,  and 
afterwards  at  the  siege  of  Civitella;  and  he  had 
fully  profited  by  the  delay.  On  reaching  the  city 
of  Naples,  he  had  summoned  a  parliament  of  the 
great  barons,  had  clearly  exposed  the  necessities 
of  the  state,  and  demanded  an  extraordinary  loan 
of  two  millions  of  ducats.  The  loyal  nobles 
readily  responded  to  the  call;  but  as  not  more 
than  one  third  of  the  whole  amount  could  be 
instantly  raised,  an  order  was  obtained  from  the 
council,  requiring  the  governors  of  the  several 
provinces  to  invite  the  great  ecclesiastics  in  their 
districts  to  advance  the  remaining  two  thirds  of 
the  loan.     In   case   they  did  not  consent  with  a 

7  **  Encendido  de  colera,  vino    Espanol."      Andrea,    Guerra   4t 
»  dezir,  Que  Dies  se  aula  buelto    Roma,  p.  228. 


188 


WAR  WITH  THE  POPE. 


[Book  1 


good  grace,  they  were  to  be  forced  tc  comply  by 
the  seizure  of  their  revenues.* 

By  another  decree  of  the  council,  the  gold  and 
silver  plate  belonging  to  the  monasteries  and 
churches,  throughout  the  kingdom,  after  being 
valued,  was  to  be  taken  for  the  use  of  the  govern- 
ment.  A  quantity  of  it,  belonging  to  a  city  in  the 
Abruzzi,  was  in  fact  put  up  to  be  sent  to  Naples ; 
but  it  caused  such  a  tumult  among  the  people,  that 
it  was  found  expedient  to  suspend  proceedings  in 
the  matter  for  the  present. 

The  viceroy  still  further  enlarged  his  resources 
by  the  sequestration  of  the  revenues  belonging  to 
such  ecclesiastics  as  resided  in  Rome.     By  these 
various  expedients,  the  duke  of  Alva  found  him- 
self in  possession  of  sufficient  funds  for  carrying 
on  the  war  as  he  desired.     He  mustered  a  force  of 
twenty-two,  or,  as  some  accounts  state,  twenty-five 
thousand  men.     Of  these  three  thousand  only  were 
Spanish   veterans,   five  thousand    were    Germans, 
and    the    remainder    Italians,    chiefly    from    the 
Abruzzi,— for    the   most    part    raw   recruits,   on 
whom  little  reliance  was  to  be  placed.     He   had 
besides   seven   hundred    men-at-arms   and    fifteen 
hundred  light  horse.     His  army  therefore,  though, 
as  far  as  the  Italians  were  concerned,  inferior  in 
discipline  to  that  of  his  antagonist,  was  greatly 
superior  in  numbers.* 

•  ■ 

8  Giannone,  Istoria  di  Napoli,    e  Filippo  Secondo,  MS.  -  Andrea, 

9lt^'r^'       r    T>    I  ^  GuerradeRoma,p.237.-Os«)rio, 

»  Nores,  Guerra  fra  Paolo  Quarto    Alba  Vita,  torn.  II.  p.  64. 


Ch.  VI.] 


SIEGE  OF  CIVITELLA. 


199 


In  a  council  of  war  that  was  called,  some 
were  of  opinion  that  the  viceroy  should  act 
on  the  defensive,  and  await  the  approach  of  the 
enemy  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  capital.  But 
Alva  looked  on  this  as  a  timid  course,  arguing 
distrust  in  himself,  and  likely  to  infuse  distrust 
into  his  followers.  He  determined  to  march  at 
once  against  the  enemy,  and  prevent  his  gaining 
a  permanent  foothold  in  the  kingdom. 

Pescara,  on  the  Adriatic,  was  appointed  as  the 
place  of  rendezvous  for  the  army,  and  Alva  quitted 
the  city  of  Naples  for  that  place  on  the  eleventh  of 
April,  1557.  Here  he  concentrated  his  whole 
strength,  and  received  his  artillery  and  military 
stores,  which  were  brought  to  him  by  water. 
Having  reviewed  his  troops,  he  began  his  march 
to  the  north.  On  reaching  Rio  Umano,  he 
detached  a  strong  body  of  troops  to  get  pos- 
session of  Giulia  Nuova,  a  town  of  some  impor- 
tance lately  seized  by  the  enemy.  Alva  sup- 
posed, and  it  seems  correctly,  that  the  French 
commander  had  secured  this  as  a  good  place  of 
retreat  in  case  of  his  failure  before  Civitella,  since 
its  position  was  such  as  would  enable  him  readily 
to  keep  up  his  communications  with  the  sea.  The 
French  garrison  sallied  out  against  the  Spaniards, 
but  were  driven  back  with  loss ;  and,  as  Alva's 
troops  followed  close  in  their  rear,  the  enemy 
fled  in  confusion  through  the  streets  of  the  city, 
and  left  it  in  the  hands  of  the  victors.  In  this 
commodious  position,  the  viceroy  for  the  present, 
took  up  his  quarters. 


190 


WAR  WITH  THE  POPE. 


[Book  L 


Cm.  VI.]         ALVA  DRIVES  OUT  THE  FRENCH. 


191 


On  the  approach  of  the  Spanish  army,  the  duke 
of  Guise  saw  the  necessity  of  bringing  his  opera- 
tions  against  Civitella   to  a  decisive   issue.     He 
accordingly,  as  a  last  effort,  prepared  for  a  general 
assault.     But,   although    it    was   conducted   with 
great  spirit,  it  was  repulsed  with  still  greater  by 
the  garrison ;  and  the  French  commander,  deeply 
mortified  at  his  repeated  failures,  saw  the  neces- 
sity of  abandoning  the  siege.     He  could  not  efiect 
even  this  without  sustaining  some  loss  from  the 
brave  defenders  of  Civitella,  who  sallied  out  on 
his  rear,  as  he  drew  off  his  discomfited  troops  to 
the  neighboring  valley   of  Nireto.     Thus    ended 
the  siege  of  Civitella,  which,  by  the  confidence  it 
gave  to  the  loyal  Neapolitans  throughout  the  coun- 
try, as  well  as  by  the  leisure  it  afforded  to  Alva 
for  mustering  his  resources,  may  be  said  to  have 
decided  the   fate   of  the   war.     The   siege  lasted 
twenty-two   days,   during  fourteen   of  which  the 
guns  from  the  four  batteries  of  the   French   had 
played  incessantly  on  the  beleaguered  city.     The 
viceroy  was  filled  with  admiration  at  the  heroic 
conduct  of  the  inhabitants ;  and,  in  token  of  respect 
for  it,  granted   some  important  immimities,  to  be 
enjoyed  for  ever  by  the  citizens  of  Civitella.     The 
women,  too,  came  in  for  their  share  of  the  honors, 
as  whoever  married  a  maiden  of  Civitella  was  to  be 
allowed  the  same  immunities,  from  whatever  part 
of  the  country  he  might  come.^® 

W  The  particulars  of  the  siege    res,   Guerra  fra  Paolo  Quarto  e 
«f  Civitella  may  be  found  in  No-    FiHppo  Secondo,  MS.  j   Andrea, 


The  two  armies  were  now  quartered  within  a 
few  miles  of  each  other.  Yet  no  demonstration 
was  made,  on  either  side,  of  bringing  matters  to 
the  issue  of  a  battle.  This  was  foreign  to  Alva's 
policy,  and  was  not  to  be  expected  from  Guise,  so 
inferior  in  strength  to  his  antagonist.  On  the 
viceroy's  quitting  Giulia  Nuova,  however,  to 
occupy  a  position  somewhat  nearer  the  French 
quarters,  Guise  did  not  deem  it  prudent  to  remain 
there  any  longer,  but,  breaking  up  his  camp,  re- 
treated, with  his  whole  army,  across  the  Tronto, 
and,  without  further  delay,  evacuated  the  kingdom 
of  Naples. 

The  Spanish  general  made  no  attempt  to  pursue, 
or  even  to  molest  his  adversary  in  his  retreat.  For 
this  he  has  been  severely  criticized,  more  particu- 
larly as  the  passage  of  a  river  offers  many  points 
of  advantage  to  an  assailant.  But,  in  truth,  Alva 
never  resorted  to  fighting  when  he  could  gain 
his  end  without  it.  In  an  appeal  to  arms,  however 
favorable  may  be  the  odds,  there  must  always  be 
some  doubt  as  to  the  result.  But  the  odds  here 
were  not  so  decisively  on  the  side  of  the  Spaniards 
as  they  appeared.  The  duke  of  Guise  carried  off 
his  battalions  in  admirable  order,  protecting  his 
rear  with  the  flower  of  his  infantry  and  with  his 
cavalry,  in  which  last  he  was  much  superior  to 
his  enemy.     Thus  the  parts  of  the  hostile  armies 

Guerra  de  Boma,  p.  222  et  seq. ;  lib.  III.  cap.  9 ;  De  Thou,  Histoire 
Ossorio,  Albse  Vita,  torn.  IL  pp.  Universelle,  torn.  III.  p.  87  et 
53  -  j>9 ;  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,    seq.,  &c 


192 


WAR  WITH  THE  POPE. 


[Book  I 


Ch.  VL]      ROME  MENACED  BY  THE  SPANIARDS. 


193 


likely  to  have  been  brought  mto  unmediate  conflict 
would  have  aiForded  no  certain  assurance  of  suc- 
cess to  the  Spaniards.  Alva's  object  had  been, 
not  so  much  to  defeat  the  French  as  to  defend 
Naples.  This  he  had  now  achieved,  with  but 
little  loss  ;  and,  rather  than  incur  the  risk  of 
greater,  he  was  willing,  in  the  words  of  an  old 
proverb,  to  make  a  bridge  of  silver  for  the  flying 
foe."  In  the  words  of  Alva  himself,  "  he  had  no 
idea  of  staking  the  kingdom  of  Naples  against  the 
embroidered  coat  of  the  duke  of  Guise."  ^ 

On  the  retreat  of  the  French,  Alva  laid  siege  at 
once  to  two  or  three  places,  of  no  great  note,  in 
the  capture  of  which  he  and  his  lieutenants  were 
guilty  of  the  most  deliberate  cruelty;  though, 
in  the  judgment  of  the  chronicler,  it  was  not 
cruelty,  but  a  wholesome  severity,  designed  as  a 
warning  to  such  petty  places  not  to  defy  the  royal 
authority .^^  Soon  after  this,  Alva  himself  crossed 
the  Tronto,  and  took  up  a  position  not  far  removed 
from  the  French,  who  lay  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Ascoli.  Although  the  two  armies  were  but  a  few 
miles  asunder,  there  was  no  attempt  at  hostilities, 
with  the  exception  of  a  skirmish  in  which  but  a 
small  number  on  either  side  were   engaged,  and 


**  **  Quiso  guardar  el  precepto 
de  gaerra  que  es:  Hazer  la  puente 
de  plata  al  enemigo,  que  se  va." 
Andrea,  Guerra  de  Roma,  p. 
285. 

1*  "  No  pensava  jugar  el  Reyno 
de  Napoles  contra  una  casaca  de 
l»rocado  del  Duque  de  Guisa."  Ve- 


ra y  Figueroa,  Resultas  de  la  Vida 
del  Duque  de  Alva,  p.  66. 

1^  "  Quiso  usar  alii  desta  severi- 
dad,  no  por  crueza,  sino  para  dar 
exemplo  a  los  otros,  que  no  se 
atreuiesse  un  lugarejo  a  defenderse 
de  un  exercito  real.**  Andrea, 
Guerra  de  Roma,  p.  292. 


which  terminated  in  favor  of  the  Spaniards.  This 
state  of  things  was  at  length  ended  by  a  summons 
from  the  pope  to  the  French  commander  to  draw 
nearer  to  Kome,  as  he  needed  his  presence  for  the 
protection  of  the  capital.  The  duke,  glad,  no 
doubt,  of  so  honorable  an  apology  for  his  retreat, 
and  satisfied  with  having  so  long  held  his  ground 
against  a  force  superior  to  his  own,  fell  back,  in 
good  order,  upon  Tivoli,  which,  as  it  commanded 
the  great  avenues  to  Rome  on  the  east,  and  afford- 
ed good  accommodations  for  his  troops,  he  made 
his  head-quarters  for  the  present.  The  manner  in 
which  the  duke  of  Alva  adhered  to  the  plan  of 
defensive  operations  settled  at  the  beginning  of 
the  campaign,  and  that,  too,  under  circumstances 
which  would  have  tempted  most  men  to  depart 
from  such  a  plan,  is  a  remarkable  proof  of  his  per- 
severance and  inflexible  spirit.  It  proves,  more- 
over, the  empire  which  he  held  over  the  minds  of 
his  followers,  that,  under  such  circumstances,  he 
could  maintain  implicit  obedience  to  his  orders. 

The  cause  of  the  pope's  alarm  was  the  rapid 
successes  of  Alva's  confederate,  Mark  Antony 
Colonna,  who  had  defeated  the  papal  levies,  and 

# 

taken  one  place  after  another  in  the  Campagna, 
till  the  Romans  began  to  tremble  for  their  capital. 
Colonna  was  now  occupied  with  the  siege  of  Segni, 
a  place  of  considerable  importance  ;  and  the  duke 
of  Alva,  relieved  of  the  presence  of  the  French, 
resolved  to  march  to  his  support.  He  accordingly 
recrossed   the   Tronto,  and,  passing  through   the 


VOL.  I. 


85 


194 


WAR  WITH  THE  POPE. 


[BooE  L 


Neapolitan  temtory,  halted  for  some  days  at  Sera. 
He  then  traversed  the  frontier,  but  had  not  pene- 
trated  far  into  the  Campagna  when  he  received 
tidings  of  the  fall  of  Segni.  That  strong  place, 
after  a  gallant  defence,  had  been  taken  by  storm. 
All  the  usual  atrocities  were  perpetrated  by  the 
brutal  soldiery.  Even  the  sanctity  of  the  convents 
did  not  save  them  from  pollution.  It  was  in  vain 
that  Colonna  interfered  to  prevent  these  excesses. 
The  voice  of  authority  was  little  heeded  in  the 
tempest  of  passion. — It  mattered  little,  in  that  age, 
into  whose  hands  a  captured  city  fell ;  Germans, 
French,  Italians,  it  was  all  the  same.  The  wretch- 
ed town,  so  lately  flourishing,  it  might  be,  in  all 
the  pride  of  luxury  and  wealth,  was  claimed  as  the 
fair  spoil  of  the  victors.  It  w^as  their  prize-money, 
which  served  in  default  of  payment  of  their  long 
arrears,  —  usually  long  in  those  days ;  and  it  was 
a  mode  of  payment  as  convenient  for  the  general 
as  for  his  soldiers.^* 

The  fall  of  Segni  caused  the  greatest  consterna- 
tion in  the  capital.  The  next  thing,  it  was  said, 
would  be  to  assault  the  capital  itself  Paul  the 
Fourth,  incapable  of  fear,  was  filled  with  impotent 
fury.  "  They  have  taken  Segni,"  he  said  in  a  con- 
clave of  the  cardinals ;  "  they  have  murdered  the  peo- 
ple, destroyed  their  property,  fired  their  dwellings. 
Worse  than  this,  they  >vill  next  pillage  Palliano. 
Even  this  will  not  fill  up  the  measure  of  their  cru- 

M  Andrea,  Guerra  de  Roma,  p.    p.  96.  —  Nores,  Guerra  fra  Paolo 
102.  —  Ossorio,  Albae  Tita,  torn.  II.    Quarto  e  Filippo  Secondo,  MS. 


i 


I 


Ch.  VI.]   ROME  MENACED  BY  THE  SPANIARDS.     195 

elty.  They  will  sack  the  city  of  Rome  itself ;  nor 
will  they  respect  even  my  person.  But,  for  my 
self,  I  long  to  be  with  Christ,  and  await  without 
fear  the  crown  of  martyrdom."  ^^  Paul  the  Fourth, 
after  having  brought  this  tempest  upon  Italy,  be- 
gan to  consider  himself  a  martyr ! 

Yet  even  in  this  extremity,  though  urged  on  all 
sides  to  make  concessions,  he  would  abate  nothing 
of  his  haughty  tone.  He  insisted,  as  a  sine  qua 
non,  that  Alva  should  forthwith  leave  the  Roman 
territory  and  restore  his  conquests.  When  these 
conditions  were  reported  to  the  duke,  he  coolly 
remarked,  that  "  his  holiness  seemed  to  be  under 
the  mistake  of  supposing  that  his  own  army  was 
before  Naples,  instead  of  the  Spanish  army  being 
at  the  gates  of  Rome."  ^* 

After  the  surrender  of  Segni,  Alva  effected  a 
junction  with  the  Italian  forces,  and  marched  to 
the  town  of  Colona,  in  the  Campagna,  where  for 
the  present  he  quartered  -  his  army.  Here  he 
foi-med  the  plan  of  an  enterprise,  the  adventurous 
character  of  which  it  seems  difficult  to  reconcile 
with  his  habitual  caution.  This  was  a  night  as- 
sault on  Rome.     He  did  not  communicate  his 


15  "  Los  enemigos  han  tornado  a  "  Si  mostr6  prontissimo  e  disposto 

Sena  con  saco,  muerte,  y  fuego.  di  sostenere  il  martirio."    Nores, 

....  Entraran  en  Roma,  y  la  sa-  Guerra  fra  Paolo  Quarto  e  Filippo 

queran,  y  prenderan  a  mi  persona;  Secondo,  MS. 

y  yo,  que  desseo  ser  c6  Christo,  ^^  Andrea,  Guerra  de  Soma,  p 

aguardo  sin  miedo  la  corona  del  306. 

martirio.**    Andrea,  Guerra  de  Ro-  ^ 

ma,  p.  303.  -^^ 


196 


WAR  WITH  THE  POPE. 


[Book  I 


whole  purpose  to  his  officers,  but  simply  ordered 
them  to  prepare  to  march  on  the  following  night, 
the  twenty-sixth  of  August,  against  a  neighboring 
city,  the  name  of  which  he  did  not  disclose.  It 
was  a  wealthy  place,  he  said,  but  he  was  most 
anxious  that  no  violence  should  be  offered  to  the 
inhabitants,  in  either  their  persons  or  property. 
The  soldiers  should  be  forbidden  even  to  enter  the 
dwellings  ;  but  he  promised  that  the  loss  of  booty 
should  be  compensated  by  increase  of  pay.  The 
men  were  to  go  lightly  armed,  without  baggage, 
and  with  their  shirts  over  their  mail,  affording 
the  best  means  of  recognizing  one  another  in  the 
dark. 

The  night  was  obscure,  but  unfortunately  a 
driving  storm  of  rain  set  in,  which  did  such  dam- 
age to  the  roads  as  greatly  to  impede  the  march, 
and  the  dawn  was  nigh  at  hand  when  the  troops 
reached  the  place  of  destination.  To  their  great 
surprise,  they  then  understood  that  the  object  of 
attack  was  Rome  itself. 

Alva  halted  at  a  short  distance  from  the  city,  in 
a  meadow,  and  sent  forward  a  small  party  to  re- 
connoitre the  capital,  which  seemed  to  slumber  in 
quiet.  But,  on  a  nearer  approach,  the  Spaniards 
saw  a  great  light,  as  if  occasioned  by  a  multitude 
of  torches,  that  seemed  glancing  to  and  fro  with- 
in the  walls,  inferring  some  great  stir  among  the 
inhabitants  of  that  quarter.  Soon  after  this,  a 
few  horsemen  were  seen  to  issue  from  one  of  the 
gates,  and  ride  off  in  the  direction  of  the  French 


*  I 

I 


Ch.  VI.]   ROME  MENACED  BY  THE  SPANIARDS.     19T 

camp  at  Tivoli.  The  duke,  on  receiving  the 
report,  was  satisfied  that  the  Romans  had,  in 
some  way  or  other,  got  notice  of  his  design; 
that  the  horsemen  had  gone  to  give  the  alarm 
to  the  French  in  Tivoli;  and  that  he  should 
soon  find  himself  between  two  enemies.  Not 
relishing  this  critical  position,  he  at  once  aban- 
doned his  design,  and  made  a  rapid  counter- 
march on  the  place  he  had  left  the  preceding 
evening. 

In  his  conjectures  the  duke  was  partly  in  the 
right  and  partly  in  the  wrong.  The  lights  which 
were  seen  glancing  within  the  town  were  owing  to 
the  watchfulness  of  Caraffa,  who,  from  some  appre- 
hensions of  an  attack,  in  consequence  of  informa- 
tion he  had  received  of  preparations  in  the  Spanish 
camp,  was  patrolling  this  quarter  before  daybreak 
to  see  that  all  was  safe;  but  the  horsemen  who 
left  the  gates  at  that  early  hour  in  the  direction 
of  the  French  camp  were  far  from  thinking  that 
hostile  battalions  lay  within  gunshot  of  their 
walls.^^ 

Such  is  the  account  we  have  of  this  strange 
affair.  Some  historians  assert  that  it  was  not  the 
duke's  design  to  attack  Rome,  but  only  to  make  a 
femt,  and,  by  the  panic  which  he  would  create,  to 

afford  the  pope  a  good  pretext  for  terminating  the 

• 

17  Nores,  Guerra  fra  Paolo  Quar-  vagcro.  —  Ossorio,     Albae     Vita, 

to  e  Filippo  Secondo,  MS.  —  An-  torn.  11.  p.  117  et  seq.  —  Cabrera, 

drea,  Guerra  de  Roma,  pp.  306  -  Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  IV.  cap.  11. 
!(1 1 . — Relazione  dl  Bernardo  Na- 


198 


WAR  WITH  THE  TOPE. 


[Book  1 


war.  In  support  of  this,  it  is  said  that  he  told  hia 
son  Ferdinand,  just  before  his  departure,  that  he 
feared  it  would  be  impossible  to  prevent  the  troops 
from  sacking  the  city,  if  they  once  set  foot  in  it.^" 
Other  accounts  state  that  it  was  no  feint,  but  a 
surprise  meditated  in  good  earnest,  and  defeated 
only  by  the  apparition  of  the  lights  and  the  seem- 
ing state  of  preparation  in  which  the  place  was 
found.  Indeed,  one  writer  asserts  that  he  saw  the 
scaling-ladders,  brought  by  a  corps  of  two  hundred 
arquebusiers,  who  were  appointed  to  the  service  of 
mounting  the  walls.^* 

The  Venetian  minister,  Navagero,  assures  us 
that  Alva's  avowed  purpose  was  to  secure  the  per- 
son of  his  holiness,  which,  he  thought,  must  bring 
the  war  at  once  to  a  close.  The  duke's  uncle,  the 
cardinal  of  Sangiacomo,  had  warned  his  nephew, 
according  to  the  same  authority,  not  to  incur  the 
fate  of  their  countrymen  who  had  sei/ed  under  the 
Constable  de  Bourbon,  at  the  sack  of  Rome,  all 
of  whom,  sooner  or  later,  had  come  to  a  miser- 
able end.^  This  warning  may  have  made  some 
impression  on  the  mind  of  Alva,  who,  however 
inflexible  by  nature,   had   conscientious   scruples 


18  "  Dixo  a  Don  Fernando  de 
Toledo  su  hijo  estas  palabras :  Xe- 
mo  que  hemos  de  saquear  a  Roma, 
y  no  querria."  Andrea,  Guerra 
de  Roma,  p.  312. 

W  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 

»  "  n  Cardinal  Sangiacomo,  suo 
zio,  dopo  la  tregua  di  quaranta 
giomi,  fu  a  vederlo  e  gli  disse ; 


Figliuol  mio,  avete  fatto  bene  a 
non  entrare  in  Roma,  come  so  che 
avete  potuto  ;  e  vi  esorto  che  non 
lo  facciate  mai ;  perch^,  tutti  quelli 
della  nostra  nazione  che  si  trova- 
rono  all'  ultimo  sacco,  sono  capitati 
male."  Relazione  di  Bernardo  Na- 
vagero. 


Ch.  VX]      ROME  MENACED  BY  THE  SPANIARDS.  199 

of  his  own,  and  was,  no  doubt,  accessible  as  oth- 
ers of  his  time  to  arguments  founded  on  super- 
stition. 

We  cannot  but  admit  that  the  whole  affair,  — 
the  preparations  for  the  assault,  the  counsel  to  the 
officers,  and  the  sudden  retreat  on  suspicion  of  a 

discovery, all  look  very  much  like  earnest.    It  is 

quite  possible  that  the  duke,  as  the  Venetian  as- 
serts, may  have  intended  nothing  beyond  the  seiz- 
ure of  the  pope.  But  that  the  matter  would  have 
stopped  there,  no  one  will  believe.  Once  fairly 
within  the  walls,  even  the  authority  of  Alva  would 
have  been  impotent  to  restrain  the  license  of  the 
soldieiy;  and  the  same  scenes  might  have  been 
acted  over  agam  as  at  the  taking  of  Ttomc  under 
the  Constable  de  Bourbon,  or  on  the  capture  of 
the  ancient  capital  by  the  Goths. 

When  the  Romans,  on  the  following  morning, 
learned   tlie   peril  they  had  been  in  during   the 
night,  and   that   the   enemy  had  been   provding 
round,  like  wolves   about   a  sheepfold,   ready   to 
rush   in  upon  their  sleeping  victims,  the   whole 
city  was  seized  with  a  panic.     All  the  horrors  of 
the  sack  by  the  Constable  de  Bourbon  rose  up  to 
their  imaginations,  —  or  rather  memories,  for  many 
there  were  who  were  old  enough  to  remember  that 
terrible   day.      They  loudly   clamored    for   peace 
before  it  was  too  late ;  and  they  pressed  the  de- 
mand in  a  manner  which  showed  that  the  mood  of 
^he  people  was  a  dangerous  one.     Strozzi,  the  most 
distinguished  of  the  Italian  captains,  plainly  told 


200 


WAR  WITH  THE  POPE. 


[Book  I 


the  pope  that  he  had  no  choice  but  to  come  to 
terms  with  the  enemy  at  once.^^ 

Paul  was  made  more  sensible  of  this  by  finding 
now,  in  his  greatest  need,  the  very  arm  withdrawn 
from  him  on  which  he  most  leaned  for  support. 
Tidings  had  reached  the  French  camp  of  the  deci- 
sive victory  gained  by  the  Spaniards  at  St.  Quentin, 
and  they  were  followed  by  a  summons  from  the 
king  to  the  duke  of  Guise,  to  return  v/ith  his 
army,  as  speedily  as  possible,  for  the  protection  of 
Paris.  The  duke,  who  was  probably  not  unwill- 
ing to  close  a  campaign  which  had  been  so  barren 
of  laurels  to  the  French,  declared  that  "  no  chains 
were  strong  enough  to  keep  him  in  Italy."  He 
at  once  repaired  to  the  Vatican,  and  there  laid  be- 
fore his  holiness  the  commands  of  his  master. 
The  case  was  so  pressing,  that  Paul  could  not  in 
reason  oppose  the  duke's  departure.  But  he  sel- 
dom took  counsel  of  reason,  and  in  a  burst  of  pas- 
sion he  exclaimed  to  Guise,  "  Go,  then ;  and  take 
with  you  the  consciousness  of  having  done  little 

for  your  king,  still  less  for  the  Church,  and  noth- 
ing for  your  own  honor."  ^a 

Negotiations  were  now  opened  for  an  accommo 
dation  between  the  belligerents,  at  the  town  of 
Cavi.  Cardinal  CarafTa  appeared  in  behalf  of  his 
uncle,  the  pope,  and  the  duke  of  Alva  for  the 
Spaniards.  Through  the  mediation  of  Venice,  the 
terms  of  the  treaty  were  finally  settled,  on   the 

81  Relazione  di  Bernardo  Nava-        ^  Slsmondi,  Histoire  des  Fran- 
gero.  9ais,  torn.  XVUI.  p.  41. 


v^: 


Ch.  VI.] 


PAtTL  CONSENTS  TO  PEACE. 


201 


fourteenth  of  September,  although  the  inflexible 
pontiff  still  insisted  on  concessions  nearly  as  ex- 
travagant as  those  he  had  demanded  before.  It 
was  stipulated  in  a  preliminary  article,  that  the 
duke  of  Alva  should  publicly  ask  pardon,  and  re- 
ceive absolution,  for  having  borne  ams  against 
the  holy  see.  "  Sooner  than  surrender  this  point," 
said  Paul,  « I  would  see  the  whole  world  perish ; 
and  this,  not  so  much  for  my  own  sake  as  for  the 
honor  of  Jesus  Christ."  ^ 

It  was  provided  by  the  treaty,  that  the  fipanish 
troops  should  be  unmediately  withdrawa  from  the 
territory  of  the  Church,  that  all  the  places  taken 
from  the  Church  should  be  at  once  restored,  and 
that  the  French  army  should  be  allowed  a  free 
passage  to  their  own  country.  Philip  did  not 
take  so  good  care  of  his  allies  as  Paul  did  of  his. 
Colonna,  who  had  done  the  cause  such  good  ser- 
vice, was  not  even  reinstated  in  the  possessions  of 
which  the  pope  had  deprived  him.  But  a  secret 
article  provided  that  his  claims  should  be  deter- 
mined  hereafter  by  the  joint  arbitration  of  the 
pontiiF  and  the  king  of  Spain.** 

The  treaty  was,  in  truth,  one  which,  as  Alva 
bitterly  remarked,  "  seemed  to  have  been  dictated 
by  the  vanquished  rather  than  by  the  victor." 
It  came  hard  to   the   duke  to   execute  it,  espe- 

«  Giannone,  Istoria  di  Napoli,  De    Thou,    Histoire   IJniverseUc, 

t^^  X  n  4S  torn.     m.    p.    128.  —  Giannone, 

ii*Nores,GuerrafraPaoloQuai-  Istona    di    Napoli,    torn.    A.    p. 

to  e  Filippo  Secondo,  MS— An-  45.-Ossorio,  Alba    Vita,  torn, 

drea,  Guerra  de  Roma,  p.  314. —  II.  p.  131- 

vol-  I.  26 


202 


WAE  WITH  THE  POPE. 


[Book  I 


Ch.  VI.] 


PAUL  CONSENTS  TO  PEACE. 


20:^ 


daily  the  clause  relating  to  himself.  "  Were  I 
the  king,"  said  he  haughtily,  "  his  holiness  should 
send  one  of  his  nephews  to  Brussels,  to  sue  for 
my  pardon,  instead  of  my  general's  suing  for 
his."^  But  Alva  had  no  power  to  consult  his 
own  will  in  the  matter.  The  orders  from  Philip 
were  peremptory,  to  come  to  some  terms,  if  possi- 
ble, with  the  pope.  Philip  had  long  since  made 
up  his  own  mind,  that  neither  profit  nor  honor 
was  to  be  derived  from  a  war  with  the  Church,  — 
a  war  not  only  repugnant  to  his  own  feelings,  but 
which  placed  him  .in  a  false  position,  and  one  most 
prejudicial  to  his  political  interests. 

The  news  of  peace  filled  the  Romans  with  a  joy 
great  in  proportion  to  their  former  consternation. 
Nor  was  this  joy  much  diminished  by  a  calamity 
which  at  any  other  time  would  have  thrown  the 
city  into  mourning.  The  Tiber,  swollen  by  the 
autumnal  rains,  rose  above  its  banks,  sweeping 
away  houses  and  trees  in  its  fury,  drowning  men 
and  cattle,  and  breaking  down  a  large  piece  of  the 
wall  that  surrounded  the  city.  It  was  well  that 
this  accident  had  not  occurred  a  few  days  earlier, 
when  the  enemy  was  at  the  gates.* 

On  the  twenty-seventh  of  September,  1557,  the 
duke  of  Alva  made  his  public  entrance  into  Rome. 
He  was  escorted  by  the  papal  guard,  dressed  in  its 

95  «  Ho«T<Ti  il  mio  R^  ha  fatto  missioni  a  sua  Maest^  che  io  vengo 

una  oran  sciocchezza,  e  se  io  fossi  hora  di  fare  k  sua  Santita.**    Leti, 

stato  in  suo  luogo,  et  egli  nel  mio,  Vita  di  Filippo  IL,  torn.  I.  p.  293. 
il  Cardinal  Carafa  sarebbe  andato        26  Relazione  di  Bernardo   Na- 

in  Fiaudra  k  far  quelle  stesse  som-  vagero. 


gay  uniform.     It  was  joined  by  the  other  troops 
in  the  city,  who,  on  this  holiday  service,  did  as 
well  as  better  soldiers.     On  entering  the  gates,  the 
concourse  was   swelled  by  thousands  of  citizens, 
who  made  the  air  ring  with  their  acclamations,  as 
they  saluted  the  Spanish  general  with  the  titles  of 
Defender  and  Liberator  of  the  capital.     The  epi- 
thets might  be  thought  an  indifferent  compliment 
to  their  own  government.     In  this  state  the  pro- 
cession moved  along,  like  the  triumph  of  a  con- 
queror returned  from  his  victorious  campaigns  to 
receive  the  wreath  of  laurel  in.  the  capitol. 

On  reachmg  the  Vatican,  the  Spanish  com- 
mander fell  on  his  knees  before  the  pope,  and 
asked  his  pardon  for  the  offence  of  bearing  arms 
against  the  Church.  Paul,  soothed  by  this  show 
of  concession,  readily  granted  absolution.  He 
paid  the  duke  the  distinguished  honor  of  giv- 
ing him  a  seat  at  his  own  table ;  while  he  com- 
IDlimented  the  duchess  by  sending  her  the  conse- 
crated golden  rose,  reserved  only  for  royal  persons 
and  illustrious  champions  of  the  Church^ 

Yet  the  haughty  spirit  of  Alva  saw  in  all  this 
more  of  humiliation  than  of  triumph.  His  con- 
science, like  that  of  his  master,  was  greatly  re- 
lieved by  being  discharged  from  the  responsibili- 
ties of  such  a  war.  But  he  had  also  a  military 
conscience,  which   seemed   to   be  quite   as  much 

«7  Giannone,  Istoria  di  NapoU,  condo,  MS.  — Leti,  Tita  di  Filip. 
torn.  X.  p.  45.  —  Nores,  Guerra  po  H.,  torn.  I.  p.  293.  —  Andrea, 
fra  Paolo   Quarto  e  Filippo   Se-     Guerra  de  Boma,  p.  316. 


204 


WAR  WITH  THE  POPE. 


[Book  L 


BcanJalized  by  the  conditions  of  the  peace.  He 
longed  to  be  once  more  at  Naples,  where  the 
state  of  things  imperatively  required  his  presence. 
When  he  returned  there,  he  found  abundant  occu- 
pation in  reforming  the  abuses  which  had  grown 
out  of  the  late  confusion,  and  especially  in  restor- 
ing, as  far  as  possible,  the  shattered  condition  of 
the  finances, — a  task  hardly  less  difficult  than  that 
of  driving  out  the  French  from  Naples.^ 

Thus  ended  the  war  with  Paul  the  Fourth,  —  a 
war  into  which  that  pontiff  had  plunged  without 
preparation,  which  he  had  conducted  without  judg- 
ment, and  terminated  without  honor.  Indeed,  it 
brought  little  honor  to  any  of  the  parties  concerned 
in  it,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  a  full  measure  of 
those  calamities  which  always  follow  in  the  train 
of  war. 

The  French  met  with  the  same  fate  which  uni- 
formly befell  them,  when,  lured  by  the  phantom  of 
military  glory,  they  crossed  the  Alps  to  lay  waste 
the  garden  of  Italy,  —  in  the  words  of  their  own 
proverb,  "the  grave  of  the  French."  The  duke 
of  Guise,  after  a  vexatious  campaign,  in  which 
it  was  his   greatest  glory  that  he  had  sustained 


«  Charles  the  Fifth,  who  re- 
ceived tidings  of  the  peace  at 
Yuste,  was  as  much  disgusted  with 
the  terms  of  it  as  the  duke  him- 
self. He  even  vented  his  indig- 
nation  against  the  duke,  as  if  he 
had  been  the  author  of  the  peace. 
He  would  not  consent  to  read  the 


despatches  which  Alva  sent  to  him, 
saying  that  he  already  knew 
enough ;  and  for  a  long  time  after 
"  he  was  heard  to  mutter  between 
his  teeth,**  in  a  tone  which  plainly- 
showed  the  nature  of  his  thousrhts. 
Retiro  y  Estancia,  ap.  Mignet, 
Charles-Quint,  p.  307. 


Ch  VI.] 


PAUL  CONSENTS  TO  PEACE. 


205 


no   actual    defeat,   thought  himself  fortunate   in 
being  allowed  a  free  passage,  with  the  shattered 
remnant  of  his  troops,  back  to  his  own  country. 
Naples,  besides  the  injuries  she  had  sustained  on 
her  borders,  was  burdened  with  a  debt  which  con- 
tmued  to  press  heavily  for  generations  to  come. 
Nor  were  her  troubles  ended  by  the   peace.     In 
the  spring  of  the  following  year,   1558,  a  Turk- 
ish squadron  appeared  off  Calabria ;  and,  running 
down  the  coast,  the  Moslems  made  a  landing  on 
several  points,  sacked  some  of  the  principal  towns, 
butchered  the  inhabitants,  or  swept  them  off  into 
hopeless  slavery.^     Such  were  some  of  the  blessed 
fruits  of  the  alliance  between  the  grand  seignior 
and  the  head  of  the  Catholic  Church.     Solyman 
had  come  into  the  league  at  the  invitation  of  the 
Christian  princes.     But  it  was  not  found  so  easy 
to  lay  the   spirit   of  mischief  as  it  had  been  to 

raise  it. 

The  weight  of  the  war,  however,  feH,  as  was 
just,  most  heavily  on  the  author  of  it.  Paul, 
from  his  palace  of  the  Vatican,  could  trace  the 
march  of  the  enemy  by  the  smoking  ruins  of  the 
Campagna.  He  saw  his  towns  sacked,  his  troops 
scattered,  his  very  capital  menaced,  his  subjects 
driven  by  ruinous  taxes  to  the  verge  of  rebellion. 
Even  peace,  when  it  did  come,  secured  to  him 
none  of  the  objects  for  which  he  had  contended, 
while  he  had  the  humiliating  consciousness  that  he 
owed  this  peace,  not  to  his  own  arms,  but  to  the 


29  Giannone,  Istoria  di  Napoli,  torn.  X.  p.  46. 


206 


WAB  WITH  THE  POPE. 


[Book  I 


\l 


forbearance  —  or  the  superstition  of  his  enemies. 
One  lesson  he  might  have  learned, — that  the  thun- 
ders of  the  Vatican  could  no  longer  strike  terror 
into  the  hearts  of  princes,  as  in  the  days  of  the 
Crusades. 

In  this  war  Paul  had  called  in  the  French  to 
aid  him  in  driving  out  the  Spaniards.  The  French, 
he  said,  might  easily  be  dislodged  hereafter;  "but 
the  Spaniards  were  like  dog-grass,  which  is  sure  to 
strike  root  wherever  it  is  cast." — This  was  the 
last  great  effort  that  was  made  to  overturn  the 
Spanish  power  in  Naples ;  and  the  sceptre  of  that 
kingdom  continued  to  be  transmitted  in  the  dy- 
nasty of  Castile,  with  as  little  opposition  as  that  of 
any  other  portion  of  its  broad  empire. 

Being  thus  relieved  of  his  military  labors,  Paul 
set  about  those  great  reforms,  the  expectation  of 
which  had  been  the  chief  inducement  to  his 
election.  But  first  he  gave  a  singular  proof  of 
self-comnAnd,  in  the  reforms  which  he  introduced 
into  his  own  family.  Previously  to  his  election, 
no  one,  as  we  have  seen,  had  declaimed  more 
loudly  than  Paul  against  nepotism,  —  the  beset- 
ting sin  of  his  predecessors,  who,  most  of  them 
old  men  and  without  children,  naturally  sought  a 
substitute  for  these  in  their  nephews  and  those 
nearest  of  kin.  Paul's  partiality  for  his  nephews 
was  made  the  more  conspicuous  by  the  profligacy 
of  their  characters.  Yet  the  real  bond  which  held 
the  parties  together  was  hatred  of  the  Spaniards. 
When  peace  came,  and   this  bond  of  xmion  was 


Ch.  VI.] 


PAUL»S  SUBSEQUENT  CAREER. 


207 


dissolved,  Paul  readily  opened  his  ears  to  the 
accusations  against  his  kinsmen.  Convinced  at 
length  of  their  unworthiness,  and  of  the  flagrant 
manner  in  which  they  had  abused  his  confidence, 
he  deprived  the  CarafFas  of  all  their  oflices,  and 
banished  them  to  the  farthest  part  of  his  domin- 
ions. By  the  sterner  sentence  of  his  successor,  two 
of  the  brothers,  the  duke  and  the  cardinal,  per- 
ished by  the  hand  of  the  public  executioner.** 

After  giving  this  proof  of  mastery  over  his  own 
feelings,  Paul  addressed  himself  to  those  reforms 
which   had   engaged   his   attention   in   early   life. 
He  tried  to  enforce  a  stricter  discipline  and  greater 
regard  for  morals,  both  in  the  religious  orders  and 
the   secular   clergy.     Above   all,   he   directed  his 
efforts  against  the  Protestant  heresy,  which  had 
begun  to  show  itself  in  the  head  of  Christendom, 
as  it  had  long  since  done  in  the  extremities.     The 
course    he    adopted   was    perfectly   characteristic. 
Scorning   the   milder   methods   of  argument  and 
persuasion,    he    resorted   wholly    to    persecution. 
The  Inquisition,  he  declared,  was  the  true  battery 
with  which  to  assail  the  defences  of  the  heretic. 
He  suited  the  action  so  well  to  the  word,  that  in 
a  short  time  the  prisons  of  the  Holy  Office  were 
filled  with  the  accused.     In  the  general   distrust 
no  one  felt  himself  safe ;  and  a  panic  was  created, 
scarcely  less  than  that  felt  by  the  inhabitants  when 
the  Spaniards  were  at  their  gates. 

»  Giannone,  Istoria  di  Napoli,    Paolo  Quarto  e  Filippo  Secoiid<\ 
torn.  X.  p.  50. — Nores,  Guerra  fra    MS. 


208 


WAR  WITH  THE  POPE. 


[Book  1 


Happily,  their  fears  were  dispelled  by  the  death 
of  Paul,  which  took  place  suddenly,  from  a  fever, 
on  the  eighteenth  of  August,  1559,  in  the  eighty- 
third  year  of  his  age,  and  fifth  of  his  pontificate. 
Before  the  breath  was  out  of  his  body,  the  popu- 
lace rose  en  masse,  broke  open  the  prisons  of  the  In- 
quisition, and  liberated  all  who  were  confined  there. 
They  next  attacked  the  house  of  the  grand-inquisi- 
tor, which  they  burned  to  the  ground;  and  that 
functionary  narrowly  escaped  with  his  life.  They 
tore  down  the  scutcheons,  bearing  the  arms  of  the 
family  of  CarafFa,  which  were  affixed  to  the  public 
edifices.  They  wasted  their  rage  on  the  senseless 
statue  of  the  pope,  which  they  overturned,  and, 
breaking  off  the  head,  rolled  it,  amidst  the  groans 
and  execrations  of  the  by-standers,  into  the  Tiber. 
Such  was  the  fate  of  the  reformer  who,  in  his 
reforms,  showed  no  touch  of  humanity,  no  sympa- 
thy with  the  sufferings  of  his  species.^^ 

Yet,  with  all  its  defects,  there  is  something  in 
the  character  of  Paul  the  Fourth  that  may  chal- 
lenge our  admiration.  His  project — renewing 
that  of  Julius  the  Second — of  driving  out  the 
barbarians  from  Italy,  was  nobly  conceived,  though 
impracticable.  "Whatever  others  may  feel,  I  at 
least  will  have  some  care  for  my  country,"  he  once 
i^d  to  the  Venetian  ambassador.  "If  my  voice 
is  unheeded,  it  will  at  least  be  a  consolation  to  me 
to  reflect,  that  it  has  been  raised  in  such  a  cause ; 

31  Nores,  Guerra  fra  Paolo  Quar-    annone,  Istoria  di  Napoli,  torn.  X 
lo  e  Filippo  Secondo,  MS.  —  Gi-    p.  50. 


Ch.  VI.] 


PAUL'S  SUBSEQUENT  CAREER. 


209 


and  that  it  will  one  day  be  said  that  an  old  Italian, 
on  the  verge  of  the  grave,  who  might  be  thought 
to  have  nothing  better  to  do  than  to  give  him- 
self up  to  repose,  and  weep  over  his  sins,  had  his 
soul  filled  with  this  lofty  design."*^ 


38  "  Delia  quale  se  altri  non  vo- 
leva  aver  cur^  voleva  almeno  aver- 
la  esso;  e  sebbene  1  suoi  consigli 
non  fossero  uditi,  avrebbe  almeno 
la  consolazione  di  avere  avuto 
quest'  animo,  e  che  si  dicesse  un 


giorno:  che  un  Teccbio  italianc 
che,  essendo  vicino  alia  mortem  do- 
veva  attendere  a  riposare  e  a  pi- 
angere  i  suoi  peccati,  avesse  avuto 
tanto  aid  disegni."  Relazione  di 
Bernardo  Navagero. 


VOL.  I. 


if 


CHAPTER   VII. 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 

England  joins  in  the  War.  —  Philip's  Preparations.  —  Siege  of  St. 
Quentin.  —  French  Army  routed.  —  Stoiming  of  St  Quentin. — 
Successes  of  the  Spaniards. 

1557. 

While  the  events  related  in  the  preceding 
chapter  were  passing  in  Italy,  the  war  was  waged 
on  a  larger  scale,  and  with  more  important  re- 
sults, in  the  northern  provinces  of  France.  As 
soon  as  Henry  had  broken  the  treaty,  and  sent 
his  army  across  the  Alps,  Philip  lost  no  time  in 
assembling  his  troops,  although  in  so  quiet  a 
manner  as  to  attract  as  little  attention  as  possible. 
His  preparations  were  such  as  enabled  him,  not 
merely  to  defend  the  frontier  of  the  Netherlands, 
but  to  carry  the  war  into  the  enemy's  country. 

He  despatched  his  confidential  minister,  Ruy 
Gomez,  to  Spain,  for  supplies  both  of  men  and 
money ;  instructing  him  to  visit  his  father,  Charles 
the  Fifth,  and,  after  acquainting  him  with  the 
state  of  affairs,  to  solicit  his  aid  in  raising  the 
necessary  funds.* 

1  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib.    Felipe  Segundo  a  Ruy  Gomez  de 
IV.  cap.  2.  — Carta  del  Rey  Don     Silva  a  XI.  de  Mar^o,  1557,  MS. 


Ch.  Vn.]  ENGLAND  JOINS  IN  THE  WAR. 


213 


Philip  had  it  much  at  heart  to  bring  England 
into  the  war.  During  his  stay  in  the  Low  Coun- 
tries, he  was  in  constant  communication  with  the 
English  cabinet,  and  took  a  lively  interest  in  the 
government  of  the  kingdom.  The  minutes  of  the 
privy  council  were  regularly  sent  to  him,  and  as 
regularly  returned  with  his  remarks,  in  his  own 
handwriting,  on  the  margin.  In  this  way  he 
discussed  and  freely  criticized  every  measure  of 
importance ;  and,  on  one  occasion,  we  find  him 
requiring  that  nothing  of  moment  should  be 
brought  before  parliament  until  it  had  first  been 
submitted  to  him.* 

In  March,  1557,  Philip  paid  a  second  visit  to 
England,  where  he  was  received  by  his  fond  queen 
in  the  most  tender  and  affectionate  manner.  In 
her  letters  she  had  constantly  importuned  him  to 
return  to  her.  On  that  barren  eminence  which 
placed  her  above  the  reach  of  friendship,  Mary 
was  dependent  on  her  husband  for  sjmpathy  and 
support.  But  if  the  channel  of  her  affections  was 
narrow,  it  was  deep. 

Philip  found  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  the 
queen's  consent  to  his  wishes  with  respect  to  the 
war  with  France.  She  was  induced  to  this,  not 
merely  by  her  habitual  deference  to  her  husband, 


—  Papiers  d'  Etat  de   Granvelle,  the  commentaries  of  Philip  by  the 

torn.  V.  pp.  61,  63.  side  of  thi«,m.     The  commentaries, 

9  Tytler,  in  his  England  under  whi^i.  are  all  in  the  royal  auto- 

Edward  VI.  and  Mary,   (vol.  II.  graph,  seem  to  be  as  copious  ai 

p.  483,)  has  printed  extracts  from  the  minutes  themselves. 
the  minutes  of  the  council,  with 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  I 


but  by  natural  feelings  of  resentment  at  the  policy 
of  Henry  the  Second.  She  had  put  up  with  af- 
fronts, more  than  once,  from  the  French  ambas- 
sador, in  her  own  court ;  and  her  throne  had  been 
menaced  by  repeated  conspiracies,  which,  if  not 
organized,  had  been  secretly  encouraged  by  France. 
Still,  it  was  not  easy  to  bring  the  English  nation 
to  this  way  of  thinking.  It  had  been  a  particular 
proviso  of  the  marriage  treaty,  that  England  should 
not  be  made  a  party  to  the  war  against  France ; 
and  subsequent  events  had  tended  to  sharpen  the 
feeling  of  jealousy  rather  towards  the  Spaniards 
than  towards  the  French. 

The  attempted  insurrection  of  Stafford,  who 
crossed  over  from  the  shores  of  France  at  this 
time,  did  for  Philip  what  possibly  neither  his  own 
arguments  nor  the  authority  of  Mary  could  have 
done.  It  was  the  last  of  the  long  series  of  indig- 
nities which  had  been  heaped  on  the  country  from 
the  same  quarter;  and  parliament  now  admitted 
that  it  was  no  longer  consistent  with  its  honor  to 
keep  terms  with  a  power  which  persisted  in  fo- 
menting conspiracies  to  overturn  the  government 
and  plimge  the  nation  into  civil  war.  On  the 
seventh  of  June,  a  herald  was  despatched,  with 
the  formality  of  ancient  and  somewhat  obsolete 
usages,  to  proclaim  war  against  the  French  king 
in  the  presence  of  his  court  and  in  his  capital. 
This  was  done  in  such  a  bold  tone  of  defiance,  that 
the  hot  old  constable,  Montmorency,  whose  mode 
of  proceeding,  as  we  have  seen,  was  apt  to  be  siun- 


Ch.  V£I.] 


ENGLAND  JOINS  IN  THE  WAR. 


213 


mary,  strongly  urged  his  master  to  hang  up  the 
envoy  on  the  spot.* 

The  state  of  affairs  imperatively  demanded 
Philip's  presence  in  the  Netherlands,  and,  after 
a  residence  of  less  than  four  months  in  London,  he 
bade  a  final  adieu  to  his  disconsolate  queen,  whose 
excessive  fondness  may  have  been  as  little  to  his 
taste  as  the  coldness  of  her  subjects. 

Nothing  could  be  more  forlorn  than  the  condi- 
tion of  Mary.  Her  health  wasting  under  a  dis- 
ease that  cheated  her  with  illusory  hopes,  which 
made  her  ridiculous  in  the  eyes  of  the  world  ;  her 
throne,  her  very  life,  continually  menaced  by  con- 
spiracies, to  some  of  which  even  her  own  sister 
was  supposed  to  be  privy ;  her  spirits  affected  by 
the  consciousness  of  the  decline  of  her  popularity 
under  the  gloomy  system  of  persecution  into  which 
she  had  been  led  by  her  ghostly  advisers ;  without 
friends,  without  children,  almost  it  might  be  said 
without  a  husband,  —  she  was  alone  in  the  world, 
more  to  be  commiserated  than  the  meanest  subject 
in  her  dominions.  She  has  had  little  commisera- 
tion, however,  from  Protestant  writers,  who  paint 
her  in  the  odious  colors  of  a  fanatic.  This  has 
been  compensated,  it  may  be  thought,  by  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  historians,  who  have  invested  the 
English  queen  with  all  the  glories  of  the  saint  and 


3  Herrera,  Historia  General  del  13.  —  GaUlard,  Histoire  de  la  Ri« 

Mundo,  de  XV.  Anos  del  Tiempo  valitd  de  la  France  et  de  I'Espagne, 

del   Senor  Rey  Don  Felipe  II.,  (Paris,  1801,)  torn.  V.  p.  243. 
(Valladolid,   1606,)  lib.  IV.  cap. 


214 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  I 


the  martyr.  Experience  may  convince  us  that 
public  acts  do  not  always  furnish  a  safe  criterion 
of  private  character,  —  especially  when  these  acts 
are  connected  with  religion.  In  the  Catholic 
Church  the  individual  might  seem  to  be  relieved, 
in  some  measure,  of  his  moral  responsibility,  by  the 
system  of  discipline  which  intrusts  his  conscience 
to  the  keeping  of  his  spiritual  advisers.  If  the 
lights  of  the  present  day  allow  no  man  to  plead  so 
humiliating  an  apology,  this  was  not  the  case  in 
the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century,  —  the  age 
of  Mary,  —  when  the  Keformation  had  not  yet 
diffused  that  spirit  of  independence  in  religious 
speculation,  which,  in  some  degree  at  least,  lias 
now  found  its  way  to  the  darkest  comer  of  Chris 

tendom. 

A  larger  examination  of  contemporary  docu- 
ments, especially  of  the  queen's  own  correspond- 
ence,  justifies  the  inference,  that,  with  all  the  in- 
firmities of  a  temper  soured  by  disease,  and  by 
the  difficulties  of  her  position,  she  possessed  many 
of  the  good  qualities  of  her  illustrious  progeni- 
tors, Katharine  of  Aragon  and  Isabella  of  Castile ; 
the  same  conjugal  tenderness  and  devotion,  the 
same  courage  in  times  of  danger,  the  same  earnest 
desire,  misguided  as  she  was,  to  do  her  duty,  — 
and,  unfortunately,  the  same  bigotry.  It  was,  in- 
deed, most  unfortunate,  in  Mary's  case,  as  in  that 
of  the  Catholic  queen,  that  this  bigotry,  from  their 
position  as  independent  sovereigns,  should  have 
been   attended   with   such   fatal   consequences   as 


Ca.  VILl 


PHILIFS  PREPARATIONS. 


215 


have  left  an  indelible  blot  on  the  history  of  their 


reigns. 


On  his  return  to  Brussels,  Philip  busied  himself 
with  preparations  for  the  campaign.    He  employed 
the  remittances  from  Spain  to  subsidize  a  large 
body  of  German  mercenaries.     Germany  was  the 
country  which  furnished,  at  this  time,  more  sol- 
diers of  fortune  than  any  other ;  men  who  served 
indifferently   under   the  banner   that   would    pay 
them  best.     They  were  not  exclusively  made  up 
of  infantry,  like  the  Swiss,  but,  besides  pikemen,— 
lanzknechts,  — they   maintained   a   stout  array  of 
cavalry,  reiters,  as  they  were  called,  —  "  riders,"  — 
who,  together  with  the  cuirass  and  other  defensive 
armor,  carried  pistols,  probably  of  rude  workman- 
ship, but  which  made  them  formidable  from  the 
weapon  being  little  known  in  that  day.     They 
were,  indeed,  the  most  dreaded  troops   of  their 
time.      The  men-at-arms,   encumbered  with  their 
unwieldy  lances,  were  drawn  up  in  line,  and  re- 
quired an  open  plain  to  manoeuvre  to  advantage, 
being  easUy  discomposed  by  obstacles ;  and  once 
broken,  they  could  hardly  rally.     But  the  reiters, 
each  with  five   or  six  pistols  in  his  belt,  were 
formed  into   columns  of  considerable  depth,  the 
size  of  their  weapons  allowing  them  to  go  through 
all  the  evolutions  of  light  cavalry,  in  which  they 
were  perfectly  drilled.     Philip's  cavalry  was  fur- 

4  See  Tytler's  valuable  work,  candid  author  to  conclusions  emi- 
Rei-rns  of  Edward  VI.  and  Marj-.  nently  favorable  to  the  personal 
The^compilation  <  f  this  work  led  its    character  of  Queen  Marj-. 


216 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  I 


ther  strengthened  by  a  fine  corps  of  Burgundiau 
lances,  and  by  a  great  number  of  nobles  and 
cavaliers  from  Spain,  who  had  come  to  gather 
laurels  in  the  fields  of  France,  under  the  eye  of 
their  young  sovereign.  The  flower  of  his  infan- 
try, too,  was  drawn  from  Spain ;  men  who,  inde- 
pendently of  the  indifference  to  danger,  and  won- 
derful  endurance,  which  made  the  Spanish  soldier 
inferior  to  none  of  the  time,  were  animated  by 
that  loyalty  to  the  cause  which  foreign  mercenaries 
could  not  feel.  In  addition  to  these,  the  king  ex- 
pected, and  soon  after  received,  a  reinforcement  of 
eight  thousand  English  under  the  earl  of  Pem- 
broke. They  might  well  fight  bravely  on  the  soil 
where  the  arms  of  England  had  won  two  of  the 
most  memorable  victories  in  her  history. 

The  whole  force,  exclusive  of  the  English, 
amounted  to  thirty-five  thousand  foot  and  twelve 
thousand  horse,  besides  a  good  train  of  battering 
artillery.^  The  command  of  this  army  was  given 
to  Emanuel  Philibert,  prince  of  Piedmont,  better 
known  by  his  title  of  duke  of  Savoy.  No  man 
had  a  larger  stake  in  the  contest,  for  he  had  been 
stripped  of  his  dominions  by  the  French,  and  his 


*  Conf.  De  Thou,  Histoire  Uni- 
verselle,  torn.  HI.  p.  148 ;  Cabrera, 
Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  IV.  cap.  4; 
Campana,  Vita  del  Re  Filippo  Se- 
condo,  parte  II.  lib.  9 ;  Herrera, 
Historia  General,  lib.  IV.  cap.  14. 

The  historian  here,  as  almost 
everywhere  else  where  numerical 
estimates  are  concerned,  must  con- 


tent himself  with  what  seems  to  bo 
the  closest  approximation  to  the 
truth.  Some  writers  carry  the 
Spanish  foot  to  fifty  thousand.  I 
have  followed  the  more  temperate 
statement  of  the  contemporary  De 
Thou,  who  would  not  be  likely  to 
underrate  the  strenfH^h  of  an  en* 
emy. 


Ch.  vn.] 


PHILIP'S  PREPARATIONS. 


211 


recovery  of  them  depended  on  the  issue  of  the  war. 
He  was  at  this  time  but  twenty-nine  years  of  age ; 
but  he  had  had  large  experience  in  military  af- 
fairs,  and  had  been  intrusted  by  Charles  the  Fifth, 
who  had  early  discerned  his  capacity,  with  impor- 
tant commands.     His  whole  life  may  be  said  to 
have  trained  him  for  the  profession  of  arms.     He 
had  no  taste  for  effeminate  pleasures,  but  amused 
himself,   in   seasons   of   leisure,   with   the    hardy 
exercise  of  the  chase.     He  strengthened  his  con- 
stitution, naturally  not  very  robust,  by  living  as 
much  as  possible  in  the  open  air.     Even  when 
conversing,  or  dictating  to  his  secretaries,  he  pre- 
ferred  to  do  so  walking  in  his  garden.     He  was 
indifferent  to  fatigue.     After  hunting  all  day  he 
would  seem  to  require  no  rest,  and  in  a  campaign 
had  been  known,  like  the  knights-errant  of  old,  to 
eat,  drink,  and  sleep  in  his  armor  for  thirty  days 

together. 

He  was  temperate  in  his  habits,  eating  little, 
and  drinking  water.  He  was  punctual  in  atten- 
tion  to  business,  was  sparing  of  his  words,  and,  as 
one  may  gather  from  the  piquant  style  of  his  let- 
ters,  had  a  keen  insight  into  character,  looking 
below  the  surface  of  men's  actions  into  their  mo- 
tives.^ 

His   education  had  not  been  neglected.      He 
spoke  several  languages  fluently,  and,  though  not 

«  See  the  letters  of  the  duke  business-like  documents,  seasoned 

published  in  the  Papiers  d'Etat  de  with  Uvely  criticisms  on  the  charac 

Granvelle,   (tom.   V.,  passim,)-  ters  of  those  he  had  to  deal  with. 

VOL.  I.  28 


218 


WAB  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Boos  I 


a  great  reader,  was  fond  of  histories.  He  was 
much  devoted  to  mathematical  science,  which 
served  him  in  his  profession,  and  he  was  reputed 
an  excellent  engineer.^  In  person  the  duke  was 
of  the  middle  size ;  well-made,  except  that  he  was 
somewhat  bow-legged.  His  complexion  was  fair, 
his  hair  light,  and  his  deportment  very  agree- 
able. 

Such  is  the  portrait  of  Emanuel  Philibert,  to 
whom  Philip  now  intrusted  the  command  of  his 
forces,  and  whose  pretensions  he  warmly  supported 
as  the  suitor  of  Elizabeth  of  England.  There  was 
none  more  worthy  of  the  royal  maiden.  But  the 
duke  was  a  Catholic ;  and  Elizabeth,  moreover,  had 
seen  the  odium  which  her  sister  had  incurred  by 
her  marriage  with  a  foreign  sovereign.  Philip, 
who  would  have  used  some  constraint  in  the  mat- 
ter, pressed  it  with  such  earnestness  on  the  queen 
as  proved  how  much  importance  he  attached  to  the 
connection.  Mary's  conduct  on  the  occasion  was 
greatly  to  her  credit;  and,  while  she  deprecated 
the  displeasure  of  her  lord,  she  honestly  told  him 
that  she  could  not  in  conscience  do  violence  to  the 
inclinations  of  her  sister.® 

The  plan  of  the  campaign,  as  determined  by 
Philip's  cabinet,^  was  that  the  duke  should  im- 
mediately besiege  some   one   of  the   great   tovnis 

^  Relazione  della  Corte  di  Sa-  Philip,  in   Strype,   Catalogue    of 

Toja  di  Gio.  Francesco  Morosini,  Originals,  No.  56. 

1570,  ap.  Relazioni  degli  Amba-  9  Papiers  d*Etat  de  Granvelle, 

■ciatori  Veneti,  vol.  IV.  torn.  V.  p.  115. 

8  See  the  letter  of  the  queen  to 


ch.  vn.] 


SIEGE  OF  ST.  QUENTm. 


219 


on  the  northern  borders   of  Picardy,  which  m  a 
manner  commanded  the  entrance  into  the  Nether- 
lands.     Rocroy  was   the  first  selected.     But  the 
garrison,   who   were  well   provided  with   ammu- 
nition, kept    within    their    defences,   and    main- 
tained so   Hvely  a  cannonade   on  the   Spaniards, 
that   the   duke,   findmg   the   siege  was  likely  to 
consume   more   time  than  it  was    worth,   broke 
up  his  camp,  and  resolved  to   march   agamst   St 
■Quentin.     This    was    an    old    frontier    town    of 
Picardy,  important  in  time  of  peace  as  an  entrepot 
for  the  trade  that  was  carried  on  between  France 
and  the  Low  Countries.     It  formed  a  convenient 
place   of  deposit,  at  the  present  period,  for  such 
booty   as  maraudmg   parties  from  tune   to   time 
brought  back  from   Flanders.     It  was  well  pro- 
tected by   its   natural   situation,  and   the  fortifi- 
cations had  been   originally   strong;    but,   as  in 
many   of  the   frontier  towns,   they  had  been   of 
late  years  much  neglected. 

Before  beginning  operations  against  St.  Quentm, 
the  duke  of  Savoy,  in  order  to  throw  the  enemy  off 
his  guard,  and  prevent  his  introducing  suppUes 
into  the  town,  presented  himself  before  Guise, 
and  made  a  show  of  laying  siege  to  that  place. 
After  this  demonstration  he  resumed  his  march, 
and  suddenly  sat  down  before  St.  Quentin,  invest- 
ing  it  with  his  whole  anny. 

Meanwhae  the  French  had  been  anxiously 
watching  the  movements  of  their  adversary. 
Their  forces   were  assembled   on    several    points 


220 


WAB  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  I 


Ch.  Vfl.J 


SIEGE  OF  ST.  QUENTIN. 


221 


in  Picardy  and  Champagne.  The  principal  corps 
was  mider  the  command  of  the  duke  of  Nevers, 
governor  of  the  latter  province,  a  nobleman  of 
distinguished  gallantry,  and  who  had  seen  some 
active  service.  He  now  joined  his  forces  to  those 
under  Montmorency,  the  constable  of  France,  who 
occupied  a  central  position  in  Picardy,  and  who 
now  took  the  command,  for  which  his  rash  and  im- 
petuous temper  but  indifferently  qualified  him.  As 
soon  as  the  object  of  the  Spaniards  was  known, 
it  was  resolved  to  reinforce  the  garrison  of  St 
Quentin,  which  otherwise,  it  was  understood, 
could  not  hold  out  a  week.  This  perilous  duty 
was  assumed  by  Gaspard  de  Coligni,  admiral  of 
France.^^  This  personage,  the  head  of  an  ancient 
and  honored  house,  was  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able men  of  his  time.  His  name  has  gained  a 
mournful  celebrity  in  the  page  of  history,  as  that 
of  the  chief  martyr  in  the  massacre  of  St.  Bar- 
tholomew. He  embraced  the  doctrines  of  Calvin, 
and  by  his  austere  manners  and  the  purity  of  his 
life  well  illustrated  the  doctrines  he  embraced 
The  decent  order  of  his  household,  and  their  scru- 
pulous attention  to  the  services  of  religion,  formed 
a  striking  contrast  to  the  licentious  conduct  of  too 
many  of  the  Catholics,  who,  however,  were  as 
prompt  as  Coligni  to  do  battle  in  defence  of  their 

W  De   Thou,   Histoire  Univer-  par  MM.  Michaud  et  Poujoulat, 

selle,  torn.  III.  p.  147.  —  Commen-  (Paris,  1838,)  torn.  VII.  p.  535.  — 

taires  de  Francois  de  Rabutin,  ap.  Herrera,  Historia  General,  lib.  IV 

Nouvelle  Collection  des  M^moires  cap.    14.  —  Cabrera,    Filipe    Se 

pour  servir  a  THbtoire  de  France,  gundo,  lib.  IV.  cap.  5. 


faith  In  early  life  he  was  the  gay  companion  of 
the  duke  of  Guise."  But  as  the  Calvmists,  or 
Huguenots,  were  driven  by  persecution  to  an  inde- 
pendent and  even  hostUe  position,  the  two  friends, 
widely  separated  by  opinion  and  by  interest,  were 
changed  into  mortal  foes.  That  hour  had  not 
yet  come.  But  the  heresy  that  was  soon  to  shake 
France  to  its  centre  was  sUently  working  under 

^' As""  the  admiral  was  weU  instructed  in  mUitary 
affairs,  and  was  possessed  of  an  intrepid  spirit  and 
great  fertUity  of  resource,  he  was  precisely  the 
person  to  undertake  the  difficult  office  of  defend- 
ing  St.  Quentin.     As  governor  of  Picardy  he  felt 
this  to  be  his  duty.    Without  loss  of  time,  he  put 
himself  at  the  head  of  some  ten  or  twelve  hundred 
men,  horse  and  foot,  and  used  such  despatch  that 
he  succeeded  in  entering  the  place  before  it  had 
been  entirely  invested.    He  had  the  mortification 
however,  to  be  foUowed  only  by  seven  hundred 
of  his  men,  the  remainder  having  failed  through 
fatigue,  or  mistaken  the  path. 

The  admiral  found  the  place  in   even  worse 

condition  than  he  had  expected.     The  fortifies. 

tions  were  much  dilapidated ;  and  in  many  parts 


11  « is  furent  tous  deux,  dans 

leur  jeunes  ans, sy  grands 

compagnons,  amis  et  confederez  de 
court,  que  j^ay  ouy  <iire  a  plu- 
lieurs  qui  les  ont  veus  babiller  le 
plus  souvant  de  mesmes  parures, 
Hiesmes   livrees, tous   deux 


fort  enjouez  et  ftasant  des  follies 
plus  extravagantes  que  tous  lea 
autres;  et  sur  tout  ne  faisoient 
nulles  follies  qu*ils  ne  fissent  mal, 
tant  lis  etoient  rudes  joueurs  et 
malheureux  en  leurs  jeux."  Bran- 
tome,  CEuvres,  tom.  III.  p.  265. 


222 


WAB  WITH  FRAIJCE. 


[Book  I 


of  the  wall  the  masonry  was  of  so  flimsy  a 
character,  that  it  must  have  fallen  before  the  first 
discharge  of  the  enemy's  cannon.  The  town 
was  victualled  for  three  weeks,  and  the  mag- 
azines were  tolerably  well  supplied  with  am 
munition.  But  there  were  not  fifty  arquebuses 
fit  for  use. 

St.  Quentin  stands  on  a  gentle  eminence,  pro- 
tected on  one  side  by  marshes,  or  rather  a  morass 
of  great  extent,  through  which  flows  the  river 
Somme,  or  a  branch  of  it.  On  the  same  side 
of  the  river  with  St.  Quentin  lay  the  army  of  the 
besiegers,  with  their  glittering  lines  extending  to 
the  very  verge  of  the  morass.  A  broad  ditch 
defended  the  outer  wall.  But  this  ditch  was 
commanded  by  the  houses  of  the  suburbs,  which 
had  already  been  taken  possession  of  by  the 
besiegers.  There  was,  moreover,  a  thick  plan- 
tation  of  trees  close  to  the  town,  which  would 
afford  an  effectual  screen  for  the  approach  of 
an  enemy. 

One  of  the  admu-al's  first  acts  was  to  cause  a 
sortie  to  be  made.  The  ditch  was  crossed,  and 
some  of  the  houses  were  burned  to  the  groimd. 
The  trees  on  the  banks  were  then  levelled,  and  the 
approach  to  the  town  was  laid  open.  Every  prepa- 
ration was  made  for  a  protracted  defence.  The  ex- 
act quantity  of  provision  was  ascertained,  and  the 
rations  were  assigned  for  each  man's  daily  consump- 
tion. As  the  supplies  were  inadequate  to  support 
tlte  increased  population  for  any  length  of  time,  Co- 


\ 


c«.  VU.] 


SIEGE  OiJ'  ST.  QUENTIN. 


223 


*  ligni  ordered  that  all  except  those  actively  engaged 
in  the  defence  of  the  place  should  leave  it  without 
delay.     Many,  under  one  pretext  or  another,  con- 
trived  to  remain,   and   share   the  fortunes  of  the 
garrison.     But  by  this  regulation  he   got  rid  of 
seven  hundred  useless  persons,  who,  if  they  had 
staid,  must  have  been  the  victims  of  famine ;  and 
"  their  dead  bodies,"  the  admiral  coolly  remarked, 
"  would  have  bred  a  pestilence  among  the  soldiers."  ^ 
He   assigned  to   his   men   their   several    posts, 
talked  boldly  of  maintaining  himself  against  all 
the  troops  of  Spain,  and  by  his  cheerful  tone  en- 
deavored to  inspire  a  confidence  in  others  which 
he  was  far  from  feeling  himself.     From  one  of  the 
hiirhest  towers  he  surveyed  the  surrounding  coun- 
try,  tried  to  ascertain  the  most  practicable  fords  m 
the  morass,  and  sent  intelligence  to  Montmorency, 
that,  without  relief,  the  garrison  could  not  hold 
out  more  than  a  few  days.^ 

That  commander,  soon  after  the  admiral's  depar- 
ture, had  marched  his  army  to  the  neighborhood  of 
St.  Quentin,  and  established  it  in  the  towns  of  La 
F6re  and  Ham,  together  with  the  adjoining  villages, 
so  as  to  watch  the  movements  of  the  Spaniards,  and 


W  "  II  falloit  les  nourrir  ou  les 
faire  mourlr  de  faim,  qui  eust  peu 
appcrter  une  peste  dans  la  ville.** 
M^moires  de  Gaspard  de  Coligni, 
ap.  Collection  Universelle  des  Me- 
moires  particuliers  relatifs  k  THis- 
toire  de  France,  (Paris,  1788,)  torn. 
XL.  p.  252. 


13  Ibid.  —  De  Thou,  Histoire 
Universelle,  torn.  III.  p.  151. — 
Rabutin,  ap.  Nouvelle  Collection 
des  Memoires,  torn.  VII.  p.  540 
—  Gamier,  Histoire  de  France, 
(Paris,  1787,)  torn.  XXVII.  fk 
358. 


224 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  I 


cooperate,  as  occasion  served,  with  the  hesieged. 
He  at  once  determined  to  strengthen  the  garrison,  if 
possible,  by  a  reinforcement  of  two  thousand  men 
under  Dandelot,  a  younger  brother  of  the  admiral, 
and  not  inferior  to  him  in  audacity  and  enterprise. 
But  the  expedition  miserably  failed.  Through  the 
treachery  or  the  ignorance  of  the  guide,  the  party 
mistook  the  path,  came  on  one  of  the  enemy's 
outposts,  and,  disconcerted  by  the  accident,  were 
thrown  into  confusion,  and  many  of  them  cut  to 
pieces  or  drowned  in  the  morass.  Their  leader, 
with  the  remainder,  succeeded,  under  cover  of  the 
night,  in  making  his  way  back  to  La  Fere. 

The  constable  now  resolved  to  make  another 
attempt,  and  in  the  open  day.  He  proposed  to 
send  a  body,  under  the  same  commander,  in  boats 
across  the  Somme,  and  to  cover  the  embarka- 
tion in  person  with  his  whole  army.  His  force 
was  considerably  less  than  that  of  the  Spaniards, 
amounting  in  all  to  about  eighteen  thousand  foot 
and  six  thousand  horse,  besides  a  train  of  artillery 
consisting  of  sixteen  guns.^*  His  levies,  like  those 
of  his  antagonist,  were  largely  made  up  of  Ger- 
man mercenaries.    The  French  peasantry,  with  the 


l<  There  is  not  so  much  discrep- 
ancy in  the  estimates  of  the  French 
as  of  the  Spanish  force.  I  have 
accepted  the  statements  of  the 
French  historians,  Gamier,  (His- 
toire  de  France,  torn.  XXVII.  p. 
354,)  and  De  Thou,  (tom.  III.  p. 
148,)  who,  however,  puts  the  cav- 


alry at  one  thousand  less.  For  au- 
thorities on  the  Spanish  side,  see 
Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  IV. 
cap.  7.  —  Herrera,  Historia  Gene- 
ral, lib.  IV.  cap.  15.  —  Campana, 
Vita  del  Re  Filippo  Secondo,  parte 
n.  lib.  9. 


Ch.  vn.] 


SIEGE  OF  ST.  QUENTIN. 


225 


exception  of  the  Gascons,  who  formed  a  fine  body 
of  infantry,  had  long  since  ceased  to  serve  in  war 
But  the  chivalry  of  France  was  represented  by  aa 
gallant  an  array  of  nobles  and  cavaliers  as  evei 
fought  under  the  banner  of  the  lilies. 

On  the  ninth  of  August,  1557,  Montmorency  put 
his  whole  aimy  in  motion;  and  on  the  following 
morning,  the  memorable  day  of  St.  Lawrence^  by 
nine  o'clock,  he  took  up  a  position  on  the  bank  of 
the  Somme.  On  the  opposite  side,  nearest  the 
town,  lay  the  Spanish  force,  covering  the  ground, 
as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  with  their  white 
pavilions ;  while  the  banners  of  Spain,  of  Flanders, 
and  of  England,  unfurled  in  the  morning  breeze, 
showed  the  various  nations  from  which  the  motley 
host  had  been  gathered.^^ 

On  the  constable's  right  was  a  windmill,  com 
manding  a  ford  of  the  river  which  led  to  the  Span 
ish  quarters.  The  building  was  held  by  a  small 
detachment  of  the  enemy*  Montmorency's  first 
care  was  to  get  possession  of  the  mill,  which  he 
did  without  difficulty ;  and,  by  placing  a  garrison 
there,  under  the  prince  of  Conde,  he  secured  him- 
self from  surprise  in  that  quarter.  He  then  prof- 
ited by  a  rising  ground  to  get  his  guns  in  position, 
so  as  to  sweep  the  opposite  bank,  and  at  once 
opened  a  brisk  cannonade  on  the  enemy.  The 
march  of  the  French  had  been  concealed  by  some 
intervening  hills,  so  that,  when  they  suddenly  ap- 


1^  Rabutin,  ap.  Nouvelle  Collection  des  Memoires,  tom.  YIL  p.  549. 
VOL.  I.  29 


226 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  T. 


peared  on  the  farther  side  of  the  Somme,  it  was  aa 
if  they  had  dropped  from  the  clouds ;  and  the  shot 
which  fell  among  the  Spaniards  threw  them  into 
great  disorder.  There  was  hurrying  to  and  fro,  and 
some  of  the  balls  striking  the  duke  of  Savoy's  tent, 
he  had  barely  time  to  escape  with  his  armor  in  his 
hand.  It  was  necessary  to  abandon  his  position, 
and  he  marched  some  three  miles  down  the  river, 
to  the  quarters  occupied  by  the  commander  of  the 
cavalry,  Count  Egmont.^^ 

Montmorency,  as  much  elated  with  this  cheap 
success  as  if  it  had  been  a  victory,  now  set  himself 
about  passing  his  troops  across  the  water.  It  was 
attended  with  more  difficulty  than  he  had  expect- 
ed. There  were  no  boats  in  readiness,  and  two 
hours  were  wasted  in  procuring  them.  After  all, 
only  four  or  five  could  be  obtained,  and  these  so 
small  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  cross  and  re- 
cross  the  stream  many  times  to  effect  the  object. 
The  boats,  crowded  with  as  many  as  they  could 
carry,  stuck  fast  in  the  marshy  banks,  or  rather 
quagmire,  on  the  opposite  side;  and  when  some 
of  the  soldiers  jumped  out  to  lighten  the  load, 
they  were  swallowed  up  and  suffocated  in  the 
mud."      To   add  to   these    distresses,   they   were 


M  n)id.,  ubi  supra.  —  Monplein- 
ehamp,  Histoire  d'Emmanuel  Phi- 
libert  Due  de  Savoie,  (Amster- 
dam, 1699,)  p.  146.  — De  Thou, 
Histoire  Universellei  tom.  III.  p. 
157. 

The  first  of  these  writers,  Fran- 


cois de  Rabutin,  is  one  of  the  best 
authorities  for  these  transactions, 
in  which  he  took  part  as  a  follower 
of  the  due  de  Nevers. 

17  "  Encore  k  sortir  des  bateaux, 
k  cause  de  la  presse,  les  soldats  ne 
pouvoient'suivre  les  addresses  et 


Ch.  VXL] 


BATTLE  OF  ST.  QUEXTIN. 


227 


galled  by  the  incessant  fire  of  a  body  of  troops 
which  the  Spanish  general  had  stationed  on  as 
eminence  that  commanded  the  landing. 

While,  owing  to  these  causes,  the  transportation 
of  the  troops  was  going  slowly  on,  the  duke  of 
Savoy  had  called  a  council  of  war,  and  determined 
that  the  enemy,  since  he  had  ventured  so  near, 
should  not  be  allowed  to  escape  without  a  battle. 
There  was  a  practicable  ford  in  the  river,  close  to 
Count  Egmont's  quarters ;  and  that  officer  received 
orders  to  cross  it  at  the  head  of  his  cavalry,  and 
amuse  the  enemy  until  the  main  body  of  the 
Spanish  army,  under  the  duke,  should  have  time 
to  come  up. 

Lamoral,  Count  Egmont,  and  prince  of  Gavre, 
a  person  who  is  to  occupy  a  large  space  in  our 
subsequent  pages,  was  a  Flemish  noble  of  an 
ancient  and  illustrious  lineage.  He  had  early 
attracted  the  notice  of  the  emperor,  who  had 
raised  him  to  various  important  offices,  both  civil 
and  military,  in  which  he  had  acquitted  himself 
with  honor.  At  this  time,  when  thirty-five  years 
old,  he  held  the  post  of  lieutenant-general  of  the 
horse,  and  that  of  governor  of  Flanders. 

Egmont  was  of  a  lofty  and  aspiring  nature, 
filled  with  dreams  of  glory,  and  so  much  elated 
by  success,   that  the   duke   of    Savoy  was   once 


ientes  qui  leur  estoient  appareil-  Toient  sortir,   et  demeuroient  Ik 

Ues ;    de  fa^on   qulls   s'escartoi-  embourbez  et  noyez."     Rabutin, 

ant  et  se  jettoient  k  cost^  dans  les  ap.  Nouvelle  Collection  des  M^ 

creux  des  marets,  d*oii  ils  ne  pou-  moires,  tom.  VII.  p.  549. 


228 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  1 


obliged  to  rebuke  him,  by  reminding  bim  that 
he  was  not  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  army." 
With  these  defects  he  united  some  excellent  qual- 
ities, which  not  unfrequently  go  along  with  them. 
In  his  disposition  he  was  frank  and  manly,  and, 
though  hasty  in  temper,  had  a  warm  and  gen- 
erous heart.  He  was  distinguished  by  a  chiv- 
alrous bearing,  and  a  showy,  imposing  address, 
which  took  with  the  people,  by  whom  his  name 
was  held  dear  in  later  times  for  his  devotion  to 
the  cause  of  freedom.  He  was  a  dashing  officer, 
prompt  and  intrepid,  well  fitted  for  a  brilliant  coup 
de  main,  or  for  an  affair  like  the  present,  which 
required  energy  and  despatch ;  and  he  eagerly  un- 
dertook the  duty  assigned  him. 

The  light  horse  first  passed  over  the  ford,  the 
existence  of  which  was  known  to  Montmorency ; 
and  he  had  detached  a  corps  of  German  pisto- 
leers,  of  whom  there  was  a  body  in  the  French 
service,  to  defend  the  passage.  But  the  number 
was  too  small,  and  the  Burgundian  horse,  followed 
by  the  infantry,  advanced,  in  face  of  the  fire,  as 
coolly  and  in  as  good  order  as  if  they  had  been 
on  parade.^  The  constable  soon  received  tidings 
that  the  enemy  had  begun  to  cross ;  and,  aware  of 
his  mistake,  he   reinforced  his   pistoleers  with  a 

W  Brantonie,  CEuvres,  torn.  I.  p.  tillery,  —  hardly  probable,  as  the 

jgl,  French  batteries  were  three  miles 

W  I  quote  the  words  of  Mon-  distant,  up  the  river.     But  accu- 

pleinchamp,(HistoireduDucdeSa-  racy  does  not  appear  to  be  th« 

voie,  p.  147,)  who,  however,  speaks  chief  virtue  of  this  writer, 
of  the  fire  as  coming  from  the  ar- 


Cu.  vn.] 


BATTLE  OF  ST.  QUENTIN. 


229 


squadron  of  horse  under  the  due  de  Nevers.  It 
was  too  late;  when  the  French  commander  reached 
the  ground,  the  enemy  had  already  crossed  in 
such  strength  that  it  would  have  been  madness 
to  attack  him.  After  a  brief  consultation  with 
his  officers,  Nevers  determined,  by  as  speedy  a 
countermarch  as  possible,  to  join  the  main  body 
of  the  army. 

The  prince  of  Conde,  as  has  been  mentioned, 
occupied  the  mill  which  commanded  the  other 
ford,  on  the  right  of  Montmorency.  From  its 
summit  he  could  descry  the  movements  of  the 
Spaniards,  and  their  battalions  debouching  on  the 
plain,  with  scarcely  any  opposition  from  the  French. 
He  advised  the  constable  of  this  at  once,  and  sug- 
gested the  necessity  of  an  immediate  retreat.  The 
veteran  did  not  relish  advice  from  one  so  much 
younger  than  himself,  and  testily  replied,  "  I  was  a 
soldier  before  the  prince  of  Conde  was  born  ;  and, 
by  the  blessing  of  Heaven,  I  trust  to  teach  him 
some  good  lessons  in  war  for  many  a  year  to  come." 
Nor  would  he  quit  the  ground  while  a  man  of  the 
reinforcement  under  Dandelot  remained  to  cross.^ 

The  cause  of  this  fatal  confidence  was  informa- 
tion he  had  received  that  the  ford  was  too  narrow 
to  allow  more  than  four  or  five  persons  to  pass 
abreast,  which  would  give  him  time   enough  to 

*  "Manda  au  prince,  pour  toute  comptoit  bien  en  vingt  ans  lui  don- 

l^ponse,  qu*il  etoit  bien  jeune  pour  ner  encore  des  le9ons.'*     Gamier, 

vouloir  lui  apprendre  son  metier,  Histoire  de  France,  torn.  XXVII. 

qu'il  commandoit  les  armees  avant  p.  364. 
que  celui-ci  fut  au  monde,  et  qu'il 


230 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  I 


send  over  the  troops,  and  then  secure  his  own 
retreat  to  La  Fere.     As  it  turned  out,  unfortu 
nately,  the  ford  was  wide  enough  to  allow  fifteen 
or  twenty  men  to  go  abreast. 

The  French,  meanwhile,  who  had  crossed  the 
river,  after  landing  on  the  opposite  bank,  were 
many  of  them  killed  or  disabled  by  the  Spanish 
arquebusiers ;  others  were  lost  in  the  morass ;  and 
of  the  whole  number  not  more  than  four  hundred 
and  fifty,  wet,  wounded,  and  weary,  with  Dandelot 
at  their  head,  succeeded  in  throwing  themselves 
into  St.  Quentin.  The  constable,  having  seen  the 
last  boat  put  off,  gave  instant  orders  for  retreat. 
The  artillery  was  sent  forward  in  the  front,  then 
followed  the  infantry,  and,  last  of  all,  he  brought 
up  the  rear  with  the  horse,  of  which  he  took  com- 
mand in  person.  He  endeavored  to  make  up  for 
the  precious  time  he  had  lost  by  quickening  his 
march,  which,  however,  was  retarded  by  the  heavy 
gims  in  the  van. 

The  due  de  Nevers,  as  we  have  seen,  declining 
to  give  battle  to  the  Spaniards  who  had  crossed 
the  stream,  had  prepared  to  retreat  on  the  main 
body  of  the  army.  On  reaching  the  ground  lately 
occupied  by  his  countrymen,  he  found  it  aban- 
doned ;  and  joining  Conde,  who  still  held  the  mill, 
the  two  officers  made  all  haste  to  overtake  the 
constable. 

Meanwhile,  Count  Egmont,  as  soon  as  he  was 
satisfied  that  he  was  in  sufficient  strength  to  attack 
the  enemy,  gave  orders  to  advance,  without  waiting 


Ch.  vn.] 


FRENCH  ARMY  ROUTED. 


231 


for  more  troops  to  share  with  him  the  honors  of 
victory.     Crossing  the  field  lately  occupied  by  the 
constable,  he  took  the  great  road  to  La  Fere.     But 
the  risino-  ground  which  lay  between  him  and  the 
French  prevented  him  from  seeing  the  enemy  until 
he  had  accomplished  half  a  league  or  more.     The 
day  was  now  well  advanced,  and  the  Flemish  cap- 
tain had  some  fears  that,  notwithstanding  his  speed, 
the  quarry  had  escaped  him.     But,  as  he  turned 
the   hill,   he  had   the   satisfaction   to   descry  the 
French  columns  in  full   retreat.      On   their  rear 
hung  a  body  of  sutlers  and  other  followers  of  the 
camp,  who,  by  the  sudden  apparition  of  the  Span- 
iards,  were  thrown  into  a  panic,  which  they  had 
wellnigh  communicated  to  the  rest  of  the  army.*' 
To  retreat  before  an  enemy  is  in  itself  a  confes 
sion  of  weakness  sufficiently  dispiriting  to  the  sol- 
dier.     Montmorency,  roused  by  the  tumult,  saw 
the  dark  cloud  gathering  along  the  heights,  and 
knew  that  it  must  soon  burst  on  him.      In  this 
emergency,   he   asked   counsel   of  an   old   officer 
near  him  as  to  what  he  should  do.     "  Had  you 
asked  me,"  replied  the   other,  "  two  hours  since, 
I  could  have  told  you ;    it  is  now  too  late."  ^     It 


91  Rabutin,  who  gives  this  ac- 
count, says  it  would  be  impossible 
to  tell  how  the  disorder  began.  It 
came  upon  them  so  like  a  thunder- 
clap, that  no  man  had  a  distinct 
recollection  of  what  passed.  Ra- 
butin,  ap.  Nouvelle  Collection  des 
M^moires,  torn.  VII.  p.  550. 

88  » Appellant  k    lui  dans   ce 


trouble  le  vieux  d'Oignon,  officter 
expdrimentd,  il  lui  demanda :  bon 
homme,  que  faut-il  faire  ?  Mon- 
seigneur,  repondit  d'Oignon,  il  y  a 
deux  heures  que  je  vous  Tauroii 
bien  dit,  maintenant  je  n'en  sail 
rien."  Gamier,  Histoire  de  France, 
torn.  XXVU.  p.  368. 


232 


WAB  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Boo»  1 


was  indeed  too  late,  and  there  was  nothing  to 
be  done  but  to  face  about  and  fight  the  Span- 
iards. The  constable,  accordingly,  gavc^  the  word 
to  halt,  and  made  dispositions  to  receive  his  as- 
sailants. 

Egmont,  seeing  him  thus  prepared,  formed  his 
own  squadron  into  three  divisions.  One,  which  was 
to  turn  the  left  flank  of  the  French,  he  gave  to 

the  prince  of  Brunswick  and  to  Count  Hoorne, 

a  name  afterwards  associated  with  his  own  on  a 
sadder  occasion  than  the  present.  Another,  com- 
posed chiefly  of  Germans,  he  placed  under  Count 
Mansfeldt,  with  orders  to  assail  the  centre.  He 
himself,  at  the  head  of  his  Burgundian  lances,  rode 
on  the  left  against  Montmorency's  right  flank. 
Orders  were  then  given  to  charge,  and,  spurring 
forward  their  horses,  the  whole  column  came 
thundering  on  against  the  enemy.  The  French 
met  the  shock  like  well-trained  soldiers,  as  they 
were ;  but  the  cavalry  fell  on  them  with  the  fury 
of  a  torrent  sweeping  everything  before  it,  and  for 
a  few  moments  it  seemed  as  if  all  were  lost.  But 
the  French  chivalry  was  true  to  its  honor,  and,  at 
the  call  of  Montmorency,  who  gallantly  threw 
himself  into  the  thick  of  the  fight,  it  rallied,  and, 
returning  the  charge,  compelled  the  assailants  to 
give  way  in  their  turn.  The  struggle,  now  con- 
tinued on  more  equal  terms,  grew  desperate ;  man 
against  man,  horse  against  horse,  —  it  seemed  to 
be  a  contest  of  personal  prowess,  rather  than  of 
tactics  or  military  science.     So  well  were  the  two 


Ch.  vn.] 


FRENCH  ARMY  ROUTED. 


233 


parties  matched,  that  for  a  long  time  the  issue 
was  doubtful;  and  the  Spaniards  might  not  have 
prevailed  in  the  end,  but  for  the  arrival  of  rein- 
forcements, both  foot  and  heavy  cavalry,  who  came 
up  to  their  support.  Unable  to  withstand  this 
accumulated  force,  the  French  cavaliers,  overpow- 
ered by  numbers,  not  by  superior  valor,  began  to 
give  ground.  Hard  pressed  by  Egmont,  who 
cheered  on  his  men  to  renewed  efforts,  their  ranks 
were  at  length  broken.  The  retreat  became  a 
flight ;  and,  scattered  over  the  fleld  in  all  direc- 
tions, they  were  hotly  pursued  by  their  adver- 
saries, especially  the  German  schwarzreiters^  — 
those  riders  "black  as  devils,"^ — who  did  such 
execution  with  their  fire-arms  as  completed  the 
discomfiture  of  the  French. 

Amidst  this  confusion,  the  Gascons,  the  flower 
of  the  French  infantry,  behaved  with  admirable 
coolness.^  Throwing  themselves  into  squares, 
with  the  pikemen  armed  with  their  long  pikes  in 
front,  and  the  arquebusiers  in  the  centre,  they  pre- 
sented an  impenetrable  array,  against  which  the 
tide  of  battle  raged  and  chafed  in  impotent  fury. 
It  was  in  vain  that  the  Spanish  horse  rode  round 
the  solid  masses  bristling  with  steel,  if  possible,  to 
force  an  entrance,  while  an  occasional  shot,  strik- 


es "  Noirs  comme  de  beaux  dia-  pieties  et  bien  armdes,  que  Ton  en 

bles.**     Brantome,   (Euvres,  torn,  avoit  veu  en   France  il  y  avoit 

III.  p.  185.  long-temps.**     Kabutin,   ap.  Nou- 

2*  "  Icelles  compagnies  de  fan-  velle  CJollection  des  Memoires,  torn, 

trie,  en  ce  peu  qu'elles  se  compor-  VII.  p.  651. 
toient,  autant   belles,  bien   com- 

VOL.  I.  SO 


234 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  I 


ing  a  trooper  from  his  saddle,  warned  them  not 
to  approach  too  near. 

It  was  in  this  state  of  things  that  the  duke  of 
Savoy,  with  the  remainder  of  the  troops,  including 
the  artillery,  came  on  the  field  of  action.      His 
arrival  could  not  have  been  more  seasonable.     The 
heavy  gu^s  were  speedily  turned  on  the  French 
squares,  whose  dense  array  presented  an  obvious 
mark  to  the  Spanish  buUets.      Their  firm  ranks 
were  rent  asunder;  and,  as  the  brave  men  tried  in 
vain  to  close  over  the  bodies  of  their  dying  com- 
rades, the  horse  took  advantage  of  the  openings  to 
plunge  into  the  midst  of  the  phalanx.     Here  the 
long  spears  of  the  pikemen  were  of  no  avail,  and, 
striking  right  and  left,  the  cavaliers  dealt  death  on 
every  side.     All  now  was  confusion  and  irretriev- 
able ruin.     No  one  thought  of  fighting,  or  even 
of  self-defence.     The  only  thought  was  of  flight. 
Men  overturned  one  another  in  their  eagerness  to 
escape.     They  were  soon  mingled  with  the  routed 
cavalry,  who  rode   down  their   own  countrymen. 
Horses  ran  about  the  field  without  riders.     Many 
of  the  soldiers  threw  away  their  arms,  to  fly  the 
more  quickly.     All  strove  to  escape  from  the  ter- 
rible pursuit  which  hung  on  their  rear.     The  artil- 
lery and  ammunition-wagons  choked  up  the  road, 
and  obstructed  the  flight  of  the  fugitives.      The 
slaughter  was  dreadful.     The  best  blood  of  France 
flowed  like  water. 

Yet  mercy  was  shown  to  those  who  asked  it. 
Hundreds  and  thousands  threw  down  thek  arms, 


Ch.  vn.] 


FRENCH  ARMY  ROUTED. 


235 


and  obtained  quarter.  Nevers,  according  to  some 
accounts,  covered  the  right  flank  of  the  French  army. 
Others  state  that  he  was  separated  from  it  by  a  ra^ 
vine  or  vaUey.  At  all  events,  he  fared  no  better 
than  his  leader.  He  was  speedily  enveloped  by  the 
cavalry  of  Hoorne  and  Brunswick,  and  his  flne  corps 
of  light  horse  cut  to  pieces.  He  himself,  with  the 
prince  of  Conde,  was  so  fortunate  as  to  make  his 
escape,  with  the  remnant  of  his  forces,  to  La  Fere. 

Had  the  Spaniards  followed  up  the  pursuit,  few 
Frenchmen  might  have  been  left  that  day  to  tell 
the  story  of  the  rout  of  St.  Quentin.  But  the 
fight  had  already  lasted  four  hours ;  evening  was 
setting  in;  and  the  victors,  spent  with  toil  and 
sated  with  carnage,  were  content  to  take  up  their 
quarters  on  the  field  of  battle. 

The  French,  in  the  mean  time,  made  their  way, 
one  after  another,  to  La  F6re,  and,  huddling  to- 
gether in  the  public  squares,  or  in  the  quarters 
they  had  before  occupied,  remained  like  a  herd 
of  panic-struck  deer,  in  whose  ears  the  sounds  of 
the  chase  are  still  ringing.  But  the  loyal  cavaliers 
threw  ofi"  their  panic,  and  recovered  heart,  when  a 
rumor  reached  them  that  their  commander,  Mont- 
morency, was  still  making  head,  with  a  body  of 
stout  followers,  against  the  enemy.  At  the  ti- 
dings, faint  and  bleeding  as  they  were,  they  sprang 
to  the  saddles  which  they  had  just  quitted,  and 
were  ready  again  to  take  the  field.^ 


"  A  ces  uouvelles  s'esleverent  tellement  leurs  esprits  et  couragea, 


236 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  I 


•Ch.  VU.] 


FRENCH  ARMY  ROUTED. 


237 


But  the  rumor  was  without  foundation.     Mont- 
morency was  a  prisoner  m  the  hands  of  the  Span- 
iards.     The   veteran    had    exposed    his    own   life 
throughout  the  action,  as  if  willing  to  show  that 
he  would  not  shrink  in  any  degree  from  the  peril 
into  which  he  had  brought  his  followers.     When 
he  saw  that  the  day  was  lost,  he  threw  himself  into 
the  hottest  of  the  battle,  holding  life  cheap  in  com- 
parison with  honor.     A  shot  from  the  pistol  of  a  . 
schwarzreiter,  fracturing  his   thigh,   disabled  him 
from  further  resistance ;  and  he  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  Spaniards,  who  treated  him  with  the  respect 
due  to  his  rank.    The  number  of  prisoners  was  very 
large, — accordmg  to  some  accounts,  six  thousand, 
of  whom  six  hundred  were  said  to  be  gentlemen 
and  persons  of  condition.    The  number  of  the  slain 
is  stated,  as  usual,  with  great  discrepancy,  varying 
from  three  to  six  thousand.     A  much  larger  pro- 
portion of  them  than  usual  were  men  of  family. 
Many  a  noble  house  in  France  went  into  mourn- 
ing for   that   day.      Among  those  who   fell   was 
Jean  de  Bourbon,   count  d'Enghien,  a  prince  of 
the  blood.     Mortally  wounded,  he  was  carried  to 
the  tent   of  the  duke  of  Savoy,  where   he   soon 
after  expired,  and  his  body  was  sent  to  his  coun- 
trymen at  La    F^re  for    honorable  burial.      To 


qulls  recoururent  incontinent  aux  et  sentimens  pour  venger  la  honte 

armes,  et  n'oyoit-on  plus  partout  pi^cedente;  toutefois  ce  murmure 

que  demander  harnois  et  cbevaux,  se  trouva  nul   et  demeura  assoupi 

ct  trompettes   sonner    k    cheval,  en  peu  dlieurb."    Ibid.,  p.  552. 
•yant  chacun  recouvert  ses  forces 


balance  this  bloody  roll,  no  account  states  the  loss 
of  the  Spaniards  at  over  a  thousand  men.^^ 

More  than  eighty  standards,  including  those  of 
the  cavalry,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  victors,  to- 
gether with  all  the  artillery,  ammunition-wagons, 
and  baggage  of  the  enemy.  France  had  not  expe- 
rienced such  a  defeat  since  the  battle  of  Agmcourt.^^ 

King  Philip  had  left  Brussels,  and  removed  his 
quarters  to  Cambray,  that  he  might  be  near  the 
duke  of  Savoy,  with  whom  he  kept  up  daily  com- 
munication throughout  the  siege.  Immediately 
after  the  battle,  on  the  eleventh  of  August,  he 
visited  the  camp  in  person.  At  the  same  time, 
he  wrote  to  his  father,  expressing  his  regret  that 
he  had  not  been  there  to  share  the  glory  of  the 
day.^  The  emperor  seems  to  have  heartily  shared 
this  regret.®    It  is  quite  certain,  if  Charles  had 


»  Campana,  Vita  del  Re  Filippo 
Secondo,  parte  II.  lib.  9. 

According  to  gome  accounts,  the 
loss  did  not  exceed  fifty.  This,  con- 
sidering the  spirit  and  length  of  the 
contest,  will  hardly  be  credited.  It 
reminds  one  of  the  wars  with  the 
Moslems  in  the  Peninsula,  where,  if 
we  are  to  take  the  account  of  the 
Spaniards,  their  loss  was  usually  as 
one  to  a  hundred  of  the  enemy. 

27  For  the  preceding  pages,  see 
Rabutin,  ap.  Nouvelle  Collection 
des  Memoires,  torn.  VII.  pp.  548  - 
552.  —  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo, 
lib.  IV.  cap.  7.  —  Campana,  Vita 
del  Re  Filippo  Secondo,  parte  II. 
lib.  3.  —  Monpleinchamp,  Vie  du 
Due  de  Savoie,  pp.  146-150. — 
Herrera,    llistoria     General,    lib. 


IV.  cap.  15.  — De  Thou,  His- 
toire  Universelle,  torn.  HI.  pp. 
154-160.  —  Gamier,  Histoire  de 
France,  tom.  XXVH.  pp.  361  - 
372.  —  Carta  de  Felipe  2^0  k  su 
padre  anunciandole  la  victoria  de 
San  Quentin,  MS. 

28  "  Pues  yo  no  me  halle  alii,  de 
que  me  pesa  lo  que  V.  M.  no  puede 
pensar,  no  puedo  dar  relation  de 
lo  que  paso  sino  de  oydas."  Carta 
de  Felipe  2do  k  su  padre,  11  de 
Agosto,  1557,  MS. 

29  This  appears  by  a  letter  of 
the  major-domo  of  Charles,  Luis 
Quixada,  to  the  secretary,  Juan 
Vazquez  de  Molina,  MS. 

*'  Siento  que  no  se  puede  conor- 
tar  de  que  su  hijo  no  se  hallase  ei 
ello.** 


2a8 


WAK  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  I 


had  the  direction  of  affairs,  he  would  not  have 
been  absent.  But  Philip  had  not  the  bold,  adven- 
turous spirit  of  his  father.  His  talent  lay  rather 
in  meditation  than  in  action ;  and  his  calm,  delib- 
erate forecast  better  fitted  him  for  the  council  than 
the  camp.  In  enforcing  levies,  in  raising  supplies, 
in  superintending  the  organization  of  the  army,  he 
was  indefatigable.  The  plan  of  the  campaign  was 
determined  under  his  own  eye ;  and  he  was  most 
sagacious  in  the  selection  of  his  agents.  But  to 
those  agents  he  prudently  left  the  conduct  of  the 
war,  for  which  he  had  no  taste,  perhaps  no  capa- 
city, himself  He  did  not,  like  his  rival,  Henry  the 
Second,  fancy  himself  a  great  captain  because  he 
could  carry  away  the  prizes  of  a  tourney. 

Philip  was  escorted  to  the  camp  by  his  house- 
hold troops.  He  appeared  on  this  occasion  armed 
cap-a-pie^  —  a  thing  by  no  means  common  with 
him.  It  seems  to  have  pleased  his  fancy  to  be 
painted  in  military  costume.  At  leasts,  there  are 
several  portraits  of  him  in  complete  mail,  —  one 
from  the  pencil  of  Titian.  A  picture  taken  at  the 
present  time  was  sent  by  him  to  Queen  Mary,  who, 
in  this  age  of  chivalry,  may  have  felt  some  pride  in 
seeing  her  lord  in  the  panoply  of  war. 

On  the  king's  arrival  at  the  camp,  he  was  received 
with  all  the  honors  of  a  victor ;  with  flourishes  of 
trumpets,  salvos  of  artillery,  and  the  loud  shouts 
of  the  soldiery.  The  duke  of  Savoy  laid  at  his 
feet  the  banners  and  other  trophies  of  the  fight, 
and,  kneeling  down,  would  have  kissed  Philip's 


Ch.  vn.] 


FRENCH  ARMY  ROUTED. 


239 


hand ;  but  the  king,  raising  him  from  the  ground, 
and  embracing  him  as  he  did  so,  said  that  the  ac- 
knowledgments were  due  from  himself  to  the  gen- 
eral who  had  won  him  such  a  victory.  At  the 
same  time,  he  paid  a  well-deserved  compliment  to 
the  brilliant  part  which  Egmont  and  his  brave 
companions  had  borne  in  the  battle.^ 

The  first  thing  to  be  done  was  to  dispose  of  the 
prisoners,  whose  number  embarrassed  the  conquer- 
ors. Philip  dismissed  all  those  of  the  common  file, 
on  the  condition  that  they  should  not  bear  arms  for 
six  months  against  the  Spaniards.  The  condition 
did  no  great  detriment  to  the  French  service,  as  the 
men,  on  their  return,  were  sent  to  garrison  some 
distant  towns,  and  their  places  in  the  army  filled 
by  the  troops  whom  they  had  relieved.  The  cava- 
liers and  persons  of  condition  were  lodged  in  for- 
tresses ^  where  they  could  be  securely  detained  till 
the  amount  of  their  respective  ransoms  was  deter- 
mined. These  ransoms  formed  an  important  part 
of  the  booty  of  the  conqueror.  How  important, 
may  be  inferred  from  the  sum  offered  by  the  con- 
stable on  his  o^vn  account  and  that  of  his  son,  — 
no  less,  it  is  said,  than  a  hundred  and  sixty-five 
thousand  gold  crowns  !^^  The  soldier  of  that  day, 
when  the  penalty  was  loss  of  fortune  as  well  as 
of  freedom,  must  be  confessed  to  have  fought  on 
harder  conditions  than  at  present. 

A  council  of  war  was  next  called,  to  decide  on 


»  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib.        »!  De  Thou,   HIstoire   Univeri 
IV.  cap.  7.  Belle,  torn.  IH.  p.  246. 


240 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  I 


Ch.  vn.] 


FRENCH  ARMY  ROUTED. 


241 


further  operations.  When  Charles  the  Fifth  re* 
ceived  tidings  of  the  victory  of  St.  Quentin,  the 
first  thing  he  asked,  as  we  are  told,  was  "  whether 
Philip  were  at  Paris."  ^  Had  Charles  been  in  com- 
mand, he  would  doubtless  have  followed  up  the  blow 
by  presenting  himself  at  once  before  the  French 
capital.  But  Philip  was  not  of  that  sangume  tem- 
per which  overlooks,  or  at  least  overleaps,  the  ob- 
stacles in  its  way.  Charles  calculated  the  chances 
of  success ;  Philip,  those  of  failure.  Charles's  char- 
acter  opened  the  way  to  more  brilliant  achievements, 
but  exposed  him  also  to  severer  reverses.  His  en- 
terprising spirit  was  more  favorable  to  building  up 
a  great  empire ;  the  cautious  temper  of  Philip  was 
better  fitted  to  preserve  it.  Philip  came  in  the 
right  time ;  and  his  circmnspect  policy  was  prob- 
ably better  suited  to  his  position,  as  well  as  to  his 
character,  than  the  bolder  policy  of  the  emperor. 

When  the  duke  of  Savoy  urged,  as  it  is  said,  the 
expediency  of  profiting  by  the  present  panic  to 
march  at  once  on  the  French  capital,  Philip  looked 
at  the  dangers  of  such  a  step.     Several  strong  for- 


»  It  is  Brantdme  who  tells  the 
anecdote,  in  bis  usual  sarcastic 
way.  "  Encor,  tout  religieux,  de- 
my sainct  qu'il  estoit,  il  ne  se  pent 
en  garder  que  quant  le  roy  son  fils 
eut  gaignd  la  bataille  de  Siunct- 
Quentin  de  demander  aussi  tost 
que  le  courrier  luy  apporta  des 
nouvelles,  s'il  avoit  bien  poursuivi 
la  victoire,  et  juscjues  aux  portes 
ie  Paris."     (Euvres,  torn.  I.  p.  11. 


Luis  Quixada,  in  a  letter  w^tten 
at  the  time  from  Yuste,  gives  a 
version  of  the  story,  which,  if  it 
has  less  point,  is  probably  more 
correct  "  S.  Mag*.  esUi  con  mucho 
cuidado  por  saber  que  camino  arr^ 
tornado  el  Rey  despues  de  acabada 
aquella  empresa  de  San  Quintin.** 
Carta  de  27  de  septembrc,  1557, 
MS. 


tresses  of  the  enemy  would  be  left  in  his  rear. 
Rivers  must  be  crossed,  presenting  lines  of  defence 
which  could  easUy  be  maintained  against  a  force 
even  superior  to  his  own.  Paris  was  covered  by 
formidable  works,  and  forty  thousand  citizens  could 
be  enrolled,  at  the  shortest  notice,  for  its  protec- 
tion. It  was  not  wise  to  urge  the  foe  to  extremity, 
to  force  a  brave  and  loyal  people,  like  the  French, 
to  rise  en  masse^  as  they  would  do  for  the  defence 
of  their  capital.  The  emperor,  his  father,  had  once 
invaded  France  with  a  powerful  army,  and  laid 
siege  to  Marseilles.  The  issue  of  that  invasion 
was  known  to  everybody.  "  The  Spaniards,"  it 
was  tauntingly  said,  "had  come  into  the  country 
feasting  on  turkeys ;  they  were  glad  to  escape  from 
it  feeding  on  roots!"®  Philip  determiued,  there- 
fore, to  abide  by  his  original  plan  of  operations, 
and  profit  by  the  late  success  of  his  arms  to  press 
the  siege  of  St.  Quentin  with  his  whole  force.  — 
It  would  not  be  easy  for  any  one,  at  this  distance 
of  time,  to  pronounce  on  the  wisdom  of  his  de- 
cision. But  subsequent  events  tend  considerably 
to  strengthen  our  confidence  in  it. 

Preparations  were  now  made  to  push  the  siege 
with  vigor.  Besides  the  cannon  already  in  the 
camp,  and  those  taken  in  the  battle,  a  good  number 
of  pieces  were  brought  from  Cambray  to  strengthen 
the  battering-train  of  the  besiegers.  The  river  was 
crossed ;  and  the  Faubourg  dTle  was  carried  by  the 

33  "  Para  no  entrar  en  Francia    salir  comiendo  raizes.**    Cabrera, 
como  su  padre  comiendo  pabos,  i    Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  IV.  cap.  8. 
VOL.  I.  31 


Ni 


242 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  1 


duke,  after  a  stout  resistance  on  the  part  of  the 
French,  who  burned  the  houses  in  their  retreat. 
The  Spanish  commander  availed  himself  of  his 
advantage  to  establish  batteries  close  to  the  town, 
which  kept  up  an  incessant  cannonade,  that  shook 
the  old  walls  and  towers  to  their  foundation. 
The  miners  also  carried  on  their  operations,  aad 
galleries  were  excavated  almost  to  the  centre  of 

the  place. 

The  condition  of  the  besieged,  in  the  mean  time, 
was  forlorn  in  the  extreme ;    not  so  much  from 
want  of  food,  though  their  supplies  were  scanty, 
as  from  excessive  toil  and  exposure.     Then  it  was 
that   Coligni    displayed   all    the    strength    of  his 
character.      He   felt    the   importance   of  holding 
out  as  long  as  possible,  that  the  nation  might  have 
time  to  breathe,  as  it  were,  and  recover  from  the 
late  disaster.      He  endeavored  to  infuse  his  own 
spirit  into  the  hearts  of  his  soldiers,  toiling  with 
the  meanest  of  them,  and  shai-ing  all  their  priva- 
tions.     He   cheered  the  desponding,  by  assuring 
them  of  speedy  relief  from  their  countrj-men.    Some 
he  complimented  for  their  bravery ;  others  he  flat- 
tered by  asking  their  advice.     He  talked  loudly 
of  the  resources  at  his  command.     If  any  should 
hear  him  so  much  as  hint  at  a  surrender,  he  gave 
them  leave  to  tie  him  hand  and  foot,  and  throw 
him   into   the  moat.     If  he   should  hear  one   of 
them  talk  of  it,  the  admiral  promised  to  do  as 
much  by  him.^ 

34  i»  Si  Ton  m*o}oit  tenir  quelque  langage,  qui  approcbast  de  f^re 


Ih.  vn.] 


STORMING  OF  ST.  QUENTIN. 


243 


The  due  de  Nevers,  who  had  established  him- 
self, with  the  wreck  of  the  French  army  and  such 
additional  levies  as  he  could  muster,  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  St.  Quentin,  contrived  to  communicate 
with  the  admkal.  On  one  occasion  he  succeeded 
in  throwing  a  reinforcement  of  a  hundred  and 
twenty  arquebusiers  into  the  town,  though  it  cost 
him  thrice  that  number,  cut  to  pieces  by  the  Span- 
iards in  the  attempt.  Still  the  number  of  the 
garrison  was  altogether  inadequate  to  the  duties 
imposed  on  it.  With  scanty  refreshment,  almost 
without  repose,  watching  and  fighting  by  turns, 
the  day  passed  in  defending  the  breaches  which 
the  night  was  not  long  enough  to  repair.  No 
frame  could  be  strong  enough  to  endure  it. 

Coligni  had,  fortunately,  the  services  of  a  skil- 
ful engineer,  named  St.  Remy,  who  aided  him  in 
repairing  the  injuries  inflicted  on  the  works  by  the 
artillery,  and  by  the  scarcely  less  destructive  mines 
of  the  Spaniards.  In  the  want  of  solid  masonry, 
every  material  was  resorted  to  for  covering  up  the 
breaches.  Timbers  were  thrown  across ;  and  boats 
filled  with  earth,  laid  on  the  broken  rampart,  af- 
forded a  good  bulwark  for  the  French  musketeers. 
But  the  time  was  come  when  neither  the  skill  of 
the  engineer  nor  the  courage  of  the  garrison  could 


eomposition,  je  les  suppHois  tous  je  ne  lui  en  ferois   pas  mains/' 

qu'ils  me   jettassent,   comme    un  Coligni,  M^moires,  ap.  Collection 

poltron,  dedans  le  fossd  par  dessus  Universelle  des    M^moircs,    torn, 

les    murailles :    que    s'il    y   avoit  XL.  p.  272. 
quelqu*un  qui   m*en  tint  propos, 


244 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  I 


further  avail  Eleven  practicable  breaches  had 
been  opened,  and  St.  Remy  assured  the  admiral 
that  he  could  not  engage  to  hold  out  four-and- 

twenty  hours  longer.* 

The  duke  of  Savoy  also  saw  that  the  time 
had  come  to  bring  the  siege  to  a  close  by  a  gen- 
eral  assault.  The  twenty-seventh  of  August  was 
the  day  assigned  for  it.  On  that  preceding  he 
fired  three  mines,  which  shook  down  some  frag- 
ments of  the  waU,  but  did  less  execution  than 
was  expected.  On  the  morning  of  the  twenty- 
seventh,  his  whole  force  was  under  arms.  The 
duke  divided  it  into  as  many  corps  as  there 
were  breaches,  placing  these  corps  under  his  best 
and  bravest  officers.     He  proposed  to  direct  the 

assault  in  person. 

Coligni  made  his  preparations  also  with  consum- 
mate  coolness.  He  posted  a  body  of  troops  at  each 
of  the  breaches,  while  he  and  his  brother  Dandelot 
took  charge  of  the  two  which,  still  more  exposed 
than  the  others,  might  be  considered  as  the  post  of 
danger.  He  had  the  satisfaction  to  find,  in  this 
hour  of  trial,  that  the  men,  as  well  as  their  officers, 
seemed  to  be  animated  with  his  own  heroic  spirit. 

Before  proceeding  to  storm  the  place,  the  duke 
of  Savoy  opened  a  brisk  cannonade,  in  order  to 
clear  away  the  barricades  of  timber,  and  other  tem- 
porary defences,  which  had  been  thrown  across  the 
breaches.     The  fire  continued  for  several  hours, 


»  Gafllard,  Rivalit^,  torn.  V.  p.  258. 


Ch.  vn,] 


STORMING  OF  ST.  QUENTIN. 


245 


and  it  was  not  till  afternoon  that  the  signal  was 
given  for  the   assault.      The   troops   rushed   for- 
wai'd,  —  Spaniards,  Flemings,   English,   and  (xer- 
mans,  —  spurred  on  by  feelings  of  national  rivalry. 
A  body  of  eight  thousand  brave  Englishmen  had 
joined  the  standard  of  Philip  in  the  early  part  of 
the  cq^paign ;  ^  and  they  now  eagerly  coveted  the 
opportunity  for  distinction  which  had  been  denied 
them  at  the  battle  of  St.  Quentin,  where  the  for- 
tune of  the  day  was  chiefly  decided  by  cavalry. 
But  no  troops  felt  so  keen  a  spur  to  their  achieve- 
ments  as   the   Spaniards,   fighting   as   they  were 
under   the   eye   of  their   sovereign,   who   from   a 
neighboring  eminence  was  spectator  of  the  combat 
The  obstacles  were  not  formidable  in  the  path  of 
the  assailants,  who  soon  clambered  over  the  frag- 
ments  of  masonry  and   other  rubbish  which  lay 
scattered  below  the  ramparts,  and,  in  the  face  of  a 
steady  fire  of  musketry,  presented  themselves  be- 
fore the  breaches.      The  brave  men  stationed  to 
defend  them  were  in  sufficient  strength  to  occupy 
the  open  spaces ;  their  elevated  position  gave  them 
some  advantage  over  the  assailants,  and  they  stood 
to   their   posts  with  the  resolution   of  men   pre- 
pared to  die  rather  than  surrender.     A  fierce  con- 
flict now  ensued  along  the  whole  extent  of  the 
ramparts ;  and  the  French,  sustained  by  a  daunt- 
less spirit,  bore  themselves  as  stoutly  in  the  fight 
as   if  they   had  been   in   training  for  it  of  Jate, 


*  Burnet,  Reformation,  vol.  HI.  p.  63G. 


246 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Boos  I 


instead  of  being  enfeebled  by  scanty  subsistence 
and  excessive  toH.  After  a  severe  struggle,  which 
lasted  nearly  an  hour,  the  Spaniards  were  driven 
back  at  all  points.  Not  a  breach  was  won  ;  and, 
broken  and  dispirited,  the  assailants  were  com- 
pelled to  retire  on  their  former  position. 

After  this  mortifying  repulse,  the  duke  djd  not 
give  them  a  long  time  to  breathe,  before  he  again 
renewed  the  assault.     This  tune  he  directed  the 
main  attack  against  a  tower  where  the  resistance 
had   been  weakest.      In  fact,  Coligni  had  there 
placed  the  troops  on  whom  he  had  least  reliance, 
trusting  to   the   greater   strength   of   the   works. 
But  a  strong  heart  is  worth  all  the  defences  in 
the  world.     After  a  sharp  but  short  struggle,  the 
assailants  succeeded  in  carrjdng  the  tower.     The 
faint-hearted  troops  gave  way ;  and  the  Spaniards, 
throwing    themselves   on   the   rampart,   remained 
masters  of  one  of  the  breaches.     A  footing  once 
gained,   the    assailants   poured    impetuously   into 
the   opening,   Spaniards,   Germans,    and    English 
streaming  like  a  torrent  along  the  ramparts,  and 
attacking  the  defenders  on  their  flank.     Coligni, 
meanwhile,  and  his  brother  Dandelot,  had  rushed, 
with   a  few   followers,   to  the  spot,  in  the  hope, 
if  possible,  to  arrest  the  impending   ruin.      But 
they   were    badly    supported.      Overwhelmed    by 
numbers,  they  were  trodden  down,  disarmed,  and 
made  prisoners.  '  Still  the  garrison,  at  the  remain- 
ing  breaches,  continued  to  make  a  desperate  stand. 
But,  with  one  corps  pressing  them  on  flank  and 


Cb.  vii.] 


STORMING  OF  ST.  QUENTIN. 


241 


another  in  front,  they  were  speedily  cut  to  pieces^ 
or  disabled  and  taken.  In  half  an  hour  resistance 
had  ceased  along  the  ramparts.  The  town  was  in 
possession  of  the  Spaniards.^ 

A  scene  of  riot  and  wild  uproar  followed,  such 
as  made  the  late  conflict  seem  tame  in  comparison. 
The  victorious  troops  spread  over  the  town  in 
quest  of  plunder,  perpetrating  those  deeds  of  ruth- 
less violence,  usual,  even  in  this  enlightened  age, 
in  a  city  taken  by  storm.  The  wretched  inhabit- 
ants fled  before  them;  the  old  and  the  helpless, 
the  women  and  children,  taking  refuge  in  garrets, 
cellars,  and  any  other  corner  where  they  could 
hide  themselves  from  their  pursuers.  Nothing 
was  to  be  heard  but  the  groans  of  the  wounded 
and  the  dying,  the  cries  of  women  and  children,  — 
"  so  pitiful,"  says  one  present,  "  that  they  would 
grieve  any  Christian  heart,"  ^  —  mingled  with 
the  shouts  of  the  victors,  who,  intoxicated  with 


37  For  notices  of  the  taking  of 
St  Qiientin,  in  greater  or  less  de- 
tail, see  Coligni,  Memoires,  ap. 
Collection  Universelle  des  Me- 
moires, torn.  XL.;  Rabutin,  Me- 
moires, ap.  Nouvelle  Collection  des 
Memoires,  torn.  VII.  p.  556  et  seq. ; 
De  Thou,  Histoire  Universelle,  tom. 
III.  pp.  164-170;  Campana,  Vita 
del  Re  Filippo  Secondo,  parte  II. 
Ub.  9;  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo, 
lib.  IV.  cap.  9  ;  Monpleinchamp, 
Vie  du  Due  de  Savoie,  p.  152. 

Juan  de  Pinedo,  in  a  letter  to 
the  secretary  Vazquez,  (dated  St. 
Qucntin,  August  27,)  speaking  of 


the  hard  fighting  which  took  place 
in  the  assault,  particularly  praises 
the  gallantry  of  the  English :  "  Esta 
tarde  entre  tres  y  quatro  horas  se 
ha  entrado  San  Quentin  k  pura 
fuer^a  peleando  muy  bien  los  de 
dentro  y  los  de  fuera,  muy  escogi- 
damente  todos,  y  por  estremo  los 
Ingleses.**    MS. 

3^  Letter  of  the  earl  of  Bedford 
to  Sir  William  Cecil,  (dated  "  from 
our  camp  beside  St.  Quentin,  the 
3rd  of  Sept.  1557,*')  ap.  Tytler 
Edward  VI.  and  Mary,  vol.  11 
p.  493. 


248 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  L 


liquor,  and  loaded  with  booty,  now  madly  set 
fire  to  several  of  the  buildings,  which  soon  added 
the  dangers  of  conflagration  to  the  other  horrors 
of  the  scene.  In  a  short  time  the  town  would 
have  been  reduced  to  ashes,  and  the  place  which 
Philip  had  won  at  so  much  cost  would  have  been 
lost  to  him  by  the  excesses  of  his  own  soldiers. 

The  king  had  now  entered  the  city  in  person. 
He  had  never  been  present  at  the  storming  of  a 
place,  and  the  dreadful  spectacle  which  he  witnessed 
touched  his  heart.  Measures  wei-e  instantly  taken 
to  extinguish  the  flames,  and  orders  were  issued 
that  no  one,  under  pain  of  death,  should  offer  any 
violence  to  the  old  and  infirm,  to  the  women  and 
children,  to  the  ministers  of  religion,  to  religious 
edifices,  or,  above  all,  to  the  relics  of  the  blessed 
St.  Quentin.  Several  hundred  of  the  poor  people, 
it  is  said,  presented  themselves  before  Philip,  and 
claimed  his  protection.  By  his  command  they 
were  conducted,  imder  a  strong  escort,  to  a  place 
of  safety.® 

It  was  not  possible,  however,  to  prevent  the 
pillage  of  the  town.  It  would  have  been  as  easy 
to  snatch  the  carcass  from  the  tiger  that  was 
rending  it.  The  pillage  of  a  place  taken  by  storm 
was  regained  as  the  perquisite  of  the  soldier,  on 
which  he  coimted  as  regularly  as  on  his  pay. 
Those  who  distinguished  themselves  most,  in  this 


*  Acconling  to  Sepulveda,  (De  women.  It  is  not  very  probable 
Rebus  Gestis  Philippi  II.,  lib.  I.  that  Coligni  would  have  consented 
.-ap.  30,)  no  less  than  four  thousand    to  cater  for  so  many  useless  mouths. 


Ce.  VII.J 


STOKMTNG  OF  ST.  QUENTIN 


249 


ruthless  work,  were  the  German  mercenaries* 
Their  brutal  rapacity  filled  even  their  confeder- 
ates with  indignation.  The  latter  seem  to  have 
been  particularly  disgusted  with  the  unscrupulous 
manner  in  which  the  schwarzreiters  appropriated 
not  only  their  own  share  of  the  plunder,  but  that 
of  both  English  and  Spaniards.^ 

Thus  fell  the  ancient  town  of  St.  Quentin,  after  a 
defence  which  reflects  equal  honor  on  the  courage 
of  the  garrison,  and  on  the  conduct  of  their  com- 
mander. With  its  fortifications  wretchedly  out  of 
repair,  its  supply  of  arms  altogether  inadequate, 
the  number  of  its  garrison  at  no  time  exceeding 
a  thousand,  it  still  held  out  for  near  a  month 
against  a  powerful  army,  fighting  under  the  eyes 
of  its  sovereign,  and  led  by  one  of  the  best  cap- 
tains of  Europe.*^ 

Philip,  having  taken  measures   to   restore   the 


<o  "  The  Swartzrotters,  being 
masters  of  the  king's  whole  army, 
used  such  force,  as  well  to  the 
Spaniards,  Italians,  and  all  other 
nations,  as  unto  us,  that  there  was 
none  could  enjoy  nothing  but 
themselves.  They  have  now  showed 
such  cruelty,  as  the  like  hath  not 
been  seen  for  greediness:  the  town 
by  them  was  set  a-fire,  and  a  great 
piece  of  it  burnt."  Letter  of  the 
earl  of  Bedford  to  Cecil,  ap.  Tyt- 
ler,  Edward  VI.  and  Mary,  vol.  II. 
p.  493. 

*1  Rabutin,  M^moires,  ap-  Nou- 
vcUe  Collection  des  M^moIi*es, 
torn.    VII.    pp.    537-564. —  De 

VOL.  r.  32 


Thou,  Histoire  Universelle,  torn, 
in.  pp.  149  - 1 70.  —  Campana, 
Vita  di  Filippo  Secondo,  parte  II. 
lib.  9. 

The  best  account  of  the  siege  of 
St.  Quentin  is  to  be  found  in  Co- 
ligni's  Memoires,  (ap.  Collection 
Universelle  des  Memoires,  torn. 
XL.  pp.  217-290,)  written  by 
him  in  his  subsequent  captivity, 
when  the  events  were  fresh  in  his 
memory.  The  narrative  is  given 
in  a  simple,  unpretending  manner, 
that  engages  our  confidence,  though 
the  author  enters  into  a  minuteness 
of  detail  which  the  general  histori- 
an may  be  excused  from  following. 


250 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  L 


fortifications  of  St.  Quentin,  placed  it  under  the 
protection  of  a  Spanish  garrison,  and  marched 
against  the  neighbormg  town  of  Catelet.  It  was 
a  strong  place,  but  its  defenders,  unlike  their  val- 
iant countrymen  at  St.  Quentin,  after  a  brief  show 
of  resistance,  capitulated  on  the  sixth  of  September. 
This  was  followed  by  the  suiTender  of  Ham,  once 
renowned  through  Picardy  for  the  strength  of  its 
defences.  Philip  then  led  his  victorious  battalions 
against  Noyon  and  Chaulny,  which  last  town  Avas 
sacked  by  the  soldiers.  The  French  were  filled 
with  consternation,  as  one  strong  place  after  an- 
other, on  the  frontier,  fell  into  the  hands  of  an 
enemy  who  seemed  as  if  he  were  planting  his  foot 
permanently  on  their  soil.  That  Philip  did  not 
profit  by  his  success  to  push  his  conquests  still 
further,  is  to  be  attributed  not  to  remissness  on 
his  part,  but  to  the  conduct,  or  rather  the  com- 
position, of  his  army,  made  up,  as  it  was,  of 
troops,  who,  selling  their  swords  to  the  highest 
bidder,  cared  little  for  the  banner  under  which 
they  fought.  Drawn  from  different  countries,  the 
soldiers,  gathered  into  one  camp,  soon  showed 
all  their  national  rivalries  and  animosities.  The 
English  quan-elled  with  the  Germans,  and  neither 
could  brook  the  insolent  bearing  of  the  Spaniards. 
The  Germans  complained  that  their  arrears  were 
not  paid,  —  a  complaint  probably  well  founded,  as, 
notwithstanding  his  large  resources,  Philip,  on  an 
emergency,  found  the  difficulty  in  raising  funds, 
which  every  prince  in  that  day  felt,  when  there  was 


Ch.  Vn.]  SUCCESSES  OF  THE   SPANIARDS. 


251 


no  such  thing  known  as  a  well-arranged  system  of 
taxation.  Tempted  by  the  superior  offers  of  Henry 
the  Second,  the  schwarzreiters  left  the  standard  of 
Philip  in  great  numbers,  to  join  that  of  his  rival. 

The  English  were  equally  discontented.  They 
had  brought  from  home  the  aversion  for  the  Span- 
iards which  had  been  festering  there  since  the 
queen's  marriage.  The  sturdy  islanders  were  not 
at  all  pleased  with  serving  under  Philip.  They 
were  fighting,  not  the  battles  of  England,  they 
said,  but  of  Spain.  Every  new  conquest  was  add- 
ing to  the  power  of  a  monarch  far  too  powerful 
already.  They  had  done  enough,  and  insisted  on 
being  allowed  to  return  to  their  own  country. 
The  king,  who  dreaded  nothing  so  much  as  a 
rupture  between  his  English  and  his  Spanish  sub- 
jects, to  which  he  saw  the  state  of  things  rapidly 
tending,  was  fain  to  consent. 

By  this  departure  of  the  English  force,  and  the 
secession  of  the  Germans,  Philip's  strength  was  so 
much  impaired,  that  he  was  in  no  condition  to 
make  conquests,  hardly  to  keep  the  field.  The 
season  was  now  far  advanced,  for  it  w  as  the  end  of 
October.  Having  therefore  garrisoned  the  con- 
quered places,  and  put  them  in  the  best  posture  of 
defence,  he  removed  his  camp  to  Brussels,  and  soon 
after  put  his  army  into  winter-quarters.*^ 

Thus   ended   the   first   campaign  of  Philip  the 


*  De  Thou,  Histoire  Univer- 
lelle,  torn.  III.  pp.  173-177. — 
Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  IV. 


cap.  13.  —  Sepulveda,  De  Kebui 
Gestis  Philippi  II.,  lib.  I.  cap.  82. 


253 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book 


Second;  the  first,  and,  with  the  exception  of  th3 
following,  the  only  campaign  in  which  he  was 
personally  present  It  had  been  eminently  success- 
ful. Besides  the  important  places  which  he  had 
gained  on  the  frontier  of  Picardy,  he  had  won  a 
signal  victory  in  the  field. 

But  the  campaign  was  not  so  memorable  for 
military  results  as  in  a  moral  view.  It  showed  the 
nations  of  Europe  that  the  Spanish  sceptre  had 
passed  into  the  hands  of  a  prince  who  was  as 
watchful  as  his  predecessor  had  been  over  the  in- 
terests of  the  state;  and  who,  if  he  were  not  so 
actively  ambitious  as  Charles  the  Fifth,  would  be 
as  little  likely  to  brook  any  insult  from  his  neigh- 
bors. The  victory  of  St.  Quentin,  occurring  at  the 
commencement  of  his  reign,  reminded  men  of  the 
victory  won  at  Pavia  by  his  father,  at  a  similar 
period  of  his  career,  and,  like  that,  furnished 
a  brilliant  augury  for  the  future.  Philip,  little 
given  to  any  visible  expression  of  his  feelings,  tes- 
tified his  joy  at  the  success  of  his  arms  by  after- 
wards raising  the  magnificent  pile  of  the  Escorial, 
in  honor  of  the  blessed  martyr  St.  Lawrence,  on 
whose  day  the  battle  was  fought,  and  to  whose 
interposition  with  Heaven  he  attributed  the  vic- 
tory. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


Extraordinary  Efforts  of  France. — Calais  surprised  by  Guise. — The 
French  invade  Flanders.  — Bloody  Battle  of  Gravelines. — Negotia- 
tions for  Peace. — Mary's  Death. — Accession  of  Elizabeth. — Treaty 
of  Cateau-Cambrens. 


1557  - 1559. 

The  state  of  affairs  in  France  justified  Philip's 
conclusions  in  respect  to  the  loyalty  of  the  people. 
No  sooner  did  Henry  the  Second  receive  tidings  of 
the  fatal  battle  of  St.  Quentin,  than  he  despatched 
couriers  in  all  directions,  summoning  his  chivalry 
to  gather  round  his  banner,  and  calling  on  the 
to^vns  for  aid  in  his  extremity.  The  nobles  and 
cavaliers  promptly  responded  to  the  call,  flocking 
in  with  their  retainers;  and  not  only  the  large 
towns,  but  those  of  inferior  size,  cheerfully  sub- 
mitted to  be  heavily  taxed  for  the  public  service. 
Paris  nobly  set  the  example.  She  did  not  ex- 
haust her  zeal  in  processions  of  the  clergy,  headed 
by  the  queen  and  the  royal  family,  carrying  with 
them  relics  from  the  different  churches.  All  the 
citizens  capable  of  bearing  arms  enrolled  them- 
selves  for   the  defence  of  the  capital ;    and  large 


254 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  I 


appropriations  were  made  for  strengthening  Mont- 
martre,  and  for  defraying  the  expenses  of  the  war.^ 

With  these  and  other  resources  at  his  command, 
Henry  was  speedily  enabled  to  subsidize  a  large 
body  of  Swiss  and  German  mercenaries.  The 
native  troops  serving  abroad  were  ordered  home. 
The  vetei-an  Marshal  Termes  came,  with  a  large 
corps,  from  Tuscany,  and  the  duke  of  Guise  re- 
turned, with  the  remnant  of  his  battalions,  from 
Rome.  This  popular  commander  was  welcomed 
with  enthusiasm.  The  nation  seemed  to  look  to 
him  as  to  the  deliverer  of  the  country.  His  late 
campaign  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples  was  celebrated 
as  if  it  had  been  a  brilliant  career  of  victory. 
He  was  made  lieutenant-general  of  the  aimy,  and 
the  oldest  captains  were  proud  to  take  service 
under  so  renowned  a  chief. 

The  government  was  not  slow  to  profit  by  the 
extraordinary  resources  thus  placed  at  its  disposal. 
Though  in  the  depth  of  winter,  it  was  resolved  to 
undertake  some  enterprise  that  should  retrieve  the 
disasters  of  the  late  campaign,  and  raise  the  droop- 
ing spirits  of  the  nation.  The  object  proposed  was 
the  recovery  of  Calais,  that  strong  place,  which  for 
more  than  two  centuries  had  remained  in  posses- 
sion of  the  English. 

The  French  had  ever  been  keenly  sensible  to 
the  indignity  of  an  enemy  thus  planting  his  foot 
immovably,  as  it  were,  on  their  soil.      They  had 

1  De  Thou,  Histoire  Universelle,     Histoire  de  France,  torn.  XXVIL 
torn.  III.  pp.  163,  1 76.  —  Gamier,     p.  377  et  seq. 


Ch.  Vm.J  CALAIS  SURPRISED  BY  GUISE. 


255 


looked  to  the  recovery  of  Calais  with  the  same 
feelings  with  which  the  Spanish  Moslems,  when 
driven  into  Africa,  looked  to  the  recovery  of  their 
ancient  possessions  in  Granada.  They  showed 
how  constantly  this  was  in  their  thoughts,  by  a 
common  saying  respecting  any  commander  whom 
they  held  lightly,  that  he  was  "  not  a  man  to  drive 
the  English  out  of  France."  ^  The  feelings  they  en- 
tertained, however,  were  rather  those  of  desire  than 
of  expectation.  The  place  was  so  strong,  so  well 
garrisoned,  and  so  accessible  to  the  English,  that 
it  seemed  impregnable.  These  same  circumstances, 
and  the  long  possession  of  the  place,  had  inspired 
the  English,  on  the  other  hand,  with  no  less  confi- 
dence, as  was  pretty  well  intimated  by  an  inscrip- 
tion on  the  bronze  gates  of  the  town,  —  "AVhen 
the  French  besiege  Calais,  lead  and  iron  will  swim 
like  cork."  8  This  confidence,  as  it  often  happens, 
proved  their  ruin. 

The  bishop  of  Acqs,  the  French  envoy  to  Eng- 
land, on  returning  home,  a  short  time  before  this, 
had  passed  through  Calais,  and  gave  a  strange  re- 
port of  the  decay  of  the  works  and  the  small  num- 
ber of  the  garrison,  in   short,  of  the  defenceless 


2  "  C'dtoit  un  proverbe  re9u  en 
France  pour  designer  un  mauvais 
gdndral,  un  guerrier  sans  merite, 
de  dire  :  il  ne  chassera  pas  les 
Anglois  de  la  France:'  Gaillard, 
Rivalite'  de  France  et  de  TEspagne, 
torn  V.  p.  260. 

'  "  Aussi  les  Anglois  furent  si 


glorieux  (car  ils  le  sont  assez  de 
leur  naturel)  de  mettre  sur  lea 
portes  de  la  ville  que,  lors  que  les 
Francois  assiegeront  Calais,  Ton 
verra  le  plomb  et  Ic  fer  nager  sur 
Teau  comme  le  liege."  Brantome, 
(Euvres,  torn.  III.  p.  203. 


256 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  I 


Ch.  Vin.]  CALAIS  SURPRISED  BY  GUISE. 


257 


1^ 


condition  of  the  place.  Guise,  however,  as  cau- 
tious as  he  was  brave,  was  unwilling  to  undertake 
so  hazardous  an  enterprise  without  more  precise 
information.  When  satisfied  of  the  fact,  he  en- 
tered on  the  project  with  his  characteristic  ardoi. 
The  plan  adopted  was  said  to  have  been  originally 
suggested  by  Coligni.  In  order  to  deceive  the 
enemy,  the  duke  sent  the  largest  division  of  the 
army,  under  Nevers,  in  the  direction  of  Luxem- 
burg. He  then  marched  with  the  remainder  into 
Picardy,  as  if  to  menace  one  of  the  places  con- 
quered by  the  Spaniards.  Soon  afterwards  the  two 
corps  united,  and  Guise,  at  the  head  of  his  whole 
force,  by  a  rapid  march,  presented  himself  before 
the  walls  of  Calais. 

The  town  was  defended  by  a  strong  citadel,  and 
by  two  forts.  One  of  these,  commanding  the  ap- 
proach by  water,  the  duke  stormed  and  captured 
on  the  second  of  January,  1558.  The  other, 
which  overlooked  the  land,  he  carried  on  the  fol- 
lowing day.  Possessed  of  these  two  forts,  he 
felt  secure  from  any  annoyance  by  the  enemy, 
either  by  land  or  by  water.  He  then  turned  his 
powerful  battering-train  agaiast  the  citadel,  keep- 
ing up  a  furious  cannonade  by  day  and  by  night. 
On  the  fifth,  as  soon  as  a  breach  was  opened, 
the  victorious  troops  poured  in,  and,  overpower- 
ing the  garrison,  planted  the  French  colors  on 
the  walls.  The  earl  of  Wentworth,  who  com- 
manded in  Calais,  unable,  with  his  scanty  garrison, 
to  maintain  the  place  now  that  the  defences  were 


in  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  capitulated  on  the 
eighth.  The  fall  of  Calais  was  succeeded  by  that 
of  Guisnes  and  of  Hames.  Thus,  in  a  few  days, 
the  English  were  stripped  of  every  rood  of  the  ter- 
ritory which  they  had  held  in  France  since  the 
time  of  Edward  the  Third. 

The  fall  of  Calais  caused  the  deepest  sensation 
on  both  sides  of  the  Channel.  The  English,  as- 
tounded by  the  event,  loudly  inveighed  against  the 
treachery  of  the  commander.  They  should  rather 
have  blamed  the  treachery  of  their  own  govern- 
ment, who  had  so  grossly  neglected  to  provide  for 
the  defence  of  the  place.  Philip,  suspecting  the 
designs  of  the  French,  had  intimated  his  suspicions 
to  the  English  government,  and  had  ofiered  to 
strengthen  the  garrison  by  a  reinforcement  of  his 
own  troops.  But  his  allies,  perhaps  distrusting 
his  motives,  despised  his  counsel,  or  at  least  failed 
to  profit  by  it.*  After  the  place  was  taken,  he 
made  another  offer  to  send  a  strong  force  to  recover 
it,  provided  the  English  would  support  him  with  a 
sufficient  fleet.  This  also,  perhaps  from  the  same 
feeling  of  distrust,  though  on  the  plea  of  inability 
to  meet  the  expense,  was  declined,  and  the  oppor- 
tunity for  the  recovery  of  Calais  was  lost  for  ever.* 

Yet,  in  truth,  it  was  no  great  loss  to  the  nation. 
Like  more  than  one,  probably,  of  the  colonial  pos- 
sessions of  England  at  the  present  day,  Calais  cost 
every  year  more  than  it  was  worth.      Its   chief 

*  Burnet,  History  of  the  Refonoation  vol.  HI.  p.  646. 

«  Ibid.,  p.  650. 

VOL.  I.  33 


258 


WAB  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  L 


Ch.  Vm.]       THE  FRENCH  INVADE  FLANDERS. 


259 


value  was  the  facility  it  afforded  for  the  invasion 
of  France.  Yet  such  a  facility  for  war  with  their 
neighbors,  always  too  popular  with  the  English 
before  the  time  of  PhQip  the  Second,  was  of  ques- 
tionable value.  The  real  injury  from  the  loss  of 
Calais  was  the  wound  which  it  inflicted  on  the 

national  honor. 

The  exultation  of  the  French  was  boundless.  It 
could  not  well  have  been  greater,  if  the  duke  of 
Guise  had  crossed  the  Channel  and  taken  London 
itself.  The  brilliant  and  rapid  manner  in  which 
the  exploit  had  been  performed,  the  gallantr>^  with 
which  the  young  general  had  exposed  his  own  per- 
son in  the  assault,  the  generosity  with  which  he 
had  divided  his  share  of  the  booty  among  the 
soldiers,  all  struck  the  lively  imagination  of  the 
French ;  and  he  became  more  than  ever  the  idol  of 

the  people. 

Yet,  during  the  remainder  of  the  campaign,  his 
arms  were  not  crowned  with  such  distinguished 
success.  In  May,  he  marched  against  the  strong 
town  of  Thionville,  in  Luxemburg.  After  a  siege 
of  twenty  days,  the  place  surrendered.  Having 
taken  one  or  two  other  towns  of  less  impor- 
tance,  the  French  army  wasted  nearly  three  weeks 
in  a  state  of  inaction,  unless,  indeed,  we  take  into 
account  the  activity  caused  by  intestine  troubles  of 
the  army  itself.  It  is  difficult  to  criticize  fairly  the 
conduct  of  a  commander  of  that  age,  when  his 
levies  were  made  up  so  largely  of  foreign  mercena- 
ries, who  felt  so  little  attachment  to  the  service  in 


which  they  were  engaged,  that  they  were  ready 
to  quarrel  with  it  on  the  slightest  occasion. 
Among  these  the  German  schwarzreiters  were  the 
most  conspicuous,  manifesting  too  often  a  degree 
of  insolence  and  insubordination  that  made  them 
hardly  less  dangerous  as  friends  than  as  enemies. 
The  importance  they  attached  to  their  own  services 
made  them  exorbitant  in  their  demands  of  pay. 
When  this,  as  was  too  frequently  the  case,  was  in 
arrears,  they  took  the  matter  into  their  own  hands, 
by  pillaging  the  friendly  country  in  which  they  were 
quartered,  or  by  breaking  out  into  open  mutiny. 
A  Gennan  baron,  on  one  occasion,  went  so  far  as 
to  level  his  pistol  at  the  head  of  the  duke  of  Guise. 
So  widely  did  this  mutinous  spirit  extend,  that  it 
was  only  by  singular  coolness  and  address  that  this 
popular  chieftain  could  bring  these  adventurers  into 
anything  like  subjection  to  his  authority.  As  it 
was,  the  loss  of  time  caused  by  these  troubles  was 
attended  with  most  disastrous  consequences.    * 

The  duke  had  left  Calais  garrisoned  by  a  strong 
force,  under  Marshal  Termes.  He  had  since  or- 
dered that  veteran  to  take  command  of  a  body 
of  fifteen  hundred  horse  and  five  thousand  foot, 
drawn  partly  from  the  garrison  itself,  and  to  march 
into  West  Flanders.  Guise  proposed  to  join 
him  there  with  his  own  troops,  when  they  would 
furnish  such  occupation  to  the  Spaniards  as  would 
effectually  prevent  them  from  a  second  invasion  of 
Picardy. 

The  plan  was  well  designed,  and  the  marshal 


2G0 


WAR  WITH  FRAIICE. 


[Boos  I 


faithfully  executed  his   part  of  it.      Taking  the 
road  by   St.  Omer,  he   entered  Flanders  in   the 
neighborhood    of    Dunkirk,    laid    siege    to    that 
flourishing    town,   stormed    and    gave    it   up    to 
pillage.      He    then    penetrated    as   far   as    Nieu- 
port,  when  the  fatigue  and  the  great  heat  of  the 
weather  brought  on  an  attack  of  gout,  which  en- 
tirely disabled  him.      The   officer   on  whom   the 
command    devolved    allowed  the  men   to   spread 
themselves   over  the  country,  where   they   perpe- 
trated such  acts  of  rapacity  and  violence  as  were 
not  sanctioned  even  by  the  code  of  that  unscrupu- 
lous  age.     The  wretched  inhabitants,  driven  from 
their  homes,  called  loudly  on  Count  Egmont,  their 
governor,  to  protect  them.     The  duke  of  Savoy  lay 
with  his  army,  at  this  time,  at  Maubeuge,  in  the 
province  of  Namur ;  but  he  sent  orders  to  Egmont 
to  muster   such  forces  as  he  could  raise  in   the 
neighboring  country,  and  to  intercept  the  retreat 
of  the  French,  \mtil  the  duke  could  come  to  his 
support  and  chastise  the  enemy. 

Egmont,  indignant  at  the  wrongs  of  his  coun« 
trymen,  and  burning  with  the  desire  of  revenge, 
showed  the  greatest  alacrity  in  obeying  these  or- 
ders.  Volunteers  came  in  from  all  sides,  and  he 
soon  found  himself  at  the  head  of  an  army  consist- 
ing of  ten  or  twelve  thousand  foot  and  two  thou- 
sand horse.  With  these  he  crossed  the  borders  at 
once,  and  sent  forward  a  detachment  to  occupy  the 
great  road  by  which  De  Termes  had  penetrated 
into  Flanders. 


Ch.  Vra.]        THE  FRENCH  INVADE  FLANDERS. 


261 


The  French  commander,  advised  too  late  of  these 
movements,  saw  that  it  was  necessary  to  abandon 
at  once  his  present  quarters,  and  secure,  if  possible, 
his  retreat.  Guise  was  at  a  distance,  occupied  with 
the  troubles  of  his  own  camp.  The  Flemings  had 
possession  of  the  route  by  which  the  marshal  had 
entered  the  country.  One  other  lay  open  to  him 
along  the  sea-shore,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Grave- 
lines,  where  the  Aa  pours  its  waters  into  the  ocean. 
By  taking  advantage  of  the  ebb,  the  river  might  be 
forded,  and  a  direct  road  to  Calais  would  be  presented. 

Termes  saw  that  no  time  was  to  be  lost.  He 
caused  himself  to  be  removed  from  his  sick-bed  to 
a  litter,  and  began  his  retreat  at  once.  On  leaving 
Dunkirk,  he  fired  the  town,  where  the  houses  were 
all  that  remained  to  the  wretched  inhabitants  of 
their  property.  His  march  was  impeded  by  his  ar- 
tillery,  by  his  baggage,  and  especially  by  the  booty 
which  he  was  conveying  back  from  the  plundered 
provinces.  He  however  succeeded  in  crossing  the 
Aa  at  low  water,  and  gained  the  sands  on  the  op- 
posite side.  But  the  enemy  was  there  before  him.* 
Egmont,  on  getting  tidings  of  the  marshal's 
movements,  had  crossed  the  river  higher  up,  where 
the  stream  was  narrower.  Disencumbering  him- 
self of  artillery,  and  even  of  baggage,  in  order  to 

fi  De  Thou,  Histoire  Universelle,  lippo  Secondo,  parte  U.  lib.  10.  — 

torn.  IIL  p.  238.  —  Gamier,  His-  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  IV. 

toire  de  France,  torn.  XXVII.  p.  cap.  21.  — Herrera,  Historia  Gene- 

612.  — Rabutin,  ap.  Nouvelle  Col-  ral,   lib.   V.  cap.  5.  — Monplein. 

lection  des  Memoires,  torn.  VII.  p.  cliamp,  Vie  du  Due  de  Savoie,  p. 

898  —  Campana,  Vita  del  Re  Fi-  154. 


262 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  I 


move  the  Ughter,  he  made  a  rapid  march  to  the 
sea-side,  and  reached  it  in  time  to  intercept  the 
enemy.  There  was  no  choice  left  for  Termes 
but  to  fight  his  way  through  the  Spaniards  or  sur- 
render. 

Ill  as  he  was,  the  marshal  mounted  his  horse 
and  addressed  a  few  words  to  his  troops.  Point- 
ing  in  the  direction  of  the  blazing  ruins  of  Dun- 
ku'k,  he  told  them  that  they  could  not  return 
there.  Then  turning  towards  Calais,  "There  is 
your  home,"  he  said,  "and  you  must  beat  the 
enemy  before  you  can  gain  it."  He  determined, 
however,  not  to  begin  the  action,  but  to  secure  his 
position  as  strongly  as  he  could,  and  wait  the  as- 
sault of  the  Spaniards. 

He  placed  his  infantry  in  the  centre,  and  flanked 
it  on  either  side  by  his  cavalry.  In  the  front  he 
established  his  artillerj',  consisting  of  six  or  seven 
falconets,  —  field-pieces  of  smaller  size.  He  threw 
a  considerable  body  of  Gascon  pikemen  in  the  rear, 
to  act  as  a  reserve  wherever  their  presence  should 
be  required.  The  river  Aa,  which  flowed  behind 
his  troops,  formed  also  a  good  protection  in  that 
quarter.  His  left  wing  he  covered  by  a  barricade 
made  of  the  baggage  and  artiUery  wagons.  His 
rio'ht  which  rested  on  the  ocean,  seemed  secure 
from  any  annoyance  on  that  side. 

Count  Egmont,  seeing  the  French  thus  prepar- 
ing  to  give  battle,  quickly  made  his  own  disposi- 
tions. He  formed  his  cavalry  into  three  divisions. 
The  centre  he  proposed  to  lead  in  person.     It  was 


Ch.  vm.] 


BATTLE  OF  GBAVELINES. 


263 


made  up  chiefly  of  the  heavy  men-at-arms  and 
some  Flemish  horse.  On  the  right  he  placed  his 
light  cavalry,  and  on  the  left  wing  rode  the  Span- 
ish. His  infantry  he  drew  up  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  support  the  several  divisions  of  horse.  Hav- 
ing completed  his  arrangements,  he  gave  orders  to 
the  centre  and  the  right  wing  to  charge,  and  rode 
at  full  gallop  against  the  enemy. 

Though  somewhat  annoyed  by  the  heavy  guns 
in  theii*  advance,  the  battalions  came  on  in  good 
order,  and  fell  with  such  fury  on  the  French  left 
and  centre,  that  horse  and  foot  were  borne  down 
by  the  violence  of  the  shock.  But  the  French  gen- 
tlemen who  formed  the  cavalry  were  of  the  same 
high  mettle  as  those  who  fought  at  St.  Quentin. 
Though  borne  dovm  for  a  moment,  they  were  not 
overpowered ;  and,  after  a  desperate  struggle,  they 
succeeded  in  rallying  and  in  driving  back  the  as- 
sailants. Egmont  returned  to  th^  charge,  but  was 
forced  back  with  greater  loss  than  before.  The 
French,  following  up  their  advantage,  compelled 
the  assailants  to  retreat  on  their  own  lines.  The 
guns,  at  the  same  time,  opening  on  the  exposed 
flank  of  the  retreating  troopers,  did  them  consid- 
erable mischief.  Egmont's  horse  was  killed  under 
him,  and  he  had  nearly  been  run  over  by  his 
own  followers.  In  the  mean  while,  the  Gascon 
reserve,  armed  with  their  long  spears,  pushed  on 
to  the  support  of  the  cavalry,  and  filled  the  aii 
with  their  shouts  of  "  Victory  ! "  ^ 


7  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  IV.  cap.  21. 


264 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  I 


Ch.  vin.j 


BATTLE  OF  GRAVELINES. 


265 


The  field  seemed  to  be  already  lost ;  when  the 
left  wing  of  Spanish  horse,  which  had  not  yet 
come  into  action,  seeing  the  disorderly  state  of  the 
French,  as  they  were  pressing  on,  charged  them 
briskly  on  the  flank.  This  had  the  eflect  to  check 
the  tide  of  pursuit,  and  give  the  fugitives  time  to 
rally.  Egmont,  meanwhile,  was  mounted  on  a 
fresh  horse,  and,  throwing  himself  into  the  midst 
of  his  followers,  endeavored  to  reanimate  their 
courage  and  reform  their  disordered  ranks.  Then, 
cheering  them  on  by  his  voice  and  example,  he 
cried  out,  "  We  are  conquerors !  Those  who  love 
glory  and  their  fatherland,  follow  me!"®  and 
spurred  furiously  against  the  enemy. 

The  French,  hard  pressed  both  on  front  and 
on  flank,  fell  back  in  their  turn,  and  continued  to 
retreat  till  they  had  gained  their  former  position. 
At  the  same  time,  the  lanzknechis  in  Egmont's 
service  marched  up,  in  defiance  of  the  fire  of  the 
artillery,  and  got  possession  of  the  guns,  running 
the  men  who  had  charge  of  them  through  with 
their  lances.®  The  fight  now  became  general ;  and, 
as  the  combatants  were  brought  into  close  quar- 
ters, they  fought  as  men  fight  where  numbers  are 
nearly  balanced,  and  each  one  seems  to  feel  that 
his  own  arm  may  turn  the  scale  of  victory.  The 
result  was  brought  about  by  an  event  which  nei 
ther  party  could  control,  and  neither  have  foreseen. 

•  "Nous  sommesvainqeurs;  que        9  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  UL 
fcux  qui  airaent  la  gloire  et  leur    IV.  cap.  21. 
patrie  nie  suivent.**    De  Thou,  Hi»- 
toire  Universelle,  torn.  III.  p.  240. 


An  English  squadron  of  ten  or  twelve  vessels 
lay  at  some  distance,  but  out  of  sight  of  the 
combatants.  Attracted  by  the  noise  of  the  firing, 
its  commander  drew  near  the  scene  of  action,  and, 
ranging  along  shore,  opened  his  fire  on  the  right 
wing  of  the  French,  nearest  the  sea.^^  The  shot, 
probably,  from  the  distance  of  the  ships,  did 
no  great  execution,  and  is  even  said  to  have 
killed  some  of  the  Spaniards.  But  it  spread  a 
panic  among  the  French,  as  they  found  themselves 
assailed  by  a  new  enemy,  who  seemed  to  have  risen 
from  the  depths  of  the  ocean.  In  their  eagerness 
to  extricate  themselves  from  the  fire,  the  cavalry 
on  the  right  threw  themselves  on  the  centre, 
trampling  down  their  own  comrades,  until  all 
discipline  was  lost,  and  horse  and  foot  became 
mingled  together  in  wild  disorder.  Egmont  prof- 
ited by  the  opportunity  to  renew  his  charge ;  and 
at  length,  completely  broken  and  dispirited,  the 
enemy  gave  way  in  all  directions.  The  stout  body 
of  Gascons  who  formed  the  reserve  alone  held 
their  ground  for  a  titoe,  until,  vigorously  charged 
by  the  phalanx  of  Spanish  spearmen,  they  broke, 
and  were  scattered  like  the  rest. 

The  rout  was  now  general,  and  the  victorious 
cavalry  rode  over  the  field,  trampling  and  cutting 
down  the  fugitives  on  all  sides.  Many  who  did 
not  fall  under  their  swords  perished  in  the  waters 
of  the  Aa,  now  swollen  by  the  rising  tide.     Others 

w  De  Thou,  Histoire  Univer-    Histoire  de  France,  torn.  XXVII 
•elle,  torn   III.  p.  240. —  Gamier,     p.  516. 
VOL.  I.  34 


(I 


266 


WAB  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  I 


Ch.  vm.] 


BATTLE  OF  GRAVELINES. 


261 


1 


i 


were  drowned  in  the  ocean.  No  less  than  fifteen 
hundred  of  those  who  escaped  from  the  field  are 
said  to  have  been  killed  by  the  peasantry,  who 
occupied  the  passes,  and  thus  took  bloody  revenge 
for  the  injuries  inflicted  on  their  country .^^  Two 
thousand  French  are  stated  to  have  fallen  on  the 
field,  and  not  more  than  five  hundred  Spaniards,  or 
rather  Flemings,  who  composed  the  bulk  of  the 
army.  The  loss  fell  most  severely  on  the  French 
cavalry ;  severely  indeed,  if,  according  to  some  ac- 
counts, not  very  credible,  they  were  cut  to  pieces 
abnost  to  a  man.^  The  number  of  prisoners  was 
three  thousand.  Among  them  was  Marshal  Termes 
himself,  who  had  been  disabled  by  a  wound  in 
the  head.  All  the  baggage,  the  ammunition,  and 
the  rich  spoil  gleaned  by  the  foray  into  Flanders, 
became  the  prize  of  the  victors.  —  Although  not  so 
important  for  the  amount  of  forces  engaged,  the 
victoiy  of  Gravelines  was  as  complete  as  that  of 
St  Quentin.^3 


U  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib. 
IV.  cap.  21.-— De  Thou,  Histoire 
Universelle,  torn.  III.  p.  241. 

12  "  Ma  della  caualleria  niuno  fu 
quasi,  ch'  6  non  morisse  combat- 
tendo,  d  non  restasse  prigione,  non 
potendosi  saluar  fuggendo  in  quei 
luoghi  paludosi,  malageuoli."  Cani- 
pana,  Vita  del  Re  Filippo  Secondo, 
parte  II.  lib.  10. 

13  For  the  accounts  of  this  bat- 
tle, gee  Campana,  Vita  del  Re 
Filippo  Secondo,  parte  II.  lib. 
10.  —  Cabrera,    Filipe    Segundo, 


lib.  IV.  cap.  21.  —  De  Thou,  His- 
toire Universelle,  torn.  III.  pp. 
239  -  241.  —  Gamier,  Histoire  de 
France,  torn.  XXVII.  p.  51 3  et  seq. 
— Rabutin,  ap.  NouvoUe  Collection 
des  Memoires,  torn.  VII.  p.  598. — 
Herrera,  Historia  General,  lib.  V. 
cap.  5.  —  Ferreras,  Histoire  Gene- 
rale  d'Espagne,  torn.  IX.  p.  396. — 
Monpleinchamp,  Vie  du  Due  de 
Savoie,  p.  155. 

I  know  of  no  action  of  which  the 
accounts  are  so  peifectly  irn".*on- 
cilablc  in  their  detiiils  as  thode  oi 


Yet  the  French,  who  had  a  powerful  army  on 
foot,  were  in  better  condition  to  meet  their  re- 
verses than  on  that  day.  The  duke  of  Guise, 
on  receiving  the  tidings,  instantly  marched  with 
his  whole  force,  and  posted  himself  strongly  behind 
the  Somme,  in  order  to  cover  Picardy  from  in- 
vasion. The  duke  of  Savoy,  uniting  his  forces 
with  those  of  Coimt  Egmont,  took  up  a  position 
along  the  line  of  the  Authie,  and  made  demonstra- 
tions of  laying  siege  to  Dourlens.  The  French  and 
Spanish  monarchs  both  took  the  field.  So  well 
appointed  and  large  a  force  as  that  led  by  Henry 
had  not  been  seen  in  France  for  many  a  year ;  yet 
that  monarch  might  justly  be  mortified  by  the 
reflection,  that  the  greater  part  of  this  force  was 
made  up  of  foreign  mercenaries,  amounting,  it  is 
said,  to  forty  thousand.  Philip  was  in  equal 
strength,  and  the  length  of  the  war  had  enabled 
him  to  assemble  his  best  captains  around  him. 
Among  them  was  Alva,  whose  cautious  counsels 
might  serve  to  temper  the  bolder  enterprise  of 
the  duke  of  Savoy. 

A  level  ground,  four  leagues  in  breadth,  lay 
between  the  armies.     Skirmishes  took  place  oc- 


the  battle  of  GraA'elines.  Authori- 
ties are  not  even  agreed  as  to  wheth- 
er it  was  an  English  fleet  that  fired 
on  the  French  troops.  One  writer 
speaks  of  it  as  a  Spanish  squadron 
from  Guipuscoa.  Another  says 
the  marines  landed,  and  engaged 
the  enemy  on  shore.    It  is  no  easy 


matter  to  extract  a  probability 
from  many  improbabilities.  There 
is  one  fact,  however,  and  that  the 
most  important  one,  in  which  all 
agree,  —  that  Count  Egmont  won 
a  decisive  victory  over  the  Frerck 
at  Gravelines. 


268 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  I 


Ch.  VIII.] 


NEGOTIATIONS  FOR  PEACE. 


269 


4 


casionally  between  the  light  troops  on  either  side, 
and  a  general  engagement  might  be  brought  on 
at  any  moment.  All  eyes  were  turned  to  the 
battle-field,  where  the  two  greatest  princes  of 
Europe  might  so  soon  contend  for  mastery  with 
each  other.  Had  the  fathers  of  these  princes, 
Charles  the  Fifth  and  Francis  the  First,  been  in 
the  field,  such  very  probably  would  have  been  the 
issue.  But  Philip  was  not  disposed  to  risk  the 
certain  advantages  he  had  already  gained  by-  a 
final  appeal  to  arms.  And  Henry  was  still  less 
inclined  to  peril  all  —  his  capital,  perhaps  his 
crown  —  on  the  hazard  of  a  single  cast. 

There  were  many  circumstances  which  tended  to 
make  both  monarchs  prefer  a  more  peaceful  arbit- 
rament of  their  quarrel,  and  to  disgust  them  with 
the  war.  Among  these  was  the  ruinous  state  of 
their  finances.^*  When  Euy  Gomez  de  Silva,  as 
has  been  already  stated,  was  sent  to  Spain  by 
Philip,  he  was  ordered  to  avail  himself  of  every 


14  There  is  an  interesting  letter 
of  Philip's  sister,  the  Regent  Jo- 
anna, to  her  father,  the  emperor, 
then  in  the  monastery  at  Yuste. 
It  was  vn-itten  nearly  a  year  before 
this  period  of  our  history.  Joanna 
gives  many  good  reasons,  espe- 
cially the  disorders  of  his  finan- 
ces, which  made  it  expedient  for 
Philip  to  profit  by  his  success- 
ful campaign  to  conclude  a  peace 
with  France.  These  views,  though 
they  did  not  meet  the  approval  of 
Charles,  were  the  same  which  now 


presented  themselves  with  suth 
force  to  both  Philip  and  his  minis- 
ters. The  capture  of  Calais,  soon 
after  the  date  of  Joanna's  letter, 
and  the  great  preparations  made 
by  Henry,  threw  a  weight  into  the 
enemy's  scale  which  gave  new  heart 
to  the  French  to  prolong  the  con- 
test, until  it  ended  with  the  defeat 
at  Gravelines.  —  Carta  de  la  Prin- 
cesa  Juana  al  Emperador,  14  de 
Dicierabre,  1557,  MS.  —  Carta  del 
Emperador  a  la  Princesa,  26  de 
Diciembre,  1557,  MS. 


expedient  that  could  be  devised  to  raise  money. 
Offices  were  put  up  for  sale  to  the  highest  bidder. 
The  public  revenues  were  mortgaged.  Large  sums 
were  obtained  from  merchants  at  exorbitant  rates 
of  interest.  Forced  loans  were  exacted  from  in- 
di\iduals,  especially  from  such  as  were  known 
to  have  received  large  returns  by  the  late  arrivals 
from  the  New  World.  Three  hundred  thousand 
ducats  were  raised  on  the  security  of  the  coming 
fair  at  Villalon.  The  Eegent  Joanna  was  per- 
suaded  to  sell  her  yearly  pension,  assigned  her  on 
the  alcavala,  for  a  downright  sum  to  meet  the  ex- 
igencies of  the  state.  Goods  were  obtained  from 
the  king  of  Portugal,  in  order  to  be  sent  to  Flan- 
ders for  the  profit  to  be  raised  on  the  sale.^^  Such 
were  the  wretched  devices  by  which  Philip,  who 
inherited  this  policy  of  temporizing  expedients 
from  his  father,  endeavored  to  replenish  his  ex- 
hausted treasury.  Besides  the  sums  drawn  from 
Castile,  the  king  obtained  also  no  less  than  a  million 
and  a  half  of  ducats,  as  an  extraordinary  grant 
from  the  states  of  the  Netherlands.^^  Yet  these 
sums,  large  as  they  were,  were  soon  absorbed  by 
the  expense  of  keeping  armies  on  foot  in  France 
and  in  Italy.  Philip's  correspondence  with  his 
ministers  teems  with  representations  of  the  low 
state   of  his   finances,  of  the  arrears   due  to  his 

>5  Relatione  di  Giovanni  Micheli,        16  Relatione  di  Giovanni  Miche 
MS.—  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib.    li,  MS. 
IV.  cap.  2,  4. —  Campana,  Vita  di 
Filippo  Secondo,  parte  II.  lib.  11. 


im 


WAR  WITH  FRAIJCE. 


[Book  1 


Ch.  vin.] 


NEGOTIATIONS  FOR  PEACE. 


271 


troops,  and  the  necessity  of  immediate  supplies 
to  save  him  from  bankruptcy.  The  prospects  the 
ministers  hold  out  to  him  in  return  are  anything 
but  encouraging.^^ 

Another  circumstance  which  made  both  princes 
desu'e  the  termination  of  the  war  was  the  disturbed 
state  of  their  own  kingdoms.  The  Protestant 
heresy  had  already  begun  to  rear  its  formidable 
crest  in  the  Netherlands;  and  the  Huguenots 
were  beginning  to  claim  the  notice  of  the  French 
government.  Henry  the  Second,  who  was  pene- 
trated, as  much  as  Philip  himself,  with  the  spirit 
of  the  Inquisition,  longed  for  leisure  to  crush 
the  heretical  doctrines  in  the  bud.  In  this  pious 
purpose  he  was  encouraged  by  Paul  the  Fourth, 
who,  now  that  he  was  himself  restrained  from  levy- 
ing war  against  his  neighbors,  seemed  resolved 
that  no  one  else  should  claim  that  indulgence. 
He  sent  legates  to  both  Henry  and  Philip,  con- 
juring them,  instead  of  warring  with  each  other, 
to  turn  their  arms  against  the  heretics  in  their 
dominions,  who  were  sapping  the  foimdations  of 
the  Church.^8 


The  pacific  disposition  of  the  two  monarchs  was, 
moreover,  fostered  by  the  French  prisoners,  and 
especially  by  Montmorency,  whose  authority  had 
been  such  at  court,  that  Charles  the  Fifth  declared 
"  his  capture  was  more  important  than  would  have 
been  that  of  the  king  himself."  ^^  The  old  constat 
ble  was  most  anxious  to  return  to  his  own  country, 
where  he  saw  with  imeasiness  the  ascendency 
which  his  absence  and  the  prolongation  of  the 
war  were  giving  to  his  rival.  Guise,  in  the  royal 
counsels.  Through  him  negotiations  were  opened 
with  the  French  court,  until,  Henry  the  Second 
thinking,  with  good  reason,  that  these  negotiations 
would  be  better  conducted  by  a  regular  congress 
than  by  prisoners  in  the  custody  of  his  enemies, 
commissioners  were  appointed  on  both  sides,  to 
arrange  the  terms  of  accommodation.^^  Montmo- 
rency and  his  fellow-captive.  Marshal  St.  Andre, 
were  included  in  the  commission.  But  the  person 
of  most  importance  in  it,  on  the  part  of  France, 
was  the  cardinal  of  Lorraine,  brother  of  the  duke  of 
Guise,  a  man  of  a  subtle,  intriguing  temper,  and 
one  who,  like  the  rest  of  his  family,  notwithstand- 


J'  "  Yo  OS  digo  que  yo  estoy  de 
todo  punto  imposibilitado  A  sostener 

la  guerra Estos  terminos  me 

parecen  tan  aprestados  que  so  pcna 
de  perderme  no  puedo  dejar  de 
concertarme."  Letter  of  Philip  to 
the  Bishop  of  Arras,  (February  12, 
1559,)  ap.  Papiers  d'Etatde  Gran- 
▼elle,  torn.  V.  p.  454,  et  alibi. 

Philip  told  the  Venetian  minis- 


ter he  was  in  such  straits,  that,  if 
the  French  king  had  not  made  ad- 
vances towards  an  accommodation, 
he  should  have  been  obliged  to  do 
so  himself.  Campana,  Vita  di  Fi- 
lippo  Secondo,  parte  IT.  lib.  11. 

1®  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib. 
IV.  cap.  16.  —  Ferreras,  Histoire 
Gen^rale  d*Espagne,  torn.  VII.  p. 
397. 


19  "  Habld  que  era  de  tener  en 
mas  la  pressa  del  Condestable,  que 
si  fuera  la  misma  persona  del  Rey, 
porque  faltando  el,  falta  el  goviemo 
jeneral  todo."  Carta  del  Mayor- 
domo  Don  Luis  Mendez  Quixada 
al  Secretario  Juan  Vazquez  de 
Molina,  MS. 

20  The  French  government  had 
goou  io.sLSons  for  its  distrust.    It 


appears  fk)m  the  correspondence 
of  Granvelle,  that  that  minister 
employed  a  respectable  agent  to 
take  charge  of  the  letters  of  St 
Andr^,  and  probably  of  the  other 
prisoners,  and  that  these  letters 
were  inspected  by  Granvelle  be- 
fore they  passed  to  the  French 
camp.  See  Papiers  d'Etat  de 
Granvelle,  torn.  V.  p.  1 78. 


272 


WAB  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  1 


ing  his  pacific  demonstrations,  may  be  said  to  have 
represented  the  war  party  in  France.^^ 

On  the  part  of  Spain  the  agents  selected  were 
the  men  most  conspicuous  for  talent  and  authority 
in  the  kingdom ;  the  names  of  some  of  whom, 
whether  for  good  or  for  evil  report,  remain  im- 
mortal on  the  page  of  history.  Among  these 
were  the  duke  of  Alva  and  his  great  antagonist, 
—  as  he  became  afterwards  in  the  Netherlands,  — 
WUliam  of  Orange.  But  the  principal  person  in 
the  commission,  the  man  who  in  fact  directed  it,  was 
Anthony  Perrenot,  bishop  of  Arras,  better  known 
by  his  later  title  of  Cardinal  Granvelle.  He  was 
son  of  the  celebrated  chancellor  of  that  name  under 
Charles  the  Fifth,  by  whom  he  was  early  trained, 
not  so  much  to  the  duties  of  the  ecclesiastical  pro- 
fession as  of  public  life.  He  profited  so  well  by 
the  instruction,  that,  in  the  emperor's  time,  he 
succeeded  his  father  in  the  royal  confidence,  and 
surpassed  him  in  his  talent  for  afiairs.  His  ac- 
commodating temper  combined  with  his  zeal  for 
the  interests  of  Philip  to  recommend  Granvelle  to 
the  favor  of  that  monarch ;  and  his  insinuating 
address  and  knowledge  of  character  well  qualified 


31  Some  historians,  among  them 
Slsmondi,  seem  to  have  given  more 
credit  to  the  professions  of  the 
politic  Frenchman  than  they  de- 
serve, (Histoire  des  Fran^ais,  tom. 
XVni.  p.  73.)  Granvelle,  who 
understood  the  character  of  his 
antagonist  better,  was  not  so  easily 


duped.  A  memorandum  among 
his  papers  thus  notices  the  French 
cardinal :  "  Toute  la  ddmonstration 
que  faisoit  ledict  cardinal  de  Lor- 
raine de  desirer  paix,  estoit  chose 
faincte  k  la  fran9oIse  et  pour  nous 
abuser."  Papiers  d'Etat  de  Gran- 
velle, torn.  V.  p.  168. 


Ch.  vm.] 


NEGOTIATIONS  FOR  PEACE. 


273 


him  for  conducting  a  negotiation  where  there  were 
so  many  jarring  feelings  to  be  brought  into  con- 
cord, so  many  hostile  and  perplexing  interests  to 
be  reconciled. 

As  a  suspension  of  hostilities  was  agreed  on 
during  the  continuance  of  the  negotiations,  it  was 
decided  to  remove  the  armies  from  the  neighbor- 
hood of  each  other,  where  a  single  spark  might  at 
any  time  lead  to  a  general  explosion.  A  still 
stronger  earnest  was  given  of  their  pacific  in- 
tentions, by  both  the  monarchs'  disbanding  part 
of  their  foreign  mercenaries,  whose  services  were 
purchased  at  a  ruinous  cost,  that  made  one  of  th« 
great  evils  of  the  war. 

The  congress  met  on  the  fifteenth  of  October, 
1558,  at  the  abbey  of  Cercamps,  near  Cambray. 
Between  parties  so  well  disposed,  it  might  be 
thought  that  some  general  terms  of  accommoda 
tion  would  soon  be  settled.  But  the  war,  which 
ran  back  pretty  far  into  Charles  the  Fifth's  time,, 
had  continued  so  long,  that  many  territories  had 
changed  masters  during  the  contest,  and  it  was 
not  easy  to  adjust  the  respective  claims  to  them. 
The  duke  of  Savoy's  dominions,  for  example,  had 
passed  into  the  hands  of  Henry  the  Second,  who, 
moreover,  asserted  an  hereditary  right  to  them 
through  his  grandmother.  Yet  it  was  not  possi- 
ble for  Philip  to  abandon  his  ally,  the  man  whom 
he  had  placed  at  the  head  of  his  armies.  But  the 
greatest  obstacle  was  Calais.  "  If  we  return  with- 
out the  recovery  of  Calais,"  said  the  English  en 


VOL.   I. 


35 


274 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  I 


Ch.  vm." 


MARY'S  DEATH. 


275 


voys,  who  also  took  part  in  this  congress,  "we 
shall  be  stoned  to  death  by  the  people."^  Philip 
supported  the  claim  of  England ;  and  yet  it  was 
evident  that  France  would  never  relinquish  a  post 
so  important  to  herself,  which,  after  so  many  years 
of  hope  deferred,  had  at  last  come  again  into  her 
possession.  While  engaged  in  the  almost  hope- 
less task  of  adjusting  these  differences,  an  event 
occurred  which  suspended  the  negotiations  for  a 
time,  and  exercised  an  important  influence  on  the 
affairs  of  Europe.  This  was  the  death  of  one  of 
the  parties  to  the  war.  Queen  Mary  of  England. 

Mary's  health  had  been  fast  declining  of  late, 
under  the  pressure  of  both  mental  and  bodily  dis- 
ease. The  loss  of  Calais  bore  heavily  on  her 
spirits,  as  she  thought  of  the  reproach  it  would 
bring  on  her  reign,  and  the  increased  unpopularity 
it  would  draw  upon  herself.  "  When  I  die,"  she 
said,  in  the  strong  language  since  made  familiar 
to  Englishmen  by  the  similar  expression  of  their 
great  admiral,  "Calais  will  be  found  written  on 
my  heart."  ^ 

Philip,  who  was  not  fully  apprised  of  the  queen's 
low  condition,  early  in  November  sent  the  count, 
afterwards  duke,  of  Feria  as  his  envoy  to  London, 


»  "  Adjoustant  que,  si  Calaix 
demeuroit  aux  Francois,  ny  luy  ny 
ses  c(jllegues  n*oseroyent  retourner 
en  Angleterre,  et  que  certainement 
Je  peuple  les  lapideroit."  Ibid.,  p. 
819. 

«  "  Were  I  to  die  this  moment, 


-want  of  frigates  would  be  found 
written  on  my  heart."  The  origi- 
nal of  this  letter  of  Nelson  is  in 
the  curious  collection  of  autograph 
letters  which  belonged  to  the  late 
Sir  Robert  PeeL 


with  letters  for  Mary.  This  nobleman,  who  had 
married  one  of  the  queen's  maids  of  honor,  stood 
high  in  the  favor  of  his  master.  With  courtly 
manners,  and  a  magnificent  way  of  living,  he  com- 
bined a  shrewdness  and  solidity  of  judgment,  that 
eminently  fitted  him  for  his  present  mission.  The 
queen  received  with  great  joy  the  letters  which  he 
brought  her,  though  too  ill  to  read  them.  Feria, 
seeing  the  low  state  of  Mary's  health,  was  earnest 
with  the  council  to  secure  the  succession  for  Eliza- 
beth. 

He  had  the  honor  of  supping  with  the  princess 
at  her  residence  in  Hatfield,  about  eighteen  miles 
from  London.  The  Spaniard  enlarged,  in  the 
course  of  conversation,  on  the  good-will  of  his 
master  to  Elizabeth,  as  sho\vn  in  the  friendly  offices 
he  had  rendered  her  during  her  imprisonment,  and 
his  desire  to  have  her  succeed  to  the  crown.  The 
envoy  did  not  add  that  this  desire  was  prompted 
not  so  much  by  the  king's  concern  for  the  inter- 
ests of  Elizabeth  as  by  his  jealousy  of  the  French, 
who  seemed  willing  to  countenance  the  pretensions 
of  Mary  Stuart,  the  wife  of  the  dauphin,  to  the 
English  throne.2*  The  princess  acknowledged  the 
protection   she  had  received  from   Philip  in  her 


2*  Philip's  feelings  in  this  mat- 
ter may  be  gathered  from  a  pas- 
sage in  a  letter  to  Granvelle,  in 
which  he  says  that  the  death  of 
the  young  queen  of  Scots,  then 
very  ill,  would  silence  the  pre- 
tensions which  the  French  made 
to   England,   and    relieve    Spain 


from  a  great  embarrassment.  "Si 
la  reyna  moga  se  muriesse,  que 
diz  que  anda  muy  mala,  nos  qui- 
taria  de  hartos  embara^os  y  del 
derecho  que  pretenden  i  Ingla- 
terra.**  Papiers  d'Jfitat  de  Gran- 
velle, tom.  V.  p.  643. 


276 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  I 


troubles.  "But  for  lier  present  prospects,"  she 
said,  "she  was  indebted  neither  to  the  king  nor 
to  the  English  lords,  however  much  these  latter 
might  vaunt  their  fidelity.  It  was  to  the  people 
that  she  owed  them,  and  on  the  people  she  re- 
lied." ^s  This  answer  of  Elizabeth  furnishes  the 
key  to  her  success. 

The  penetrating  eye  of  the  envoy  soon  perceived 
that  the  English  princess  was  under  evil  influences. 
The  persons  most  in  her  confidence,  he  wrote,  were 
understood  to  have  a  decided  leaning  to  the  Lu- 
theran heresy,  and  he  augured  most  unfavorably 
for  the  future  prospects  of  the  kingdom. 

On  the  seventeenth  of  November,  1558,  after  a 
brief,  but  most  disastrous  reign.  Queen  Mary  died. 
Her  fate  has  been  a  hard  one.  Unimpeachable  in 
her  private  life,  and,  however  misguided,  with 
deeply-seated  religious  principles,  she  has  yet  left 
a  name  held  in  more  general  execration  than  any 
other  on  the  roll  of  English  sovereigns.  One  ob- 
vious  way  of  accounting  for  this,  doubtless,  is  by 
the  spirit  of  persecution  which  hung  like  a  dark 
cloud  over  her  reign.  And  this  not  merely  on  ac- 
count of  the  persecution;  for  that  was  common 
with  the  line  of  Tudor ;  but  because  it  was  directed 


35  "  Tras  esto  v4ola  muy  indi- 
gnada  de  las  cosas  que  se  ban 
hecho  contra  ella  en  vida  de  la 
Reina:  muy  asida  al  pueblo,  y  muy 
confiada  que  lo  tiene  todo  de  su 
parte  (como  es  verdad),  y  dando 
i  entender  que  el  Pueblo  la  ba 
pucsto  en  el  estado  que  estd;  y 


de  esto  no  reconoce  nada  d  V.  M. 
ni  A  la  nobleza  del  Reino,  aunque 
dice  que  la  ban  enviado  d  prometer 
todos  que  la  serdn  fieles."  Memo- 
rias  de  la  Real  Acaderaia  de  la 
HIstoria,  (Madrid,  1832,)  tom.  VU 
p.  254. 


Ch.  vni] 


MARY'S  DEATH. 


277 


against  the  professors  of  a  religion  which  came  to 
be  the  established  religion  of  the  country.  Thus 
the  blood  of  the  martyr  became  the  seed  of  a  great 
and  powerful  church,  ready  through  all  after  time 
to  bear  testimony  to  the  ruthless  violence  of  its 
oppressor. 

There  was  still  another  cause  of  Mary's  unpopu- 
larity. The  daughter  of  Katharine  of  Aragon 
could  not  fail  to  be  nurtured  in  a  reverence  for  the 
illustrious  line  from  which  she  was  descended. 
The  education  begun  in  the  cradle  was  continued 
in  later  years.  When  the  young  princess  was  be* 
trothed  to  her  cousin,  Charles  the  Fifth,  it  was 
stipulated  that  she  should  be  made  acquainted 
with  the  language  and  the  institutions  of  Castile, 
and  should  even  wear  the  costume  of  the  country. 
"And  who,"  exclaimed  Henry  the  Eighth,  "is  so 
well  fitted  to  instruct  her  in  all  this  as  the  queen, 
her  mother  ? "  Even  after  the  match  with  her  im- 
perial  suitor  was  broken  off  by  his  marriage  with 
the  Portuguese  infanta,  Charles  still  continued  to 
take  a  lively  interest  in  the  fortunes  of  his  young 
kinswoman;  while  she,  in  her  turn,  naturally 
looked  to  the  emperor,  as  her  nearest  relative,  for 
counsel  and  support.  Thus  drawn  towards  Spain 
by  the  ties  of  kindred,  by  sympathy,  and  by  inter- 
est, Mary  became  in  truth  more  of  a  Spanish  than 
an  English  woman ;  and  when  all  this  was  com- 
pleted by  the  odious  Spanish  match,  and  she  gave 
her  hand  to  Philip  the  Second,  the  last  tie  seemed 
to  be  severed  which  had  bound  her  to  her  native 


278 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  1 


land.  Thenceforth  she  remained  an  alien  in  the 
midst  of  her  own  subjects.  —  Very  different  was 
the  fate  of  her  sister  and  successor,  Elizabeth,  who 
ruled  over  her  people  like  a  true-hearted  English 
queen,  under  no  influence  and  with  no  interests 
distinct  from  theirs.  She  was  requited  for  it  by 
the  most  loyal  devotion  on  their  part ;  while  round 
her  throne  have  gathered  those  patriotic  recollec- 
tions which,  in  spite  of  her  many  errors,  still  ren- 
der  her  name  dear  to  Englishmen. 

On  the  death  of  her  sister,  Elizabeth,  without 
opposition,  ascended  the  throne  of  her  ancestors. 
It  may  not  be  displeasing  to  the  reader  to  see  the 
portrait  of  her  sketched  by  the  Venetian  minister 
at  this  period,  or  rather  two  years  earlier,  when 
she  was  twenty-three  years  of  age.  "The  piin- 
cess,"  he  says,  "  is  as  beautiful  in  mind  as  she  is 
in  body ;  though  her  countenance  is  rather  pleas- 
ing from  its  expression,  than  beautiful.^  She  is 
large  and  well-made;  her  complexion  clear,  and 
of  an  olive  tint ;  her  eyes  are  fine,  and  her  hands, 
on  which  she  prides  herself,  small  and  delicate. 
She  has  an  excellent  genius,  with  much  address 
and  self-command,  as  was  abundantly  shown  in 
the  severe  trials  to  which  she  was  exposed  in  the 
earlier  part*  of  her  life.  In  her  temper  she  is 
haughty  and  imperious,  qualities  inherited  from 
her  father,  King  Henry  the  Eighth,  who,  from  her 

«  "  Non  manco  bella  d'  animo    gratiosa  che  bella.*'    Relatione  di 
che  sia  di  corpo  ;   ancor'  che  di    Giovanni  Micheli,  MS. 
fiiccia  si  pud  dir*  che  sia  piu  tosto 


Ch.  vm.] 


ACCESSION  OF  ELIZABETH. 


279 


resemblance  to  himself,  is  said  to  have  regarded 
her  with  peculiar  fondness."  ^^  —  He  had,  it  must 
be  owned,  an  uncommon  way  of  showing  it. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  Elizabeth  was  to  write 
an  elegant  Latin  epistle  to  Philip,  in  which  she 
acquainted  him  with  her  accession  to  the  crown, 
and  expressed  the  hope  that  they  should  continue 
to  maintain  "  the  same  friendly  relations  as  their 
ancestors  had  done,  and,  if  possible,  more  friendly." 

Philip  received  the  tidings  of  his  wife's  death  at 
Brussels,  where  her  obsequies  were  celebrated, 
with  great  solemnity,  on  the  same  day  with  her 
funeral  in  London.  All  outward  show  of  respect 
was  paid  to  her  memory.  But  it  is  doing  no  injus- 
tice to  Philip  to  suppose  that  his  heart  was  not 
very  deeply  touched  by  the  loss  of  a  wife  so  many 
years  older  than  himself,  whose  temper  had  been 
soured,  and  whose  personal  attractions,  such  as 
they  were,  had  long  since  faded  under  the  pressure 
of  disease.  Still,  it  was  not  without  feelings  of 
deep  regret  that  the  ambitious  monarch  saw  the 
sceptre  of  England  —  barren  though  it  had  proved 
to  him  —  thus  suddenly  snatched  from  his  grasp. 

We  have  already  seen  that  Philip,  during  his 
residence  in  the  country,  had  occasion  more  than 


27  "  Delia  persona  h  grande,  et 
ben  formata,  di  bella  came,  ancor 
che  olivastra,  begl'  occhl,  et  sopra 
tutto  bella  mano,  di  che  fa  pro- 
fessione,  d'  un  spirito,  et  ingegno 
mirabile:  il  che  ha  saputo  molto 
Vten  dimostrarc,  c^n  I'essersi  saputa 


ne  i  sospetti,  et  pericoli  ne  i  quali 
s'  e  ritrovata  cosi  ben  governare. 

Si  tien  superba,  et  gloriosa 

per  il  padre ;  del  quale  dicono  tutti 
che  e  anco  piii  simile,  et  per  cio 
gli  fu  sempre  cara.*'    Ibid. 


280 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  L 


once  to  interpose  his  good  offices  in  behalf  of 
Elizabeth.  It  was  perhaps  the  friendly  relation 
in  which  he  thus  stood  to  her,  quite  as  much  as 
her  personal  qualities,  that  excited  in  the  king  a 
degree  of  interest  which  seems  to  have  provoked 
something  like  jealousy  in  the  bosom  of  his 
queen.^  However  this  may  be,  motives  of  a  very 
different  character  from  those  founded  on  senti- 
ment now  determined  him  to  retain,  if  possible,  his 
hold  on  England,  by  transferring  to  Elizabeth  the 
connection  which  had  subsisted  with  Mary. 

A  month  had  not  elapsed  since  Mary's  remains 
were  laid  in  Westminster  Abbey,  when  the  royal 
widower  made  direct  offers,  through  his  ambas- 
sador, Feria,  for  the  hand  of  her  successor.  Yet 
his  ardor  did  not  precipitate  him  into  any  unquali- 
fied declaration  of  his  passion  ;  on  the  contrary,  his 
proposals  were  limited  by  some  very  prudent  con- 
ditions. 

It  was  to  be  understood  that  Elizabeth  must  be 
a  Koman  Catholic,  and,  if  not  one  already,  must 
repudiate  her  errors  and  become  one.  She  vras  to 
obtain  a  dispensation  from  the  pope  for  the  mar- 
riage. PhUip  was  to  be  allowed  to  \TLsit  Spain, 
whenever  he  deemed  it  necessary  for  the  interests 
of  that  kingdom ;  —  a  provision  which  seems  to 
show  that  Mary's  over-fondness,  or  her  jealousy, 


SB  The  Spanish  minister,  Feria,  the  favor  of  Elizabeth.    3  Jut  Philip 

desired  his  master  to  allow  him  to  had   the   good   feelinjjj  —  or  good 

mention  Mary's  jealousy,  as  an  ar-  taste  —  to  refuse.    Memorias  de  la 

giiment  to  recommend  his  suit  to  Real  Academia,  torn.  VII.  p.  260, 


ch.  vm.i 


ACCESSION  OF  ELIZABETH. 


281 


must  have  occasioned  him  some  inconvenience  on 
that  score.  It  was  further  to  be  stipulated,  that 
the  issue  of  the  marriage  should  not,  as  was  agreed 
in  the  contract  with  Mary,  inherit  the  Nether- 
lands, which  were  to  pass  to  his  son  Don  Carlos, 
the  prince  of  Asturias. 

Feria  was  directed  to  make  these  proposals  by 
word  of  mouth,  not  in  writing  ;  "  although,"  adds 
his  considerate  master,  "it  is  no  disgrace  for  a 
man  to  have  his  proposals  rejected,  when  they 
are  founded,  not  on  worldly  considerations,  but  on 
zeal  for  his  Maker  and  the  interests  of  religion/' 

Elizabeth  received  the  offer  of  Philip's  hand, 
qualified  as  it  was,  in  the  most  gracious  man- 
ner. She  told  the  ambassador,  indeed,  that,  "in 
a  matter  of  this  kind,  she  could  take  no  step 
without  consulting  her  parliament.  But  his  mas- 
ter might  rest  assured,  that,  should  she  be  induced 
to  marry,  there  was  no  man  she  should  prefer  to 
him."^^  Philip  seems  to  have  been  contented  with 
the  encouragement  thus  given,  and  shortly  after  he 
addressed  Elizabeth  a  letter,  written  with  his  own 
hand,  in  which  he  endeavored  to  impress  on  her 
how  much  he  had  at  heart  the  success  of  his  am- 
oassador  s  mission. 

The  course  of  events  in  England,  however,  soon 
showed  that  such  success  was  not  to  be  relied  on, 
and  that  Feria's  prognostics  in  regard  to  the  policy 


89  "  Dijo  que  convendria  consul-    que  en  easo  de  casarsc,  seria  ^1 
tarlo  con  el  Parlamento;  bien  que     preferido  a  todos."    IbiJ.,  p.  264. 
el  Rey  Catdlico  debia  estar  seguro 

VOL.  I.  36 


282 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  I 


of  Elizabeth  were  well  founded.  Parliament  soon 
entered  on  the  measures  which  ended  in  the  sub- 
version of  the  Roman  Catholic,  and  the  restora- 
tion  of  the  Reformed  religion.  And  it  was  very 
evident  that  these  measures,  if  not  originally  dic- 
tated by  the  queen,  must  at  least  have  received 
her  sanction. 

Philip,  in  consequence,  took  counsel  with  two 
of  his  ministers,  on  whom  he  most  relied,  as  to  the 
expediency  of  addressing  Elizabeth  on  the  subject, 
and  telling  her  plainly,  that,  unless  she  openly 
disavowed  the  proceedings  of  parliament,  the  mar- 
riage  could  not  take  place.*'  Her  vanity  should  be 
soothed  by  the  expressions  of  his  regret  at  being 
obliged  to  relinquish  the  hopes  of  her  hand.  But, 
as  her  lover  modestly  remarked,  after  this  candid 
statement  of  all  the  consequences  before  her, 
whatever  the  result  might  be,  she  would  have  no 
one  to  blame  but  herself.^  His  sage  advisers, 
probably  not  often  called  to  deliberate  on  ques- 
tions of  this  delicate  nature,  entirely  concurred  in 
opinion  with  their  master.     In   any  event,  they 


30  "Paresceme  que  seria  bien 
que  el  conde  le  hablasse  claro  en 
estas  cosas  de  la  religion,  y  la 
amonestasse  y  rogasse  de  mi  parte 
que  no  hiziesse  en  este  parlamento 
mudan^a  en  ella,  y  que  si  la  hici- 
esse  que  yo  no  podria  venir  en  lo 
del  casamiento,  como  en  effecto  no 
vendria /*  Carta  del  Key  Phelipe 
al  Duque  de  Alba,  7  de  Febrero, 
1559,  MS 


ai  "  Convendria  que  hablasse 
claro  a  la  Reyna,  y  le  dixesse  rasa- 
mente  que  aunque  yo  dessco  mucho 
este  negocio,  (y  por  aqui  envanes- 
9ella  quanto  pudiesse,)  ]>ero  que 
entendiesse  que  si  haria  inudan9a 
en  la  religion,  yo  lo  hacia  en  este 
desseo  y  voluntad  por  que  despues 
no  pudiesse  dezir  que  no  se  le  avia 
dicho  antes."    Ibid. 


Ch.  \^II.] 


ACCESSION  OF  ELIZABETH. 


28S 


regarded  it  as  impossible  that  he  should  wed  a 
Protestant. 

What  eifect  this  frank  remonstrance  had  on  the 
queen  we  are  not  told.  Certain  it  is,  Philip's  suit 
no  lor  ger  sped  so  favorably  as  before.  Elizabeth, 
throwing  off  all  disguise,  plainly  told  Feria,  when 
pressed  on  the  matter,  that  she  felt  great  scruples 
as  to  seeking  a  dispensation  from  the  pope  ;^  and 
soon  after  she  openly  declared  in  parHament,  what 
she  was  in  the  habit  of  repeating  so  often,  that  she 
had  no  other  purpose  but  to  live  and  die  a  maid.^  — 
It  can  hardly  be  supposed  that  Elizabeth  enter- 
tained serious  thoughts,  at  any  time,  of  marrying 
Philip.  If  she  encouraged  his  addresses,  it  was 
only  until  she  felt  herself  so  securely  seated  on 
the  throne,  that  she  was  independent  of  the  ill- 
will  she  would  incur  by  their  rejection.  It  was  a 
game  in  which  the  heart,  probably,  formed  no  part 
of  the  stake  on  either  side.  In  this  game,  it  must 
be  confessed,  the  English  queen  showed  herself 
the  better  player  of  the  two. 

Philip  bore  his  disappointmei  t  with  great  equa- 
nimity. He  expressed  his  regret  to  Elizabeth  that 
she  should  have  decided  in  a  way  so  contrary  to 
what  the  public  interests  seemed  to  demand.  But 
since  it  appeared  to  her  otherwise,  he  should  ac- 
quiesce, and  only  hoped  that  the  same  end  might 
be  attained   by  the   continuance   of  their  friend 

3*2  "  Dijo  que  pensaba  estar  sin    Memorias  de  la  Real  Academiai 
casarse,  porque  tenia  mucho  escni-    torn.  VII.  p.  265. 
pulo  en  lo  de  la  dispensa  del  Papa."        33  ibid.,  p.  266. 


284 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  1 


Ch.  Vin.l        TREATY  OF  CATEAU-CAMBRESIS. 


285 


fihip.^  With  all  this  philosophy,  we  may  well 
believe  that,  with  a  character  like  that  of  Philip, 
some  bitterness  must  have  remained  in  the  heart ; 
and  that,  very  probably,  feelings  of  a  personal  na- 
ture mingled  with  those  of  a  political  in  the  long 
hostilities  which  he  afterwards  carried  on  with  the 
English  queen. 

In  the  month  of  February,  the  conferences  for 
the  treaty  had  been  resumed,  and  the  place  of 
meeting  changed  from  the  abbey  of  Cercamps  to 
Cateau-Cambresis.  The  negotiations  were  urged 
forward  with  greater  earnestness  than  before,  as 
both  the  monarchs  were  more  sorely  pressed  by 
their  necessities.  Philip,  in  particular,  was  so 
largely  in  arrears  to  his  army,  that  he  frankly 
told  his  ministers  "  he  was  on  the  brink  of  ruin, 
from  which  nothing  but  a  peace  could  save  him."*^ 
It  might  be  supposed  that,  in  this  state  of  things, 
he  would  be  placed  in  a  disadvantageous  attitude 


3*  "  Aunque  babia  recibido  pena 
de  no  haberse  concluido  cosa  que 
tanto  deseaba,  y  parecia  convenir 
al  bien  publico,  pues  d  ella  no  le 
Labia  parecldo  tan  necessario,  y 
que  con  buena  anustad  se  conse- 
guiria  el  misnio  fin,  quedaba  sa- 
tisfecho  y  contento."  Ibid.,  ubi 
supra. 

35  The  duke  of  Savoy,  in  a 
letter  to  Granvelle,  says  that  the 
king  is  in  arrears  more  than  a  mil- 
lion  of  crowns  to  the  German 
troops  alone ;  and,  unless  the  min- 
isters have  some  mysterious  receipt 
for    raising    money,    beyond    his 


knowledge,  Philip  will  be  in  the 
greatest  emban-assment  that  any 
sovereign  ever  was.  "  No  ay  un 
real  y  devdselcs  a  la  gcntc  alemaua, 
demas  de  lo  que  seles  a  pagado 
aora  de  la  vieja  deuda,  mas  d'nu 

mylion  d'escudos For   esso 

mirad  como  hazeys,  que  sino  se 
haze  la  paz  yo  veo  el  rey  puesto 
en  el  mayor  trance  que  roy  s'a 
visto  jamas,  si  el  no  tienc  otros 
dineros,  que  }o  no  se,  d  que  el 
seiior  Eraso  alle  algun  secretto  (jue 
tiene  reservado  para  esto."  Papiers 
d*6tat  de  Granvelle,  torn.  V.  p 
458. 


for  arranging  terms  with  his  adversary.  But  Phil 
ip  and  his  ministers  put  the  best  face  possible 
on  their  afFau's,  affecting  a  confidence  in  their  re- 
sources, before  their  allies  as  well  as  their  enemies, 
which  they  were  far  from  feeling ;  like  some  half- 
famished  garrison,  which  makes  a  brave  show  of 
its  scanty  stock  of  supplies,  in  order  to  win  better 
terms  from  the  besiegers.^  i 

All  the  difficulties  were  at  length  cleared  away, 
except  the  vexed  question  of  Calais.  The  English 
queen,  it  was  currently  said  in  the  camp,  would 
cut  off  the  head  of  any  minister  who  abandoned  it. 
Mary,  the  young  queen  of  Scots,  had  just  been 
married  to  the  French  dauphin,  afterwards  Francis 
the  Second.  It  was  proposed  that  the  eldest 
daughter  bom  of  this  union  should  be  united  to 
the  eldest  son  of  Elizabeth,  and  bring  with  her 
Calais  as  a  dowry.  In  this  way,  the  place  would 
be  restored  to  England  without  dishonor  to 
France.^^  Such  were  the  wild  expedients  to 
which  the  parties  resorted  in  the  hope  of  extri- 
cating themselves  from  their  embarrassment! 


•  *  The  minister  in  London  was 
instructed  to  keep  up  the  same  show 
of  confidence  to  the  English.  "  To- 
davia  mostramos  rostro  &  los  Fran- 
ceses, como  tambien  es  menesterque 
alia  se  haga  con  los  Ingleses,  que 
no  se  puede  confiar  que  no  vengan 
Franceses  d  saber  dellos  lo  que  alii 
podrian  entender."    Jbid.^  p.  479. 

37  Ibid.,  p.  468. 

"  That  the  said  Dolphin's  and 


Queen  of  Scott's  eldest  daughter 
shall  marry  with  your  highnes  el- 
dest Sonne,  who  with  her  shall  have 
Callice.**  Forbes,  State  Papers  of 
Elizabeth,  vol.  I.  p.  54. 

It  seemed  to  be  taken  for  granted 
that  Elizabeth  was  not  to  die  a 
maiden  queen,  notwithstanding  her 
assertions  so  often  reiterated  to  tha 
contrary. 


286 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  I 


At  length,  seeing  the  absolute  necessity  of  bring 
ing  the  matter  to  an  issue,  Philip  ordered  the  Span- 
ish plenipotentiaries  to  write  his  final  instructions 
to  Feria,  his  minister  in  London.  The  envoy  was 
authorized  to  say,  that,  although  England  had 
lost  Calais  through  her  own  negligence,  yet  Philip 
would  stand  faithfully  by  her  for  the  recovery  of  it. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  she  must  be  prepared  to 
support  him  with  her  whole  strength  by  land  and 
by  sea,  and  that  not  for  a  single  campaign,  but  for 
the  war  so  long  as  it  lasted.  The  government 
should  ponder  well  whether  the  prize  would  be 
worth  the  cost.  Feria  must  bring  the  matter  home 
to  the  queen,  and  lead  her,  if  possible,  to  the  de- 
sired conclusion ;  but  so  that  she  might  appear  to 
come  to  it  by  her  own  suggestion  rather  than  by 
his.  The  responsibility  must  be  left  with  her.* 
The  letter  of  the  plenipotentiaries,  which  is  a  very 
long  one,  is  a  model  in  its  way,  and  shows  that, 
in  some  particulars,  the  science  of  diplomacy  has 
gained  little  since  the  sixteenth  century. 

Elizabeth  needed  no  argument  to  make  her  wea- 
ry of  a  war  which  hung  like  a  dark  cloud  on  the 
morning  of  her  rieign.  Her  disquietude  had  been 
increased  by  the  fact  of  Scotland  having  become 


»  "  Hablando  con  la  reyna  sin 
persuadirla,  ny  &  la  paz,  ny  i,  que 
dexe  Calaix,  ny  tampoco  d  que 
venjra  bien  a  las  otras  condiciones 
propuestas  por  los  Franceses,  para- 
que  en  ningun  tiempo  pueda  dezir 
que  de  parte  de  S.  M.  la  hayan 


persuadldo  A  cosa  que  qui9d  despuei 
pensasse  que  no  le  estuviesse  bien, 
V.  S.  tenga  respecto  &  proponerle 
las  razones  en  balan9a,  de  manera 
que  pesen  siempre  mucho  mas  laf 
que  la  ban  de  inclinar  al  concierto.* 
Ibid.,  p.  479. 


Ch.  VIII.]        TREATY  OF  CATEAU-CAMBRESIS. 


281 


a  party  to  the  war;  and  hostilities,  with  little  credit 
to  that  country,  had  broken  out  along  the  borders. 
Her  own  kingdom  was  in  no  condition  to  allow 
her  to  make  the  extraordinary  efforts  demanded 
by  Philip.  Yet  it  was  plain,  if  she  did  not  make 
them,  or  consent  to  come  into  the  treaty,  she  must 
be  left  to  carry  on  the  war  by  herself  Under 
these  circumstances,  the  English  government  at 
last  consented  to  an  arrangement,  which,  if  it  did 
not  save  Calais,  so  far  saved  appearances  that  it 
might  satisfy  the  nation.  It  was  agreed  that 
Calais  should  be  restored  at  the  end  of  eight 
years.  K  France  failed  to  do  this,  she  was  to  pay 
five  hundred  thousand  crowns  to  England,  whose 
claims  to  Calais  would  not,  however,  be  affected 
by  such  a  payment.  Should  either  of  the  parties, 
or  their  subjects,  during  that  period,  do  anything 
in  contravention  of  this  treaty,  or  in  violation  of 
the  peace  between  the  two  countries,  the  offending 
party  should  forfeit  all  claim  to  the  disputed  terri- 
tory.^ It  was  not  very  probable  that  eight  years 
would  elapse  without  affording  some  plausible  pre- 
text to  France,  under  such  a  provision,  for  keeping 
her  hold  on  Calais. 

The  treaty  with  England  was  signed  on  the 
second  of  April,  1559.  On  the  day  following  was 
signed  that  between  France  and  Spain.  By  the 
provisions  of  this  treaty,  the  allies  of  Philip,  Sa- 
voy, Mantua,  Genoa,  were  reinstated  in  the  pos- 

*  See  the  treaty,  in  Dumont,  Corps  Diplomatique,  (Amsterdam, 
1728,)  torn.  V.  p.  31. 


288 


WAB  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book 


Oh.  VIII  TREATY  OF  CATEAU-CAMBRESIS. 


289 


session  of  the  territories  of  which  they  had  been 
stripped  in  the  first  years  of  the  war.  Four  or 
five  places  of  importance  in  Savoy  were  alone  re- 
seived,  to  be  held  as  guaranties  by  the  French 
king,  until  his  claim  to  the  inheritance  of  that 
kingdom  was  determined. 

The  conquests  made  by  Philip  in  Picardy  were 
to  be  exchanged  for  those  gained  by  the  French  in 
Italy  and  the  Netherlands.  The  exchange  was 
greatly  for  the  benefit  of  Philip.  In  the  time  of 
Charles  the  Fifth,  the  Spanish  arms  had  experi- 
enced  some  severe  reverses,  and  the  king  no>v 
received  more  than  two  hundred  towns  in  return 
for  the  five  places  he  held  in  Picardy.*^ 

Terms  so  disadvantageous  to  France  roused  the 
indignation  of  the  duke  of  Guise,  who  told  Henry 
plainly,  that  a  stroke  of  his  pen  would  cost  the 
country  more  than  thirty  years  of  war.  "  Give  me 
the  poorest  of  the  places  you  are  to  surrender,"  said 
he,  "  and  I  will  undertake  to  hold  it  against  all 
the  armies  of  Spain  !"*^  But  Henry  sighed  for 
peace,  and  for  the  return  of  his  friend,  the  consta- 
ble. He  aff'ected  much  deference  to  the  opinions 
of  the  duke.  But  he  wrote  to  Montmorency  that 
the  Guises  were  at  their  old  tricks,*^ — and  he 
ratified  the  treaty. 

*o  Garnier,  Histoire  de  France,  ger."     Gaillard,    Rlvalit^   de    la 

torn.  XXVII.  p.  570.  France  et  d'Espagne,  torn.  V.  p. 

41  "Mettez-moi,  sire,  dans   la  294. 

plus  mauvaise    des    places  qu*on  ^  Garnier,  Histoire  de  France, 

vous  propose  d'abandonner,  et  que  torn.  XXVU.  p.  567. 

ros  ennerais  tachent  de  m*en  delo-  • 


The  day  on  which  the  plenipotentiaries  of  the 
three  great  powers  had  completed  their  work,  they 
went  in  solemn  procession  to  the  church,  and  re- 
turned thanks  to  the  Almighty  for  the  happy 
consummation  of  their  labors.  The  treaty  was 
then  made  public ;  and,  notwithstanding  the  un- 
favorable import  of  the  terms  to  France,  the  peace, 
if  we  except  some  ambitious  spirits,  who  would 
have  found  their  account  in  the  continuance  of 
hostilities  was  welcomed  with  joy  by  the  whole 
nation.  In  this  sentiment  all  the  parties  to  the 
war  participated.  The  more  remote,  like  Spain, 
rejoiced  to  be  delivered  from  a  contest  which 
made  such  large  drains  on  their  finances  ;  while 
France  had  an  additional  reason  for  desiring  peace, 
now  that  her  own  territory  had  become  the  theatre 

of  war. 

The  reputation  which  Philip  had  acquired  by 
his  campaigns  was  greatly  heightened  by  the  re- 
sult of  his  negotiations.  The  whole  course  of 
these  negotiations  — long  and  intricate  as  it  was — 
is  laid  open  to  us  in  the  correspondence  fortunately 
preserved  among  the  papers  of  Granvelle ;  and  the 
student  who  explores  these  pages  may  probably 
rise  from  them  with  the  conviction  that  the  Span- 
ish plenipotentiaries  showed  an  address,  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  men  they  had  to  deal  with,  and  a  con- 
summate policy,  in  which  neither  their  French  nor 
English  rivals  were  a  match  for  them.  The  nego- 
tiation all  passed  under  the  eyes  of  Philip.  Every 
move  in  the  game,  if  not  by  his  suggestion,  had 


I 


n 

'i 


VOL.  I. 


37 


290 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  L 


been  made  at  least  with  his  sanction.  The  result 
placed  him  in  honorable  contrast  to  Henry  the 
Second,  who,  while  Philip  had  stood  firmly  by  his 
allies,  had,  in  his  eagerness  for  peace,  abandoned 
those  of  France  to  their  fate. 

The  early  campaigns  of  Philip  had  wiped  away 
the  disgrace  caused  by  the  closing  campaigns  of 
Charles  the  Fifth ;  and  by  the  treaty  he  had  nego- 
tiated, the  number  of  towns  which  he  lost  was  less 
than  that  of  provinces  which  he  gained.*^  Thus 
he  had  shown  himself  as  skilful  in  counsel  as  he 
had  been  successful  in  the  field.  Victorious  in 
Picardy  and  in  Naples,  he  had  obtained  the  terms 
of  a  victor  from  the  king  of  France,  and  humbled 
the  arrogance  of  Rome,  in  a  war  to  which  he 
had  been  driven  in  self-defence.**  Faithful  to  his 
allies  and  formidable  to  his  foes,  there  was  prob- 
ably no  period  of  Philip's  life  in  which  he  pos- 
sessed so  much  real  consideration  in  the  eyes  of 
Europe,  as  at  the  time  of  signing  the  treaty  of 
Cateau-Cambresis. 


<3  "Pour  tant  de  restitutions 
ou  de  concessions  que  revenoit-il  k 
la  France?  moins  de  places  qu  elle 
ne  c^oit  de  provinces."  Gaillard, 
lUvalite  de  la  France  et  d'Espagne, 
torn.  V.  p.  292. 

^  Charles  the  Fifth,  who,  in  his 
monastic  seclusion  at  Yuste,  might 
naturally  have  felt  more  scruples 
at  a  collision  with  Rome  than 
when,  in  earlier  days,  he  held  the 
pope  a  prisoner  in  his  capital, 
decidedly  approved  of  his  son's 
dourse.    It  was  a  war  of  necessity, 


he  said,  in  a  letter  to  Juan  Vazque* 
de  Molina,  and  Philip  would  stand 
acquitted  of  the  consequences  be- 
fore God  and  man. 

"  Pues  no  se  puede  hazer  otra 
cosa,  y  el  Rey  se  ha  justificado  en 
tantas  maneras  cumplicndo  con 
Dios  y  el  mundo,  por  escusar  los 
danos  que  dello  se  seguiran,  forza- 
do  sera  usar  del  ultimo  remedio." 
Carta  del  Emperador  d  Juan  Vaz- 
quez de  Molina,  8  de  Agosto, 
1557,  MS. 


Ch.  Vm.]        TREATY  OF  CATEAU-CAMBRESIS. 


291 


In  order  to  cement  the  union  between  the  dif- 
ferent powers,  and  to  conciliate  the  good-will  oi 
the  French  nation  to  the  treaty  by  giving  it  some- 
what of  the  air  of  a  marriage  contract,  it  was  pro- 
posed that  an  alliance  should  take  place  between 
the  royal  houses  of  France  and  Spain.  It  was  first 
arranged  that  the  hand  of  Henry's  daughter,  the 
Princess  Elizabeth,  should  be  given  to  Carlos, 
the  son  and  heir  of  Philip.  The  parties  were  of 
nearly  the  same  age,  being  each  about  fourteen 
years  old.  Now  that  all  prospect  of  the  English 
match  had  vanished,  it  was  thought  to  be  a  greater 
compliment  to  the  French  to  substitute  the  father 
for  the  son,  the  monarch  himself  for  the  heir  ap- 
parent, in  the  marriage  treaty.  The  disparity  of 
years  between  Philip  and  Elizabeth  was  not  such 
as  to  present  any  serious  objection.  The  proposi- 
tion was  said  to  have  come  from  the  French  nego- 
tiators. The  Spanish  envoys  replied,  that,  not- 
withstanding their  master's  repugnance  to  entering 
again  into  wedlock,  yet,  from  his  regard  to  the 
French  monarch,  and  his  desire  for  the  public 
weal,  he  would  consent  to  waive  his  scruples,  and 
accept  the  hand  of  the  French  princess,  with  the 
same  dowry  which  had  been  promised  to  his  son 
Don  Carlos.*^ 


**  "  II  nous  a  sembld  mieulx  de 
leur  dire  rondement,  que  combien 
voistre  majesty  soit  tousjours  este 
dure  et  difficile  h,  recepvoir  per- 
suasions pour  se  remarier,  que 
toutesfois,  aiant  repr^sent^  h  icelle 


le  d^ir  du  roi  tr^s-chrestien  et  le 
bien  que  de  ce  mariage  pourra 
succeder,  et  pour  plus  prompte- 
ment  consolider  ceste  union  et  paix, 
elle  s'estoit  resolue,  pour  monstrer 
sa  bonne  et  sjTicere  affection,  d'tf 


292 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  I 


Queen  Elizabeth  seems  to  have  been  not  a  lit- 
tle piqued  by  the  intelligence  that  Philip  had  so 
soon  consoled  himself  for  the  failure  of  his  suit 
to  her.  "Your  master,"  said  she,  in  a  petulant 
tone,  to  Feria,  "must  have  been  much  in  love 
with  me  not  to  be  able  to  wait  four  months!" 
The  ambassador  answered  somewhat  bluntly,  by 
throwing  the  blame  of  the  affair  on  the  queen 
herself.  "Not  so,"  she  retorted,  "I  never  gave 
your  king  a  decided  answer."  "  True,"  said  Fe- 
ria, "the  refusal  was  only  implied,  for  I  would 
not  urge  your  highness  to  a  downright  '  No,'  lest 
it  might  prove  a  cause  of  offence  between  so 
great  princes."^ 

In  June,  1559,  the  duke  of  Alva  entered  France 
for  the  purpose  of  claiming  the  royal  bride,  and 
espousing  her  in  the  name  of  his  master.  He 
was  accompanied  by  Ruy  Gomez,  count  of  Me- 
lito, — better  kno^n  by  his  title  of  prince  of  Eboli, 
—  by  the  prince  of  Orange,  the  Count  Egmont, 
and  other  noblemen,  whose  high  rank  and  char- 
acter might  give  lustre  to  the  embassy.  He  was 
received  in  great  state  by  Henry,  who,  with  his 
whole  court,  seemed  anxious  to  show  to  the  envoy 
every  mark  of  respect  that  could  testify  their  sat- 
isfaction with  the  object  of  his  mission.     The  duke 

c<xnrfe5cen^/rtf  fVanchement."   Gran-  habia  querido  apurarla  hasta    el 

velle,  Papiers  d'etat,  torn.  V.  p.  punto  de  decir  redondamente  que 

550^  no,  por  no  dar  motive  k  indigna- 

«  "  El  Conde  la  dijo,  que  aun-  ciones  entre  dos  tan  grandes  Prin* 

que    las    negativas    habian    sido  cipes.*'     Mem.  de   la  Aeademia, 

en  derto  modo  indirectas,  el  no  torn.  VII.  p.  268. 


Ch.  VIII.]        TREATY  OF  CATEAU-CAMBRESIS. 


293 


displayed  all  the  stately  demeanor  of  a  true  Spanish 
hidalgo.  Although  he  conformed  to  the  French 
usage  by  saluting  the  ladies  of  the  court,  he  de- 
clined taking  this  liberty  with  his  future  queen,  or 
covering  himself,  as  repeatedly  urged,  in  her  pres- 
ence, —  a  piece  of  punctilio  greatly  admired  by  the 
French,  as  altogether  worthy  of  the  noble  Castilian 
breeding.*^ 

On  the  twenty-fourth  of  June,  the  marriage  of 
the  young  princess  was  celebrated  in  the  church 
of  St.  Mary.  King  Henry  gave  his  daughter  away. 
The  duke  of  Alva  acted  as  his  sovereign's  proxy. 
At  the  conclusion  of  the  ceremony,  the  prince  of 
Eboli  placed  on  the  finger  of  the  princess,  as  a 
memento  from  her  lord,  a  diamond  ring  of  inesti- 
mable value ;  and  the  beautiful  Elizabeth,  the  des- 
tined bride  of  Don  Carlos,  became  the  bride  of  the 
king  his  father.  It  was  an  ominous  union,  des- 
tined, in  its  mysterious  consequences,  to  supply  a 
richer  theme  for  the  pages  of  romance  than  for 
those  of  history. 

The  wedding  was  followed  by  a  succession  of 
brilliant  entertainments,  the  chief  of  which  was  the 
tournament,  —  the  most  splendid  pageant  of  th.it 
spectacle-loving  age.  Henry  was,  at  that  time, 
busily  occupied  with  the  work  of  exterminating 

^  "  Osservando  egli  1*  usanza  testa,  per  istanza,  che  da  lei  ne  gli 

Francese  nel  baeiar  tutte  I'altre  fusse  fatta;   il  che  fu  notato  per 

Dame  di  Corte,  nell*  arriuar  alia  nobilissimo,  e  degno  atto  di  creaza 

futura  sua  Reina,  non  solo  intermise  Spagnuola.**      Campana,    FiHppc 

quella  famigliare  cerimonia,  ma  non  Secoiido,  parte  II.  lib.  XI. 
aolle  ne  anche  giamai  coprirsi  la 


294 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  1 


Ch.  Vm.]       DEATH  OF  HENRY  THE  SECOND. 


295 


the  Protestant  heresy,  which,  as  already  noticed, 
had  begun  to  gather  formidable  head  in  the  capi- 
tal of  his  dominions.^  On  the  evening  of  the 
fifteenth  of  June,  he  attended  a  session  of  the  par- 
liament, and  arrested  some  of  its  principal  mem- 
bers for  the  boldness  of  their  speech  in  his 
presence.  He  ordered  them  into  confinement,  de- 
ferring their  sentence  till  the  termination  of  the 
engrossing  business  of  the  tourney. 

The  king  delighted  in  these  martial  exercises, 
in  which  he  could  display  his  showy  person  and 
matchless  horsemanship  in  the  presence  of  the  as- 
sembled beauty  and  fashion  of  his  court."*®  He 
fully  maintained  his  reputation  on  this  occasion, 
carrying  off  one  prize  after  another,  and  bearing 
down  all  who   encountered  his   lance.      Towards 


^  The  work  of  extermination 
was  to  cover  more  ground  than 
Henry's  capital  or  country,  if  we 
may  take  the  word  of  the  English 
commissioners,  who,  in  a  letter 
dated  Januar}^  1559,  advise  the 
qaeen,  their  mistress,  that  *'  there 
was  an  appwnctement  made  be- 
twene  the  late  pope,  the  French 
king,  and  the  king  of  Spaine,  for 
the  joigning  of  their  forces  to- 
gether for  the  suppression  of  re- 
ligion,   th*  end  whereof  was 

to  constraine  the  rest  of  christien- 
dome,  being  Protestants,  to  receive 
the  pope's  authorite  and  his  re- 
ligion.** (Forbes,  State  Papers, 
vol.  I.  p.  296.)  Without  direct 
evidence  of  such  a  secret  under- 
itanding,  intimations  of  it,  derived 


from  other  sources,  may  be  found 
in  more  than  one  passage  of  this 
history. 

^  Brantfime,  who  repays  the 
favors  he  had  received  from  Hen- 
ry the  Second  by  giving  him  a 
conspicuous  place  in  his  gallerj- 
of  portraits,  eulogizes  his  graceful 
bearing  in  the  tourney  and  his  ad- 
mirable horsemanship. 

it  Mais  sur  tout  ils  I'admiroient 
fort  en  sa  belle  grace  qu*il  avoit 
en  ses  armes  et  k  cheval ;  comme 
de  vray,  c'estoit  le  prince  du  monde 
qui  avait  la  meilleure  grace  et  la 
plus  belle  tenue,  et  qui  s^avoit  aussi 
bien  monstrer  la  vertu  et  bont^ 
d'un  cheval,  et  etf  cacher  le  vice.' 
CEuvres,  tom.  H.  p.  353. 


evening,  when  the  games  had  drawn  to  a  close,  he 
observed  the  young  count  of  Montgomery,  a  Scotch 
noble,  the  captain  of  his  guard,  leaning  on  his 
lance  as  yet  unbroken.  The  king  challenged  the 
cavalier  to  run  a  course  with  him  for  his  lady's 
sake.  In  vain  the  queen,  with  a  melancholy  bod- 
ing of  some  disaster,  besought  her  lord  to  remain 
content  with  the  laurels  he  had  already  won. 
Henry  obstinately  urged  his  fate,  and  compelled 
the  count,  though  extremely  loth,  to  take  the  sad- 
dle. The  champions  met  with  a  furious  shock  in 
the  middle  of  the  lists.  Montgomery  was  a  rude 
j  ouster.  He  directed  his  lance  with  such  force 
against  the  helmet  of  his  antagonist,  that  the  bars 
of  the  visor  gave  way.  The  lance  splintered;  a 
fragment  struck  the  king  with  such  violence  on 
the  temple  as  to  lay  bare  the  eye.  The  unhappy 
monarch  reeled  in  his  saddle,  and  would  have 
fallen  but  for  the  assistance  of  the  constable,  the 
duke  of  Guise,  and  other  nobles,  who  bore  him  in 
their  arms  senseless  from  the  lists.  Henry's  wound 
was  mortal.  He  lingered  ten  days  in  great  agony, 
and  expired  on  the  ninth  of  July,  in  the  forty- 
second  year  of  his  age,  and  the  thirteenth  of  his 
reign.  It  was  an  ill  augury  for  the  nuptials  of 
Elizabeth.«> 

The  tidings  of  the  king's  death  were  received 


5®  Ibid.,    p.    351.  —  De    Thou,  pana,  Filippo   Secondo,  parte  H 

Histoire     Universelle,     tom.    III.  lib.   11. —  Forbes,   State   Papew, 

p.     867.  —  Cabrera,    Filipe    Se-  vol.  I.  p.  151. 
gundo,  lib.  IV    cap.  29.  —  Cam- 


0" 
■If 


296 


WAR  WITH  FRANCE. 


[Book  I 


with  demonstrations  of  sorrow  throughout  the 
kingdom.  He  had  none-  of  those  solid  qualities 
which  make  either  a  great  or  a  good  i)rince. 
But  he  had  the  showy  qualities  which  are  per- 
haps more  effectual  to  secure  the  affections  of  a 
people  as  fond  of  show  as  the  nation  whom  Henry 
governed.*^  There  were  others  in  the  kingdom, 
however, — that  growing  sect  of  the  Huguenots,  — 
who  looked  on  the  monarch's  death  with  very  dif- 
ferent eyes,  —  who  rejoiced  in  it  as  a  deliverance 
from  persecution.  They  had  little  cause  to  rejoice. 
The  sceptre  passed  into  the  hands  of  a  line  of 
imbecile  princes,  or  rather  of  their  mother,  the 
famous  Catherine  de  Medicis,  who  reigned  in  their 
stead,  and  who  ultimately  proved  herself  the  most 
merciless  foe  the  Huguenots  ever  encountered. 

W   The    English    commissioner,  lamentation    made    for  him,  and 

Sir  Nicholas  Tlirockmorton,  bears  weaping  of  all  sorts,  both  men  and 

testimony  to  the  popularity  of  Hen-  women."     Forbes,   State  Papers, 

ly. —  "  Their  was  marvailous  great  vol.  I.  p.  151, 


CHAPTER    IX. 

LATTER  DAYS  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH. 

Charles  at  Tuste.  —  His  Mode  of  Life.  —  Interest  in  Public  Affsin.  — 
Celebrates  his  Obsequies.  —  Last  Illness.  —  Death  and  Character 

1556  - 1558. 

While  the  occurrences  related  in  the  preceding 
chapter  were  passing,  an  event  took  place  which, 
had  it  happened  earlier,  would  have  had  an  im- 
portant influence  on  the  politics  of  Europe,  and 
the  news  of  which,  when  it  did  happen,  was  every- 
where received  with  the  greatest  interest.  This 
event  was  the  death  of  the  Emperor  Charles  the 
Fifth,  in  his  monastic  retreat  at  Yuste.  In  the 
earlier  pages  of  our  narrative,  we  have  seen  how 
that  monarch,  after  his  abdication  of  the  throne, 
"withdrew  to  the  Jeronymite  convent  among  the  hills 
of  Estremadura.  The  reader  may  now  feel  some 
interest  in  following  him  thither,  and  in  observing 
in  what  manner  he  accommodated  himself  to  the 
change,  and  passed  the  closing  days  of  his  eventful 
life.  The  picture  I  am  enabled  to  give  of  it  wUl 
differ  in  some  respects  from  those  of  former  histo- 
rians, who  wrote  when  the  Archives  of  Simancas, 

VOL.  1.  38 


298        LATTFJR  DAYS  OF  CHAKLES  THE  FIFTH.     [Book  L 


H 


which  afford  the  most  authentic  records  for  the 
narrative,  were  inaccessible  to  the  scholar,  native 
as  well  as  foreign.^ 

Charles,  as  we  have  seen,  had  early  formed  the 
determination  to  relinquish  at  some  future  time 
the  cares  of  royalty,  and  devote  himself,  in  some 
lonely  retreat,  to  the  good  work  of  his  salvation. 
His  consort,  the  Empress  Isabella,  as  appears 
from  his  own  statement  at  Yuste,  had  avowed 
the  same  pious  purpose.^  She  died,  however,  too 
early  to  execute  her  plan ;  and  Charles  was  too 
much  occupied  with  his  ambitious  enterprises  to 
accomplish  his  object  until  the  autumn  of  1555, 
when,  broken  in  health  and  spirits,  and  disgusted 
with  the  world,  he  resigned  the  sceptre  he  had 
held  for  forty  years,  and  withdrew  to  a  life  of 
obscurity  and  repose. 

The  spot  he  had  selected  for  his  residence  was 
situated  about  seven  leagues  from  the  city  of 
Plasencia,  on  the  slopes  of  the  mountain  chain 
that  traverses  the  province  of  Estremadura.  There, 
nestling  among  the  rugged  hills,  clothed  with  thick 
woods  of  chestnut  and  oak,  the  Jeronymite  convent 
was  sheltered  from  the  rude  breezes  of  the  north. 


1  This  pleasing  anticipation  is 
not  destined  to  be  realized.  Since 
the  above  was  written,  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1851,  the  cloister  life  of 
Charles  the  Fifth,  then  a  virgin 
topic,  has  become  a  thrice-told 
tale,  —  thanks  to  the  labors  of  Mr. 
Stirling,  M.  Amedee  Pichot,  and 
M.  Mignet ;  while  the  publication 


of  the  original  documents  from 
Simancao,  by  M.  Gachanl,  will  put 
it  in  the  power  of  everv  scholar  to 
verify  their  statements.  —  See  the 
postscript  at  the  end  of  this  chap- 
ter. 

»  Sandoval,  Hist,  de  Carlos  V, 
tom.  n.  p.  611. 


Ch.  IX.J 


CHARLES  AT  YUSTE. 


299 


Towaids  the  south,  the  land  sloped  by  a  gradual 
declivity,  till  it  terminated  in  a  broad  expanse,  the 
Vera  of  Plasencia,  as  it  was  called,  which,  fertilized 
by  the  streams  of  the  sierra,  contrasted  strongly  in 
its  glowing  vegetation  with  the  wild  character  of 
the  mountain  scenery.  It  was  a  spot  well  fitted 
for  such  as  would  withdraw  themselves  from  com- 
merce with  the  world,  and  consecrate  their  days  to 
pmyer  and  holy  meditation.  The  Jeronymite  frater- 
nity had  prospered  in  this  peaceful  abode.  Many 
of  the  monks  had  acquired  reputation  for  sanctity, 
and  some  of  them  for  learning,  the  fruits  of  which 
might  be  seen  in  a  large  collection  of  manuscripts 
preserved  in  the  library  of  the  monastery.  Bene- 
factions were  heaped  on  the  brotherhood.  They 
became  proprietors  of  considerable  tracts  of  land 
in  the  neighborhood,  and  they  liberally  employed 
their  means  in  dispensing  alms  to  the  poor  who 
sought  it  at  the  gate  of  the  convent.  Not  long 
before  Charles  took  up  his  residence  among  them, 
they  had  enlarged  their  building  by  an  extensive 
quadrangle,  which  displayed  some  architectural 
elegance  in  the  construction  of  its  cloisters. 

Three  years  before  the  emperor  repaired  thither, 
he  sent  a  skilful  architect  to  provide  such  accom- 
modations as  he  had  designed  for  himself.  These 
were  very  simple.  A  small  building,  containing 
eight  rooms,  four  on  each  floor,  was  raised  against 
the  southern  wall  of  the  monastery.  The  rooms 
were  low,  and  of  a  moderate  size.  They  were  pro- 
tected by  porticos,  which  sheltered  them  on  two 


300  LATTER  DAYS  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.    [Book  I. 


Jh.  IX.] 


CHARLES  AT  YUSTE. 


301 


sides  from  the  rays  of  the  sun,  while  an  apen  gal- 
lery, which  passed  through  the  centre  of  the  house, 
afforded  means  for  its  perfect  ventilation.  But 
Charles,  with  his  gouty  constitution,  was  more 
afraid  of  the  cold  damps  than  of  heat ;  and  he  took 
cai'e  to  have  the  apartments  provided  with  fire- 
places, a  luxury  little  known  in  this  temperate 
region. 

A  window  opened  from  his  chamber  directly  in- 
to the  chapel  of  the  monastery ;  and  through  this, 
when  confined  to  his  bed,  and  too  ill  to  attend 
mass,  he  could  see  the  elevation  of  the  host.  The 
furniture  of  the  dwelling  —  according  to  an  author- 
ity usually  followed  —  was  of  the  simplest  kind  ; 
iFind  Charles,  we  are  told,  took  no  better  care  of 
his  gouty  limbs  than  to  provide  himself  with  an 
arm-chair,  or  rather  half  a  chair,  which  would  no*- 
have  brought  four  reals  at  auction.^  The  inventory 
^f  the  furniture  of  Yuste  tells  a  very  different  story. 


'  **  Una  sola  silla  de  caderas, 
qne  mas  era  media  silla,  tan  vieja 
Y  ruyn  que  si  se  pusiera  en  venta 
no  dieran  por  ella  quatro  reales.** 
Ibid.,  tom.  IL  p.  610.  —  See  also 
El  Perfecto  Desengaiio,  por  el 
Afarques  de  Valparayso,  MS. 

The  latter  writer,  in  speaking 
of  the  furniture,  uses  precisely  the 
same  language,  with  the  exception 
of  a  single  word,  as  Sandoval. 
Both  claim  to  have  mainly  derived 
their  account  of  the  cloister  life  of 
Charles  the  Fifth  from  the  prior  of 
Yuste,  Fray  Martin  de  Angulo. 


The  authority,  doubtless,  is  of  the 
highest  value,  as  the  prior,  who 
witnessed  the  closing  scenes  of 
Charles's  life,  drew  up  his  relation 
for  the  information  of  the  reirent 
Joanna,  and  at  her  request.  AVhy 
the  good  father  should  have  pre- 
sented his  hero  in  such  a  poverty- 
stricken  aspect,  it  is  not  easy  to 
say.  Perhaps  he  thought  it  would 
redound  to  the  credit  of  the  em- 
peror, that  he  should  have  been 
willing  to  exchange  the  splcndon 
of  a  throne  for  a  life  of  monkish 
mortification. 


Instead  of  "  half  an  arm-chair,"  we  find,  besides 
other  chairs  lined  with  velvet,  two  arm-chairs  espe- 
cially destined  to  the  emperor's  service.     One  of 
these  was  of  a  peculiar  construction,  and  was  ac- 
commodated with  no  less  than  six  cushions  and  a 
footstool,  for  the  repose  of  his  gouty  limbs.     His 
wardrobe  showed  a  similar  attention  to  his  per- 
sonal comfort.     For  one  item  w^e  find  no  less  than 
sixteen  robes  of  silk  and  velvet,  lined  with  ermine 
or  eider-down,  or  the  soft  hair  of  the  Barbary  goat. 
The  decorations  of  his  apartment  were  on  not  mere- 
ly a  comfortable,  but  a  luxurious  scale ;  —  canopies 
of  velvet ;  carpets  from  Turkey  and  Alcaraz ;  suits 
of  tapestry,  of  which  twenty-five  pieces  are  specified, 
richly  wrought  with  figures  of  flowers  and  animals. 
Twelve  hangings,  of  the  finest  black  cloth,  were 
for  the  emperor's   bedchamber,   which,  since  his 
mother's  death,  had  been  always  dressed  in  mourn- 
ing.    Among  the  ornaments  of  his  rooms  were  four 
large  clocks  of  elaborate  workmanship.     He  had 
besides  a  number  of  pocket- watches,  then  a  greater 
rarity  than  at  present.     He  was  curious  in  regard 
to  his   timepieces,  and   took  care  to   provide  for 
their  regularity  by  bringing  the  manufacturer  of 
them  in  his  train  to  Yuste.    Charles  was  served  on 
silver.     Even  the  meanest  utensils  for  his  kitchen 
and  his  sleeping  apartment  were  of  the  same  costly 
material,  amounting  to  nearly  fourteen  thousand 
ounces  in  weight.* 


^  The  reader  will  find  an  extract    jewels,    plate,   furniture,   &c.,   in 
Gx)m  the  inventory  of  the  royal     Stirling's  Cloister  Life  of  Charles 


If 


if- 

I 


302        LATTER  DAYS  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.     [Book  I 

The  inventory  contains  rather  a  meagre  show  of 
books,  which  were  for  the  most  part  of  a  devo- 
tional character.  But  Charles's  love  of  art  was 
visible  in  a  small  but  choice  collection  of  paintings, 
which  he  brought  with  him  to  adorn  the  walls  of 
his  retreat.  Nine  of  these  were  from  the  pencil  of 
Titian.  Charles  held  the  works  of  the  great  Ve- 
netian in  the  highest  honor,  and  was  desirous  that 
by  his  hand  his  likeness  should  be  transmitted  to 
posterity.  The  emperor  had  brought  with  him  to 
Yuste  four  portraits  of  himself  and  the  empress  by 
Titian ;  and  among  the  other  pieces  by  the  same 
master  were  some  of  his  best  pictures.  One  of 
these  was  the  famous  "  Gloria,"  in  which  Charles 
and  the  empress  appear,  in  the  midst  of  the  celes- 
tial throng,  supported  by  angels,  and  in  an  atti- 
tude of  humble  adoration.*^  He  had  the  painting 
hung  at  the  foot  of  his  bed,  or,  according  to 
another  account,  over  the  great  altar  in  the  chapel. 
It  is  said,  he  would  gaze  long  and  fondly  on  this 
picture,  which  filled  him  with  the  most  tender 
recoUectioiis ;  and,  as  he  dwelt  on  the  image  of  one 
who  had  been  so  dear  to  him  on  earth,  he  may 
have  looked  forward  to  his  reunion  with  her  in 
the  heavenly  mansions,  as  the  artist  had  here  de- 
picted him.* 


Ch.  IX.] 


CHARLES  AT  YUSTE. 


303 


tbe  Fifth,  (London,  1852,)  Appen- 
dix,  and  in  Pichot^s  Cbronique  de 
Charles-Quint,  (Paris,  1854,)  p. 
637  et  seq. 

5  Mignet  has  devoted  a  couple 
of  pages  to  an  account  of  this  re- 
markable picture,  of  which  an  en- 


graving is  still  extant,  executed 
under  the  eyes  of  Titian  himself. 
Charles-Quint,  pp.  214,  215. 

8  Vera  y  Figueroa,  Vida  y  He- 
chos  de  Carlos  V.,  p.  127. 

A  writer  in  Eraser's  Magazine 
for  April  and  May,  1851,  has  not 


A  stairway,  or  rather  an  inclined  plane,  suited 
to  the  weakness  of  Charles's  limbs,  led  from  the 
gallery  of  his  house  to  the  gardens  below.  These 
were  surrounded  by  a  high  wall,  which  completely 
secluded  him  from  observation  from  without.  The 
garden  was  filled  with  orange,  citron,  and  fig  trees, 
and  various  aromatic  plants  that  grew  luxuriantly 
in  the  genial  soil.  The  emperor  had  a  taste  for 
horticulture,  and  took  much  pleasure  in  tending 
the  young  plants  and  pruning  his  trees.  His  gar- 
den afforded  him  also  the  best  means  for  takinsr 
exercise  ;  and  in  fine  weather  he  would  walk 
along  an  avenue  of  lofty  chestnut-trees,  that  led 
to  a  pretty  chapel  in  the  neighboring  woods,  the 
ruins  of  which  may  be  seen  at  this  day.  Among 
the  trees,  one  is  pointed  out,  —  an  overgrown  wal- 
nut, still  throwing  its  shade  far  and  wide  over 
the  ground,  —  under  whose  branches  the  pen- 
sive monarch  would  sit  and  meditate  on  the 
dim  future,  or  perhaps  on  the  faded  glories  of  the 
past. 

Charles  had  once  been  the  most  accomi^lished 


omitted  to  notice  this  remarkable 
picture,  in  two  elaborate  articles 
on  the  cloister  life  of  Charles  the 
Fifth.  They  are  evidently  the 
fruit  of  a  careful  study  of  the  best 
authorities,  some  of  them  not  easy 
of  access  to  the  English  student. 
The  author  has  collected  some  cu- 
rious particulars  in  respect  to  the 
persons  who  accompanied  the  em- 
peror in  his  retirement ;  and  on 
the  whole,  though  he  seems  not  to 


have  been  aware  of  the  active  in- 
terest which  Charles  took  in  pub- 
lic affairs,  he  has  presented  by  far 
the  most  complete  view  of  this  in- 
teresting portion  of  the  imperial 
biography  that  has  yet  been  given 
to  the  world. 

[I  suffer  this  note  to  remain  as 
originally  written,  before  the  pub- 
lication of  Mr.  Stirling's  "  Cloister 
Life "  had  revealed  him  as  the 
author  of  these  spirited  essays.] 


304        LATTER  DAYS  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.     [Book  I. 


horseman  of  his  time.  He  had  brought  with  him 
to  Yuste  a  pony  and  a  mule,  in  the  hope  of  being 
able  to  get  some  exercise  in  the  saddle.  But  the 
limbs  that  had  bestrode  day  after  day,  mthout 
fatigue,  the  heeLvy  war-horse  of  Flanders  and  the 
wildest  genet  of  Andalusia,  were  unable  now  to 
endure  the  motion  of  a  poor  palfrey ;  and,  after  a 
solitary  experiment  in  the  saddle  on  his  arrival 
at  Yuste,  when  he  nearly  fainted,  he  abandoned  it 

for  everJ 

There  are  few  spots  that  might  now  be  visited 
with  more  interest,  than  that  which  the  great 
emperor  had  selected  as  his  retreat  from  the 
thorny  cares  of  government.  And  until  within  a 
few  years  the  traveller  would  have  received  from 
the  inmates  of  the  convent  the  same  hospitable 
w^elcome  which  they  had  always  been  ready  to  give 
to  the  stranger.  But  in  1809  the  place  was  sacked 
by  the  French;  and  the  fierce  soldiery  of  Soult 
converted  the  pile,  with  its  venerable  cloisters,  into 
a  heap  of  blackened  ruins.  Even  the  collection  of 
manuscripts,  piled  up  with  so  much  industry  by 
the  brethren,  did  not  escape  the  general  doom. 
The  palace  of  the  emperor,  as  the  simple  monks 
loved  to  call  his  dwelling,  had  hardly  a  better  fate, 
though  it  came  from  the  hands  of  Charles's  own 

7  Sandoval,  Hist,  de  Carlos  V.,  Of  the  above  authorities,  Father 
torn.  n.  p.  610. —  Siguencja,  His-  Siguen^a  has  furnished  the  best 
toria  de  la  Orden  de  San  Geroni-  account  of  the  emperor's  little  do- 
mo,  (Madrid,  1595  -  1605,)  parte  main  as  it  was  in  his  day,  and  Ford 
m.  p.  190.  —  Fonl,  Handbook  of  as  it  is  in  our  own. 
Spain,  (London,  1845,)  p.  551. 


Cs.  IX] 


CHARLES  AT  YUSTE. 


305 


countrymen,  the  liberals  of  Cuacos.  By  these  pa- 
triots the  lower  floor  of  the  mansion  was  turned 
into  stables  for  their  horses.  The  rooms  above 
were  used  as  magazines  for  grain.  The  mulberry- 
leaves  were  gathered  from  the  garden  to  furnish 
material  for  the  silk-woim,  who  was  permitted 
to  wind  his  cocoon  in  the  deserted  chambers  of 
royalty.  Still  the  great  features  of  nature  remain 
the  same  as  in  Charles's  day.  The  bald  peaks 
of  the  sierra  still  rise  above  the  ruins  of  the  mon- 
astery. The  shaggy  sides  of  the  hills  still  wear 
their  wild  forest  drapery.  Far  below,  the  eye 
of  the  traveller  ranges  over  the  beautiful  Vera  of 
Plasencia,  which  glows  in  the  same  exuberant 
vegetation  as  of  yore;  and  the  traveller,  as  he 
wanders  among  the  ruined  porticos  and  desolate 
arcades  of  the  palace,  drinks  in  the  odors  of  a 
thousand  aromatic  plants  and  wild-flowers  that 
have  shot  up  into  a  tangled  wilderness,  where 
once  was  the  garden  of  the  imperial  recluse.® 


8  See  the  eloquent  conclusion  of 
Stirling's  Cloister  Life  of  Charles 
the  Fifth. 

Ford,  in  his  admirable  Hand- 
book, which  may  serve  as  a  man- 
ual for  the  student  of  Spanish  in 
his  closet,  quite  as  well  as  for  the 
traveller  in  Spain,  has  devoted  a 
few  columns  to  a  visit  which  hfe 
paid  to  this  sequestered  spot,  where, 
as  he  says,  the  spirit  of  the  mighty 
dead  seemed  to  rule  again  in  his 
last  home.  A  few  lines  from  the 
pages  of  the  English  tourist  will 
bring  the  scene  more  vividly  before 

VOL.  I.  39 


the  reader  than  the  colder  descrip- 
tion  in  the  text  "  As  the  windows 
were  thrown  wide  open  to  admit 
the  cool  thyme-scented  breeze,  the 
eye  in  the  clear  evening  swept  over 
the  boundless  valley,  and  the  night- 
ingales sang  sweetly,  in  the  neg- 
lected orange-garden,  to  the  bright 
stars  reflected  like  diamonds  in  the 
black  tank  below  us.  How  often 
had  Charles  looked  out,  on  a  stilly 
eve,  on  this  selfsame  and  unchanged 
scene,  where  he  alone  was  now 
wanting  ! "  Handbook  of  Spain, 
p.  553. 


'' 


306        LATTER  DAYS  OF  CHARLES  TIIE  FIFTH.     [Book  I 


Cb.  IX.  I 


mS  MODE  OF  LIFE. 


307 


Charles,  though  borne  across  the  mountains  in  a 
litter,  had  suffered  greatly  in  his  long  and  labori- 
ous journey  from  Valladolid.      He   passed  some 
time  in  the  neighboring  village  of  Xarandilla,  and 
thence,  after  taking  leave  of  the  greater  part  of  his 
weeping  retinue,  he  proceeded  with  the  remainder 
to  the  monastery  of  Yuste.     It  was  on  the  third  of 
February,  1557,  that  he  entered  the  abode  which 
was  to  prove  his  final  resting-place.*    The  monks 
of  Yuste  had  been  much  flattered  by  the  circum- 
stance of  Charles  having  shown  such  a  preference 
for  their  convent.     As  he  entered  the  chapel,  Te 
Deum  was  chanted  by  the  whole  brotherhood  ;  and 
when  the  emperor  had  prostrated  himself  before 
the  altar,  the  monks  gathered  round  him,  anxious 
to  pay  him  their  respectful  obeisance.     Charles  re- 
ceived them  graciously,  and,  after  examining  his 
quarters,  professed  himself  well  pleased  with  the 
accommodations  prepared  for  him.     His  was  not  a 
fickle  temper.     Slow  in  forming  his  plans,  he  was 
slower  in  changing  them.     To  the  last  day  of  his 
residence   at  Yuste,  —  whatever  may  have  been 
said  to  the  contrary,  —  he  seems  to  have  been  well 
satisfied  with  the  step  he  had  taken  and  with  the 
spot  he  had  selected. 

From  the  first,  he  prepared  to  conform,  as  far  as 
his  health  would  permit,  to  the  religious  observ- 
ances of  the  monastery.  Not  that  he  proposed  to 
limit  himself  to  the  narrow  circumstances  of  an 

»  Carta  de  Martin  de  Gaztelu  al  Spcretario  Vazquez,  5  de  Febr©. 
lo,  1557,  MS. 


ordinary  friar.  The  number  of  his  retinue  that 
still  remained  with  him  was  at  least  fifty,  mostly 
Flemings ;  ^^  a  number  not  greater,  certainly,  than 
that  maintained  by  many  a  private  gentleman  of 
the  country.  But  among  these  we  recognize  those 
ofl[icers  of  state  who  belong  more  properly  to  a 
princely  establishment  than  to  the  cell  of  the  re- 
cluse. There  was  the  major-domo,  the  almoner, 
the  keeper  of  the  wardrobe,  the  keeper  of  the  jew- 
els, the  chamberlains,  two  watchmakers,  several 
secretaries,  the  physician,  the  confessor,  besides 
cooks,  confectioners,  bakers,  brewers,  game-keep- 
ers, and  numerous  valets.  Some  of  these  follow- 
ers seem  not  to  have  been  quite  so  content  as  their 
master  with  their  secluded  way  of  life,  and  to 
have  cast  many  a  longing  look  to  the  pomps  and 
vanities  of  the  world  they  had  left  behind  them. 
At  least  such  were  the  feelings  of  Quixada,  the 
emperor's  major-domo,  in  whom  he  placed  the 
greatest  confidence,  and  who  had  the  charge  of  his 
household.  "His  majesty's  bedroom,"  writes  the 
querulous  functionary,  "  is  good  enough ;  but  the 
view  from  it  is  poor,  —  barren  mountains,  covered 
with  rocks  and  stunted  oaks ;  a  garden  of  mod- 


*o  Their  names  and  vocations 
are  specified  in  the  codicil  ex- 
ecuted by  Charles  a  few  days  be- 
fore his  death.  See  the  document 
entire,  ap.  Sandoval,  Hist  de  Car- 
los v.,  torn.  n.  p.  662. 

A  more  satisfactory  list  has  been 
made  out  by  the  indefatigable  Ga- 


chard  from  various  documents  which 
he  collected,  and  which  have  fur- 
nished him  with  the  means  of  cor- 
recting the  orthography  of  Sando- 
val, miserably  deficient  in  respect 
to  Flemish  names.  See  Retraite 
et  Mort  de  Charles-Quint,  torn.  I 
p.  L 


^ 


I 


f** 


308         LATTER  DAYS  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.    [Book  L 


Uh.  IX.] 


HIS  MODE  OF  LIFE. 


309 


©rate  size,  with  a  few  straggling  orange-trees  ;  the 
roads  scarcely  passable,  so  steep  and  stony;  the 
only  water,  a  torrent  rushing  from  the  mountains  ; 
a  dreary  solitude  !  "  The  low,  cheerless  rooms,  he 
predicts,  must  necessarily  be  damp,  boding  no  good 
to  the  emperor's  infirmity."  "As  to  the  friars," 
observes  the  secretary,  Gaztelu,  in  the  same  amia- 
ble mood,  "please  God  that  his  majesty  may  be 
able  to  tolerate  them,  —  which  will  be  no  easy 
matter;  for  they  are  an  importunate  race."^^  It 
is  evident  that  Charles's  followers  would  have  been 
very  willing  to  exchange  the  mortifications  of  the 
monastic  life  for  the  good  cheer  and   gayety  of 

Brussels. 

The  worthy  prior  of  the  convent,  in  addressing 
Charles,  greeted  him  with  the  title  of  paternidad^ 
till  one  of  the  fraternity  suggested  to  him  the  pro- 
priety of  substituting  that  of  magestad?^    Indeed, 


u  "  Las  vistas  de  las  pie9as  de 
•u  magestad  no  son  muy  largas, 
gino  cortas,  y  las  que  se  vden,  o  es 
una  montana  de  piedras  grandes, 
6  unos  montes  de  robles  no  muy 
altos.  Campo  llano  no  le  ay,  ni 
como  podesse  pasear,  que  sea  por 
un  camino  estrecho  y  lleno  de 
piedra.  Rio  yo  no  vi  ninguno, 
iino  un  golpe  de  agua  que  baza  de 
la  montana :  huerta  en  casa  ay  una 

pequena  y  de  pocos  naranjos 

El  aposento  baxo  no  es  nada  alegre, 
sino  muy  triste,  y  como  es  tan  baxo, 

creo  ser^  humido Esto  es  lo 

que  me  parece  del  aposento  y  sitio 
de  la  casa  y  grandissima  soledad.** 
Carta  de   Luis   Quixada  a  Juan 


Vazquez,  30  de  Noviembre,  1556, 
MS. 

The  major-domo  concludes  by 
requesting  Vazquez  not  to  show 
it  to  his  mistress,  Joanna,  the  re- 
gent, as  he  would  not  be  thought 
to  run  counter  to  the  wishes  of  the 
emperor  in  anything. 

12  "  Plegue  i.  Dios  que  los  pueda 
sufrir,  que  no  serd  poco,  segun 
suelen  ser  todos  muy  importunos, 
y  mas  los  que  saben  menos.**  Carta 
de  Martin  de  Gaztelu,  MS. 

13  ^^Llamando  al  Emperador 
patemidad^  de  que  luego  fue  ad- 
vertido  de  otro  frayle  que  estava 
i,  su  lado,  y  acudid  con  magesiad* 
Ibid. 


to  this  title  Charles  had  good  right,  for  he  was 
still  emperor.  His  resignation  of  the  imperial 
crown,  which,  after  a  short  delay,  had  followed 
that  of  the  Spanish,  had  not  taken  effect,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  diet  not  being  in  session  at  the 
time  when  his  envoy,  the  prince  of  Orange,  was  to 
have  presented  himself  at  Ratisbon,  in  the  spring 
of  1557.  The  war  with  France  made  Philip  de- 
sirous that  his  father  should  remain  lord  of  Ger- 
many for  some  time  longer.  It  was  not,  therefore, 
until  more  than  a  year  after  Charles's  arrival  at 
Yuste,  that  the  resignation  was  accepted  by  the 
diet,  at  Frankfort,  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  Febru- 
ary, 1558.  Charles  was  still  emperor,  and  con- 
tinued to  receive  the  imperial  title  in  all  his  cor- 
respondence.^* 

We  have  pretty  full  accounts  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  monarch  employed  his  time.  He  at- 
tended mass  every  morning  in  the  chapel,  when 
his  health  permitted.  Mass  was  followed  by  din- 
ner, which  he  took  early  and  alone,  preferring  this 
to  occupying  a  seat  in  the  refectory  of  the  convent. 
He  was  fond  of  carving  for  himself,  though  his 
gouty  fingers  were  not  always  in  the  best  condition 
for  this  exercise.^  His  physician  was  usually  in 
attendance  during  the  repast,  and  might,  at  least, 


1*  "  Emperador  semper  augusto  el  mismo  lo  que  comia,  aunque  ni 

de  Alemania."  tenia  buenas  ni  desembueltas  las 

15  His  teeth  seem  to  have  been  manos,  ni  los  dientes."     Siguen^a, 

in  hardly  better  condition  than  his  Orden   de   San   Geronimo,  parts 

fingei  ?. —  "  Era  amigo  de  cortarse  III.  p.  192. 


/' 


:t" 


SIO        LATTER  DAYS  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.     [Book  I 

observe  how  little  his  patient,  who  had  not  the 
virtue  of  abstinence,  regarded  his  prescriptions. 
The  Fleming,  Van  Male,  the  emperor's  favorite 
gentleman  of  the  chamber,  was  also  not  unfre- 
quently  present.  He  was  a  good  scholar ;  and 
his  discussions  with  the  doctor  served  to  beguile 
the  tediousness  of  their  master's  solitary  meal. 
The  conversation  frequently  turned  on  some  sub- 
ject of  natural  history,  of  which  the  emperor  was 
fond;  and  when  the  parties  could  not  agree,  the 
confessor,  a  man  of  learning,  was  called  in  to  settle 
the  dispute. 

After  dinner,  —  an  important  meal,  which  occu- 
pied much  time  with  Charles,  —  he  listened  to 
some  passages  from  a  favorite  theologian.  In  his 
worldly  days,  the  reading  he  most  affected  was 
Comines's  account  of  King  Louis  the  Eleventh,^* 
—  a  prince  whose  maxim,  ''Qui  nescit  dissimulare^ 
nescit  regnare^'  was  too  well  suited  to  the  genius 
of  the  emperor.  He  now,  however,  sought  a  safer 
guide  for  his  spiritual  direction,  and  would  listen 
to  a  homily  from  the  pages  of  St.  Bernard,  or  more 
frequently  St.  Augustine,  in  whom  he  most  de- 
lighted.^^ Towards  evening,  he  heard  a  sermon 
from  one  of  his  preachers.  Three  or  four  of  the 
most  eloquent  of  the  Jeronymite  order  had  been 
brought  to  Yuste  for  his  especial  benefit.  When 
he  was  not  in  condition  to  be  present  at  the  dis- 

18  De  Thou,  Hist.  Universelle,    fesor  una  leccion  de  San  August 
lam.  m.  p.  298.  tin."      El    Perfecto    DesenganQ 

^  **  Quando  comia,  leya  el  con-    MS. 


Ch.  IX] 


HIS  MODE  OF  LIFE. 


311 


course,  he  expected  to  hear  a  full  report  of  it 
from  the  lips  of  his  confessor.  Father  Juan  de 
Kegla.  Charles  was  punctual  in  his  attention  to 
all  the  great  fasts  and  festivals  of  the  Church. 
His  infirmities,  indeed,  excused  him  from  fasting, 
but  he  made  up  for  it  by  the  severity  of  his  flagel- 
lation. In  Lent,  in  particular,  he  dealt  with  him- 
self so  sternly,  that  the  scourge  was  found  stained 
with  his  blood  ;  and  this  precious  memorial  of  his 
piety  was  ever  cherished,  we  are  told,  by  Philip, 
and  by  him  bequeathed  as  an  heirloom  to  his  son.^' 
Increasing  vigilance  in  his  own  spiritual  con- 
cerns made  him  more  vigilant  as  to  those  of 
others,  —  as  the  weaker  brethren  sometimes  found 
to  their  cost.  Observing  that  some  of  the  youngei 
friars  spent  more  time  than  was  seemly  in  con- 
versing with  the  women  who  came  on  business 
to  the  door  of  the  convent,  Charles  procured  an 
order  to   be   passed,  that   any  woman  who  ven- 


M  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  torn. 
I.  p.  15.  —  Vera  y  Figueroa,  Vida 
}-  Heches  de  Carlos  V.,  p.  123. — 
Siguen9a,  Orden  de  San  Geroni- 
mo,  parte  III.  p.  195. 

The  last  writer  is  minute  in  his 
notice  of  the  imperial  habits  and 
occupations  at  Yuste.  Siguen^a 
was  prior  of  the  Escorial ;  and  in 
that  palace-monastery  of  the  Je- 
ronymites  he  must  have  had  the 
weans  of  continually  conversing 
with  several  of  his  brethren  who  had 
been  with  Charles  in  his  retirement 
His  work,  which  appeared  at  the 


beginning  of  the  following  century, 
has  become  rare,  —  so  rare  that 
M.  Gachard  was  obliged  to  con- 
tent himself  with  a  few  manuscript 
extracts,  from  the  difficulty  of  pro- 
curing the  printed  original.  I  was 
fortunate  enough  to  obtain  a  copy, 
and  a  very  fine  one,  through  my 
booksellers,  Mesfrs.  Rich,  Broth- 
ers, London,  —  worthy  sons  of  a 
sire  who  for  thirty  years  or  more 
stood  preeminent  for  sagacity  and 
diligence  among  the  collectors  of 
rare  and  valuable  books 


^ 


'II 


312        LATTER  DAYS  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.     [Book  L 


Ch.  IX.] 


HIS  MODE  OF  LIFE. 


313 


tured  to  approach  within  two  bowshots  of  the  gate 
should  receive  a  hundred  stripes.^  On  another 
occasion,  his  officious  endeavor  to  quicken  the 
diligence  of  one  of  the  younger  members  of  the 
fraternity  is  said  to  have  provoked  the  latter  tes- 
tily to  exclaim,  "Cannot  you  be  contented  with 
having  so  long  turned  the  world  upside  down, 
without  coming  here  to  disturb  the  quiet  of  a  poor 
convent ] " 

He  derived  an  additional  pleasure,  in  his  spirit- 
ual exercises,  from  his  fondness  for  music,  which 
enters  so  largely  into  those  of  the  Romish  Church. 
He  sung  well  himself,  and  his  clear,  sonorous  voice 
might  often  be  heard  through  the  open  casement 
of  his  bedroom,  accompanying  the  chant  of  the 
monks  in  the  chapel.  The  choir  was  made  up 
altogether  of  brethren  of  the  order,  and  Charles 
would  allow  no  intrusion  from  any  other  quarter. 
His  ear  was  quick  to  distinguish  any  strange  voice, 
as  well  as  any  false  note  in  the  performance,  —  on 
which  last  occasion  he  would  sometimes  pause  in 
his  devotions,  and,  in  half-suppressed  tones,  give 
vent  to  his  wrath  by  one  of  those  scurrilous 
epithets,  which,  however  they  may  have  fallen  in 
with  the  habits  of  the  old  campaigner,  were  but 
indiiFerently  suited  to  his  present  way  of  life.^ 


W  "  Mando  pregonar  en  los  lu- 
gares  comarcanos  que  so  pena  de 
cien  a90tes  muger  alguna  no  pas- 
easse  de  un  hiimilladero  que  estasa 
fomo  dos  tiros  de  ballesta  del 
Monasterio."     Sandoval,  Hist  de 


Carlos  v.,  torn.  U,  p.  612;  and 
Sandoval's  double^  Valparayso,  El 
Perfecto  Desengaiio,  MS. 

20  "  Si  alguno  se  errava  dezia 
consigo  mismo:  O  hideputa  bernejo^ 
que  aquel  erro,  6  otro  nombi*  se- 


Such  time  as  was  not  given  to  his  religious  ex- 
ercises was  divided  among  various  occupations,  for 
which  he  had  always  had  a  relish,  though  hitherto 
but  little  leisure  to  pursue  them.  Besides  his  em- 
ployments in  his  garden,  he  had  a  decided  turn  for 
mechanical  pursuits.  Some  years  before,  while  in 
Germany,  he  had  invented  an  ingenious  kind  of 
carriage  for  his  own  accommodation.^^  He  brought 
with  him  to  Yuste  an  engineer  named  Torriano, 
famous  for  the  great  hydraulic  works  he  construct- 
ed in  Toledo.  With  the  assistance  of  this  man, 
a  most  skilful  mechanician,  Charles  amused  him- 
self by  making  a  variety  of  puppets  representing 
soldiers,  who  went  through  military  exercises.  The 
historian  draws  largely  on  our  faith,  by  telling  us 
also  of  little  wooden  birds  which  the  ingenious 
pair  contrived,  so  as  to  fly  in  and  out  of  the  win- 
dow before  the  admiring  monks  !  ^  But  nothing 
excited  their  astonishment  so  much,  as  a  little  hand- 
mill,  used  for  grindmg  wheat,  which  turned  out 


mejante."  Sandoval,  Hist  de  Car- 
los v.,  torn.  II.  p.  613. 

I  will  not  offend  ears  polite  by 
rendering  it  in  English  into  corre- 
sponding Billingsgate.  It  is  but 
fair  to  state  that  the  author  of  the 
Perfecto  Desengaiio  puts  no  such 
irreverent  expression  into  Charles's 
mouth.  Both,  however,  profess  to 
follow  the  MS.  of  the  Prior  An- 
gulo. 

91  "  Non  aspematur  exercitar 
tlones  campestres,  in  quern  usum 
paratam  habet  tormentariam  rhe- 

VOL.  I.  40 


dam,  ad  essedi  speciem,  praBcellenti 
arte,  et  miro  studio  proxlmis  hisce 
mensibus  a  se  constructara."  Let- 
tres  sur  la  Vie  InttSrieure  de  I'Em- 
pereur  Charles-Quint,  ecrltes  par 
Guillaume  van  Male,  gentilhomme 
de  sa  chambre,  et  publiees,  pour 
la  premiere  fois,  par  le  Baron  de 
Reiffenberg,  (Bruxelles,  1843,4to,) 
ep.  8. 

22  "  Interdum  ligneos  passerculoi 
emisit  cubiculo  volantes  revolantes 
que."  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico, 
torn.  I.  p.  15. 


I"  I 


4 


314        LATTER  DAYS  OF  CILVRLES  THE  FIFTH.     [Book  1 


Ch.  IX.] 


HIS  MODE  OF  LIFE. 


315 


meal  enougli  in  a  single  day  to  support  a  man  foi 
a  week  or  m:re.  The  good  fathers  thought  this 
savored  of  downright  necromancy ;  and  it  may  have 
furnished  an  argument  against  the  unfortunate 
engineer  in  the  persecution  which  he  afterwards 
underwent  from  the  Inquisition. 

Charles  took,  moreover,  great  interest  in  the 
mechanism  of  timepieces.  He  had  a  good  number 
of  clocks  and  watches  ticking  together  in  his  apart- 
ments ;  and  a  story  has  obtained  credit,  that  the 
difficulty  he  found  in  making  any  two  of  them 
keep  the  same  time  drew  from  him  an  exclamation 
on  the  folly  of  attempting  to  bring  a  number  of 
men  to  think  alike  in  matters  of  religion,  when  he 
could  not  regulate  any  two  of  his  timepieces  so  as 
to  make  them  agree  with  each  other ;  —  a  philo- 
sophical reflection  for  which  one  will  hardly  give 
credit  to  the  man  who,  with  his  dying  words,  could 
press  on  his  son. the  maintenance  of  the  Inquisition 
as  the  great  bulwark  of  the  Catholic  faith.  In  the 
gardens  of  Yuste  there  is  still,  or  was  lately,  to  be 
seen,  a  sun-dial  constructed  by  Torriano  to  enable 
his  master  to  measure  more  accurately  the  lapse  of 
time  as  it  glided  away  in  the  monotonous  routine 
of  the  monastery.^ 

Though  averse  to  visits  of  curiosity  or  idle  cere- 
mony,^ Charles  consented  to  admit  some  of  the 


V  Ford,  Handbook  of  Spain,  p.  adiri,    aut    conveniri,    nisi    aegre 

552.  admodum  patiebatur.^'    Scpidveda, 

9*  "  A  nemine,  ne  a  proceribus  Opera,  torn.  II.  p.  541. 
quidem  quacumque  ex  causa  se 


nobles  whose  estates  lay  in  the  surrounding  coun 
try,  and  who,  with  feelings  of  loyal  attachment  to 
their  ancient  master,  were  anxious  to  pay  their 
respects  to  him  in  his  retirement.  But  none  who 
found  their  way  into  his  retreat  appear  to  have 
given  him  so  much  satisfaction  as  Francisco  Borja, 
duke  of  Gandia,  in  later  times  placed  on  the  roll 
of  her  saints  by  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
Like  Charles,  he  had  occupied  a  brilliant  eminence 
in  the  world,  and  like  him  had  found  the  glory  of 
this  world  but  vanity.  In  the  prime  of  life,  he 
withdrew  from  the  busy  scenes  in  which  he  had 
acted,  and  entered  a  college  of  Jesuits.  By  the 
emperor's  invitation,  Borja  made  more  than  one 
visit  to  Yuste ;  and  Charles  found  much  consola- 
tion in  his  society,  and  in  conversing  with  his 
early  friend  on  topics  of  engrossing  interest  to 
both.  The  result  of  their  conferences  was  to  con- 
firm them  both  in  the  conviction,  that  they  had 
done  wisely  in  abjuring  the  world,  and  in  dedicat- 
ing themselves  to  the  service  of  Heaven. 

The  emperor  was  also  visited  by  his  two  sisters, 
the  dowager  queens  of  France  and  Hungary,  who 
had  accompanied  their  brother,  as  we  have  seen, 
on  his  return  to  Spain.  But  the  travelling  was 
too  rough,  and  the  accommodations  at  Yuste  too 
indifferent,  to  encourage  the  royal  matrons  to  pro- 
long their  stay,  or,  with  one  exception  on  the  part 
of  the  queen  of  Hungary,  to  repeat  their  visit. 

But  an  object  of  livelier  interest  to  the  emperor 
than  either  of  his  sisters  was  a  boy,  scarcely  twelve 


316        LATTER  DAYS  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.     [Book  L 

years  of  age,  who  resided  in  the  family  of  his 
major-domo,  Quixada,  in  the  neighboring  village 
of  Cuacos.  This  was  Don  John  of  Austria,  as  he 
was  afterwards  called,  the  future  hero  of  Lepanto. 
He  was  the  natural  son  of  Charles,  a  fact  known 
to  no  one  during  the  father's  lifetime,  except  Qui* 
xada,  who  introduced  the  boy  into  the  convent  as 
his  own  page.  The  lad,  at  this  early  age,  showed 
mauy  gleams  of  that  generous  spirit  by  which  he 
was  afterwards  distinguished,  —  thus  solacing  the 
declining  years  of  his  parent,  and  affording  a  hold 
for  those  affections  which  might  have  withered  in 
the  cold  atmosphere  of  the  cloister. 

Strangers  were  sure  to  be  well  received  who, 
coming  from  the  theatre  of  war,  could  furnish  the 
information  he  so  much  desired  respecting  the 
condition  of  things  abroad.  Thus  we  find  him  in 
conference  vrith  an  officer  arrived  from  the  Low 
Countries,  named  Spinosa,  and  putting  a  multitude 
of  questions  respecting  the  state  of  the  army,  the 
organization  and  equipment  of  the  different  corps, 
and  other  particulars,  showing  the  lively  interest 
taken  by  Charles  in  the  conduct  of  the  cam- 
paign.^ 

It  has  been  a  common  opinion,  that  the  emperor, 
after  his   retirement  to  Yuste,   remained   as  one 


^  "  Le  hizo  mas  preguntas  que 
•e  pudieran  hazer  d  la  donzella 
Theodor,  de  que  todo  did  buena 
razoD  y  de  lo  que  vid  y  oyd  en 
Francia,  provisiones  de  obispados, 


cargos  de  Italia,  y  de  la  infanteria 
y  caballeria,  artilleria,  gastadores, 
annas  de  mano  y  de  otras  cosas." 
Carta  de  Martin  de  Gaztelu  d  Juan 
Vazquez,  18  de  Mayo,  1558,  M8. 


Ch.  IX.]        HIS  INTEREST  IN  PUBLIC  AFFAIRS. 


317 


buried  alive,  totally  cut  off  from  intercourse  with 
the  world  ;  —  "as  completely  withdrawn  from  the 
business  of  the  kingdom  and  the  concerns  of  gov- 
ernment," says  one  of  his  biographers,  "  as  if  he 
had  never  taken  part  in  them  "  ;  ^  —  "so  entirely 
abstracted  in  his  solitude,"  says  another  contem- 
porary, "  that  neither  revolutions  nor  wars,  nor 
gold  arriving  in  heaps  from  the  Indies,  had  any 
power  to  affect  his  tranquillity."^ 

So  far  was  this  from  being  the  case,  that  not  only 
did  the  emperor  continue  to  show  an  interest  in 
public  affairs,  but  he  took  a  prominent  part,  even 
from  the  depths  of  his  retreat,  in  the  management 
of  them.^  Philip,  who  had  the  good  sense  to  de- 
fer to  the  long  experience  and  the  wisdom  of  his 
father,  consulted  him,  constantly,  on  great  ques- 
tions of  public  policy.  And  so  far  was  he  from 
the  feeling  of  jealousy  often  imputed  to  him,  that 
we  find  him  on  one  occasion,  when  the  horizon 


38  "  Retirose  tanto  de  los  nego- 
cios  del  Reyno  y  cosas  de  govierno, 
como  si  jamsis  uviera  tenido  parte 
en  ellos."  Sandoval,  Hist  de  Car- 
los v.,  torn.  II.  p.  614.  —  See  also 
Valparayso,  (El  Perfecto  Desenga- 
no,  MS.,)  who  uses  the  same 
words,  probably  copying  Angulo, 
unless,  indeed,  we  suppose  him  to 
have  stolen  from  Sandoval. 

27  "  Ut  neque  aurum,  quod  in- 
genti  copia  per  id  tempus  Hispana 
classis  illi  advexit  ab  India,  neque 

strepitus  bellorum, quidquam 

potuerint  animum  ilium  flectere, 


tot  retro  annis  assuetum  armorum 
sono."  —  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico, 
tom.  I.  p.  14. 

28  It  is  singular  that  Sepulveda, 
who  visited  Charles  in  his  retreat, 
should  have  been  the  only  histo- 
rian, as  far  as  I  am  aware,  who 
recognized  the  truth  of  this  fact, 
so  perfectly  establbhed  by  the 
letters  from  Yuste.  —  "  Summis 
enim  rebus,  ut  de  bello  et  pace 
se  consuli,  deque  fratris,  liberorum 
et  sororum  salute,  et  statu  rerum 
certiorem  fieri  non  recusabat** 
Opera,  tom.  II.  p.  641. 


In 


318         LATTER  DAYS  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.    [Book  I 


looked  particularly  dark,  imploring   .he  emperor 
to  leave  his  retreat,  and  to  aid  him  not  only  by 
his  counsels,  but  by  his  presence  and  authority.^® 
The  emperor's   daughter  Joanna,   regent   of  Cas- 
tile,  from  her  residence   at  Valladolid,  only  fifty 
leagues  from  Yuste,  maintained  a  constant   cor- 
respondence with  her  father,  soliciting   his  advice 
in  the  conduct  of  the  government.    However  much 
Charles  may  have  felt  himself  relieved  from  re- 
sponsibility for  measures,  he  seems  to  have  been 
'   as  anxious  for  the  success  of  Philip's  administra- 
tion  as   if  it  had  been  his   own.     "Write  more 
fully,"  says  one  of  his  secretaries  in  a  letter  to 
the   secretary  of  the  regent's  council;  "the  em- 
peror  is  always  eager  to  hear  more  particulars  of 
events."  ^     He  showed  the  deepest  concern  in  the 
conduct  of  the  Italian  war.     He  betrayed  none  of 
the  scruples  manifested  by  Philip,  but  boldly  de- 
clared that  the  war  with  the  pope  was  a  just  war, 
in  the  sight  of  both  God  and  man.^     When  letters 
came  from  abroad,  he  was  even  heard  to  express 


*  "  Supplicando  con  toda  hu- 
mildad  e  instancia  &  su  Magestad 
tenga  por  bien  de  esforzarse  en 
esta  coyuntura,  socorriendome  y 
ayudandome,  no  solo  con  su  pare- 
cer  y  consejo  que  es  el  mayor 
caudal  que  puedo  tener,  pero  con 
(a  presencia  de  su  persona  y  auto- 
ridad,  saliendo  del  monasterio,  d 
la  parte  y  lugar  que  mas  comodo 
■ea  d  su  salud."  Retiro,  Estancia, 
etc.,  ap.  Mignet,  Charles-Quint,  p. 
256,  note. 


*  "  Siempre,  en  estas  cosas. 
pregunta  si  no  hay  mas."*  Carta 
de  Martin  de  Gaztelu  d  Juan 
Vazquez,  8  de  Noviembre,  1556, 
MS. 

31  "  Pues  no  se  puede  hazer  otra 
cosa,  y  el  Rey  se  ha  justificado  en 
tantas  maneras  cumpliendo  con 
Dios  y  el  mundo,  por  escusar  log 
danos  que  dello  se  seguiran,  forza- 
do  sera  usar  del  ultimo  remedio." 
Carta  del  Emperador  d  Vazquex, 
8  de  Agosto,  1557,  MS. 


Oh.  IX]        his  interest  IN  PUBLIC  AFFAIRS. 


e319 


his  regret  that  they  brought  no  tidings  of  Paul's 
death,  or  Caraffa's!**  He  was  sorely  displeased 
with  the  truce  which  Alva  granted  to  the  pontiff 
intimating  a  regret  that  he  had  not  the  reins  still 
in  his  own  hand.  He  was  yet  more  discontented 
with  the  peace,  and  the  terms  of  it,  both  public 
and  private;  and  when  Alva  talked  of  leaving 
Naples,  his  anger,  as  his  secretary  quaintly  re- 
marks, was  "  more  than  was  good  for  his  health."  " 
The  same  interest  he  showed  in  the  French  war. 
The  loss  of  Calais  filled  him  with  the  deepest 
anxiety.  But  in  his  letters  on  the  occasion,  in- 
stead of  wasting  his  time  in  idle  lament,,  he  seems 
intent  only  on  devising  in  what  way  he  can  best 
serve  Philip  in  his  distress.^  In  the  same  pro 
portion  he  was  elated  by  the  tidings  of  the  victory 
of  St.  Quentin.  His  thoughts  turned  upon  Paris, 
and  he  was  eager  to  learn  what  road  his  son  had 
taken  after  the  battle.^  According  to  Brantome, 
on  hearing  the  news,  he  abruptly  asked,  "  Is  Philip 
at  Paris  V'  —  He  judged  of  Philip's  temper  by  his 


I 


'I' 


own. 


86 


»  "  Del  Papa  y  de  Caraffa  se 
siente  aqui  que  no  haya  Uegado  la 
nueva  de  que  se  ban  muerto.** 
Carta  de  Martin  de  Gaztelu  A  Juan 
Vazquez,  8  de  Noviembre,  1556, 

MS. 

33  "  Sobre  que  su  magestad  dizo 
al*mnas  cosas  con  mas  eolera  de  la 
que  para  su  salud  conviene.**  Car- 
la  de  Martin  de  Gaztelu  fi  Juan 
Vazquez,  10  de  Enero,  1558,  MS. 

34  See,  in  particular,  Carta  del 


Emperador  i   Su   Alteza,   4    de 
Febrero,  1558,  MS. 

35  "  Su  Magestad  estd  con  mucho 
cuidado  por  saber  que  camino  ara 
tornado  el  Rey  despues  de  acabada 
aquella  empresa.**  Carta  de  Luis 
de  Quixada  d  Juan  Vazquez,  27 
de  Sotiembre,  1557,  MS. 

36  BrantSme,    (Euvres,   torn.  L 

p.  11. 

"Whether  Charles  actually  made 
the  remark  or  not,  it  is  clear  from 


r  : 


I 


u 


320        LATTER  DAYS  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.    [Book  I 

At  another  time,  we  find  liim  conducting  nego- 
tiations with  Navarre  ;  ^  and  then,  again,  carrying 
on  a  correspondence  with  his  sister,  the  regent  of 
Portugal,  for  the  purpose  of  having  his  grandson, 
Carlos,  recognized  as  heir  to  the  crown,  in  case  of 
the  death  of  the  young  king,  his  cousin.  The 
scheme  failed,  for  it  would  be  as  much  as  her  life 
was  worth,  the  regent  said,  to  engage  in  it.  But 
it  was  a  bold  one,  that  of  bringing  under  the  same 
sceptre  these  two  nations,  which,  by  community  of 
race,  language,  and  institutions,  would  seem  by 
nature  to  have  been  designed  for  one.  It  was 
Charles's  comprehensive  idea;  and  it  proves  that, 
even  in  the  cloister,  the  spirit  of  ambition  had  not 
become  extinct  in  his  bosom.  How  much  would 
it  have  rejoiced  that  ambitious  spirit,  could  he 
have  foreseen  that  the  consummation  so  much  de- 
sired by  him  would  be  attained  under  Philip  !^ 


a  letter  in  the  Gonzalez  collection 
that  this  was  uppermost  in  his 
thoughts.  —  "  Su  Magestad  tenia 
gran  deseo  de  saber  que  partido 
tomaba  el  rey  su  hijo  despues  de 
la  victoria,  y  que  estaba  impacien- 
tissimo  formando  cuentas  de  que 
ya  deberia  estar  sobre  Paris.**  Car- 
ta de  Quixada,  19  de  Setiembre, 
1557,  ap.  Mignet,  Charles-Quint, 
p.  279. 

It  is  singular  that  this  interest- 
ing letter  is  neither  in  M.  Gra- 
chard's  collection  nor  in  that  made 
for  me  from  the  same  sources. 

^  Cartas  del  Emperador  &  Juan 
Vazquez,  de  Setiembre  27  y  Octu- 
brc  31,  1557,  MS. 


38  The  emperor  intimates  his 
wishes  in  regard  to  his  grandson's 
succession  in  a  letter  addressed,  at 
a  later  period,  to  Philip.  (Carta 
del  Emperador  al  Rey,  81  de 
Marzo,  1558,  MS.)  But  a  full  ac- 
count of  the  Portuguese  mission  is 
given  by  Cienfuegos,  Vida  de  S. 
Francisco  de  Borja,  (Barcelona, 
1754,)  p.  269.  The  person  em- 
ployed by  Charles  in  this  delicate 
business  was  no  other  than  his  friend 
Francisco  Borja,  the  ex-duke  of 
Gandia,  who,  like  himself,  had 
sought  a  retreat  from  the  world  in 
the  shades  of  the  cloister.  The 
biographers  who  record  the  mira- 
cles and  miraculous  virtues  of  the 


Ch.  IX.]        HIS  INTEREST  IN  PUBLIC  AFFAIRS. 


321 


But  the  department  which  especially  engaged 
Charles's  attention  in  his  retirement,  singularlj 
enough,  was  the  financial.  "  It  has  been  my  con 
stant  care,"  he  writes  to  Philip,  "  in  aU  my  letters 
to  your  sister,  to  urge  the  necessity  of  providing 
you  with  funds,  —  since  I  can  be  of  little  service  to 
you  in  any  other  way."^  His  interposition,  indeed, 
seems  to  have  been  constantly  invoked  to  raise  sup- 
plies for  carrying  on  the  war.  This  fact  may  be 
thought  to  show  that  those  writers  are  mistaken 
who  accuse  Philip  of  withholding  from  his  father 
the  means  of  maintaining  a  suitable  establishment 
at  Yuste.  Charles,  in  truth,  settled  the  amount  of 
his  own  income ;  and  in  one  of  his  letters  we  find 
him  fixing  this  at  twenty  thousand  ducats,  instead 


sainted  Jesuit,  bestow  several  chap- 
ters on  his  visits  to  Yuste.  His  con- 
versations with  the  emperor  are  re- 
ported with  a  minuteness  that  Bos- 
well  might  have  envied,  and  which 
may  well  provoke  our  scepticism, 
unless  we  suppose  them  to  have 
been  reported  by  Borja  himself. 
One  topic  much  discussed  in  them 
was  the  merits  of  the  order  which 
the  emperor's  friend  had  entered. 
It  had  not  then  risen  to  that  emi- 
nence which,  under  its  singular  dis- 
cipline, it  subsequently  reached; 
and  Charles  would  fain  have  per- 
suaded his  visitor  to  abandon  it  for 
the  Jeronymite  society  with  which 
he  was  established.  But  Borja 
seems  to  have  silenced,  if  not  satis- 
fied, his  royal  master,  by  arguments 
which  prove  that  his  acute  mind 
already  discerned  the  germ  of  fu- 
VOL.  I.  41 


ture  greatness  in  the  institutions 
of  the  new  order.  —  Ibid.,  pp.  273 
-279.  —  Ribadeneira,  Vita  Fran- 
cisci  Bor^ae,  (Lat  trans.,  Antver- 
piae,  1598,)  p.  110  et  seq. 

39  Carta  del  Emperador  al  Rey, 
25  de  Mayo,  1558,  MS. 

On  the  margin  of  this  letter  we 
find  the  following  memoranda  of 
Philip  himself,  showing  how  much 
importance  he  attached  to  his  fa- 
ther's interposition  in  this  matter. 
"  Volvdrselo  a  suplicar  con  gran 
instancia,  pues  quedamos  in  tales 
terminos  que,  si  me  ayudan  con 
dinero,  los  podriamos  atraer  k  lo 
que  conviniesse.**  "  Besalle  las 
manos  por  lo  que  en  esto  ha  man- 
dado  y  suplicalle  lo  lleve  adelante 
y  que  de  acd  se  hara  lo  mismo,  y 
avisarle  de  lo  que  se  han  hecho 
hasta  agora.^ 


9 
•  'I 


■ 


322        LATTER  DAYS  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.     [Book  I 


L 


of  sixteen  thousand,  as  before,  to  be  paid  quarterly 
and  in  advance.*^  That  the  payments  were  not 
always  punctually  made  may  well  be  believed,  in 
a  country  where  punctuality  would  have  been  a 
miracle. 

Charles  had  more  cause  for  irritation  in  the  con- 
duct of  some  of  those  fimctionaries  with  whom  he 
had  to  deal  in  his  financial  capacity.  Nothing  ap- 
pears to  have  stiired  his  bile  so  much  at  Yuste  as 
the  proceedings  of  some  members  of  the  board  of 
trade  at  Seville.  "I  have  deferred  sending  to 
you,"  he  writes  to  his  daughter,  the  regent,  "in 
order  to  see  if,  with  time,  my  wrath  would  not  sub- 
side. But,  far  from  it,  it  increases,  and  will  go  on 
increasing  till  I  learn  that  those  who  have  done 
wrong  have  atoned  for  it.  Were  it  not  for  my  in- 
firmities," he  adds,  "  I  would  go  to  Seville  myself, 
and  find  out  the  authors  of  this  villany,  and  biing 
them  to  a  summary  reckoning."*^  "The  emperor 
orders  me,"  writes  his  secretary,  Gaztelu,  "  to  com- 
mand that  the  offenders  be  put  in  irons,  and  in 
order  to  mortify  them  the  more,  that  they  be  car- 
ried, in  broad  daylight,  to  Simancas,  and  there 
lodged,  not  in  towers  or  chambers,  but  in  a  dim- 
geon.  Indeed,  such  is  his  indignation,  and  such 
are  the  violent  and  bloodthirsty  expressions  he  com- 

^  Carta  del  Emperador  i  Juan  thoritative  tone  shows  that,  though 

Vazquez,  31  de  Marzo,  1557,  MS.  he  had  parted  with  the  crown,  he 

*i  Carta  del   Emperador  &    la  had  not  parted  with  the  temper  of 

Princesa,  31  de  I^Iarzo,  1557,  MS.  a  sovereign,  and  of  an  absolute 

—  The  whole  letter  is  singularly  sovereign  toe. 
characteristic  of  Charles.    Its  au- 


Ch.  IX.]        HIS  INTEEEST  IN  PUBLIC  AFFAIES. 


323 


mands  me  to  use,  that  you  will  pardon  me  if  my 
language  is  not  so  temperate  as  it  might  be."*^  It 
had  been  customary  for  the  board  of  trade  to  re- 
ceive the  gold  imported  from  the  Indies,  whether 
on  public  or  private  account,  and  hold  it  for  the 
use  of  the  government,  paying  to  the  merchants 
interested  an  equivalent  in  government  bonds. 
The  merchants,  naturally  enough,  not  relishmg 
this  kind  of  security  so  well  as  the  gold,  by  a  col- 
lusion with  some  of  the  members  of  the  board  of 
trade,  had  been  secretly  allowed  to  remove  their 
own  property.  In  this  way  the  government  was 
defrauded  —  as  the  emperor  regarded  it  —  of  a 
large  sum  on  which  it  had  calculated.  This, 
it  would  seem,  was  the  offence  which  had  roused 
the  royal  indignation  to  such  a  pitch.  Charles's 
phlegmatic  temperament  had  ever  been  liable  to 
be  ruffled  by  these  sudden  gusts  of  passion ;  and 
his  conventual  life  does  not  seem  to  have  had 
any  very  sedative  influence  on  him  in  this  par- 
ticular. 

For  the  first  ten  months  after  his  arrival  at 
Yuste,  the  emperor's  health,  under  the  influence 
of  a  temperate  climate,  the  quiet  of  monastic  life, 
and  more  than  all,  probably,  his  exemption  from 
the  cares  of  state,  had  generally  improved.*^     His 


*2  "  Es  tal  su  indignacion  y  tan  Juan  Vazquez,  12  de  Mayo,  1557, 

sangrientas  las  palahras  y  vehe-  MS. 

mencia  con  que  manda  escribir  &        ^  "  His  majesty  was  so  well,* 

r.  m.  que  me  disculpari  sino  lo  writes  Gaztelu,  early  in  the  sum- 

hago  con  mas  templan9a  y  modo."  mer  of  1557,  "  that  he  could  rise 

Carta   de    Martin  de   Gaztelu  A  fix>m  his  seat,  and  support  his  ar* 


324        LATTER  DAYS  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.     [Book  1 


Ch.  IX.]       HIS  INTEREST  IN  PUBLIC  AFFAIRS. 


325 


attacks  of  gout  had  been  less  frequent  and  lesa 
severe  than  before.  But  in  the  spring  of  1558, 
the  old  malady  returned  with  renewed  violence. 
"I  was  not  in  a  condition,"  he  writes  to  Philip, 
"  to  listen  to  a  single  sermon  during  Lent."^  For 
months  he  was  scarcely  able  to  write  a  line  with 
his  own  hand.  His  spirits  felt  the  pressure  of 
bodily  suffering,  and  were  still  further  depressed 
by  the  death  of  his  sister  Eleanor,  the  queen- 
dowager  of  France  and  Portugal,  which  took  place 
in  February,  1558. 

A  strong  attachment  seems  to  have  subsisted 
between  the  emperor  and  his  two  sisters.  Queen 
Eleanor's  sweetness  of  disposition  had  particularly 
endeared  her  to  her  brother,  who  now  felt  her  loss 
almost  as  keenly  as  that  of  one  of  his  own  children. 
"  She  was  a  good  Christian,"  he  said  to  his  secre- 
tary, Gaztelu;  and,  as  the  tears  rolled  down  his 
cheeks,  he  added,  "  We  have  always  loved  each 
other.  She  was  my  elder  by  fifteen  months ;  and 
before  that  period  has  passed  I  shall  probably  be 
with  her."*^  Before  half  that  period,  the  sad 
augury  was  fulfilled. 


quebuse,  without  aid."  He  could 
even  do  some  mischief  with  his 
fowling-piece  to  the  wood-pigeons. 
Carta  de  Gaztelu  i,  Vazquez,  5 
de  Junio,  1557,  MS. 

^  "  Porque  desde  tantos  de  no- 
viembre  hasta  pocos  dias  hame  ha 
dado  [la  gota]  tres  vezes  y  muy 
rezio,  y  me  ha  tenido  muchos  dias 
en  la  cama,  y  hestado  hasta  de 


poco  acd  tan  trabajado  y  flaco  que 
en  toda  esta  quaresma  no  he  podido 
oyr  un  sermon,  y  esto  es  la  causa 
porque  no  os  escribo  esta  de  mi 
mano.**  Carta  del  Emperador  al 
Key,  7  de  Abril,  1558,  MS. 

45  "  Sinti(51o  cierto  mucho,  y  se 
le  arrasdron  los  ojos,  y  me  dijo  lo 
mucho  que  ^1  y  la  de  Francia  ^e 
habian    siempre    querido,    v  pot 


At  this  period  —  as  we  shall  see  hereafter  —  the 
attention  of  the  government  was  called  to  the  Lu- 
theran heresy,  which  had  already  begun  to  disclose 
itself  in  various  quarters  of  the  country.  Charles 
was  possessed  of  a  full  share  of  the  spirit  of  bigotry 
which  belonged  to  the  royal  line  of  Castile,  from 
which  he  was  descended.  While  on  the  throne, 
this  feeling  was  held  somewhat  in  check  by  a  re- 
gard for  his  political  interests.  But  in  the  seclu- 
sion of  the  monastery  he  had  no  interests  to  con- 
sult but  those  of  religion ;  and  he  gave  free  scope 
to  the  spirit  of  intolerance  which  belonged  to  his 
nature.  In  a  letter  addressed,  the  third  of  May, 
1558,  to  his  daughter  Joanna,  he  says :  "  Tell  the 
grand-inquisitor  from  me  to  be  at  his  post,  and  lay 
the  axe  at  the  root  of  the  evil  before  it  spreads 
further.  I  rely  on  your  zeal  for  bringing  the  guilty 
to  punishment,  and  for  having  them  punished,  with- 
out favor  to  any  one,  with  all  the  severity  which 
their  crimes  demand."*^  In  another  letter  to  hib 
daughter,  three  weeks  later,  he  writes :  "  If  I  had 
not  entire  confidence  that  you  would  do  your  duty, 
and  arrest  the  evil  at  once  by  chastising  the  guilty 


euan  buena  cristiana  la  tenia,  y 
que  le  llevaba  quince  meses  de 
tiempo,  y  que,  segun  dl  se  iba 
Binticndo,  de  poco  acd  podria  ser 
que  dentro  de  ellos  le  hiciese  com- 
pania."  Carta  de  Gaztelu  d  Vaz- 
quez, 21  de  Febrero,  1558,  ap. 
Gachard,  Retraite  et  Mort,  tom.  I. 
p.  270.  —  See  also  Mignet,  Charles- 
«*iuint,  p.  339. 


^  "  Y  que  para  ello  les  deis  y 
mandeis  dar  todo  el  favor  y  calor 
que  fuere  necesario  y  para  que  los 
que  fueren  culpados  scan  punidos 
y  castigados  con  la  deniostracion  y 
rigor  que  la  cualidad  de  sus  culpas 
mereceran  y  esto  sin  exception  de 
persona  alguna."  Carta  del  Em- 
perador a  la  Princesa,  3  de  Mayo« 
1558,  MS. 


II 


(*• 


326        LATTER  DAYS  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.     [Book  I. 

in  good  earnest,  I  know  not  how  I  could  help  leav 
ing  the  monastery,  and  takmg  the  remedy  into  my 
own  hands."  *^  Thus  did  Charles  make  his  voice 
heard  from  his  retreat  among  the  mountains,  and 
by  his  efforts  and  influence  render  himself  largely 
responsible  for  the  fiery  persecution  which  brought 
woe  upon  the  land  after  he  himself  had  gone  to  his 
account. 

About  the  middle  of  August,  the  emperor's  old 
enemy,  the  gout,  returned  on  him  with  uncommon 
force.  It  was  attended  with  sjmptoms  of  an  alarm- 
ing kiad,  intimating,  indeed,  that  his  strong  consti- 
tution was  giving  way.  These  were  attributed  to 
a  cold  which  he  had  taken,  though  it  seems  there 
was  good  reason  for  imputing  them  to  his  intem- 
perate living ;  for  he  still  continued  to  indulge  his 
appetite  for  the  most  dangerous  dishes,  as  freely  as 
in  the  days  when  a  more  active  way  of  life  had 
better  enabled  him  to  digest  them.  It  is  true,  the 
physician  stood  by  his  side,  as  prompt  as  Sancho 
Panza's  doctor,  in  his  island  domain,  to  remonstrate 
against  his  master's  proceedings.  But,  unhappily, 
he  was  not  armed  with  the  authority  of  that  func- 
tionary ;  and  an  eel-pie,  a  well-spiced  capon,  or 
any  other  savory  abomination,  offered  too  great  a 
fascination  for  Charles  to  heed  the  warnings  of  his 
physician. 

The  declining  state  of  the  emperor's  health  may 
have  inspired  him  with  a  presentiment  of  his  ap- 

47  *i  No  se  ^  toviera  sufrimlento    Carta  del  Emperador  &  la  Princeaai 
para  no  salir  de  aqui  arremediaUo.**    25  de  Mayo,  1568|  MS. 


Ch.  IX.]         HE  CELEBRATES  HIS  OBSEQUIES. 


327 


proaching  end,  to  which,  we  have  seen,  he  gave 
utterance  some  time  before  this,  in  his  conversatioi) 
with  Gaztelu.  It  may  have  been  the  sober  reflec- 
tions which  such  a  feeling  would  natui'ally  suggest 
that  led  him,  at  the  close  of  the  month  of  August, 
to  conceive  the  extraordinary  idea  of  preparing  for 
the  final  scene  by  rehearsiQg  his  own  funeral.  He  j 
consulted  his  confessor  on  the  subject,  and  was 
encouraged  by  the  accommodating  father  to  con- 
sider it  as  a  meritorious  act.  The  chapel  was  ac- 
cordingly hung  in  black,  and  the  blaze  of  hundreds 
of  wax-lights  was  not  sufficient  to  dispel  the  dark- 
ness. The  monks  in  their  conventual  dresses,  and 
all  the  emperor's  household,  clad  in  deep  mourn- 
ing, gathered  round  a  huge  catafalque,  shrouded 
also  in  black,  which  had  been  raised  in  the  centre 
of  the  chapel.  The  service  for  the  burial  of  the 
dead  was  then  performed ;  and,  amidst  the  dismal 
wail  of  the  monks,  the  prayers  ascended  for  the 
departed  spirit,  that  it  might  be  received  into  the 
mansions  of  the  blessed.  The  sorrowful  attend- 
ants were  melted  to  tears,  as  the  image  of  their 
master  s  death  was  presented  to  theu'  minds,  or  they 
were  touched,  it  may  be,  with  compassion  for  this 
pitiable  display  of  his  weakness.  Charles,  muffled 
in  a  dark  mantle,  and  bearing  a  lighted  candle  in 
his  hand,  mingled  with  his  household,  the  spec- 
tator of  his  own  obsequies ;  and  the  doleful  cere- 
mony was  concluded  by  his  placing  the  taper  in 
the  hands  of  the  priest,  in  sign  of  his  surrendering 
up  his  soul  to  the  Almighty. 


II 


i 


|i 


328        LATTER  DAYS  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.     [BaoK  L 

Such  is  the  account  of  this  melancholy  farce  giv- 
en us  by  the  Jeronymite  chroniclers  of  the  cloister 
life  of  Charles  the  Fifth,  and  which  has  since  been 
repeated  —  losing  nothing  in  the  repetition  —  by 
every  succeeding  historian,  to  the  present  time.*® 
Nor  does  there  seem  to  have  been  any  distrust  of 
its  correctness  till  the  historical  scepticism  of  our 
own  day  had  subjected  the  narrative  to  a  more 
critical  scrutiny.  It  was  then  discovered  that  no 
mention  of  the  affair  was  to  be  discerned  in  the 
letters  of  any  one  of  the  emperor's  household  re- 
siding at  Yuste,  although  there  are  letters  extant 
written  by  Charles's  physician,  his  major-domo,  and 
his  secretary,  both  on  the  thirty-first  of  August, 
the  day  of  the  funeral,  and  on  the  first  of  Septem- 
ber. With  so  extraordinary  an  event  fresh  in  their 
minds,  their  silence  is  inexplicable. 

One  fact  is  certain,  that,  if  the  funeral  did  take 
place,  it  could  not  have  been  on  the  date  assigned 
to  it ;  for  on  the  thirty-first  the  emperor  was  labor- 
ing under  an  attack  of  fever,  of  which  his  physi- 


Ch.  IX.]    HE  CELEBRATES  HIS  OBSEQUIES. 


329 


^  The  history  of  this  affair  fur- 
nishes a  good  example  of  the 
erescit  eundo.  The  author  of  the 
MS.  discovered  by  M.  Bakhuizen, 
noticed  more  fully  in  the  next 
note,  though  present  at  the  cere- 
mony, contents  himself  with  a  gen- 
eral outline  of  it.  Siguen9a,  who 
follows  next  in  time  and  in  author- 
ity, tells  us  of  the  lighted  candle 
which  Charles  delivered  to  the 
priest.  Strada,  who  wrote  a  gen- 
eration later,  concludes  the  scene 


by  leaving  the  emperor  in  a  swoon 
upon  the  floor.  Lastly,  Robertson, 
after  making  the  emperor  perform 
in  his  shroud,  lays  him  in  his  coffin, 
where,  afler  joining  in  the  prayers 
for  the  rest  of  his  own  soul,  not 
yet  departed,  he  is  left  by  the 
monks  to  his  meditations ! — Where 
Robertson  got  all  these  particulars 
it  would  not  be  easy  to  tell ;  cer- 
tainly not  from  the  authorities 
cited  at  the  bottom  of  h>8  page. 


clan  has  given  full  particulars,  and  from  which 
he  was  destined  never  to  recover.  That  the 
writers,  therefore,  should  have  been  silent  in 
respect  to  a  ceremony  which  must  have  had  so 
bad  an  effect  on  the  nerves  of  the  patient,  is 
altogether  incredible. 

Yet  the  story  of  the  obsequies  comes  from  one  of 
the  Jeronymite  brethren  then  living  at  Yuste,  who 
speaks  of  the  emotions  which  he  felt,  in  common 
with  the  rest  of  the  convent,  at  seeing  a  man  thus 
bury  himself  alive,  as  it  were,  and  perform  his  fu- 
neral rites  before  his  death.*^  It  is  repeated  by  an- 
other of  the  fraternity,  the  prior  of  the  Escorial,  who 
had  ample  means  of  conversing  with  eyewitnesses.^ 
And  finally,  it  is  confirmed  by  more  than  one 
writer  near  enough  to  the  period  to  be  able  to 


^  "Et  j'assure  que  le  coeur  nous 
fendait  de  voir  qu*un  homme  voulut 
en  quelque  sorte  s*enterrer  vivant, 
et  faire  ses  obseques  avant  de 
mourir."  Gachard,  Retraite  et 
Mort,  torn.  I.  p.  Ivi. 

M.  Gachard  has  given  a  transla- 
tion of  the  chapter  relating  to  the 
funeral,  from  a  curious  MS.  account 
of  Charles's  convent  life,  discov- 
ered by  M.  Bakhuizen  in  the  ar- 
chives at  Brussels.  As  the  author 
was  one  of  the  brotherhood  who 
occupied  the  convent  at  the  time 
^f  the  emperor's  residence  there, 
the  MS.  is  stamped  with  the  high- 
est authority ;  and  M.  Gachard  will 
doubtless  do  a  good  service  to  let- 
ters by  incorporating  it  in  the  sec- 

VOL    I.  42 


ond  volume  of  his  "  Retraite  et 
Mort." 

^  Siguen^a,  Hist,  de  la  Orden 
de  San  Geronimo,  parte  III.  pp. 
200,  201. 

Siguen9a's  work,  which  combines 
much  curious  learninjj  with  a  sim- 
pie  elegance  of  style,  was  the  fruit 
of  many  years  of  labor.  The  third 
volume,  containing  the  part  re- 
lating to  the  emperor,  appeared  in 
1605,  the  year  before  the  death  of 
its  author,  who,  as  already  noticed, 
must  have  had  daily  communica- 
tion with  several  of  the  monks, 
when,  aflter  Charles's  death,  they 
had  been  transferred  from  Yuste 
to  the  gloomy  shades  of  the  £sco* 
rial. 


M 


I 


330        LATTEB  DAYS  OF  CHAKLES  THE  FIFTH.     [Book  I 


Ch.  IX.]  HE  CELEBRATES  HIS  OBSEQUIES. 


331 


assui*3  himself  of  the  truth.*^  Indeed,  the  parties 
from  whom  the  account  is  originally  derived  were 
so  situated  that,  if  the  story  be  without  foundation, 
it  is  impossible  to  explain  its  existence  by  misap- 
prehension on  their  part.  It  must  be  wholly 
charged  on  a  wilful  misstatement  of  facts.  It  is 
true,  the  monkish  chronicler  is  not  always  quite 
so  scrupulous  in  this  particular  as  would  be  de- 
sirable, —  especially  where  the  honor  of  his  order 
is  implicated.  But  what  interest  could  the  Jerony- 
mite  fathers  have  had  in  so  foolish  a  fabrication  as 
this  I  The  supposition  is  at  variance  with  the  re- 
spectable character  of  the  parties,  and  with  the 
air  of  simplicity  and  good  faith  that  belongs  to 
their  narratives.^ 

We  may  well  be  staggered,  it  is  true,  by  the 
fact  that  no  allusion  to  the  obsequies  appears  in 
any  of  the  letters  from  Yuste ;  while  the  date  as- 


51  Such,  for  example,  were  Vera 
V  Fiirueroa,  Conde  de  la  Roca, 
whose  little  volume  appeared  in 
1613;  Strada,  who  wrote  some 
twenty  years  later ;  and  the  mar- 
quis of  Valparayso,  whose  MS.  is 
dated  1C38.  I  say  nothing  of  San- 
doval, often  quoted  as  authority 
for  the  funeral,  for,  as  he  tells  us 
that  the  money  which  the  empe- 
ror proposed  to  devote  to  a  mock 
funeral  was  after  all  appropriated 
to  his  real  one,  it  would  seem  to 
imply  that  the  former  never  took 
place. 

It  were  greatly  to  be  wished 
tliat  the  MS.  of  Fray  Martin  de 


An<»ulo  could  be  detected  and 
brought  to  light.  As  prior  of 
Yuste  while  Charles  was  there,  his 
testimony  would  be  invaluable. 
Both  Sandoval  and  the  marquis  of 
Valparayso  profess  to  have  relied 
mainly  on  Angulo's  authority.  Yet 
in  this  very  affair  of  the  funeral 
they  disagree. 

5*2  Siguen9a*s  composition  may 
be  characterized  as  simplex  mun- 
ditiis.  Tlie  MS.  of  the  monk  of 
Yuste,  found  in  Brussels,  is  stamped, 
says  M.  Gachard,  with  the  charac- 
ter  of  simplicity  and  truth.  Re» 
traite  et  Mort,  torn.  I.  p.  xx. 


signed  for  them,  moreover,  is  positively  disproved. 
Yet  we  may  consider  that  the  misstatement  of  a 
date  is  a  very  different  thing  from  the  invention  of 
a  story,  and  that  chronological  accuracy,  as  I  have 
more  than  once  had  occasion  to  remark,  was  not 
the  virtue  of  the  monkish,  or  indeed  of  any  other 
historian  of  the  sixteenth  century.  It  would  not 
be  a  miracle  if  the  obsequies  should  have  taken 
place  some  days  before  the  period  assigned  to 
them.  It  so  happens  that  we  have  no  letters 
from  Yuste  between  the  eighteenth  and  the  twenty- 
seventh  of  August.  At  least,  I  have  none  myself, 
and  have  seen  none  cited  by  others.  If  any 
should  hereafter  come  to  light,  written  during 
that  interval,  they  may  be  found  possibly  to  con- 
tain some  allusion  to  the  funeral.  Should  no 
letters  have  been  written  during  the  period,  the 
silence  of  the  parties  who  wrote  at  the  end  of 
August  and  the  beginning  of  September  may  be 
explained  by  the  fact,  that  too  long  a  time  had 
elapsed  since  the  performance  of  the  emperor's 
obsequies,  for  them  to  suppose  it  could  have  any 
connection  with  his  illness,  which  formed  the 
subject  of  their  correspondence.  Difficulties  will 
present  themselves,  whichever  view  we  take  of 
the  matter.  But  the  reader  may  think  it  quite 
as  reasonable  to  explain  those  difficulties  by  the 
supposition  of  involuntary  error,  as  by  that  of 
sheer  invention. 

Nor  is  the  former  supposition  rendered  less  prob- 
able by  the  character  of  Charles  the  Fifth.     There 


332        LATTER  DAYS  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH     [B«ok  L 


Cb.  DC.] 


HIS  LAST  ILLNESS. 


333 


was  a  taint  of  insanity  in  the  royal  blood  of  Castile, 
which  was  most  fully  displayed  in  the  emperor's 
mother,  Joanna.  Some  traces  of  it,  however  faint, 
may  be  discerned  in  his  own  conduct,  before  he 
took  refuge  in  the  cloisters  of  Yuste.  And  though 
we  may  not  agree  with  Paul  the  Fourth  in  regard- 
ing this  step  as  sufficient  evidence  of  his  madness,^ 
we  may  yet  find  something  in  his  conduct,  on  more 
than  one  occasion,  while  there,  which  is  near  akin 
to  it.  Such,  for  example,  was  the  morbid  relish 
which  he  discovered  for  performing  the  obsequies, 
not  merely  of  his  kindrdfl,  but  of  any  one  whose 
position  seemed  to  him  to  furnish  an  apology  for 
it  Not  a  member  of  the  toison  died,  but  he  was 
prepared  to  commemorate  the  event  with  solemn 
funeral  rites.  These,  in  short,  seemed  to  be  the 
festivities  of  Charleses  cloister  life.  These  lugu- 
brious ceremonies  had  a  fascination  for  him,  that 
may  remind  one  of  the  tenacity  with  which  his 
mother,  Joanna,  clung  to  the  dead  body  of  her 
husband,  taking  it  with  her  wherever  she  went. 
It  was  after  celebrating  the  obsequies  of  his  par- 
ents and  his  wife,  which  occupied  several  succes- 
sive days,  that  he  conceived,  as  we  are  told,  the 
idea  of  rehearsing  his  own  funeral,  —  a  piece  of 
extravagance  which  becomes  the  more  credible 
when  we  reflect  on  the  state  of  morbid  excitement 
to  which  his  mind  may  have  been  brought  by 
dwelling  so  long  on  the  dreary  apparatus  of  death. 

S3  Jkiignet,  Cliarles-Qumt,  p.  1. 


But  whatever  be  thought  of  the  account  of  the 
mock  funeral  of  Charles,  it  appears  that  on  the 
thirtieth  of  August  he  was  affected  by  an  indispo- 
sition which  on  the  following  day  was  attended 
with  most  alarming  symptoms.  Here  also  we 
have  some  particulars  from  his  Jeronymite  biog- 
raphers which  we  do  not  find  in  the  letters.  On 
the  evening  of  the  thirty-first,  according  to  their 
account,  Charles  ordered  a  portrait  of  the  empress, 
his  wife,  of  whom,  as  we  have  seen,  he  had  more 
than  one  in  his  collection,  to  be  brought  to  him. 
He  dwelt  a  long  while  on  its  beautiful  features, 
"as  if,"  says  the  chronicler,  "he  were  imploring 
her  to  prepare  a  place  for  him  in  the  celestial 
mansions  to  which  she  had  gone."^  He  then 
passed  to  the  contemplation  of  another  picture,  — 
Titian's  "  Agony  in  the  Garden,"  and  from  this  to 
that  immortal  production  of  his  pencil,  the  "  Glo- 
ria," as  it  is  called,  which  is  said  to  have  hung 
over  the  high  altar  at  Yuste,  and  which,  after 
the  emperor's  death,  followed  his  remains  to  the 
Escorial.^  He  gazed  so  long  and  with  such  rapt 
attention  on  the  picture,  as  to  cause  apprehension 
in  his  physician,  who,  in  the  emperor's  debili- 
tated state,  feared  the  effects  of  such  excitement 
on  his  nerves.     There  was  good  reason  for  appre- 


5*  "  Estuvo    un    poco   contem-  55  Xhls  famous  picture,  painted 

piandole,  devia  de  pedirle,  que  le  in  the  artist's  best  style,  forms  now 

previniesse  lugar  en    el  Alcazar  one  of  the  noblest  ornaments  of 

glorioso  que  habitava.**     Vera  y  the  Museo  of  Madrid.     See  Ford, 

Figueroa,  Carlos  Quinto,  p.  127.  Handbook  of  Spain,  p.  758. 


834        LATTEB  DAYS  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.    [Book  I. 

hension ;  for  Charles,  at  length,  rousing  from  his 
reverie,  turned  to  the  doctor,  and  complained  that 
he  was  ill.  His  pulse  showed  him  to  be  in  a  high 
fever.  As  the  symptoms  became  more  unfavor- 
able, his  physician  bled  him,  but  without  any  good 
effect.^  The  Regent  Joanna,  on  learning  her  fa- 
ther's danger,  instantly  despatched  her  own  physi- 
cian from  Valladolid  to  his  assistance.  But  no 
earthly  remedies  could  avail.  It  soon  became  evi- 
dent that  the  end  was  approaching.^^ 
f  Charles  received  the  intelligence,  not  merely  with 
composure,  but  with  cheerfulness.  It  was  what  he 
had  long  desired,  he  said.  His  first  care  was  to 
complete  some  few  arrangements  respecting  his 
affairs.  On  the  ninth  of  September,  he  executed 
a  codicil  to  his  will.  The  will,  made  a  few  years 
previous,  was  of  great  length,  and  the  codicil  had 
not  the  merit  of  brevity.  Its  principal  object  was 
to  moke  pro\dsion  for  those  who  had  followed 
him  to  Yuste.  No  mention  is  made  in  the  codicil 
of  his  son  Don  John  of  Austria.  He  seems  to 
have  communicated  his  views  in  regard  to  him 
to  his  major-domo,  Quixada,  who  had  a  private 
interview  of  some  length  with  his  master  a  few 
days  before  his  death.     Charles's  directions  on  the 


5«  For  the  above  account  of  the        *'  Vera    y    Figucroa,    Carlos 

beginning  of  Charles's  illness,  see  Quinto,p.  127. —  Siguencja,  Orden 

Siguen9a,  Orden  de  San  Geroni-  de   San   Geronimo,   parte  III.  p. 

mo,  parte  III.  p.   201 ;    Vera  y  201.  —  Carta    de    Luis    Quixada 

Figueroa,  Carlos  Quinto,  p.  127;  al  Key,  17  de   Setiembre,  1558, 

Valparayso,  el  Perfecto  Desengafio,  MS. 
MS. 


1^ 


3h.  IX.] 


i  MpJr'i"- 


fflS  LAST  ILLNESS. 


335 


subject  appear  to  have  been  scrupulously  regarded 
by  PhUip.^ 

One  clause  in  the  codicil  deserves  to  be  noticed. 
The  emperor  conjures  his  son  most  earnestly,  by 
the  obedience  he  owes  him,  to  follow  up  and  bring 
to  justice  every  heretic  in  his  dominions ;  and  this 
without  exception,  and  without  favor  or  mercy  to 
any  one.  He  conjures  Philip  to  cherish  the  Holy 
Inquisition,  as  the  best  instrument  for  accom- 
plishing this  good  work.  "  So,"  he  concludes, 
"  shall  you  have  my  blessing,  and  the  Lord  shall 
prosper  all  your  undertakings."^  Such  were  the 
last  words  of  the  dying  monarch  to  his  son.  They 
did  not  fall  on  a  deaf  ear  ;  and  the  parting  admo- 
nition of  his  father  served  to  give  a  keener  edge  to 
the  sword  of  persecution  which  Philip  had  already 
begun  to  wield. 

On  the  nineteenth  of  September,  Charles's 
strength    had    declined    so    much    that    it    was 


W  The  Regent  Joanna,  it  seems, 
suspected,  for  some  reason  or  oth- 
er, tliat  the  boy  in  Quixada*s  care 
was  in  fact  the  emperor's  son.  A 
few  weeks  after  her  father's  death 
she  caused  a  letter  to  be  addressed 
to  the  major-domo,  asking  him  di- 
rectly if  this  were  the  <jase,  and 
intimating  a  desire  to  make  a 
suitable  provision  for  the  youth. 
The  wary  functionary,  who  tells 
this  in  his  private  correspondence 
with  Philip,  endeavored  to  put  the 
regent  off  the  scent  by  stating  that 
Uie  lad  was  the  son  of  a  fnend, 


and  that,  as  no  allusion  had  been 
made  to  him  in  the  emperor's  will, 
there  could  be  no  foundation  for 
the  rumor.  "  Ser  ansy  que  yo 
tenya  un  muchacho  de  hun  ca- 
ballero  amygo  myo  que  me  abia 
eneomendado  aiios  a,  y  que  pues 
S.  M.  en  su  testameato  ni  code- 
cilyo,  no  azia  memorya  del,  que 
hera  razon  tenello  por  burla." 
Carta  de  Luis  Quixada  al  Rey,  28 
de  Noviembre,  1558,  MS. 

W  Codicilo  del  Emperador,  ap. 
Sandoval,  Hist,  de  Carlos  V  torn, 
n.  p.  657. 


iS 


IWi 


336        LATTER  DAYS  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.     IBook  I 

thought  proper  to  admmister  extreme  unction  to 
hun.     He  preferred  to  have  it  in  the  form  adopted 
by  the  friars,  which,  comprehending  a  litany,  the 
seven  penitential  psalms,   and  sundry  other  pas- 
sages   of  Scripture,  was  much   longer  and  more 
exhausting  than  the  rite  used  by  the  laity.     His 
strength  did  not  fail  under  it,  however ;  and  the 
following  day  he  desired  to  take  the  communion, 
as   he   had   frequently   done    during   his    illness. 
On  his  confessor's  representing  that,  after  the  sac- 
rament of  extreme  unction,  this  was  unnecessary  % 
he  answered,  "  Perhaps  so,  but  it  is  good  provision 
for   the   long  journey  I   am  to  set  out  upon."** 
Exhausted  as  he  was,  he  knelt  a  full  quarter  of 
an  hour  in  his  bed  during  the  ceremony,  offering 
thanks  to  God  for  his  mercies,  and  expressing  the 
deepest  contrition  for  his  sins,  with  an  earnestness 
of  manner  that  touched  the  hearts  of  all  present.^^ 
Throughout  his  illness  he  had  found  consola- 
tion  in  having  passages  of  Scripture,  especially  the 
Psalms,  read  to  him.     Quixada,  careful  that   his 
master  should  not  be  disquieted  in  his  last  mo- 
ments, would  allow  very  few  persons  to  be  present 
in  his  chamber.     Among   the  number  was  Bar- 
tolom6  de  Carranza,  who  had  lately  been  raised  to 
the  archiepiscopal  see  of  Toledo.     He  had  taken 


W  »♦  Si  bien  no  sea  necessario  no  mentos  del  Emperador  Carlos  V., 

OS  parece,  que  es  buena  compaiiia  escrita  en  Yuste,  el  27  dc  Setiem- 

para  Jornada   tan   larga."     Rid.,  bre,  1558,  ap.  Documentos  Inedi- 

p^  017,  tos,  torn.  VI.  p.  668. 

•1  Carta  sobre  los  liltimos  mo- 


Ch.  IX.] 


HIS  LAST  ILLNESS. 


337 


a  prominent  part  in  the  persecution  in  England 
under  Mary.  For  the  remainder  of  his  life  he 
was  to  be  the  victim  of  persecution  himself,  from  a 
stronger  arm  than  his,  that  of  the  Inquisition. 
Even  the  words  of  consolation  which  he  uttered  in 
this  chamber  of  death  were  carefully  treasured  up 
by  Charles's  confessor,  and  made  one  of  the  charges 
against  him  in  his  impeachment  for  heresy. 

On  the  twenty-first  of  September,  St.  Matthew's 
day,  about  two  hours  after  midnight,  the  em- 
peror, who  had  remained  long  without  speaking, 
feeling  that  his  hour  had  come,  exclaimed, 
"Now  it  is  time!"  The  holy  taper  was  placed 
lighted  in  his  right  hand,  as  he  sat  up  lean- 
ing on  the  shoulder  of  the  faithful  Quixada. 
With  his  left  he  endeavored  to  clasp  a  silver 
crucifix.  It  had  comforted  the  empress,  his  wife, 
in  her  dying  hour ;  and  Charles  had  ordered  Qui- 
xada to  hold  it  m  readiness  for  him  on  the  like 
occasion.^  It  had  lain  for  some  time  on  his 
breast;  and  as  it  was  now  held  up  before  his 
glazing  eye  by  the  archbishop  of  Toledo,  Charles 
fixed  his  gaze  long  and  earnestly  on  the  sacred 
symbol,  —  to  him  the  memento  of  earthly  love  as 
well  as  heavenly.  The  archbishop  was  repeating 
the  psalm  De  Pro/undis,  — ''Out  of  the  depths 
have  I  cried  unto  thee,  O  Lord!"  — when  the 
dying   man,  making   a    feeble   effort   to   embrace 

«  Carta  de  Luis  Quixada  i  Juan  de  Setiembre,  1558,  MS.  —  Carta 
Vazquez,  25  de  Setiembre,  1558,  del  Arzobispo  de  Toledo  d  la  Prin- 
MS.  —  Carta  del  mismo  al  Rey,  30    cesa,  21  de  Setiembre,  1558,  MS. 

VOL.   I.  ^3 


338         LATTER  DAYS  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.     [Book  I- 

the  crucifix,  exclaimed,  in  tones  so  audible  as  to 
be  heard  in  the  adjoining  room,  ''Ay  Jesus!'' 
and,  sinking  back  on  the  pillow,  expu^ed  without 
a  struggle.®  He  had  always  prayed  —  perhaps 
fearing  the  hereditary  taint  of  insanity  —  that  he 
might  die  in  possession  of  his  faculties.^  His 
prayer  was  granted. 

The  emperor  s  body,  after  being  embalmed,  and 
placed  in  its  leaden  coffin,  lay  in  state  in  the 
chapel  for  three  days,  during  which  three  dis- 
courses were  pronounced  over  it  by  the  best  preach- 
ers in  the  convent.  It  was  then  consigned  to  the 
earth,  with  due  solemnity,  amidst  the  prayers  and 
tears  of  the  brethren  and  of  Charles's  domestics, 
in  presence  of  a  numerous  concourse  of  persons 
from  the  surrounding  country. 

The  burial  did  not  take  place,  however,  with- 
out some  difficulty.  Charles  had  requested  by 
his  will  that  he  might  be  laid  partially  under  the 


63  "  Tomo  la  candela  en  la  mano 
derecha  la  qual  yo  tenya  y  con  la 
yzquyerda  tomo  el  cnicifixo  de- 
aiiendo,  ya  es  tiempo,  y  con  dezir 
Jesus  acabo/*  Carta  de  Luis  Qui- 
xada  li  Juan  Vazquez,  25  de  Se- 
tiembre,  1558,  MS. 

For  the  accounts  of  this  death- 
bed scene,  see  Carta  del  mismo  al 
mismo,  21  de  Setiembre,  MS. — 
Carta  del  mismo  al  Rey,  21  de 
Setiembre,  MS.—  Carta  del  mismo 
al  mismo,  30  de  Setiembre,  MS.  — 
Carta  del  Arzobispo  de  Toledo  A 
la  Princesa,  21  de  Setiembre,  MS. 


—  Carta  del  Medico  del  Empera- 
dor  (Henrico  Matisio)  d  Juan  Vaz- 
quez, 21  de  Setiembre,  MS. — 
Carta  sobre  los  ultimos  momentos 
del  Emperador,  27  de  Setiembre, 
ap.  Documentos  Ineditos,  vol.  VI. 
p.  667. —  Sandoval,  Hist,  de  Carlos 
v.,  tom.  H.  p.  618. 

The  MSS.  referred  to  may  now 
be  all  found  in  the  printed  collec- 
tion of  Gachard. 

^  "  Temiendo  siempre  no  lo 
poder  tener  en  aquel  tiempo." 
Carta  de  Luis  Quixada  al  Rey 
30  de  Setiembre,  MS. 


Ch.  IX.] 


HIS  DEATH  AND  CHARACTER. 


339 


great  altar,  in  such  a  manner  that  his  head  and 
the  upper  part  of  his  body  might  come  under  the 
spot  where  the  priest  stood  when  he  performed  the 
service.  This  was  dictated  in  all  humility  by  the 
emperor ;  but  it  raised  a  question  among  the  scru- 
pulous ecclesiastics  as  to  the  propriety  of  permit- 
ting any  bones  save  those  of  a  saint  to  occupy  so 
holy  a  place  as  that  beneath  the  altar.  The  dis- 
pute waxed  somewhat  warmer  than  was  suited  to 
the  occasion ;  till  the  momentous  affair  was  finally 
adjusted  by  having  an  excavation  made  in  the 
wall,  within  which  the  head  was  intioduced,  so 
as  to  allow  the  feet  to  touch  the  verge  of  the 
hallowed  ground.^  The  emperor's  body  did  not 
long  abide  in  its  resting-place  at  Yuste.  Before 
many  years  had  elapsed,  it  was  transported,  by 
command  of  Philip  the  Second,  to  the  Escorial, 
and  in  that  magnificent  mausoleum  it  has  con- 
tinued to  repose,  beside  that  of  the  Empress 
Isabella. 

The  funeral  obsequies  of  Charles  were  celebrated 
with  much  pomp  by  the  court  of  Rome,  by  the  Re 
gent  Joanna  at  Valladolid,  and,  with  yet  greater 
magnificence,  by  Philip  the  Second  at  Brussels. 
Philip  was  at  Arras  when  he  learned  the  news  of 
nis  father's  death.  He  instantly  repaired  to  a 
monastery  in  the  neighborhood  of  Brussels,  where 
he  remained  secluded  for  several  weeks.  Mean- 
while he  ordered  the  bells  in  all  the  churches  and 
convents  throughout  the  Netherlands  to  be  tolled 

65  Documentos  Ineditos,  tom.  VI.  p.  669. 


340        LATTER  DAYS  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.     (Book  I 

thrice  a  day  for  four  months,  and  during  that  time 
that  no  festivals  or  public  rejoicings  of  any  kind 
should  take  place.  On  the  twenty-eighth  of  De- 
cember the  king  entered  Brussels  by  night,  and  on 
the  following  day,  before  the  hour  of  vespers,  a 
procession  was  formed  to  the  church  of  St  Gudule, 
which  still  challenges  the  admiration  of  the  trav- 
eller as  one  of  the  noblest  monuments  of  mediaeval 
architecture  in  the  Netherlands. 

The  procession  consisted  of  the  principal  clergy, 
the   members   of   the    different  religious    houses, 
bearing  lighted  tapers  in  their  hands,  the  nobles 
and  cavaliers  about  the  court,  the  great  officers  of 
state   and   the  royal  household,  all  clad  in  deep 
mourning.     After  these  came  the  knights  of  the 
Golden  Fleece,  wearing  the  insignia  and  the  su- 
perb dress  of  the  order.     The  marquis  of  Aguilar 
bore  the  imperial  sceptre,  the   duke   of  Villaher- 
mosa  the  sword,  and  the  prince  of  Orange  carried 
the  globe  and  the  crown  of  the  empire.     Philip 
came  on  foot,  wrapped  in  a  sable  mantle,  with  his 
head  buried  in  a  deep  cowl.     His  train  was  borne 
by   Ruy   Gomez   de   Silva,  the  favorite   minister. 
Then  followed  the  duke  of  Savoy,  walking  also 
alone,  with  his  head  covered,  as  a  prince  of  the 
blood.     Files  of  the  Spanish  and  German  guard, 
in  their  national  uniforms,  formed  an  escort  to  the 
procession,  as  it  took  its  way  through  the  prin- 
cipal streets,  which  were  illumined  with  a  blaze  of 
torchlight,  that  dispelled  the  gathering  shadows  of 
evening. 


CH.IX.] 


mS  DEATH  AND  CHARACTER. 


341 


A  conspicuous  part  of  the  procession  was  a  long 
train  of  horses  led  each  by  two  gentlemen,  and 
displaying  on  their  splendid  housings,  and  the  ban- 
ners which  they  carried,  the  devices  and  arms  of 
the  several  states  over  which  the  emperor  presided. 

But  no  part  of  the  pageant  attracted  so  much 
notice  from  the  populace  as  a  stately  galley,  hav- 
ing its  sides  skilfully  painted  with  battle-pieces 
suggested  by  different  actions  in  which  Charles 
had  been  engaged;  while  its  sails  of  black  silk 
were  covered  with  inscriptions  in  letters  of  gold, 
that  commemorated  the  triumphs  of  the  hero. 

Although  the  palace  was  at  no  great  distance 
from  St.  Gudule*s,  the  procession  occupied  two 
hours  in  passing  to  the  church.  In  the  nave  of 
the  edifice  stood  a  sort  of  chapel,  constructed  for 
the  occasion.  Its  roof,  or  rather  canopy,  display- 
ing four  crowns  embroidered  in  gold,  rested  on 
four  Ionic  pillars  curiously  wrought.  Within  lay 
a  sarcophagus  covered  with  a  dark  pall  of  velvet, 
surmounted  by  a  large  crimson  cross.  The  im- 
perial crown,  together  with  the  globe  and  sceptre, 
was  deposited  in  this  chapel,  which  was  lighted 
up  with  three  thousand  wax  tapers. 

In  front  of  it  was  a  scaffolding  covered  with 
black,  on  which  a  throne  was  raised  for  Philip. 
The  nobles  and  great  officers  of  the  crown  occu- 
pied the  seats,  or  rather  steps,  below.  Drapery 
of  dark  velvet  and  cloth  of  gold,  emblazoned 
with  the  imperial  arms,  was  suspended  across  the 
arches  of  the  nave ;    above  which   ran   galleries, 


342        LATTER  DAYS  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.    [Book  1 


Ch.  IX.1 


HIS  DEATH  AND  CHARACTER. 


343 


appropriated  to  the  ductess  of  Lorraine  and  the 
ladies  of  the  court.^ 

The  traveller  who  at  this  time  visits  this  ven- 
erable pile,  where  Charles  the  Fifth  was  wont 
to  hold  the  chapters  of  the  Golden  Fleece,  while 
he  gazes  on  the  characteristic  effigy  of  that  mon- 
arch, as  it  is  displayed  on  the  superb  windows  ot 
painted  glass,  may  call  to  mind  the  memorable 
day  when  the  people  of  Flanders,  and  the  rank 
and  beauty  of  its  capital,  were  gathered  together 
to  celebrate  the  obsequies  of  the  great  emperor; 
when,  amidst  clouds  of  incense  and  the  blaze  of 
mjTiads  of  lights,  the  deep  tones  of  the  organ, 
vibrating  through  the  long  aisles,  mingled  with 
the  voices  of  the  priests,  as  they  chanted  theu'  sad 
requiem  to  the  "oul  of  their  departed  sovereign.^ 


•8  Sandoval,  Hist,  de  Carlos  V., 
torn.  n.  p.  620. 

67  At  least,  such  were  the  images 
suggested  to  my  mind,  as  I  wandered 
through  the  aisles  of  this  fine  old  ca- 
thedral, on  a  visit  which  I  made  to 
Brussels  a  few  years  since,  —  in 
the  summer  of  1850.  Perhaps  the 
reader  will  excuse,  as  germaine  to 
this  matter,  a  short  sketch  relat- 
ing to  it,  from  one  of  my  letters 
written  on  the  spot  to  a  distant 
friend : — 

**  Then  the  noble  cathedral  of 
Brussels,  dedicated  to  one  Saint 
Gudule,  —  the  superb  organ  filling 
Its  long  aisles  with  the  most  heart- 
thrilling  tones,  as  the  voices  of  the 
priests,  dressed  in  their  rich  robes 
of  purple  and  gold,  rose  in  a  chant 


that  died  away  in  the  immense 
vaulted  distance  of  the  cathedral. 
It  was  the  service  of  the  dead, 
and  the  coffin  of  some  wealthy 
burgher  probably,  to  judge  from 
its  decorations,  was  in  the  choir. 
A  number  of  persons  were  kneel- 
ing and  saying  their  prayers  in 
rapt  attention,  little  heeding  the 
Protestant  strangers  who  were  cu- 
riously gazing  at  the  pictures  and 
statues  with  which  the  edifice  waa 
filled.  I  was  most  struck  with  one 
poor  woman,  who  was  kneeling 
before  the  shrine  of  the  saint, 
whose  marble  corpse,  covered  by 
a  decent  white  gauze  veil,  lay  just 
before  her,  separated  only  by  a 
light  railing.  The  setting  sun  was 
streaming  in  through  the  rich  coU 


I  have  gone  somewhat  into  detail  in  regard  to 
the  latter  days  of  Charles  the  Fifth,  who  exercised, 
in  his  retirement,  too  important  an  influence  on 
public  affairs  for  such  an  account  of  him  to  be 
deemed  an  impertinent  episode  to  the  history 
of  Philip  the  Second.  Before  parting  from  him 
forever,  I  will  take  a  brief  view  of  some  peculi- 
arities in  his  personal,  rather  than  his  political 
character,  which  has  long  since  been  indelibly 
traced  by  a  hand  abler  than  mine. 

Charles,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  was  in  the 
fifty-eighth  year  of  his  age.  He  was  older  in  con- 
stitution than  in  years.  So  much  shaken  had  he 
been,  indeed,  in  mind  as  well  as  body,  that  he  may 
be  said  to  have  died  of  premature  old  age.  Yet 
his  physical  development  had  been  very  slow.  He 
was  nearly  twenty-one  years  old  before  any  beard 
was  to  be  seen  on  his  chin.^  Yet  by  the  time  he 
was  thirty-six,  gray  hairs  began  to  make  thek  ap- 
pearance on  his  temples.  At  forty  the  gout  had 
made  severe   inroads  on  a  constitution  originally 


ored  panes  of  the  magnificent  win- 
dows, iiiat  rose  from  the  floor  to 
the  ceiling  of  the  cathedral,  some 
hundred  feet  in  height.  The  glass 
was  of  the  time  of  Charles  the 
Fifth,  and  I  soon  recognized  his 
familiar  face,  —  the  protruding  jaw 
of  the  Austrian  line.  As  I  heard 
the  glorious  anthem  rise  up  to 
heaven  in  this  time-honored  cathe- 
dral, wliich  had  witnessed  genera- 
tion after  generation  melt  away, 
and  whi{!l)  now  displayed,  in  un- 


dying colors,  the  effigies  of  those 
who  had  once  worshipped  within 
its  walls,  I  was  swept  back  to  a 
distant  period,  and  felt  I  was  a 
contemporary  of  the  grand  old 
times  when  Charles  the  Fifth  held 
the  chapters  of  the  Golden  Fleece 
in  this  very  building.** 

68  "  De  Rege  vero  Caesare  ajunt, 
qui  ab  eo  veniunt,  barbatum  jam 
esse.**  Petri  Martyris  Opus  £pis« 
tolarum,  (Amstelodami,  1670,  fol.,) 
ep.  734. 


I 


344        LATTER  DAYS  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.     [Book  1 

strong ;  and  before  he  was  fifty,  the  man  who  could 
keep  the  saddle  day  and  night  in  his  campaigns, 
who  seemed  to  be  insensible  to  fatigue  as  he 
followed  the  chase  among  the  wild  passes  of  the 
Alpuxarras,  was  obhged  to  be  carried  in  a  litter, 
like  a  poor  cripple,  at  the  head  of  his  armies.® 
His  mental  development  was  equally  tardy  with 
his  bodily.  So  long  as  Chievres  lived,  —  the 
Flemish  noble  who  had  the  care  of  his  early 
'  life,  —  Charles  seemed  to  have  no  will  of  his 
own.  During  his  first  visit  to  Spain,  where  he 
eame  when  seventeen  years  old,  he  gave  so  little 
promise,  that  those  who  approached  him  nearest 
could  discern  no  signs  of  his  future  greatness. 
Yet  the  young  prince  seems  to  have  been  con- 
scious that  he  had  the  elements  of  greatness  with- 
in him,  and  he  patiently  bided  his  time.  "Non- 
d^^  "  —  "  Not  yet "  —  was  the  motto  which  he 
adopted  for  his  maiden  shield,  when  but  eigh- 
teen years  old,  at  a  tournament  at  Valladolid. 

But  when  the  death  of  the  Flemish  minister 
had  released  the  young  monarch  from  this  state 
of  dependence,  he  took  the  reins  into  his  own 
hands,  as  Louis  the  Fourteenth  did  on  the  death 
of  Mazarin.  He  now  showed  himself  in  an  en- 
tirely new  aspect.  He  even  displayed  greater 
independence    than    his    predecessors    had    done. 

W  In  this  outline  of  the  charac-  arch,  in  the  introduction  to  that 

ter  of  Charles  the  Fifth,  I  have  portion  of  his  great  work  on  the 

.lot  hesitated  to  avail  myself  of  the  nations  of  Southern  Europe  which 

masterly  touches  which  Ranke  has  he  has  devoted  to  Spain, 
given  to  the  portrait  of  this  mon- 


Ch.  IX.] 


HIS  DEATH  AND  CHARACTER. 


345 


He  no  longer  trusted  everythmg,  like  them,  tu 
a  couni3il  of  state.  He  trusted  only  to  himself; 
and  if  he  freely  communicated  with  some  one 
favorite  minister,  like  the  elder  Granvelle,  and 
the  cardinal,  his  son,  it  was  in  order  to  be  coun- 
selled, not  to  be  controlled  by  their  judgments. 
He  patiently  informed  himself  of  public  aflairs ; 
and  when  foreign  envoys  had  their  audiences  of 
him,  they  were  surprised  to  find  him  possessed 
of  everything  relating  to  their  o^vn  courts  and 
the  objects  of  their  mission. 

Yet  he  did  not  seem  to  be  quick  of  apprehen 
sion,  or,  to  speak  more  correctly,  he  was  slow  in 
arriving  at  his  results.  He  would  keep  the  cou- 
rier waiting  for  days  before  he  could  come  to  a 
decision.  When  he  did  come  to  it,  no  person  on 
earth  could  shake  it.  Talking  one  day  with  the 
Venetian  Contarini  about  this  habit  of  his  mind, 
the  courtly  minister  remarked,  that  "it  was  not 
obstinacy  to  adhere  to  sound  opinions."  "  True," 
said  Charles,  "  but  I  sometimes  adhere  to  those 
that  are  unsound."  ^^ 

His  indefatigable  activity  both  of  mind  and  body 
formed  a  strong  contrast  to  the  lethargy  of  early 
years.  His  widely  scattered  empii-e,  spreading 
over  the  Low  Countries,  Spain,  Germany,  and  the 
New  World,  presented  embarrassments  which  most 
princes  would  have  found  it  impossible  to  over- 
come.    At  least,  they  would  have  been  compelled 

^  "  Qualche  fiate  io  son  femio     Ranke,  Ottoman  and  Spanish  Em- 
iu  le  cattive.**     Contarini,  cited  by    pires,  p.  29. 
VOL.  I.  -ii 


M 


i 


346        LATTER  DAYS  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.     [Book  1 

to  govern,  in  a  great  measure,  by  deputy,  —  to 
transact  their  business  by  agents.  But  Charles 
chose  to  do  everything  himself,  —  to  devise  his 
own  plaas,  and  to  execute  them  in  person.  The 
number  of  his  journeys  by  land  and  by  water, 
as  noticed  in  his  farewell  address,  is  truly  won- 
derful;  for  that  was  not  the  day  of  steamboats 
and  railways.  He  seemed  to  lead  the  life  of  a 
courier.  But  it  was  for  no  trivial  object  that  he 
made  these  expeditions.  He  knew  where  his  pres- 
ence was  needed;  and  his  promptness  and  punc- 
I  tuality  brought  him,  at  the  right  time,  on  the  right 
spot.  No  spot  in  his  broad  empire  was  far  re- 
moved from  him.  He  seemed  to  possess  the  power 
of  ubiquity. 

The  consciousness  of  his  own  strength  roused  to 
a  flame  the  spark  of  ambition  which  had  hitherto 
slept  in  his  bosom.  His  schemes  were  so  vast, 
that  it  was  a  common  opinion  he  aspired  to  uni- 
versal monarchy.  Like  his  grandfather,  Ferdi- 
nand, and  his  own  son,  Philip,  he  threw  over 
his  schemes  the  cloak  of  religion.  Or,  to  deal 
A^-ith  him  more  fairly,  religious  principle  prob- 
ably combined  with  personal  policy  to  determine 
his  career.  He  seemed  always  ready  to  do  battle 
for  the  Cross.  He  affected  to  identify  the  cause 
of  Spain  with  the  cause  of  Christendom.  He 
marched  against  the  Turks,  and  stayed  the  tide 
of  Ottoman  inroad  in  Hungary.  He  marched 
against  the  Protestants,  and  discomfited  their 
armies  in   the  heart  of  Germany.      He   crossed 


Ch.  IX.J 


mS  DEATH  AND  CHARACTER. 


347 


the  Mediterranean,  and  humbled  the  Crescent  at 
Algiers.  He  threw  himself  on  the  honor  of  Fran 
cis,  and  travelled  through  France  to  take  ven- 
geance on  the  rebels  of  Flanders.  He  twice 
entered  France  as  an  enemy,  and  marched  up 
to  the  gates  of  Paris.  Instead  of  the  modest 
legend  on  his  maiden  shield,  he  now  assumed 
the  proud  motto,  ''Plus  ultra "  ;  and  he  vindicated 
his  right  to  it,  by  sending  his  fleets  across  the 
ocean,  and  by  planting  the  banner  of  Castile  on 
the  distant  shores  of  the  Pacific.  In  these  enter- 
prises he  was  generally  successful.  His  success 
led  him  to  rely  still  more  on  himself.  "My- 
self, and  the  lucky  moment,"  was  his  favorite 
saying.  The  "  star  of  Austria "  was  still  a  prov- 
erb. It  was  not  till  the  evening  of  life  that  he 
complained  of  the  fickleness  of  fortune ;  that  his 
star,  as  it  descended  to  the  horizon,  was  obscured 
by  clouds  and  darkness. 

Thus  Charles's  nerves  were  kept  in  a  state  of 
perpetual  excitement.     No  wonder  that  his  health  1 
should  have  sunk  under  it;    like  a  plant  forced 
by  extraordinary  stimulants  to  an  imnatural  pro- 
duction at  the  expense  of  its  own  vitality. 

His  habits  were  not  all  of  them  the  most  con- 
ducive  to   health.      He   slept   usually   only  four    ' 
hours  ;  too  short  a  time  to  repair  the  waste  caused 
by  incessant  toil.^     His  phlegmatic  temperament 

71  See  Bi'adford,  Correspondence  of  England  and  France,  with  a 
Df  the  Emperor  Charles  the  Fifth  connecting  Narrative  and  Bio 
and  his  Ambassadors  at  the  Courts    graphical  Notices  of  the  Emperos 


r 

•■*i 


V-i. 


348        LATTER  DAYS  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.     [Book  L 

did  not  incline  him  to  excess.  Yet  there  was  one 
excess  of  which  he  was  guilty,  —  the  indulgence 
of  his  appetite  to  a  degree  most  pernicious  to  his 
health.  A  Venetian  contemporary  tells  us,  that, 
before  rising  in  the  morning,  potted  capon  was 
usually  served  to  him,  dressed  with  sugar,  milk, 
and  spices.  At  noon,  he  dined  on  a  variety  of 
dishes.  Soon  after  vespers  he  took  another  meal ; 
and  later  in  the  evening  supped  heartily  on  ancho- 
vies, or  some  other  gross  and  savory  food  of  which 
he  was  particularly  fond.*"  On  one  occasion,  com- 
plainmg  to  his  maitre  Shotel  that  the  cook  sent 
him  nothing  but  dishes  too  insipid  and  tasteless 
to  be  eaten,  the  perplexed  functionary,  knowing 
Charles's  passion  for  timepieces,  replied,  that  "  he 
did  not  know  what  he  could  do,  unless  it  were  to 
serve  his  majesty  a  ragout  of  watches  ! "  The  wit- 
ticism had  one  good  effect,  that  of  provoking  a 
hearty  laugh  from  the  emperor,  —  a  thing  rarely 
witnessed  in  his  latter  days.^ 


Cb.  IX.] 


mS  DEATH  AND  CHARACTER. 


349 


(London,  1850,)  p.  367,— a  work 
which  contains  some  interesting 
particulars,  little  known,  respect- 
ing Charles  the  Fifth. 

W  "  Nel  mangiare  ha  S.  MaestJk 

gempre  eccesso La  mattina 

Bvet^liata  ella  pigliava  una  scodella 
di  pesto  capponecon  latte,  zucchero 
et  spezierie,  popoi  il  quale  tornava 
a  riposare.  A  mezzo  giomo  desi- 
nava  molte  varietJt  di  vivande,  et 
poco  da  poi  vespro  merendava,  et 
4ir  hora  di  notte  se  n*  andava  alia 
cena  manjpando  cose  tutte  da  ge- 
nerare  humori  grosd  et  viscosL" 


Badovaro,  Notizie  delli  Stati  et 
Corti  di  Carlo  Quinto  Imperatore 
et  del  Be  Cattolico,  MS. 

73  "  Disse  una  volta  al  Maggior- 
domo  Monfalconetto  con  sdegno, 
ch*  aveva  corrotto  il  giudicio  a  dare 
ordine  a*  cuochi,  perche  tutti  i 
cibi  erano  insipidi,  dal  quale  le  fu 
risposto :  Non  so  come  dovere  tro- 
vare  piu  modi  da  compiacerc  alia 
maestk  V.  se  io  non  lb  prova  di 
farle  una  nuova  vi  vanda  di  pottaggio 
di  rogoli,  il  che  la  mosse  a  quel 
maggiore  et  piii  lungo  riso  che  sia 
mai  stato  veduto  in  loL**    Ibid. 


It  was  in  vain  that  Cardinal  Loaysa,  his  con- 
fessor, remonstrated,  with  an  independence  that 
does  him  credit,  against  his  master's  indulgence 
of  his  appetite,  assuring  him  that  resistance  here 
would  do  more  for  his  soul  than  any  penance  with 
the  scourged*  It  seems  a  pity  that  Charles,  con- 
sidering his  propensities,  should  have  so  easily 
obtained  absolution  from  fasts,  and  that  he  should 
not,  on  the  contrar)%  have  transferred  some  of  the 
I^enance  which  he  inflicted  on  his  back  to  the 
ofiending  part.  Even  in  the  monastery  of  Yuste 
he  stUl  persevered  in  the  same  pernicious  taste. 
Anchovies,  frogs'  legs,  and  eel-pasties  were  the 
dainty  morsels  with  which  he  chose  to  be  regaled, 
even  before  the  eyes  of  his  physician.  It  would 
not  have  been  amiss  for  him  to  have  exchanged 
his  solitary  repast  more  frequently  for  the  simpler 
fare  of  the  refectory. 

With  these  coarser  tastes  Charles  combined  many 
others  of  a  refined  and  intellectual  character.  We 
have  seen  his  fondness  for  music,  and  the  delight 
he  took  in  the  sister  art  of  design,  —  especially  in 
the  works  of  Titian.  He  was  painted  several  times 
by  this  great  master,  and  it  was  by  his  hand,  as  we 
have  seen,  that  he  desired  to  go  down  to  posterity. 
The  emperor  had,  moreover,  another  taste,  perhaps 


'*  Briefe  an  Kaiser  Karl  V., 
geschrieben  von  seinem  Beichtva- 
ter,  (Berlin,  1848,)  p.  159  et  al. 

These  letters  of  Charles's  con- 
fessor, which  afford  some  curious 
particulars  for  the  illustration  of 


the  early  period  of  his  history,  are 
preserved  in  the  Archives  of  Si- 
mancas.  The  edition  above  re* 
ferred  to  cdtitains  the  on^nal 
Castilian,  accompanied  by  a  Grer^ 
man  translation. 


350        LATTER  DAYS  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.     [Book  I 

talent,  which,  with  a  different  training  and  in  a 
different  sphere  of  life,  might  -have  led  him  to 
the  craft  of  authorship. 

A  curious  conversation  is  reported  as  having 
been  held  by  hun  with  Borja,  the  future  saint,  dur- 
ing one  of  the  visits  paid  by  the  Jesuit  to  Yuste. 
Charles  inquired  of  his  friend  whether  it  were 
wrong  for  a  man  to  write  his  autobiography,  pro- 
vfded  he  did  so  honestly,  and  with  no  motive  of 
vanity.  He  said  that  he  had  written  his  own 
memoirs,  not  from  the  desire  of  self-glorification, 
but  to  correct  manifold  mistakes  which  had  been 
circulated  of  his  doings,  and  to  set  his  conduct  in 
a  true  light.^  One  might  be  curious  to  know  the 
answer,  which  is  not  given,  of  the  good  father  to 
this  question.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  it  was  not 
of  a  kind  to  induce  the  emperor  to  destroy  the 
manuscript,  which  has  never  come  to  light. 

However  this  may  be,  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt 
that  at  one  period  of  his  life  he  had  compiled  a  por- 
tion of  his  autobiography.  In  the  imperial  house- 
hold, as  I  have  already  noticed,  was  a  Flemish 
scholar,  William  -Van  Male,  or  Malinaeus,  as  he  is 
called  in  Latin,  who,  under  the  title  of  gentleman 
of  the  chamber,  wrote  many  a  long  letter  for 
Charles,  while  standing  by  his  bedside,  and  read 


W  tt  Si  hallaisr  said  the  royal  es  procUgioso  Panegerista  en  causa 

author,  with  a  degree  of  humility  propria),  la  arrojare  de  la  mano  al 

rarely  found  in  brethren  of  the  punto,  para  dar  al  viento  lo  que  es 

craft,  "  que  alguna  vanidad  secreta  del  viento."    Cienfuegos,  Vida  de 

puede  mover  la  pluma  (que  siempre  Borja,  p.  269. 


Ch.  IX.] 


HIS  DEATH  AND  CHARACTER. 


351 


many  a  weary  hour  to  him  after  the  monarch  had 
gone  to  rest,  —  not,  as  it  would  seem,  to  sleep.'* 
This  personage  tells  us  that  Charles,  when  sailing 
on  the  Rhine,  wrote  an  account  of  his  expeditions 
to  as  late  a  date  as  1550.^     This  is  not  very  defi- 
nite.     Any  account  written  under   such   circum- 
stances, and  in  so  short  a  time,  could  be  nothing 
but  a  sketch  of  the  most  general  kind.     Yet  Van 
Male  assures  us  that  he  had  read  the  manuscript, 
which  he  commends  for  its  terse  and  elegant  dic- 
tion ;  and  he  proposes  to  make  a  Latin  version  of 
it,  the  style  of  which  should  combine  the  separate 
merits  of  Tacitus,  Livy,  Suetonius,  and  Cgesar !  ^ 
The  admiring  chamberlain  laments  that,  instead  of 
giving  it  to  the  world,  Charles  should  keep  it  jeal 
ously  secured  under  lock  and  key.^® 


"8  "  Factus  est  anagnostes  insa- 
tiabilis,  audit  legentem  me  singulis 
noctibus  facta  coenula  sua,  mox 
librum  repeti  jubet,  si  forte  ipsum 
torquet  insomnia.**  Lettres  sur  la 
Vie  Interieure  de  Charles-Quint, 
dcrites  par  G.  Van  Male,  ep.  7. 

77  "  Scripsi liberalissimas 

ejus  occupationes  in  navigatione 
Huminis  Rheni,  dum  ocii  occasione 
invitatus,  scriberet  in  navi  pere- 
grinationes  et  expeditiones  quas  ab 
anno  XV.  in  praesentem  usque 
diem,  suscepisset.**    Ibid.,  ep.  5. 

'8  "  Statui  novum  quoddam  scri- 
bendi  temperatum  effingere,  mix- 
tum  ex  Livio,  Caesare,  Suetonio,  ct 
Tacito.'*    Ibid. 

79  At  the  emperor's  death,  these 
Memoirs  were  in  possession  of  Van 
Male,  who  afterwards  used  to  com- 


plain, with  tears  in  his  eyes,  that 
Quixada  had    taken   them  away 
from   him.     But   he   remembered 
enough  of  their  contents,  he  said, 
to  make  out  another  life  of  hie 
master,  which  he  intended  to  do. 
(Papiers  d'Etat  de  Granvelle,  tom. 
VI.  p.  29.)     Philip,  tliinking  that 
Van  Male  might  Iiave  carried  his 
intention  into  execution,  ordered 
Granvelle  to  hunt  among  his  pa- 
pers, after  the   poor  gentleman's 
death,  and  if  he  found  anv  such 
MS.  to  send  it  to  him,  that  he 
might  throw  it  into  the  fire !    (Ibid., 
p.  273.)     Philip,  in  his  tenderness 
for  his  father's  memorv,  mav  have 
thought  that  no  man  could  be  a 
hero  to  his  own  valefc-de-chambre. 
On  searching,  however,  no  memoirs 
were  found. 


352        LATTER  DATS  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.     [Book  I 

The  emperor's  taste  for  authorship  showed  itself 
also  in  another  form.  This  was  by  the  translation 
of  the  "Chevalier  Delibere,''  a  French  poem  then 
popular,  celebrating  the  court  of  his  ancestor, 
Charles  the  Bold  of  Burgundy.  Van  Male,  who 
seems  to  have  done  for  Charles  the  Fifth  what 
Voltaire  did  for  Frederick,  when  he  spoke  of 
himself  as  washing  the  king's  dirty  linen,  was 
employed  also  to  overlook  this  translation,  which 
he  pronounces  to  have  possessed  great  merit  in 
regard  to  idiom  and  selection  of  language.  The 
emperor  then  gave  it  to  Acufia,  a  good  poet  of  the 
court,  to  be  done  into  Castilian  verse.  Thus  meta- 
morphosed, he  proposed  to  give  the  copy  to  Van 
Male.  A  mischievous  wag,  Avila  the  historian, 
assured  the  emperor  that  it  could  not  be  worth 
less  than  five  himdred  gold  crowns  to  that  func- 
tionary.  "  And  William  is  well  entitled  to  them," 
said  the  monarch,  "for  he  has  sweat  much  over 
the  work."  ^  Two  thousand  copies  were  forthwith 
ordered  to  be  printed  of  the  poem,  which  was  to 
come  out  anonymously.  Poor  Van  Male,  who 
took  a  very  different  view  of  the  profits,  and 
thought  that  nothing  was  certain  but  the  cost  of 
the  edition,  would  have  excused  himself  from  this 
proof  of  his  master's  liberality.  It  was  all  in  vain ; 
Charles  w^as  not  to  be  balked  in  his  generous  pur- 
pose ;  and,  without  a  line  to  propitiate  the  public 
favor  by  stating  in  the  preface  the  share  of  the 


»  "  Bono  jure,  ait,  fructus  ille    rimum  in  opere  illo  sudarit*  IbicL, 
•d  Gulielmum  redeat,  ut  qui  plu-    ep.  6. 


Ch.  IX.] 


HIS  DEATH  AND   CHARACTER. 


353 


royal  hand  in  the  composition,  it  was  ushered  into 
the  woiid.®^ 

Whatever  Charles  may  have  done  in  the  way  of 
an  autobiography,  he  was  certainly  not  indifferent 
to  posthumous  fame.  He  knew  that  the  greatest 
name  must  soon  pass  into  oblivion,  unless  em- 
balmed in  the  song  of  the  bard  or  the  page  of  the 
chronicler.  He  looked  for  a  chronicler  to  do  for 
him  with  his  pen  what  Titian  had  done  for  him 
with  his  pencil,  —  exhibit  him  in  his  true  propor- 
tions, and  in  a  pennanent  form,  to  the  eye  of  pos- 
terity. In  this  he  does  not  seem  to  have  been  so 
much  under  the  influence  of  vanity  as  of  a  natural 
desire  to  have  his  character  and  conduct  placed  in 
a  fair  point  of  view,  —  what  seemed  to  him  to  be 


81  "  Ne  in  proemio  quidem  passus 
est  ullara  solertias  suae  laudem 
adscribi."    Ibid. 

Van  Male's  Latin  correspond- 
ence,   from   which    this    amusing 
incident  is  taken,   was  first  pul^ 
lished  by  tlie  Baron  Reiffenberg 
for  tlie  society  of  Bibliophiles  Bel- 
gigues,  at  Brussels,  in  1843.     It 
contains  some  interesting  notices 
of  Charles  the  Fifth's  personal  hab- 
its during  the  five  years  preceding 
his  abdication.    Van  Male  accom- 
panied his  master  into  his  retire- 
ment; and   his  name  appears  in 
the   codicil,   among  those  of  the 
household  who  received  pensions 
from  the   emperor.     This  doubt- 
less stood  him  in  more  stead  than 
his    majesty's    translation,   which, 
although    it   passed   through   sev- 
VOL.  I.  45 


eral  editions  in  the  course  of 
the  century,  probably  put  little 
money  into  the  pocket  of  the 
chamberlain,  who  died  in  less 
than  two  years  after  his  mas- 
ter. 

A  limited  edition  only  of  Van 
Male's  correspondence  was  printed, 
for  the  benefit  of  the  members  of 
the  association.      For    the    copy 
used    by  me,  I  am   indebted  to 
Mr.  Van  de  Weyer,  the  accom- 
plished   Belgian    minister   at   the 
EngHsh  court,  whose  love  of  let- 
ters is  shown  not  more  by  the  li- 
brary he  has  formed  —  one  of  the 
noblest  private  collections  in  Eu- 
rope— than  by  the  liberality  witn 
which  he  accords  the  use  of  it  to 
the  student. 


354        LATTER  DAYS  OF  CHABLES  THE  FIFTH.     [Book  I 

guch,  —  for  the  contemplation  or  criticism  of  man- 
kind. 

The  person  whom  the  emperor  selected  for  this 
delicate  office  was  the  learned  Sepnlveda.  Sleidan 
he  condemned  as  a  slanderer;  and  Giovio,  who 
had  taken  the  other  extreme,  and  written  of  him 
with  what  he  called  the  "  golden  pen  "  of  history, 
he  no  less  condemned  as  a  flatterer.®^  Charles 
encouraged  Sepulveda  to  apply  to  him  for  informa- 
tion on  matters  relating  to  his  government.  But 
when  requested  by  the  historian  to  listen  to  what 
he  had  written,  the  emperor  refused.  "  I  will 
neither  hear  nor  read,"  he  replied,  "  what  you  have 
said  of  me.  Others  may  do  this,  when  I  am  gone. 
But  if  you  wish  for  information  on  any  point,  I 
shall  be  always  ready  to  give  it  to  you."  ^  A  his- 
tory thus  compiled  was  of  the  nature  of  an  auto- 
biogmphy,  and  must  be  considered,  therefore,  as 
entitled  to  much  the  same  confidence,  and  open  to 
the  same  objections,  as  that  kind  of  writing.  Se- 
pulveda was  one  of  the  few  who  had  repeated 
access  to  Charles  in  his  retirement  at  Yuste;^ 
and  the  monarch  testified  his  regard  for  him,  by 


82  Paulo  Giovio  got  so  little  in 
return  for  his  honeyed  words,  that 
his  eyes  were  opened  to  a  new 
trait  in  the  character  of  Charles, 
whom  he  afterwards  stigmatized  as 
parsimonious.  See  Sepulveda,  De 
Rebus  Gestis  Caroli  V.,  lib.  XXX. 
p.  534. 

®  "  Haud  mihi  gratum  est  legere 
Yel  audire  quse  de  me  scribuntur ; 


legent  alii  cum  ipse  a  vita  dis>cesse- 
ro;  tu  siquid  ex  me  scire  cupis, 
percunctare,  nee  enim  respondere 
gravabor.**     n)id.,  p.  533. 

^  Charles,  however  willing  he 
might  be  to  receive  those  strangers 
who  brought  him  news  from  for- 
eign  parts,  was  not  very  tolerant, 
as  the  historian  tells  us,  of  visits  of 
idle  ceremony.    Ibid.,  p.  541. 


::n.  IX.] 


HIS  DEATH  AND   CHARACTER. 


355 


directing  that  particular  care  be  taken  that  no 
harm  should  come  to  the  historian's  manuscript 
before  it  was  committed  to  the  press.^ 

Such  are  some  of  the  most  interesting  tmits  and 
personal  anecdotes  I  have  been  able  to  collect  of 
the  man  who,  for  nearly  forty  years,  ruled  over 
an  empire  more  vast,  with  an  authority  more 
absolute,  than  any  monarch  since  the  days  of 
Charlemagne.  It  may  be  thought  strange  that  I 
should  have  omitted  to  notice  one  feature  in  his 
character,  the  most  prominent  in  the  line  from 
which  he  was  descended,  at  least  on  the  mother's 
side,  —7  his  bigotry.  But  in  Charles  this  was  less 
conspicuous  than  in  many  others  of  his  house ;  v 
and  while  he  sat  upon  the  throne,  the  extent  to 
which  his  religious  principles  were  held  in  subor-  / 1 
dination  by  his  political,  suggests  a  much  closer 
parallel  to  the  policy  of  his  grandfather,  Ferdi- 
nand the  Catholic,  than  to  that  of  his  son,  Philip 
the  Second,  or  of  his  imbecile  grandson,  Philip  the 
Third. 

But  the  religious  gloom  which  hung  over  Charles's 
mind  took  the  deeper  tinge  of  fanaticism  after  he 
had  withdrawn  to  the  monastery  of  Yuste.  With 
his  dying  words,  as  we  have  seen,  he  bequeathed 
the  Inquisition  as  a  precious  legacy  to  his  son. 
In  like  manner,  he  endeavored  to  cherish  in  the 
Regent  Joanna's  bosom  the  spirit  of  persecution.^ 


85  Carta  del  EmperadoralSecre-    dispusicion  de  podello  hacer  tam- 

^arioVazquez,9de  Julio,  1558,  MS.     bien  procurara  de  enfor(^rme  en 

*  "  Si  me  hallara  con  fuer9as  y    este  caso  i  tomar  cualquier  trabajo 


356        LATTER  DAYS  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.    [Book  I 


And  if  it  were  true,  as  his  biographer  assures 
us,  that  Charles  expressed  a  regret  that  he  had 
respected  the  safe-conduct  of  Luther,"  the  world 
had  little  reason  to  mourn  that  he  exchanged  the 
sword  and  the  sceptre  for  the  breviary  of  the  friar, 

the  throne  of  the  Caesars  for  his  monastic  retreat 

among  the  wilds  of  Estremadura. 


para  procurar  per  mi  parte  el  re- 
medio  y  castigo  de  lo  sobre  dicbo 
gin  embargo  de  los  que  por  ello  he 
padescido."  Carta  del  Emperador 
A  la  Prineesa,  3  de  Mayo,  1558, 
MS. 

87  «  Yo  err^  en  no  matar  a  Lu- 
thero, porque  yo  no  era  obli- 


gado  d  guardalle  la  palabra  por  ser 
la  culpa  del  hereje  contra  otro 
mayor  Seiior,  que  era  Dios.**  San- 
doval, Hist,  de  Carlos  V.,  torn.  H. 
p.  613. 

See  also  Vera  y  Figueroa,  Carloi 
Quinto,  p.  124. 


The  preceding  chapter  was  written  in  the  summer  of  1851,  a  year 
before  the  appearance  of  Stirling's  "  Cloister  Life  of  Charles  the  Fifth," 
which  led  the  way  in  that  brilliant  series  of  works  from  the  pens  of 
Amed^e  Pichot,  Mignet,  and  Gachard,  which  has  made  the  darkest 
recesses  of  Yuste  as  light  as  day.  The  publication  of  these  works  has 
deprived  my  account  of  whatever  novelty  it  might  have  possessed, 
since  it  rests  on  a  similar  basis  with  theirs,  namely,  original  documents  in 
the  Archives  of  Simancas.  Yet  the  important  influence  which  Charles 
exerted  over  the  management  of  affairs,  even  in  his  monastic  retreat, 
has  made  it  impossible  to  dispense  with  the  chapter.  On  the  contrar}', 
1  have  profited  by  these  recent  publications  to  make  sundry  additions, 
which  may  readily  be  discovered  by  the  reader,  from  the  references  I 
have  been  careful  to  make  to  the  sources  whence  they  are  derived. 

The  public  has  been  hitherto  indebted  for  its  knowledge  of  the  reign 
of  Charles  the  Fifth  to  Robertson,  —  a  writer  who,  combining  a  truly 
philosophical  spirit  with  an  acute  perception  of  character,  is  recom- 
mended, moreover,  by  a  classic  elegance  of  style  which  has  justly  given 
him  a  preeminence  among  the  historians  of  the  great  emperor.  But  in 
his  account  of  the  latter  days  of  Charles,  Robertson  mainly  relics  on 


Cii.  IX.] 


MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES. 


35  T 


commonplace  authorities,  whose  information,  gathered  at  second  hand, 
is  far  from  being  trustworthy,  —  as  is  proved  by  the  contradictory  tenor 
of  such  authentic  documents  as  the  letters  of  Charles  himself,  with 
those  of  his  own  followers,  and  the  narratives  of  the  brotherhood  of 
Yuste.  These  documents  are,  for  the  most  part,  to  be  found  in  the 
Archives  of  Simancas,  where,  in  Robertson's  time,  they  were  guanled, 
with  the  vigilance  of  a  Turkish  harem,  against  all  intrusion  of  native 
as  well  as  foreigner.  It  was  not  until  very  recently,  in  1844,  that  the 
more  liberal  disposition  of  the  government  allowed  the  gates  to  be  un- 
barred which  had  been  closed  for  centuries;  and  then,  for  the  first 
time,  the  student  might  be  seen  toiling  in  the  dusty  alcoves  of  Siman- 
cas, and  busily  exploring  the  long-buried  memorials  of  the  past.  It 
was  at  this  period  that  my  friend,  Don  Pascual  de  Gayangos,  having 
obtained  authority  from  the  government,  passed  some  weeks  at  Siman- 
cas in  collecting  materials,  some  of  which  have  formed  the  groundwork 
of  the  preceding  chapter. 

While  the  manuscripts  of  Simancas  were  thus  hidden  from  the  world, 
a  learned  keeper  of  the  archives,  Don  Tomas  Gonzalez,  discontented 
with  the  unworthy  view  which  had  been  given  of  the  latter  days  of 
Charles  the  Fifth,  had  profited  by  the  materials  which  lay  around  him, 
to  exhibit  his  life  at  Yuste  in  a  new  and  more  authentic  light  To  the 
volume  which  he  compiled  for  this  purpose  he  gave  the  title  of  "  Reliro^ 
Estancia,  y  Muerte  del  Emperador  Carlos  Quinto  en  el  Mona^terio  de 
Yuste"  The  work,  the  principal  value  of  which  consists  in  the  copioug 
extracts  with  which  it  is  furnished  from  the  correspondence  of  Charlei 
and  his  household,  was  suffered  by  the  author  to  remain  in  manu- 
script ;  and,  at  his  death,  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  his  brother,  who 
prepared  a  summary  of  its  contents,  and  endeavored  to  dispose  of  the 
volume  at  a  price  so  exorbitant  that  it  remained  for  many  years  without 
a  purchaser.  It  was  finally  bought  by  the  French  government  at  a 
greatly  reduced  price, — for  four  thousand  fi-ancs.  It  may  seem  strange 
that  it  should  have  even  brought  this  sum,  since  the  time  of  the  sale 
was  that  in  which  the  new  arrangements  were  made  for  giving  admis- 
sion to  the  archives  that  contained  the  original  documents  on  which 
the  Gonzales  MS.  was  founded.    The  work  thus  bought  by  the  French 

government  was  transferred  to  the  Archives  des  Affaires  Etrangeres,  then 
under  the  direction  of  M.  Mignet  The  manuscript  could  not  be  in  bet- 
ter hands  than  those  of  a  scholar  who  has  so  successfullv  carried  the 
torch  of  criticism  into  some  of  the  darkest  passages  of  Spanish  history. 
His  occupations,  however,  took  him  in  another  direction  ;  and  for  eight 
years  the  Gonzalez  MS.  remained  as  completely  hidden  from  the  worU 


4 


358        LATTER  DAYS  OF  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.     [Book  1 

in  the  Parisian  archives  as  it  had  been  in  those  of  Simancas.  When* 
at  length,  it  was  applied  to  the  historical  uses  for  which  it  had  been 
intended,  it  was  through  the  agency,  not  of  a  French,  but  of  a  British 
writer.  This  was  Mr.  Stirliug,  the  author  of  the  "  Annals  of  the  Artists 
of  Spain,"— a  work  honorable  to  its  author  for  the  familiarity  it  shows, 
not  only  with  the  state  of  the  arts  in  that  country,  but  also  with  its  lit- 
erature. 

Mr.  Stirling,  during  a  visit  to  the  Peninsula,  in  1849,  made  a  pil- 
grimage to  Yuste ;  and  the  traditions  and  hoary  reminiscences  gathered 
round  the  spot  left  such  an  impression  on  the  traveller's  mind,  that, 
on  his  return  to  England,  he  made  them  the  subject  of  two  elaborate 
papers  in  Eraser's  Magazine,  in  the  numbers  for  April  and  May,  1851. 
Although  these  spirited  essays  rested  wholly  on  printed  works,  which 
had  long  been  accessible  to  the  scholar,  they  were  found  to  contain 
many  new  and  highly  interesting  details;  showing  how  superficially 
Mr.  Stirling's  predecessors  had  examined  the  records  of  the  emperor's 
residence  at  Yuste.  Still,  in  his  account  the  author  had  omitted  the 
most  important  feature  of  Charles's  monastic  life,  — the  influence  wliich 
he  exercised  on  the  administration  of  the  kingdom.  This  was  to  be 
gathered  from  the  manuscripts  of  Simancas. 

Mr.  Stirling,  who  through  that  inexhaustible  repository',  the  Hand- 
book of  Spain,  had  become  acquainted  with  the  existence  of  the  Gon- 
xalez  MS.,  was,  at  the  time  of  writing  his  essays,  ignorant  of  its  fate. 
On  learning,  afterwards,  where  it  was  to  be  found,  he  visited  Paris, 
and,  having  obtained  access  to  the  volume,  so  far  profited  by  its  con- 
tents as  to  make  them  the  basis  of  a  separate  work,  which  he  entitled 
**  The  Cloister  Life  of  Charles  the  Fifth."  It  soon  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  scholars,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  went  through  several  edi- 
tions, and  was  received,  in  short,  with  an  avidity  which  showed  both 
the  importance  attached  to  the  developments  the  author  had  made, 
and  the  attractive  form  in  which  he  had  presented  them  to  the  reader. 

The  Parisian  scholars  were  now  stimulated  to  turn  to  account  the 
treasure  which  had  remained  so  long  neglected  on  their  shelves.  In 
1854,  less  than  two  years  after  the  appearance  of  Mr.  Stiriing's  book, 
M.  Amed^  Pichot  published  his  ''Chronique  de  Charles-Quint,*'  a  work 
which,  far  from  being  confined  to  the  latter  days  of  the  emperor,  covers 
the  whole  range  of  his  biography,  presenting  a  large  amount  of  informa- 
tion in  regard  to  his  personal  habits,  as  well  as  to  the  interior  organiza- 
tion of  his  government,  and  the  policy  which  directed  it.  The  whole 
b  enriched,  moreover,  by  a  multitude  of  historical  incidents,  which 
■lay  be  regarded  rather  as  subsidiary  than  essential  to  the  conduct  ol 


Ch.  IX] 


MEMOIRS  OF  CHARLES. 


359 


the  narrative,  which  is  enlivened  by  much  ingenious  criticism  on  tha 
state  of  manners,  arts,  and  moral  culture  of  the  period. 

It  was  not  long  after  the  appearance  of  this  work  that  M.  GachanJ^ 
whom  I  have  elsewhere  noticed  as  having  been  commissioned  by  the 
Bel<nan  rrovernment  to  make  extensive  researches  in  the  Archives  of 
Simancas,  gave  to  the  public  some  of  the  fruits  of  his  labors,  in  the 
first  volume  of  his  "  Relra'Ue  et  Mort  de  Charles- Quint.**  It  is  devoted  to 
the  letters  of  the  empei-or  and  his  household,  which  forms  the  staple  of 
the  Gonzalez  MS. ;  thus  placing  at  the  disposition  of  the  future  biog- 
rapher of  Charles  the  original  materials  with  which  to  reconstruct  the 
history  of  his  latter  days. 

Lastly  came  the  work,  long  expected,  of  M.  Mignet, ''' Charles- Quint ; 
son  Abdication,  son  Sejour,  et  sa  Mort  au  Monastkre  de  Yuste.**  It  was 
the  reproduction,  in  a  more  extended  and  elaborate  form,  of  a  series  of 
papers,  the  first  of  which  appeared  shortly  after  the  publication  of  Mr. 
Stirlinfr's  book.  In  this  work  the  French  author  takes  the  clear  and 
comprehensive  view  of  his  subject  so  characteristic  of  his  genius.  The 
difficult  and  debatable  points  he  discusses  with  acuteness  and  precision ; 
and  the  whole  story  of  Charles's  monastic  life  he  presents  in  so  lumi- 
nous an  aspect  to  the  reader  as  leaves  nothing  further  to  be  desired. 

The  critic  may  take  some  interest  in  comparing  the  different  man- 
ners in  which  the  several  writers  have  dealt  with  the  subject,  each  ac- 
cording to  his  own  taste,  or  the  bent  of  his  genius.  Thus  through  Stir- 
ling's more  free  and  familiar  narrative  there  runs  a  pleasant  vein  of 
humor,  with  piquancy  enough  to  give  it  a  relish,  showing  the  author's 
bensibility  to  the  ludicrous,  for  which  Charles's  stingy  habits,  and  ex- 
cessive love  of  good  cheer,  even  in  the  convent,  furnish  frequent 
occasion. 

Quite  a  different  conception  is  formed  by  Mignet  of  the  emperor's 
character,  which  he  has  cast  in  the  true  heroic  mould,  not  deigning  to 
recoflfnize  a  single  defect,  however  slight,  which  may  at  all  impair  the 
majesty  of  the  proportions.  Finally,  Amddee  Pichot,  instead  of  the 
classical,  may  be  said  to  have  conformed  to  the  romantic  school  in  the 
arrangement  of  his  subject,  indulging  in  various  picturesque  episodes, 
which  he  has,  however,  combined  so  successfully  with  the  main  body  of 
the  narrative  as  not  to  impair  the  unity  of  interest 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  comparative  merits  of  these  emi- 
nent writers  in  the  execution  of  their  task,  the  effect  of  their  labors 
has  undoubtedly  been  to  make  that  the  plainest  which  was  before  the 
most  obscure  portion  of  the  history  of  Charles  the  Fifth. 


BOOK  II. 


CHAPTER    I. 


VIEW  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

Ciril  Institutions. — Commercial  Prosperity. —  Character  of  the  People 
—  Protestant  Doctrines. — Persecution  by  Charles  the  Fifth. 

We  have  now  come  to  that  portion  of  the 
nan-ative  which  seems  to  be  rather  in  the  nature 
of  an  episode,  than  part  and  parcel  of  our  history ; 
though  from  its  magnitude  and  importance  it  is 
better  entitled  to  be  treated  as  an  independent 
history  by  itself.  This  is  the  War  of  the  Nether- 
lands; opening  the  way  to  that  great  series  of 
revolutions,  the  most  splendid  example  of  which 
is  furnished  by  our  own  happy  land.  Before  en- 
tering on  this  vast  theme,  it  will  be  well  to  give  a 
brief  \iew  of  the  country  which  forms  the  subject 
of  it. 

At  the  accession  of  Philip  the  Second,  about 
the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  Nether- 
lands, or  Flanders,  as  the  country  was  then  usually 
called,^  comprehended  seventeen   provinces,  occu- 

1  "  Vocatur  quoque  synechdo-    pam,  Flandria,  idque  ob  ejus  Pro- 
thitre,  per  universam  ferme  Euro-     vinciae  potentiam  atque  splendo 


Ch.  I.] 


THEIR  CIVIL  INSTITUTIONS. 


361 


pying  much  the  same  territory,  but  somewhat 
abridged,  with  that  included  in  the  present  king- 
doms of  Holland  and  Belgium.^  These  provinces, 
under  the  various  denominations  of  duchies,  coun- 
ties, and  lordships,  formed  anciently  so  many 
separate  states,  each  under  the  rule  of  its  re- 
spective prince.  Even  when  two  or  three  of 
them,  as  sometimes  happened,  were  brought  to- 
gether imder  one  sceptre,  each  still  maintained 
its  own  independent  existence.  In  their  insti- 
tutions these  states  bore  great  resemblance  to 
one  another,  and  especially  in  the  extent  of  the 
immunities  conceded  to  the  citizens  as  compared 
with  those  enjoyed  in  most  of  the  countries  of 
Christendom.  No  tax  could  be  imposed,  with 
out  the  consent  of  an  assembly  consisting  of  the 
clergy,  the  nobles,  and  the  representatives  of  the 
towns.  No  foreigner  was  eligible  to  office,  and 
the  native  of  one  province  was  regarded  as  a 
foreigner  by  every  other.  These  were  insisted 
on  as  inalienable  rights,  although  in  later  times 


rem:  quamvis  sint,  qui  contendant, 
vocabulum  ipsum  Flandria,  k  fre- 
quent! cxterorum  in  ea  quondam 
Provincia  mercatorum  commercio, 
denvatum,  atque  inde  in  omnes 
partes  difiusum;  alii  rursus,  quod 
haee  ipsa  Flandria,  strictius  sumta, 
Gallie,  Anpjlis,  Hispanis,  atque  Italis 
sit  vicinior,  ideoque  et  notior  si- 
mul  et  celebrior,  totam  Belgiam 
eo  nomine  indigitatam  perhibent." 
Guicciardini,  Belgicae,  sive  Inferi- 
VOL.  I.  46 


oris  Grermaniae  Descriptio,  (Amste- 
lodami,  1652,)  p.  6. 

'-*  These  provinces  were  the 
duchies  of  Brabant,  Limburg,  Lux- 
embourg, and  Gueldres;  the  coun 
ties  of  Artois,  Hainault,  Flanders, 
Namur,  Ziitphen,  Holland,  and 
Zealand ;  the  margraviate  of  Ant- 
werp ;  and  the  lordships  of  Fries- 
land,  Mechlin,  Utrecht,  Overyssel^ 
and  Groningen. 


>H 


I 

( 

'vl 


362 


VIEW  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS.  [Book  H 


t 


i 


none  were  more   frequently  disregarded    by  the 

mlers.^ 

The  condition  of  the  commons  in  the  Nether- 
lands, during  the  Middle  Ages,  was  far  in  advance 
of  what  it  was  in  most  other  European  countries  at 
the  same  period.  For  this  they  were  indebted  to 
the  character  of  the  people,  or  rather  to  the  pecu- 
liar circumstances  which  formed  that  character. 
Occupying  a  soil  which  had  been  redeemed  with 
infinite  toil  and  perseverance  from  the  waters,  their 
life  was  passed  in  perpetual  struggle  with  the 
elements.  They  were  early  familiarized  to  the 
dangers  of  the  ocean.  The  Flemish  mariner  was 
distinguished  for  the  intrepid  spirit  with  which 
he  pushed  his  voyages  into  distant  and  unknown 
seas.  An  extended  commerce  opened  to  him  a 
wide  range  of  observation  and  experience ;  and  to 
the  bold  and  hardy  character  of  the  ancient  Nether- 
lander was  added  a  spirit  of  enterprise,  with  such 
enlarged  and  liberal  views  as  fitted  him  for  taking 


3  Basnage,  Annales  des  Provin- 
ces-Unies,  avec  la  Description  HIs- 
torique  de  leur  Gouvernement, 
(La  Ilaye,  1719,)  torn.  I.  p.  3. — 
Guicciardini,  Belgica  Descriptio, 
p.  81  et  seq. 

The  Venetian  minister  Tiepolo 
wannly  commends  the  loyalty  of 
these  people  to  their  princes,  not 
to  be  shaken  so  long  as  their  con- 
rtituiional  privileges  were  respect- 
ed. "Sempre  si  le  sono  mostrati 
quei  Popoli  molto  affettionati,  et 
amorevoli  contentandosi  de  esser 


gravati  senza  che  mai  facesse  alcun 
resentimento  forte  piii  de  I'honesto. 
Ma  cosl  come  in  questa  parte  sem- 
pre  lianno  mostrato  la  sua  prontezza 
cosi  sono  stati  duri  et  difficili,  che 
ponto  le  fossero  sminuiti  li  loro 
privilegii  et  autoritk,  ne  che  ne  i 
loro  stati  s*  introducessero  nuove 
ham.  et  nuove  ordini  ad  instantia 
massime,  et  perricortlo  di  gente 
straniera."  Relatione  di  M.  A. 
Tiepolo,  ritornato  Anibasciatore 
dal  Ser»»«  Rfe  Cattolioo,  1567,  M& 


Ch.  I.] 


THEIR  CIVIL  INSTITUTIONS. 


363 


part  in  the  great  concerns  of  the  community. 
Villages  and  tovms  grew  up  rapidly.  Wealth 
flowed  in  from  this  commercial  activity,  and  the 
assistance  which  these  little  communities  were  thus 
enabled  to  afford  their  princes  drew  from  the  latter 
the  concession  of  important  political  privileges, 
which  established  the  independence  of  the  citizen. 

The  tendency  of  things,  however,  was  still  to 
maintain  the  distinct  individuality  of  the  provinces, 
rather  than  to  unite  them  into  a  common  political 
body.  They  were  peopled  by  different  races,  speak 
ing  different  languages.  In  some  of  the  provinces 
French  was  spoken,  in  others  a  dialect  of  the  Ger- 
man. Their  position,  moreover,  had  often  brought 
these  petty  states  into  rivalry,  and  sometimes  into 
open  war,  with  one  another.  The  effects  of  these 
feuds  continued  after  the  causes  of  them  had 
passed  away;  and  mutual  animosities  still  lin- 
gered in  the  breasts  of  the  inhabitants,  operating 
as  a  permanent  source  of  disimion. 

From  these  causes,  after  the  greater  part  of  the 
provinces  had  been  brought  together  under  the 
sceptre  of  the  ducal  house  of  Burgundy,  in  the 
fifteenth  century,  it  was  found  impossible  to  fuse 
them  into  one  nation.  Even  Charles  the  Fifth, 
with  all  his  power  and  personal  influence,  found 
himself  unequal  to  the  task.*  He  was  obliged 
to  relinquish  the  idea  of  consolidating  the  differ- 
ent states  into  one  monarchy,  and  to  content  him 


I 


r  r 


^  Basnage,  Annales  des  Provinces-Unies,  torn.  I.  p.  8. 


364 


k, 


VIEW  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 


[Book  II. 


self  with  the  position  — not  too  grateful  to  a 
Spanish  despot  —  of  head  of  a  republic,  or,  to 
speak  more  properly,  of  a  confederacy  of  re- 
publics. 

There  was,  however,  some  approach  made  to  a 
national  unity  in  the  institution  which  grew  up 
after  the  states  were  brought  together  under  one 
sceptre.     Thus,  while  each  of  the  provinces  main- 
tained  its  own  courts  of  justice,  there  was  a  su- 
preme tribunal  established  at  Mechlin,  with  appel- 
late jurisdiction  over  all  the  provincial  tribunals. 
In  like   manner,  while  each  state  had  its   own 
legislative  assembly,  there  were  the  states-general, 
consisting  of  the  clergy,  the  nobles,  and  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  towns,  from  each  of  the  prov- 
inces.    In  this  assembly  —  but  rarely  convened  -^ 
were  discussed  the  great  questions  having  reference 
to  the  interests  of  the  whole   country.     But   the 
assembly  was  vested  with  no  legislative  authority. 
It  could  go  no  further  than  to  present  petitions  to 
the  sovereign  for  the  redress  of  grievances.     It  pos- 
sesscd  no  right  beyond  the  right  of  remonstrance. 
Even  in  questions  of  taxation,  no  subsidy  could  be 
settled  in  that  body,  without  the  express  sanction 
of  each  of  the  provincial  legislatures.     Such  a  form 
of  government,  it  must  be  admitted,  was  altogether 
too  cumbrous  in  its  operations  for  efficient  execu- 
tive movement.     It  was  by  no  means  favorable  to 
the  promptness  and  energy  demanded  for  military 
enterprise.     But  it  was  a  government  which,  how- 
ever  ill   suited  in   this  respect  to  the  temper  of 


Ch.  I.| 


THEIR  CIVIL  INSTITUTIONS. 


365 


Charles  the  Fifth,  was  well  suited  to  the  genius  of 
the  inhabitants,  and  to  their  circumstances,  which 
demanded  peace.  They  had  no  ambition  for  for- 
eign conquest.  By  the  arts  of  peace  they  had 
risen  to  this  unprecedented  pitch  of  prosperity, 
and  by  peace  alone,  not  by  war,  could  they  hope 
to  maintain  it. 

But  under  the  long  rule  of  the  Burgundiau 
princes,  and  still  more  under  that  of  Charles  the 
Fifth,  the  people  of  the  Netherlands  felt  the  influ- 
ence of  those  circumstances,  which  in  other  parts 
of  Europe  were  gradually  compelling  the  popular, 
or  rather  the  feudal  element,  to  give  way  to  the 
spirit  of  centralization.  Thus  in  time  the  sove- 
reign claimed  the  right  of  nominating  all  the 
higher  clergy.  In  some  instances  he  appointed 
the  judges  of  the  provincial  courts ;  and  the  su- 
preme tribunal  of  Mechlin  was  so  far  dependent  on 
his  authority,  that  all  the  judges  were  named  and 
their  salaries  paid  by  the  crown.  The  sovereign's 
authority  was  even  stretched  so  far  as  to  interfere 
not  unfrequently  with  the  rights  exercised  by  the 
citizens  in  the  election  of  their  own  magistrates,  — 
rights  that  should  have  been  cherished  by  them  as 
of  the  last  importance.  As  for  the  nobles,  we  can- 
not over-estimate  the  ascendency  which  the  master 
of  an  empire  like  that  of  Charles  the  Fifth  must 
have  obtained  over  men  to  whom  he  could  open 
Buch  boundless  prospects  in  the  career  of  ambition.* 


*  Ibid.,  loc.  cit  — Bentlvoglio,  Guerra  di  Fiandra,  (Milano,  1806,) 


1 


S66 


VIEW  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 


[Book  IL 


Ch.  I.] 


THEIR  COMMERCIAL  PROSPERITY. 


367 


But  the  personal  character  and  the  peculiar 
position  of  Charles  tended  still  further  to  enlarge 
the  royal  authority.  He  was  a  Fleming  by  birth. 
He  had  all  the  tastes  and  habits  of  a  Fleming. 
His  early  days  had  been  passed  in  Flanders,  and  he 
loved  to  return  to  his  native  land  as  often  as  his 
busy  life  would  permit  him,  and  to  seek  in  the  free 
and  joyous  society  of  the  Flemish  capitals  some 
relief  from  the  solemn  ceremonial  of  the  Castilian 
court.  This  preference  of  their  lord  was  repaid  by 
the  people  of  the  Netherlands  with  feelings  of 
loyal  devotion. 

But  they  had  reason  for  feelings  of  deeper  grati- 
tude in  the  substantial  benefits  which  the  favor 
of  Charles  secured  to  them.  It  was  for  Flemings 
that  the  highest  posts  even  in  Spain  were  re- 
served, and  the  marked  preference  thus  shown  by 
the  emperor  to  his  countrymen  was  one  great 
source  of  the  troubles  in  Castile.  The  soldiers 
of  the  Netherlands  accompanied  Charles  on  his 
militarj'  expeditions,  and  their  cavalry  had  the 
reputation  of  being  the  best  appointed  and  best 
disciplined  in  the  imperial  army.  The  vast  extent 
of  his  possessions,  spreading  over  every  quarter 
of  the  globe,  offered  a  boundless  range  for  the 
commerce  of  the  Netherlands,  which  was  every- 
where  admitted   on   the    most   favorable    footing. 


p.  9etseq. — Ranke,  Spanish  Em-  ticnlar  facts  that  illustrate    most 

pire,  p.  79.  forcibly  the  domestic  policy  of  the 

The  last  writer,  with  his  usual  Netherlands    under    Charles    the 

discernment,  has  selected  the  par-  Fifth. 


Notwithstanding  his  occasional  acts  of  violence  and 
extortion,  Charles  was  too  sagacious  not  to  foster 
the  material  interests  of  a  country  which  contrib- 
uted so  essentially  to  his  own  resources.  Under 
his  protecting  policy,  the  industry  and  ingenuity 
of  the  Flemings  found  ample  scope  in  the  various 
departments  of  husbandry,  manufactures,  and  trade. 
The  country  was  as  thickly  studded  with  large  towns 
as  other  countries  were  with  villages.  In  the  mid- 
dle of  the  sixteenth  century  it  was  computed  to  con- 
tain above  three  hundred  and  fifty  cities,  and  more 
than  six  thousand  three  hundred  towns  of  a  smaller 
size.^  These  towns  were  not  the  resort  of  monks 
and  mendicants,  as  in  other  parts  of  the  Continent, 
but  they  swarmed  with  a  busy,  laborious  population. 
No  man  ate  the  bread  of  idleness  in  the  Neth- 
erlands. At  the  period  with  which  we  are  occu- 
pied Ghent  counted  70,000  inhabitants,  Brussels 
75,000,  and  Antwerp  100,000.  This  was  at  a 
period  when  London  itself  contained  but  150,000.'^ 
The  country,  fertilized  by  its  countless  canals 
and  sluices,  exhibited  everywhere  that  minute  and 


6  "  Urbes  in  ea  sive  moenibus 
clausae,  sive  clausis  magnitudine 
propemodum  pares,  supra  trecen- 
tas  et  quinquaginta  censeantur; 
pagi  verb  majores  ultra  sex  millia 
ac  trecentos  numerentur,  ut  nihil 
de  minoribus  vicis  arcibusque  lo- 
quar,  quibus  supra*  omnem  nume- 
rum  consitus  est  Belgicus  ager.** 
Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  torn.  I 
p.  32 


7  Guicciardini,  Belgicae  Descrip- 
tio,  p.  207  et  seq. 

The  geographer  gives  us  the 
population  of  several  of  the  most 
considerable  capitals  in  Europe  in 
the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. That  of  Paris,  amounting  to 
300,000,  seems  to  have  much  ex- 
ceeded that  of  every  other  great 
city  except  Moscow. 


>i 


368 


VIEW  OF  THE  NETHEKLAima 


[Book  II 


patient  cultivation  which  distinguishes  it  at  the 
present  day,  but  which  in  the  middle  of  the  six- 
teenth century  had  no  parallel  but  in  the  lands 
tilled  by  the  Moorish  inhabitants  of  the  south  of 
Spain.  The  ingenious  spirit  of  the  people  was 
shown  in  their  dexterity  in  the  mechanical  arts, 
and  in  the  talent  for  invention  which  seems  to  be 
characteristic  of  a  people  accustomed  from  infancy 
to  the  unfettered  exercise  of  their  faculties.  The 
processes  for  simplifying  labor  were  carried  so  far, 
that  children,  as  we  are  assured,  began,  at  four  or 
five  years  of  age,  to  earn  a  livelihood.^  Each  of  the 
principal  cities  became  noted  for  its  excellence  in 
some  branch  or  other  of  manufacture.  Lille  was 
known  for  its  woollen  cloths,  Brussels  for  its  tapestry 
and  carpets,  Valenciennes  for  its  camlets,  while  the 
towns  of  Holland  and  Zealand  furnished  a  simpler 
staple  in  the  form  of  cheese,  butter,  and  salted  fish.^ 
These  various  commodities  were  exhibited  at  the 
great  fairs  held  twice  a  year,  for  the  space  of  twenty 
days  each,  at  Antwerp,  which  were  thronged  by 
foreigners  as  well  as  natives. 

In  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries  the 


8  "Atque  hinc  adeo  fit,  ut  isti 
opera  sua  ea  dexteritate,  facilitate, 
ordineque  disponant,  ut  et  parvuli, 
ac  quadriennes  modo  aut  quin- 
quennes  eonmi  filioli,  victum  illieo 
sibi  incipiant  quaerere.'*  Guicciar- 
dini,  Belgicae  Descriptio,  p.  55. 

9  Relatione  di  M.  Cavallo  tomato 
Anibaseiatore  dal  Imperatore,  1551, 
MS. 


The  ambassador  does  not  hes- 
itate to  compare  Antwerp,  for  the 
extent  of  its  commerce,  to  his  own 
proud  city  of  Venice.  "  Anversa 
corrisponde  di  mercantia  benissimo 
a  Venetia,  Lavania  di  studio  a 
Padova,  Gante  per  grandezza  a 
Verona,  Brusscllis  per  il  sito  a 
Brescia." 


Ch.  I.] 


THEIR  COMMERCIAL  PROSPERITY. 


369 


Flemings  imported  great  quantities  of  wool  from 
England,  to  be  manufactured  into  cloth  at  home. 
But  Flemish  emigrants  had  carried  that  manu- 
facture to  England ;  and  in  the  time  of  Philip  the 
Second  the  cloths  themselves  were  imported  from 
the  latter  country  to  the  amoimt  of  above  five  mil- 
lions of  cro^vns  annually,  and  exchanged  for  the 
domestic  products  of  the  Netherlands.^^  This 
single  item  of  trade  with  one  of  their  neigh- 
bors may  suggest  some  notion  of  the  extent  of 
the  commerce  of  the  Low  Coxmtries  at  this  pe- 
riod. 

But  in  truth  the  commerce  of  the  country 
stretched  to  the  remotest  comers  of  the  globe. 
The  inhabitants  of  the  Netherlands,  trained  from 
early  youth  to  battle  with  the  waves,  found  their 
true  element  on  the  ocean.  "As  much  as  Nature," 
says  an  enthusiastic  writer,  "restricted  their  do- 
main on  the  land,  so  much  the  more  did  they 
extend  theu-  empire  on  the  deep."  ^^  Their  fleets 
were  to  be  found  on  every  sea.  In  the  Euxine  and 
in  the  Mediterranean  they  were  rivals  of  the  Vene- 
tian and  the  Genoese}  and  they  contended  with  the 


10  "  Liquido  enim  constat,  eorum, 
anno  annum  pensante,  et  carisaeis 
aliisque  panniculis  ad  integros  pan- 
nos  reductis,  ducenta  et  amplius 
millia  annuatim  nobis  distribui,  quo- 
rum singuli  minimum  sestimentur 
vicenis  quinis  scutatis,  ita  ut  in 
quinque  et  amplius  milliones  ratio 
tandem  excrescat"  Guicciardini, 
Belgicae  Descriptio,  p.  244. 

VOL.  I.  47 


^1  "  Quae  ver6  ignota  marium 
litora,  qu&ve  desinentis  mundi 
oras  scrutata  non  est  Belgarum 
nautica?  Nimirum  quanto  illos 
natura  intra  fines  terras  contrac- 
tiores  inclusit,  tanto  ampliores  ipsi 
sibi  aperuere  oceani  campos." 
Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  lib.  I 
p.  32. 


370 


VIEW  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 


[Book  IJ 


English,  and  even  with  the  Spaniards,  for  superi- 
ority on  the  "narrow  seas"  and  the  great  ocean. 

The  wealth  which  flowed  into  the  country 
from  this  extended  trade  was  soon  shown  in  the 
crowded  population  of  its  provinces  and  the  splen 
dor  of  their  capitals.  At  the  head  of  these  stood 
the  city  of  Antwerp,  which  occupied  the  place  in 
the  sixteenth  century  that  Bruges  had  occupied 
in  the  fifteenth,  as  the  commercial  metropolis  ol 
the  Netherlands.  Two  hundred  and  fifty  vessels 
might  often  be  seen  at  the  same  time  taking  in 
their  cargoes  at  her  quays.^  Two  thousand  loaded 
wagons  from  the  neighboring  countries  of  France, 
Germany,  and  Lorraine  daily  passed  through  her 
gates ;  ^^  and  a  greater  number  of  vessels,  freighted 
with  merchandise  from  different  quarters  of  the 
world,  were  to  be  seen  floating  at  the  same  time  on 
the  waters  of  the  Scheldt.^* 

The  city,  in  common  with  the  rest  of  Brabant, 
was  distinguished  by  certain  political  privileges, 
which  commended  it  as  a  place  of  residence  even 
to  foreigners.  Women  of  the  other  provinces,  it 
is  said,  when  the  time  of  their  confinement  drew 
near,  would  come  to  Brabant,  that  their  off"spring 
might  claim  the  franchises  of  this  favored  portion 
of  the  Netherlands.^^    So  jealous  were  the  people  of 


12  Schiller,  Abfall  der  Nieder-  ^^  "  in  quorum  (Brabantinorum) 
lande,  (Stuttgart,  1838,)  p.  44.  Provinciam  seimus  transferre    se 

13  Ibid.,  ubi  supra.  solitas  e  vicinis  locis  parituras  mu- 

14  Burgon,  Life  of  Sir  Thomas  lieres,  ut  Brabantinas  immunitates 
Gresham,  (London,  1839,)  vol.  I.  filiis  eo  solo  genitis  acquierent, 
p.  72.  crederes  ab  agricolis  eligi  plantaria, 


)h.  L] 


THEIR  COMMERCIAL  PROSPERITY. 


371 


this  province  of  their  liberties,  that  in  then*  oath 
of  allegiance  to  their  sovereign,  on  his  accession,  it 
was  provided  that  this  allegiance  might  lawfully  be 
withheld  whenever  he  ceased  to  respect  their  privi- 
leges.^^ 

Under  the  shelter  of  its  municipal  rights,  for- 
eigners settled  in  great  numbers  in  Antwerp.  The 
English  established  a  factory  there.  There  was 
also  a  Portuguese  company,  an  Italian  company, 
a  company  of  merchants  from  the  Hanse  Towns, 
and,  lastly,  a  Turkish  company,  which  took  up  its 
residence  there  for  the  purpose  of  pursuing  a  trade 
with  the  Levant.  A  great  traffic  was  carried  on 
in  bills  of  exchange.  Antwerp,  in  short,  became 
the  banking-house  of  Europe ;  and  capitalists,  the 
Rothschilds  of  their  day,  whose  dealings  were  with 
sovereign  princes,  fixed  their  abode  in  Antwerp, 
which  was  to  the  rest  of  Europe  in  the  sixteenth 
century  what  London  is  in  the  nineteenth,  —  the 
great  heart  of  commercial  circulation.^^ 

In  1531,  the  public  Exchange  was  erected,  the 
finest  building  of  its  kind  at  that  time  anywhere  to 
be  seen.  The  city,  indeed,  was  filled  with  stately 
edifices,  the  largest  of  which,  the  great  cathedral, 
ha\dng  been  nearly  destroyed  by  fire,  soon  after  the 
opening  of  the  Exchange,  was  rebuilt,  and  stUl  re- 


in quibus  enatse  arbusculaB,  primo-        1^  Histoire  des  Provinces-Unies 

que  illo  terrae  velut  ab  ubere  lac-  des  Pais-Bas,   (La  Haye,   1 704,) 

fcentes,  ali5  dein   secum  auferant  torn.  I.  p.  88. 
dotes  hospitalis  soli."     Strada,  De        i'  Guicciardini,     Belgicae     !)©► 

Bello  Belgico,  lib.  II.  p.  61.  scriptio,  p.  225  et  seq 


372 


VIEW  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 


[Book  IL 


mains  a  noble  specimen  of  the  architectural  science 
of  the  time.  Another  age  was  to  see  the  walls  of 
the  same  cathedral  adorned  with  those  exquisite 
productions  of  Rubens  and  his  disciples,  which 
raised  the  Flemish  school  to  a  level  with  the  great 
Italian  masters. 

The  rapidly  increasing  opulence  of  the  city 
was  visible  in  the  luxurious  accommodations  and 
sumptuous  way  of  living  of  the  inhabitants.  The 
merchants  of  Antwerp  rivalled  the  nobles  of  other 
lands  in  the  splendor  of  their  dress  and  domes- 
tic establishments.  Something  of  the  same  sort 
showed  itself  in  the  middle  classes ;  and  even  in 
those  of  humbler  condition,  there  was  a  comfort 
approaching  to  luxury  in  their  households,  which 
attracted  the  notice  of  an  Italian  writer  of  the 
sixteenth  century.  He  commends  the  scrupulous 
regard  to  order  and  cleanliness  observed  in  the 
ari-angement  of  the  dwellings,  and  expresses  his 
admiration,  not  only  of  the  careful  attention  given 
by  the  women  to  their  domestic  duties,  but  also  of 
their  singular  capacity  for  conducting  those  busi- 
ness affairs  usually  reserved  for  the  other  sex. 
This  was  particularly  the  case  in  Holland."  But 
this  freedom  of  intercourse  was  no  disparagement 
to  their  feminine  qualities.  The  liberty  they  as- 
sumed did  not  degenerate  into  license ;  and  he 
concludes  his  animated  portraiture  of  these  Flemish 


^^  "  Ut  in  multis  terne  Provin-    suanim  curam  uxoribus  s«epe  r^ 
ciiSf   Hollandia   nominatim    atque     linquant."     Ibid.,  p.  58. 
Z^ilaiidia,  viri  omnium  fere  rerum 


Ch.  1.1 


PROTESTANT  DOCTRINES. 


373 


matrons  by  pronouncing  them  as  discreet  as  they 
were  beautiful. 

The  humbler  classes,  in  so  abject  a  condition 
in  other  parts  of  Europe  at  that  day,  felt  the 
good  effects  of  this  general  progress  in  comfort 
and  civilization.  It  was  rare  to  find  one,  we 
are  told,  so  illiterate  as  not  to  be  acquainted 
with  the  rudiments  of  grammar ;  and  there  was 
scarcely  a  peasant  who  could  not  both  read  and 
write  ;^^ — this  at  a  time  when  to  read  and  write 
were  accomplishments  not  always  possessed,  in 
other  countries,  by  those  even  in  the  higher 
walks  of  life. 

It  was  not  possible  that  a  people  so  well  ad- 
vanced in  the  elements  of  civilization  should  long 
remain  insensible  to  the  great  religious  refoim 
which,  having  risen  on  their  borders,  was  now 
rapidly  spreading  over  Christendom.  Besides  the 
contiguity  of  the  Netherlands  to  Germany,  their 
commerce  with  other  countries  had  introduced 
them  to  Protestantism  as  it  existed  there.  The 
foreign  residents,  and  the  Swiss  and  German  mer- 
cenaries quartered  in  the  provinces,  had  imported 
along  with  them  these  same  principles  of  the 
Reformation ;  and  lastly,  the  Flemish  nobles,  who, 
at  that  time,  were  much  in  the  fashion  of  going 


19  "  Majori    gentis    parti    nota  markable  fact,  had  ample  oppor- 

Grammaticae  rudimenta,  et  vel  ipsi  tunity  for  ascertaining  the  truth  of 

etiam  rustici  legendi  scribendique  it,  since,  though  an  Italian  by  birth, 

periti  sunt."     Ibid.,  p.  53.  he  resided  in  the  Netherlands  fof 

Guicciardini,  who  states  this  re-  forty  years  or  more. 


3T4 


VIEW  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 


[Book  II. 


abroad  to  study  in  Geneva,  returned  from  that 
strong-hold  of  Calvin  well  fortified  with  the  doc- 
trines of  the  great  Reformer.^  Thus  the  seeds  of 
the  Reformation,  whether  in  the  Lutheran  or  the 
Calvinistic  form,  were  scattered  wide  over  the  land, 
and  took  root  in  a  congenial  soil.  The  phleg- 
matic temperament  of  the  northern  provinces,  es- 
pecially, disposed  them  to  receive  a  religion  which 
addressed  itself  so  exclusively  to  the  reason,  while 
tiiey  were  less  open  to  the  influences  of  Catholi- 
cism, which,  with  its  gorgeous  accessories,  ap- 
pealing to  the  passions,  is  better  suited  to  the 
lively  sensibilities  and  kindling  imaginations  of 
the  south. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  Charles  the  Fifth 
could  long  remain  insensible  to  this  alai-ming  de- 
fection of  his  subjects  in  the  Netherlands ;  nor 
that  the  man  whose  life  was  passed  in  battling 
with  the  Lutherans  of  Germany  coidd  patiently 
submit  to  see  their  detested  heresy  taking  root  in 
his  own  dominions.  He  dreaded  this  innovation 
no  less  in  a  temporal  than  in  a  spiritual  view. 
Experience  had  shown  that  freedom  of  speculation 
in  affairs  of  religion  naturally  led  to  free  inquiry 
into  political  abuses ;  that  the  work  of  the  reformer 
was  never  accomplished  so  long  as  anything  re- 
mained to  reform,  in  state  as  well  as  in  church. 


s*  Schiller,  Abfall  der  Nieder-  Groen  Van  Prinsterer,  Archivet 

lande,  p.  53. — Vandervynckt,  His-  ou  Correspondance  Inddite  de  la 

toire  des  Troubles  des  Pays-Bas,  Maison  d*Orange-Nassau,  (Lcide^ 

(Bruxclles,  1822,)  torn.  II.  p.  6.—-  1841,)  torn.  I.  p.  164* 


Ch.  I]        PERSECUTION  BY  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.  375 

Charles,  with  the  instinct  of  Spanish  despotism, 
sought  a  remedy  in  one  of  those  acts  of  arbitrary 
power  in  which  he  indulged  without  scruple  when 
the  occasion  called  for  them. 

In  March,  1520,  he  published  the  first  of  his 
barbarous  edicts  for  the  suppression  of  the  new 
faith.  It  was  followed  by  several  others  of  the 
same  tenor,  repeated  at  intervals  throughout  his 
reign.  The  last  appeared  in  September,  1550.^^ 
As  this  in  a  maimer  suspended  those  that  had  pre- 
ceded it,  to  which,  however,  it  substantially  con- 
formed, and  as  it  became  the  basis  of  Philip's  sub- 
sequent legislation,  it  will  be  well  to  recite  its  chief 
provisions. 

By  this  edict,  or  "  placard,"  as  it  was  called,  it 
was  ordamed  that  all  who  were  convicted  of  heresy 
should  suffer  death  "  by  fire,  by  the  pit,  or  by  the 
sword  ";^  in  other  words,  should  be  burned  alive,  be 
buried  alive,  or  be  beheaded.  These  terrible  pen- 
alties were  incurred  by  all  who  dealt  in  heretical 
books,  or  copied  or  bought  them,  by  all  who  held 
or  attended  conventicles,  by  all  who  disputed  on  the 
Scriptures  in  public  or  private,  by  all  who  preached 
or  defended  the  doctrines  of  reform.  Informers 
were  encouraged  by  the  promise  of  one  half  of  the 
confiscated   estate  of  the  heretic.      No  suspected 


91  The  whole  number  of  "  pla-  Pays-Bas,  (Bruxelles,  1848,)  tom 

rards'*  issued  by  Charles  the  Fifth  I.  pp.  105,  106. 
amounted  to  eleven.    See  the  dates        92  «  Le  /er,  la  fosse^  et  le  feu* 

in   Gachanl,   Correspondance    de  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 
Philippe  II.  sur  les  Affaires   des 


376 


VIEW  OF  THE  NETHERLANDa 


[Book  II 


person  was  allowed  to  make  any  donation,  or  sell 
any  of  his  effects,  or  dispose  of  them  by  will. 
Finally,  the  courts  were  instructed  to  grant  no 
remission  or  mitigation  of  punishment  under  the 
fallacious  idea  of  mercy  to  the  convicted  party,  and 
it  was  made  penal  for  the  friends  of  the  accused  to 
solicit  such  indulgence  on  his  behalf^ 

The  more  thoroughly  to  enforce  these  edicts, 
Charles  took  a  hint  from  the  terrible  tribunal 
with  which  he  was  familiar  in  Spain,  —  the  In- 
quisition.  He  obtained  a  bull  from  his  old  pre- 
ceptor, Adrian  the  Sixth,  appointing  an  inquisitor- 
general,  who  had  authority  to  examine  persons  sus- 
pected  of  heresy,  to  imprison  and  torture  them,  to 
confiscate  their  property,  and  finally  sentence  them 
to  banishment  or  death.  These  formidable  powers 
were  intrusted  to  a  layman,  —  a  lawyer  of  emi- 
nence,  and  one  of  the  council  of  Brabant.  But  this 
zealous  functionaiy  employed  his  authority  ^vith 
so  good  effect,  that  it  speedily  roused  the  general 
indignation  of  his  countrymen,  who  compelled  him 
to  fly  for  his  life. 

By  another  bull  from  Rome,  four  inquisitors 
were  appointed  in  the  place  of  the  fugitive.  These 
inquisitors  were  ecclesiastics,  not  of  the  fierce  Do- 
minican  order,  as  in  Spain,  but  members  of  the 


«  Meteren,  Histoire  des  Pays-  10.  —  Brandt,  Histoiy  of  the  Ref- 

Bas,  ou   Recueil  des    Guerres  et  ormation   in   the  Lew  Countries, 

Choses    memorables,  depuis    I'An  translated  from  the  Dutch,  (Lon- 

1S15,  jusques  k  I'An  1612,  traduit  don,  1720,)  vol  I.  p.  88. 
de  Flamend,  (La  Haye,  1618,)  fol. 


Ch.  LI        PERSECUTION  BY  CHARLES  THE  FIFTn.  377 

secular  clergy.  All  public  officers  were  enjoined  t^ 
aid  them  in  detecting  and  securing  suspected  per- 
sons, and  the  common  prisons  were  allotted  for  the 
confinement  of  their  victims. 

The  people  would  seem  to  have  gained  little  by 
the  substitution  of  four  inquisitors  for  one.  But 
in  fact  they  gained  a  great  deal.  The  sturdy  re- 
sistance made  to  the  exercise  of  the  unconstitu- 
tional powers  of  the  inquisitor-general  compelled 
Charles  to  bring  those  of  the  new  functionaries 
more  within  the  limits  of  the  law.  For  twenty 
years  or  more  their  powers  seem  not  to  have  been 
well  defined.  But  in  1546  it  was  decreed  that 
no  sentence  whatever  could  be  pronounced  by  an 
inquisitor  without  the  sanction  of  some  member  of 
the  provincial  council.  Thus,  however  barbarous 
the  law  against  heresy,  the  people  of  the  Nether- 
lands had  this  security,  that  it  was  only  by  their 
own  regular  courts  of  justice  that  this  law  was  to 
be  interpreted  and  enforced.^ 

Such  were  the  expedients  adopted  by  Charles 
the  Fifth  for  the  suppression  of  heresy  in  the 
Netherlands.  Notwithstanding  the  name  of  "  in- 
quisitors," the  new  establishment  bore  faint  resem- 
blance to  the  dread  tribunal  of  the  Spanish  Inqui- 
sition, with  which  it  has  been  often  confounded.^ 


2*  Correspondance  de  Philippe 
n.,  torn.  T.  p.  108.  —  Grotius,  An- 
nates et  Ilistoriae  de  Rebus  Belgi- 
cis,  (Amstelasdami,  1657,)  p.  11. 
—  Brandt,  Reformation  in  the  Low 
Countries,  vol.  I.  p.  88. 

vor.  I.  48 


25  Viglius,  afterwards  president 
of  the  privy  council,  says  plainly, 
in  one  of  his  letters  to  Granvelle, 
that  the  name  of  Spanish  Inquisi- 
tion was  fastened  on  the  Flemish, 
in  order  to  make  it  odious  to  the 


378 


VIEW  OP  IHE  NETHERLANDS. 


[Book  H 


The  Holy  Office  presented  a  vast  and  complicated 
machinery,  skilfully  adapted  to  the  existing  insti- 
tutions of  Castile.     It  may  be  said  to  have  formed 
part   of  the  government  itself,  and,  however  re- 
stricted in  its  original  design,  it  became  in  time  a 
formidable  political  engine,  no  less  than  a  religious 
one.      The  grand-inquisitor  was  clothed  with  an 
authority  before  which  the  monarch  himself  might 
tremble.     On  some  occasions,  he  even  took  prece- 
dence of  the  monarch.     The  courts  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion were  distributed  throughout  the  country,  and 
were  conducted  with  a  solemn  pomp  that  belonged 
to  no   civil    tribunal.      Spacious    buildings   were 
erected  for  their  accommodation,  and  the  gigantic 
prisons  of  the  Inquisition  rose  up,  like  impregnable 
fortresses,  in  the  principal  cities  of  the  kingdom. 
A  swarm  of  menials  and  officials  waited  to  do  its 
bidding.     The  proudest  nobles  of  the  land  held  it 
an  honor  to  serve  as  familiars  of  the  holy  office. 
In  the  midst  of  this  external  pomp,  the  impenetra- 
ble veil  thrown  over  its  proceedings  took  strong 
hold   of  the   imagination,   investing   the   tribunal 
with  a  sort  of  supernatural  terror.     An  individual 
disappeared  from  the  busy  scenes  of  life.     No  one 
knew  whither  he  had  gone,  till  he  reappeared, 


people.  "  Queruntur  autem  im- 
primis, a  nobis  novam  inductam 
inquisitioncm,  quam  voeant  His- 
panicam.  Quod  fals5  populo  a 
quibusdam  persuadetur,  ut  nomine 
ipso  rem  odi^sam  reddant,  ciim 
uulla  alia  ab    ^sesare  sit  instituta 


inquisitio,  quam  ea,  quae  cum  jure 
scripto  scilicet  Canonico,  convenit, 
et  usitata  antea  fuit  in  hac  Provin- 
cia.**  Viglii  Epistolsc  Sclectae,  ap. 
Hoynck,  Analecta  Belgica,  (Hagie 
Comitum,  1743,)  torn.  II.  juirs  1 
p.  349. 


Ch.  I.]        PERSECUTION  BY  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.  379 

clothed  in  the  fatal  garb  of  the  san  benito,  to  take 
part  in  the  tragic  spectacle  of  an  auto  deft.  This 
was  the  great  triumph  of  the  Inquisition,  rivalling 
the  ancient  Roman  triumph  in  the  splendor  of  the 
show,  and  surpassing  it  in  the  solemn  and  myste- 
rious import  of  the  ceremonial.  It  was  hailed  with 
enthusiasm  by  the  fanatical  Spaniard  of  that  day, 
who,  in  the  martyrdom  of  the  infidel,  saw  only  a 
sacrifice  most  acceptable  to  the  Deity.  The  Inqui- 
sition succeeded  in  Spain,  for  it  was  suited  to  the 
character  of  the  Spaniard. 

But  it  was  not  suited  to  the  firee  and  independent 
character  of  the  people  of  the  Netherlands.  Free- 
dom of  thought  they  claimed  as  their  birthright ; 
and  the  attempt  to  crush  it  by  introducing  the  per- 
nicious usages  of  Spain  was  everywhere  received 
with  execration.  Such  an  institution  was  an  acci- 
dent, and  could  not  become  an  integral  part  of  the 
constitution.  It  was  a  vicious  graft  on  a  healthy 
stock.  It  could  bear  no  fruit,  and  sooner  or  later 
it  must  perish. 

Yet  the  Inquisition,  such  as  it  was,  did  its  work 
while  it  lasted  in  the  Netherlands.  This  is  true, 
at  least,  if  we  are  to  receive  the  popular  statement, 
that  fifty  thousand  persons,  in  the  reign  of  Charles 
the  Fifth,  suff'ered  for  their  religious  opinions  by 
the  hand  of  the  executioner!**  This  monstrous 
statement  has  been  repeated  by  one  historian  after 

«  Grotius  swells  the  number  to    certain  point  of  the  incredible,  oa« 
one  hundred  thousand  1    ( Annales,    ceases  to  estimate  probabilities. 
p.  12.)    It  is  all  one;  beyond  a 


380 


VIEW  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 


[Book  II. 


another,  with  apparently  as  little  distrust  as  ex- 
amination. It  affords  one  among  many  examples 
of  the  facility  with  which  men  adopt  the  most 
startling  results,  especially  when  conveyed  in  the 
form  of  numerical  estimates.  There  is  something 
that  strikes  the  imagination,  in  a  numerical  esti- 
mate, which  settles  a  question  so  summarily,  in  a 
form  so  precise  and  so  portable.  Yet  whoever  has 
had  occasion  to  make  any  researches  into  the  past, 
—  that  land  of  uncertainty,  —  will  agree  that  there 
is  nothing  less  entitled  to  confidence. 

In  the  present  instance,  such  a  statement  might 
seem  to  carry  its  own  refutation  on  the  face  of 
it.     Llorente,  the  celebrated  secretary  of  the  Holy 
Office,  whose  estimates  will  never  be  accused  of 
falling  short  of  the  amount,  computes  the  whole 
number  of  victims  sacrificed  during  the  first  eigh- 
teen years  of  the  Inquisition  in  Castile,  when  it 
was  in  most  active  operation,  at  about  ten  thou- 
sand.27     The  storm  of  persecution  there,  it  will  be 
remembered,  fell  chiefly  on  the  Jews,  — that  ill- 
omened    race,   from   whom   every  pious   Catholic 
would  have  rejoiced  to  see  his  land  purified  by 
fire  and  fagot.      It  will  hardly  be  believed  that 
five  times  the  number  of  these  victims  perished 
in  a  coimtry  like  the  Netherlands,  in  a  term  of 
time  not   quite    double   that   occupied    for   their 
extermination  in  Spain ;  —  the  Netherlands,  where 
every  instance    of   such    persecution,    instead    of 

•^  Histoire  de  ITnquisition  d'Espagne,  (Paris,  1818,)  torn.  I.  p.  280. 


Ch.  I]        PEKSECUTION  BY  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.  38l 

being  hailed  as  a  triumph  of  the  Cross,  was  re* 
garded  as  a  fresh  outrage  on  the  liberties  of  the 
nation.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say,  that  such  a 
number  of  martyrs  as  that  pretended  would  have 
produced  an  explosion  that  would  have  unsettled 
the  authority  of  Charles  himself,  and  left  for  his 
successor  less  territory  in  the  Netherlands  at  the 
beginning  of  his  reign,  than  he  was  destined  to 
have  at  the  end  of  it. 

Indeed,  the  frequent  renewal  of  the  edicts, 
which  was  repeated  no  less  than  nine  times  during 
Charles's  administration,  intimates  plainly  enough 
the  very  sluggish  and  unsatisfactory  manner  in 
which  they  had  been  executed.  In  some  provin- 
ces,  as  Luxembourg  and  Groningen,  the  Inquisi- 
tion was  not  introduced  at  all.  Gueldres  stood  on 
its  privileges,  guarantied  to  it  by  the  emperor 
on  his  accession.  And  Brabant  so  effectually 
remonstrated  on  the  mischief  which  the  mere 
name  of  the  Inquisition  would  do  to  the  trade 
of  the  country,  and  especially  of  Antwerp,  its 
capital,  that  the  emperor  deemed  it  prudent  to 
qualify  some  of  the  provisions,  and  to  drop  the 
name  of  Inquisitor  altogether.^^  There  is  no  way 
more  sure  of  rousing  the  sensibilities  of  a  com- 
mercial people,  'than  by  touching  their  pockets. 
Charles  did  not  care  to  press  matters  to  such  ex- 
tremity. He  was  too  politic  a  prince,  too  large 
•  a  gainer  by  the  prosperity  of  his  people,  willingly 

*  Correspondance  de  Philippe  H.,  torn.  I.  pp.  123,  124. 


582 


VIEW  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS. 


[Book  II. 


to  put  it  in  peril,  even  for  conscience'  sake.    In  this 
lay  the  difference  between  him  and  Philip. 

Notwithstanding,  therefore,  his  occasional  abuse 
of  power,  and  the  little  respect  he  may  have  had 
at  heart  for  the  civil  rights  of  his  subjects,  the 
government  of  Charles,  as  already  intimated,  was 
on  the  whole  favorable  to  their  commercial  in- 
terests.  He  was  well  repaid  by  the  enlarged 
resources  of  the  country,  and  the  aid  they  af- 
forded him  for  the  prosecution  of  his  ambitious 
enterprises.  In  the  course  of  a  few  years,  as  we 
are  informed  by  a  contemporary,  he  drew  from  the 
Netherlands  no  less  than  twenty-four  millions  of 
ducats.^  And  this  supply  —  furnished  not  un- 
grudgingly, it  is  true  —  was  lavished,  for  the 
most  part,  on  objects  in  which  the  nation  had  no 
interest.  In  like  manner,  it  was  the  revenues 
of  the  Netherlands  which  defrayed  great  part 
of  Philip's  expenses  in  the  war  that  followed 
his  accession.  "Here,"  exclaims  the  Venetian 
envoy,  Soriano,  "were  the  true  treasures  of  the 
king  of  Spain;  here  were  his  mines,  his  Indies, 
which  furnished  Charles  with  the  means  of  car- 
rying on  his  wars  for  so  many  years  with  the 
French,  the  Geimans,  the  Italians,  which  pro- 
vided for  the  defence  of  his  own  states,  and 
maintained  his  dignity  and  reputation."** 


89  «  Donde  che  1*  Imperatore  ha  30  «  Questi  sono  li  tesori  del  lU 

potuto  cavare  in  24  millioni  d*  oro  di  Spagna,  queste  le  minere,  queste 

in  pochi  anni"    Relatione  di  Sori-  1'  Indie  che  hanno  sostenuto  V  im- 

mo,  MS.  presc  dell'  Imperatore  tanti  anni 


Ch.  I]        PERSECUTION  BY  CHARLES  THE  FIFTH.  383 

Such  then  was  the  condition  of  the  country  at 
the  time  when  the  sceptre  passed  from  the  hands  of 
Charles  the  Fifth  into  those  of  Philip  the  Second ; 
—  its  broad  plains  teeming  with  the  products  of  an 
elaborate  culture;    its  cities  swarming  with   arti- 
sans, skilled  in  all  kinds  of  ingenious  handicraft ; 
its  commerce    abroad    on   every   sea,   and    bring- 
ing back  rich  returns  from  distant  climes.     The 
great  body  of  its  people,  well  advanced  in  the  arts 
of  civilization,  rejoiced  in  "  such  abundance  of  all 
things,"  says  a  foreigner  who  witnessed  their  pros- 
perity, "  that  there  was  no  man,  however  humble, 
who  did  not  seem  rich  for  his  station."  ^^     In  this 
active  development  of  their  powers,  the  inquisitive 
mind  of  the  inhabitants  naturally  turned  to  those 
great  problems  in  religion  which  were  agitating 
the  neighboring  countries  of  France  and  Germany. 
All  the  efforts  of  Charles  were  unavailing  to  check 
the  spirit  of  inquiry ;  and  in  the  last  year  of  his 
reign  he  bitterly  confessed  the  total  failure  of  his 
endeavor   to   stay  the   progress   of  heresy  in   the 
Netherlands.*^    Well  had  it  been  for  his  successor, 
had  he  taken  coimsel  by  the  failure  of  his  father, 
and  substituted  a  more  lenient  policy  for  the  in- 
effectual  system   of  persecution.      But   such   was 
not  the  policy  of  Philip. 


nelle  guerre  di  Francia,  d*  Italia  et 
d*  Alemagna,  et  hanno  conservato 
et  diffeso  li  stati,  la  dignitk  et  la 
lijiatatione  sua."     Ibid. 

31  "  Et  per6  in  ogni  luogo  cor- 
rono  tan  to  i  denari  et  tanto  il 
epacciamento  d'  ogni  cosa  che  non 
vi  k  huomo  per  basso  et  inerte, 


che  sia,  che  per  il  suo  grado  non 
sia  ricco.**  Relatione  di  Cavallo, 
MS. 

32  See  an  extract  from  the  origi- 
nal letter  of  Charles,  dated  Brus- 
sels, January  27,  1555,  ap.  Cor- 
rcspondance  de  Philippe  IL,  torn. 
I.  p.  cxxiL 


Cm.  II.)  UNPOPULAR  MANNERS  OF  PHILIP. 


385 


P 

\v 

•  i 


CHAPTER    II. 

SYSTEM  ESTABLISHED  BY  PHILIP. 

Unpopular  Manners  of  PhUip.  —  He  enforces  the  Edicts.  —  In  tjut  #/ 
Bishoprics.  —  Margaret  of  Parma  Regent  — Meeting  of  the  otates- 
General. —  Their  spirited  Conduct — Organization  of  the  Coun- 
cils.—  Rise  and  Character  of  Granvelle.  —  Philip's  Departuie. 

1559. 

Philip  the  Second  was  no  stranger  to  the 
Netherlands.  He  had  come  there,  as  it  will  be 
remembered,  when  very  young,  to  be  presented 
by  his  father  to  his  future  subjects.  On  that  oc- 
casion he  had  greatly  disgusted  the  people  by 
that  impenetrable  reserve  which  they  constiued 
into  haughtiness,  and  which  strongly  contiast- 
ed  with  the  gracious  manners  of  the  emperor. 
Charles  saw  with  pain  the  impression  which  his 
son  had  left  on  his  subjects;  and  the  effects  of 
his  paternal  admonitions  were  visible  in  a  marked 
change  in  Philip's  deportment  on  his  subsequent 
visit  to  England.  But  nature  lies  deeper  than 
manner ;  and  when  Philip  returned,  on  his  father's 
abdication,  to  assume  the  sovereignty  of  the  Neth- 
erlands, he  wore  the  same  frigid  exterior  as  in  ear- 
lier days. 


His  first  step  was  to  visit  the  different  prov 
inces,  and  receive  from  them  their  oaths  of  alle- 
giance. No  better  occasion  could  be  offered  for 
conciliating  the  good-will  of  the  inhabitants. 
Everywhere  his  approach  was  greeted  with  fes- 
tivities and  public  rejoicing.  The  gates  of  the 
capitals  wer^  thrown  open  to  receive  him,  and 
the  population  thronged  out,  eager  to  do  homage 
to  their  new  sovereign.  It  was  a  season  of  ju- 
bilee for  the  whole  nation. 

In  this  general  rejoicing,  Philip's  eye  alone  re- 
mained dark.^  Shut  up  in  his  carriage,  he  seemed 
desirous  to  seclude  himself  from  the  gaze  of  his 
new  subjects,  who  crowded  around,  anxious  to 
catch  a  glimpse  of  their  young  monarch.^  His 
conduct  seemed  like  a  rebuke  of  their  enthusi- 
asm. Thus  chilled  as  they  were  in  the  first  flow 
of  their  loyalty,  his  progress  through  the  land, 
which  should  have  won  him  all  hearts,  closed  all 
hearts  against  him. 

The  emperor,  when  he  visited  the  Netherlands, 
was  like  one  coming  back  to  his  native  country. 


1  It  is  the  fine  expression  of 
Schiller,  applied  to  Philip  on  an- 
other occasion.  Abfall  der  Nie- 
derlande,  p.  ^1. 

2  "  II  se  cachait  ordinairement 
dans  le  fond  de  son  carosse,  pour 
se  derober  k  la  curiositd  d*un 
peuple  qui  courait  audevant  de 
lui  et  s*empressait  k  le  voir;  le 
peuple  se  crut  dedaigne  et  me- 
prise."  Vandervynckt,  Troubles 
des  Pays-Bas,  torn.  II.  p.  1 7. 

VOL.  I.  49 


Coaches  were  a  novelty  then  iu 
Flanders,  and  indeed  did-  not  make 
their  appearance  till  some  yoars  lat- 
er in  L#ondon.  Sir  Thomas  Gresh- 
am  writes  from  Antwerp,  in  1560, 
"  The  Regent  ys  here  still ;  and 
every  other  day  rj-des  abowght 
this  town  in  her  cowche,  brave 
come  le  sol^  trymmed  after  the 
Itallione  fasshone/*  Burgon,  Lif« 
of  Gresham,  vol.  I.  p.  305. 


386 


SYSTEM  ESTABLISHED  BT  PHILIP.       [Boob  H 


h 


V 


He  spoke  the  language  of  the  people,  dressed  in 
their  dress,  conformed  to  their  usages  and  way  of 
life.  But  Philip  was  in  everything  a  Spaniard. 
He  spoke  only  the  Castilian.  He  adopted  the 
Spanish  etiquette  and  burdensome  ceremonial.  He 
was  surrounded  by  Spaniards,  and,  with  few  ex- 
ceptions, it  was  to  Spaniards  only  that  he  gave 
his  confidence.  Charles  had  disgusted  his  Span 
ish  subjects  by  the  marked  preference  he  had 
given  to  his  Flemish.  The  reverse  now  took 
place,  and  Philip  displeased  the  Flemings  by  his 
partiality  for  the  Spaniards.  The  people  of  the 
Netherlands  felt  with  bitterness  that  the  sceptre 
of  their  country  had  passed  into  the  hands  of  a 
foceigner. 

During  his  progress  Philip  caused  reports  to  be 
prepared  for  him  of  the  condition  of  the  several 
provinces,  their  population  and  trade,  —  present- 
ing a  mass  of  statistical  details,  in  which,  with  his 
usual  industry,  he  was  careful  to  instruct  himself. 
On  his  return,  his  first  concern  was  to  provide  for 
the  interests  of  religion.  He  renewed  his  father's 
edicts  relating  to  the  Inquisition,  and  in  the  follow- 
ing year  confirmed  the  "placard"  respecting  heresy. 
In  doing  this,  he  was  careful,  by  the  politic  advice 
of  Granvelle.  to  conform  as  nearly  as  possible  to 
the  language  of  the  original  edicts,  that  no  charge 
of  innovation  might  be  laid  to  him,  and  thus  the 
odium  of  these  unpopular  measures  might  remain 
with  their  original  author.^ 

•  Ccirespondance  de  Philippe  II.,  torn.  I.  pp.   108,   126.  —  Van- 


Ch.  II.] 


INCREASE  or  BISHOPRICS. 


387 


But  the  object  which  Philip  had  most  at  heart 
was  a  reform  much  needed  in  the  ecclesiastical 
establishment  of  the  country.  It  may  seem  strange 
that  in  all  the  Netherlands  there  were  but  three 
bishoprics,  —  Arras,  Toumay,  and  Utrecht.  A 
large  part  of  the  country  was  incorporated  with 
some  one  or  other  of  the  contiguous  German  dio- 
ceses. The  Flemish  bishoprics  were  of  enormous 
extent.  That  of  Utrecht  alone  embraced  no  less 
than  three  hundred  walled  towns,  and  eleven  hun- 
dred churches.*  It  was  impossible  that  any  pastor, 
however  diligent,  could  provide  for  the  wants  of  a 
flock  so  widely  scattered,  or  that  he  could  exer- 
cise supervision  over  the  clergy  themselves,  who 
had  fallen  into  a  lamentable  decay  both  .of  disci- 
pline and  morals. 

Still  greater  evils  followed  from  the  circum- 
stance of  the  episcopal  authority's  being  intrusted 
to  foreigners.  From  their  ignorance  of  the  insti- 
tutions of  the  Netherlands,  they  were  perpetually 
trespassing  on  the  rights  of  the  nation.  Another 
evil  consequence  was  the  necessity  of  carrying  up 
ecclesiastical  causes,  by  way  of  appeal,  to  foreign 
tribunals ;  a  thing,  moreover,  scarcely  practicable 
in  time  of  war. 

Charles  the  Fifth,  whose  sagacious  mind  has  left 
its  impress  on  the  permanent  legislation  of  the 
Netherlands,   saw   the  necessity  of  some  reform 

dervynckt,  Troubles  des  Pays-Bas,        <  Correspondance  de   Philippt 
torn.  II.  p.  10. — Brandt,  Refonna-    II.,  torn.  I.  p.  94. 
lion  in  the  Low  Countries,  torn.  L 
p.  107. 


S88 


SYSTEM  ESTABLISHED  BY  PHILIP.        [Book  U 


Jh.  IL] 


INCREASE  OF  BISHOPRICS. 


389 


in  this  matter.  He  accordingly  applied  to  Rome 
for  leave  to  erect  six  bishoprics,  in  addition  to 
those  previously  existing  in  the  country.  But  his 
attention  was  too  much*  distracted  by  other  objects 
to  allow  time  for  completing  his  design.  AVith 
his  son  Philip,  on  the  other  hand,  no  object  was 
allowed  to  come  in  competition  with  the  interests 
of  the  Church.  He  proposed  to  make  the  reform 
on  a  larger  scale  than  his  father  had  done,  and 
applied  to  Paul  the  Fourth  for  leave  to  create 
fourteen  bishoprics  and  three  archbishoprics.  The 
chief  difficulty  lay  in  providing  for  the  support  of 
the  new  dignitaries.  On  consultation  with  Gran- 
velle,  who  had  not  been  advised  of  the  scheme  till 
after  Philip's  application  to  Rome,  it  was  airaiiged 
that  the  income  should  be  furnished  by  the  abbey 
lands  of  the  respective  dioceses,  and  that  the  ab- 
beys themselves  should  hereafter  be  placed  imder 
the  control  of  priors  or  provosts  depending  alto- 
gether on  the  bishops.  Meanwhile,  until  the  bulls 
should  be  received  from  Rome,  it  was  determined 
to  keep  the  matter  profoundly  secret.  It  was 
easy  to  foresee  that  a  storm  of  opposition  would 
arise,  not  only  among  those  immediately  inter- 
ested in  preserving  the  present  order  of  things, 
but  among  the  great  body  of  the  nobles,  who 
would  look  with  an  evil  eye  on  the  admission 
into  their  ranks  of  so  large  a  number  of  persons 
servilely  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  crown.^ 

*  Ibid.,    ubi    supra.  —  Historia    el  Caballero  Renom  de  Francia 
de  los  Alborotos  de  Flandes,  por    Senor  de  Noyelles,  y  Presldente 


Having  concluded  his  arrangements  for  the  in- 
ternal settlement  of  the  country,  Philip  naturally 
turned  his  thoughts  towards  Spain.     He  was  the 
more  desirous  of  returning  thither  from   the   re- 
ports  he   received,  that   even  that  orthodox  land 
was   becoming  every  day  more   tainted  with   the 
heretical    doctrines   so   rife    in    the    neighboring 
countries.     There  were  no  hostilities  to  detain  him 
longer    in    the    Netherlands,   now   that   the   war 
with  France  had  been  brought  to  a  close.     The 
provinces,   as   we  have   already   stated,   had  ftir- 
nished  the  king  with  important  aid  for  carrying 
on  that  war,  by  the  grant  of  a  stipulated  annual 
tax  for  nine  years.     This  had  not   proved   equal 
to   his   necessities.     It  was   in  vain,  however,  to 
expect  any  further  concessions   from   the   states. 
They  had  borne,  not  without  murmurs,  the  heavy 
burdens   laid   on   them   by  Charles,  —  a  monarch 
whom    they    loved.      They   bore    still    more   im- 
patiently  the  impositions  of  a  prince  whom  they 
loved  so  little  as  Philip.     Yet  the  latter  seemed 
ready  to  make  any  sacrifice  of  his  permanent  in- 
terests for  such  temporary  relief  as  would  extri- 
cate  him  from  his  present  embarrassments.     His 
correspondence   with    Granvelle    on   the    subject, 
unfolding   the   suicidal    schemes   which    he    sub- 
mitted to  that  minister,  might  form   an   edifying 
chapter  in  the  financial  histor)^  of  that  day.^     The 

de  Malinas,  MS.  —  Meteren,  Hist    letter,  in  which  he  proposes  to  turn 

les  rays-Bas,  fol.  31.  to  his  own  account  the   sinking 

6  See,  in  particular,  the  king*s    fund  provided  by  the  states  foi 


39G 


SYSTEM  ESTABLISHED  BY  PHILIP.        [Book  H 


difficulty  of  carrying  on  the  government  of  the 
Netherlands  in  this  crippled  state  of  the  finances 
doubtless  strengthened  the  desire  of  the  monarch 
to  return  to  his  native  land,  where  the  manners 
and  habits  of  the  people  were  so  much  more  con- 
genial with  his  own. 

Before  leaving  the  coimtry,  it  was  necessary  to 
provide  a  suitable  person  to  whom  the  reins  of  gov- 
ernment might  be  intrusted.  The  duke  of  Savoy, 
who,  since  the  emperor's  abdication,  had  held  the 
post  of  regent,  was  now  to  return  to  his  own  do- 
minions, restored  to  him  by  the  treaty  of  Cateau- 
Cambresis.  There  were  several  persons  who  pre- 
sented themselves  for  this  responsible  office  in  the 
Netherlands.  One  of  the  most  prominent  was  La- 
moral,  prince  of  Gavre,  count  of  Egmont,  the  hero 
of  St  Quentin  and  of  Gravelines.  The  illustrious 
house  from  which  he  was  descended,  his  chivalrous 
spirit,  his  frank  and  generous  bearing,  no  less  than 
his  brilliant  military  achievements,  had  made  him 
the  idol  of  the  people.  There  were  some  who  in- 
sisted that  these  achievements  inferred  rather  the 
successful  soldier  than  the  great  captain ;  ^  and  that, 
whatever  merit  he  could  boast  in  the  field,  it  was 
no  proof  of  his  capacity  for  so  important  a  civil  sta- 
tion as  that  of  governor  of  the  Netherlands.    Yet  it 


the  discharge  of  the  debt  they  had 
already  contracted  for  him,  Pa- 
piers  d'fitat  de  Granvelle,  torn. 
V.  p.  694. 

'  "  n  Duca  di  Sessa  et  il  Conte 
d*  Egmont  hano  acquistato  il  nome 


di  Capitano  nuovamente  perche 
una  giomata  vinta  o  per  vertu  o 
per  fortuna,  una  sola  fattione  ben 
riuscita,  porta  all'huomini  riputa- 
tione  et  grandezza/'  Relatione  di 
Soriano,  MS. 


Ch.  n] 


MARGARET  OF  PARMA  REGEr^T. 


39) 


could  not  be  doubted  that  his  nomination  would 
be  most  acceptable  to  the  people.  This  did  not 
recommend  him  to  Philip. 

Another  candidate  was  Christine,  duchess  of 
Lorraine,  the  king's  cousin.  The  large  estates  of 
her  house  lay  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Nether- 
lands. She  had  shown  her  talent  for  political 
affairs  by  the  part  she  had  taken  in  effecting  the 
arrangements  of  Cateau-Cambresis.  The  prince 
of  Orange,  lately  become  a  widower,  was  desirous, 
it  was  said,  of  marrying  her  daughter.  Neither 
did  this  prove  a  recommendation  with  Philip,  who 
was  by  no  means  anxious  to  raise  the  house  of 
Orange  higher  in  the  scale,  still  less  to  intrust 
it  with  the  destinies  of  the  Netherlands.  In  a 
word,  the  monarch  had  no  mind  to  confide  the 
regency  of  the  country  to  any  one  of  its  powerful 
nobles.^ 

The  individual  on  whom  the  king  at  length 
decided  to  bestow  this  mark  of  his  confidence  was 
his  half-sister,  Margaret,  duchess  of  Parma.  She 
was  the  natural  daughter  of  Charles  the  Fifth, 
bom  about  four  years  before  his  marriage  mth 
Isabella  of  Portugal.  Margaret's  mother,  Mar- 
garet Vander  Gheenst,  belonged  to  a  noble  Flemish 
house.  Her  parents  both  died  during  her  infancy. 
The  little  orphan  was  received  into  the  family  of 
Count  Hoogstraten,  who,  with  his  wife,  reared  her 
with  the  same  tenderness  as  they  did  their  own 


8  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  lib.     Flandes,MS.— Bentivoglio,Guei». 
I.  p  42.  —  Francia,  Alborotos  de     ra  di  Fiandra,  p.  25. 


392 


SYSTEM  ESTABLISHED  BY  PHTLIP.        [Book  U 


Ch.  HJ 


MARGARET  OF  PARMA  REGENT. 


393 


offspring.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  she  was  unfor- 
tunate enough  to  attract  the  eye  of  Charles  the 
Fifth,  who,  then  in  his  twenty-third  year,  was 
captivated  by  the  charms  of  the  Flemish  maiden. 
Margaret's  virtue  was  not  proof  against  the  seduc- 
tions of  her  royal  suitor  ;  and  the  victim  of  love  — 
or  of  vanity  —  became  the  mother  of  a  child,  who 
received  her  own  name  of  Margaret. 

The  emperor's  aunt,  then  regent  of  the  Nether- 
lands, took  charge  of  the  infant ;  and  on  the  death 
of  that  princess,  she  was  taken  into  the  family 
of  the  emperor's  sister,  Mary,  queen  of  Hungary, 
who  succeeded  in  the  regency.  Margaret's  birth 
did  not  long  remain  a  secret ;  and  she  received 
an  education  suited  to  the  high  station  she  was 
to  occupy  in  life.  When  only  twelve  years  of  age, 
the  emperor  gave  her  in  marriage  to  Alexander 
de'  Medici,  grand-duke  of  Tuscany,  some  fifteen 
years  older, than  herself.  The  ill-fated  connection 
did  not  subsist  long,  as,  before  twelve  months  had 
elapsed,  it  was  terminated  by  the  violent  death  of 
her  husband. 

When  she  had  reached  the  age  of  womanhood, 
the  hand  of  the  young  widow  was  bestowed,  to- 
gether with  the  duchies  of  Parma  and  Placentia  as 
her  dowry,  on  Ottavio  Famese,  grandson  of  Paul 
the  Third.  The  bridegroom  was  but  twelve  years 
old.  Thus  again  it  was  Margaret's  misfortune  that 
there  should  be  such  disparity  between  her  own  age 
and  that  of  her  husband  as  to  exclude  anything 
like  sympathy  or  similarity  in  their  tastes..    In  the 


n 


present  instance,  the  boyish  years  of  Ottavio  in- 
spired her  with  a  sentiment  not  very  different  from 
contempt,  that  in  later  life  settled  into  an  indiffer- 
ence in  which  both  parties  appear  to  have  shared, 
and  which,  as  a  contemporary  remarks  with  naivetiy 
was  only  softened  into  a  kindlier  feeling  when  the 
nusband  and  wife  had  been  long  separated  from 
each  other.®  In  truth,  Margaret  was  too  ambitious 
of  power  to  look  on  her  husband  in  any  other  light 
than  that  of  a  rival. 

In  her  general  demeanor,  her  au^,  her  gait,  she 
bore  great  resemblance  to  her  aunt,  the  regent. 
Like  her,  Margaret  was  excessively  fond  of  hunt- 
ing, and  she  followed  the  chase  with  an  intrepidity 
that  might  have  daunted  the  courage  of  the  keen- 
est sportsman.  She  had  but  little  of  the  natural 
softness  that  belongs  to  the  sex,  but  in  her  whole 
deportment  was  singularly  masculine ;  so  that,  to 
render  the  words  of  the  historian  by  a  homely 
phrase,  in  her  woman's  dress  she  seemed  like  a 
man  in  petticoats.^^  As  if  to  add  to  the  illusion, 
Nature  had  given  her  somewhat  of  a  beard ;  and, 
to  crown  the  whole,  the  malady  to  which  she  was 
constitutionally  subject  was  a  disease  to  which 
women  are  but   rarely  liable,  —  the   gout.^^      It 


9  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  lib. 
I.  p.  52. 

I'*  "  Sed  etiam  habitus  quidam 
corporis  incessusque,  quo  non  tam 
femina  sortita  viri  spiritus,  quhm 
vir  enientitus  veste  feminam  vide- 
retur."    Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 

VOL.  I.  50 


U  "  Nee  deerat  aliqua  mento 
superiorique  labello  barbula:  ex 
qua  virilis  ei  non  magis  species^ 
qukm  auctoritas  coneiliabatur.  Im- 
mb,  quod  raro  in  mulieres,  nee 
nisi  in  praevalidas  eatlit,  podagrd 
idemtidem  laborabat.**    Rid.,  p.  53. 


394 


SYSTEM  ESTABLISHED  BY  PHILIP.        [Book  JL 


was  good  evidence  of  her  descent  from  Charles  the 

Fifth. 

Though  masculine  in  her  appearance,  Margaret 
was  not  destitute  of  the  kmdlier  qualities  which 
are  the  glory  of  her  sex.  Her  disposition  was 
good;  but  she  relied  much  on  the  advice  of 
others,  and  her  more  objectionable  acts  may 
probably  be  referred  rather  to  their  influence 
than  to  any  inclination  of  her  own. 

Her   understanding   was    excellent,   her   appro* 
hension  quick.      She  showed  much  versatility  in 
accommodating  herself  to  the  exigencies  of  her  po- 
sition, as  well  as  adroitness  in  the  management  of 
affairs,  which  she  may  have  acquired  in  the  schools 
of  Italian  politics.     In  religion  she  was  as  ortho- 
dox as  Philip  the  Second  could  desire.     The  fa- 
mous  Ignatius  Loyola  had  been  her  confessor  m 
early   days.      The  lessons  of  humility  which  he 
inculcated  were  not  lost  on  her,  as   may  be  in- 
ferred from  the  care  she  took  to  perform  the  cere- 
mony,  in  Holy  Week,  of  washing  the  dirty  feet  — 
she  preferred  them  in  this  condition  — of  twelve 
poor  maidens; ^2    outstripping,  in  this    particular, 
the  humility  of  the  pope  himself  —  Such  was  the 
character   of    Margaret,    duchess    of  Parma,   who 
now,  in  the   thirty-eighth   year  of  her  age,  was 
called,  at  a  most  critical  period,  to  take  the  hehn 
of  the  Netherlands. 

11  «  Ob  earn  causam  singulis  (qnos  a  sordibus  purgatos  ant^ 
mnis,  turn  in  sanction  bebdomada,  vetuerat)  abluebat''  Ibid.,  M 
duodenis  pauperibus  puellis  pedes    supra. 


, 


t 


C«.  n.1  MABGABET  OF  PARMA  REGENT.  395 

The  appointment  seems  to  tave  given  equal 
satisfaction  to  herself  and  to  her  husband,  and  no 
objection  was  made  to  Philip's  purpose  of  taking 
back  with  him  to  CastUe  their  little  son,  Alex- 
ander Famese,  —  a  name  destined  to  become  in 
later  times  so  renowned  in  the  Netherlands.  The 
avowed  purpose  was  to  give  the  boy  a  training 
suited  to  his  rank,  under  the  eye  of  Philip ;  com- 
bined with  which,  according  to  the  historian,  was 
the  desiie  of  holding  a  hostage  for  the  fidelity  of 
Margaret  and  of  her  husband,  whose  dominions 
in  Italy  lay  contiguous  to  those  of  Philip  in  that 

country.^ 

Early  in  June,  1559,  Margaret  of  Parma,  hav- 
ing reached  the  Low  Countries,  made   her  en- 
trance in  great  state  into  Brussels,  where  Philip 
awaited  her,  surrounded  by  his  whole  court  of 
Spanish  and  Flemish  nobles.    The  duke  of  Savoy 
was  also  present,  as  weU  as  Margaret's  husband, 
the  duke  of  Parma,  then  in  attendance  on  Philip. 
The  appointment  of  Margaret  was  not  distasteful 
to   the   people   of  the   Netherlands,  for   she   was 
their  countrywoman,  and  her  early  days  had  been 
passed  amongst  them.     Her  presence  was  not  less 
welcome  to  PhUip,  who  looked  forward  with  eager- 
ness to  the  hour  of  his  departure.     His  first  pur- 
pose  was  to  present  the  new  regent  to  the  nation, 
and  for  this  he  summoned  a  meetmg  of  the  states- 
general  at  Ghent,  in  the  coming  August, 

W  Ibid.,  pp.  46-53,  548.— Ca-    2.— Vandervynckt,  Trouble  del 
brera,  FUipe  Segundo,  Ub.  V  cap.    Pays-Bas,  torn.  U.  p.  13. 


396 


SYSTEM  ESTABLISHED  BY  PHILIP.        [Boon  II 


On  the  twenty-fifth  of  July,  he  repaired  with 
his  coui-t  to  this  ancient  capital,  which  still  smarted 
under  the  eflfects  of  that  chastisement  of  his  father, 
which,  terrible  as  it  was,  had  not  the  power  to 
break  the  spirits  of  the  men  of  Ghent.  The  pres- 
ence of  the  court  was  celebrated  with  public  re- 
joicings, which  continued  for  three  days,  dui-ing 
which  Philip  held  a  chapter  of  the  Golden  Fleece 
for  the  election  of  fourteen  knights.  The  cere- 
mony was  conducted  with  the  magnificence  with 
which  the  meetings  of  this  illustrious  order  were 
usually  celebrated.  It  \vas  memorable  as  the  last 
chapter  of  it  ever  held.^*  Founded  by  the  dukes 
of  Burgundy,  the  order  of  the  Golden  Fleece  drew 
its  members  immediately  from  the  nobility  of  the 
Netherlands.  When  the  Spanish  sovereign,  who 
remained  at  its  head,  no  more  resided  in  the 
country,  the  chapters  were  discontinued ;  and  the 
knights  derived  their  appointment  from  the  simple 
nomination  of  the  monarch. 

On  the  eighth  of  August,  the  states-general 
assembled  at  Ghent.  The  sturdy  burghers  who 
took  their  seats  in  this  body  came  thither  in  no 
very  friendly  temper  to  the  government.  Various 
subjects  of  complaint  had  long  been  rankling  in 
their  bosoms,  and  now  found  vent  in  the  form  of 
animated  and  angr)'  debate.  The  people  had  been 
greatly  alarmed  by  the  avowed  policy  of  their  rulers 
to  persevere  in  the  system  of  religious  persecution, 


M  VandervjTickt,  Troubles  des  Pays-Bas,  torn.  H.  p  81. 


Ca  n.]        MEETING  OF  THE  STATES-GENERAL. 


391 


as  shown  especially  by  the  revival  of  the  ancient 
edicts  against  heresy  and  in  support  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion.     Rumors  had    gone  abroad,  probably  with 
exaggeration,  of  the  proposed   episcopal  reforms. 
However  necessary,  they  were  now  regarded  only 
as  part  of  the  great  scheme  of  persecution.    Differ- 
ent nations,  it  was  urged,  required  to  be  guided  by 
different  laws.     What  suited  the  Spaniards  would 
not  for  that  reason  suit  the  people  of  the  Nether- 
lands.    The  Inquisition  was  ill  adapted  to  men  ac- 
customed from  their  cradles  to  freedom  of  thought 
and  action.      Persecution  was  not  to  be  justified 
in  matters  of  conscience,  and  men  were  not  to  be 
reclaimed  from  spiritual  error  by  violence,  but  by 
gentleness  and  persuasion. 

But  what  most  called  forth  the  invective  of  the 
Flemish  orators  was  the  presence  of  a  large  body  of 
foreign  troops  in  the  country.  When  Philip  dis- 
banded  his  forces  after  the  French  war  had  termi- 
nated, there  still  remained  a  corps  of  the  old  Span- 
ish infantry,  amounting  to  some  three  or  four 
thousands,  which  he  thought  proper  to  retain  in 
the  western  provinces.  His  avowed  object  was  to 
protect  the  country  from  any  violence  on  the  part 
of  the  French.  Another  reason  assigned  by  him 
was  the  difficulty  of  raising  funds  to  pay  their 
arrears.  The  true  motive,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
states,  was  to  enforce  the  execution  of  the  new 
measures,  and  overcome  any  resistance  that  might 
be  made  in  the  country.  These  troops,  like  most 
of  the  soldiers  of  that  day,  who  served  for  plunder 


398 


SYSTEM  ESTABLISHED  BY  PHILIP.        [Book  H. 


quite  as  much  as  for  pay,  had  as  little  respect  for 
the  rights  or  the  property  of  their  allies,  as  for 
those  of  their  enemies.  They  quartered  them- 
selves on  the  peaceful  inhabitants  of  the  country, 
and  obtained  full  compensation  for  loss  of  pay  by 
a  system  of  rapine  and  extortion  that  beggared  the 
people,  and  drove  them  to  desperation.  Conflicts 
with  the  soldiery  occasionally  occurred,  and  in 
some  parts  the  peasantry  even  refused  to  repair 
the  dikes,  in  order  to  lay  the  country  under  water 
rather  than  submit  to  such  outrages !  "  How  is 
it,"  exclaimed  the  bold  syndic  of  Ghent,  "  that  we 
find  foreign  soldiers  thus  quartered  on  us,  in  open 
violation  of  our  liberties  1  Are  not  our  own  troops 
able  to  protect  us  from  the  dangers  of  invasion  1 
Must  we  be  ground  to  the  dust  by  the  exactions 
of  these  mercenaries  in  peace,  after  being  bui- 
dened  with  the  maintenance  of  them  m  war?" 
These  remonstrances  were  followed  by  a  petition 
to  the  throne,  signed  by  members  of  the  other 
orders  as  well  as  the  commons,  requesting  that  the 
king  would  be  graciously  pleased  to  respect  the 
privileges  of  the  nation,  and  send  back  the  foreign 
troops  to  their  own  homes. 

Philip,  who  sat  in  the  assembly  with  his  sister, 
the  future  regent,  by  his  side,  was  not  prepared  for 
this  independent  spirit  in  the  burghers  of  the 
Netherlands.  The  royal  ear  had  been  little  ac- 
customed to  this  strain  of  invective  from  the  sub- 
ject. For  it  was  rare  that  the  tone  of  remonstrance 
was  heard  in  the  halls  of  Castilian  legislation,  since 


ch.  n.] 


THEIR  SPIRITED  CONDUCT. 


399 


the  power  of  the  commons  had  been  broken  on  the 
field  of  Villalar.  Unable  or  unwilling  to  conceal 
his  displeasure,  the  king  descended  from  his  throne, 
and  abruptly  quitted  the  assembly.^^ 

Yet  he  did  not,  like  Charles  the  First  of  Eng- 
lang,  rashly  vent  his  indignation  by  imprisoning 
or  persecuting  the  members  who  had  roused  it. 
Even  the  stout  syndic  of  Ghent  was  allowed  to  go 
unharmed.  Philip  looked  above  him  to  a  mark 
more  worthy  of  his  anger,  —  to  those  of  the  higher 
orders  who  had  encouraged  the  spirit  of  resistance 
in  the  commons.  The  most  active  of  these  male- 
contents  was  William  of  Orange.  That  noble,  as 
it  may  be  remembered,  was  one  of  the  hostages 
who  remained  at  the  court  of  Henry  the  Second 
for  the  fulfilment  of  the  treaty  of  Cateau-Cam- 
bresis.  While  there,  a  strange  disclosm^e  was 
made  to  the  prince  by  the  French  monarch,  who 
told  him  that,  through  the  duke  of  Alva,  a  secret 
treaty  had  been  entered  into  with  his  master,  the 
king  of  Spain,  for  the  extirpation  of  heresy  through- 
out  their  dominions.  This  inconsiderate  avowal  of 
the  French  king  was  made  to  William  on  the 
supposition  that  he  was  stanch  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  faith,  and  entirely  in  his  master's  con- 
fidence. Whatever  may  have  been  the  prince's 
claims  to  orthodoxy  at  this  period,  it  is  certain  he 

15  Bentivoglio,  Guerra  di  Fian-  des  Pays-Bas,  torn.  II.  p.  22.— 

dra,  p.  27  et  scq.  —  Cabrera,  Fi-  Meteren,  Hist,  des  Pays-Bas,  fol. 

ipe   Segundo,  lib.  V.  cap.  2.—  24.  —  SchiUer,  Abfall  der  Nieder- 

Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  lib.  I.  lande,  p.  84. 
p.  67.  —  Vandervynckt,  Troubles 


400 


SYSTEM  ESTABLISHED  BY  PHILIP.        [Book  H 


Cii.  n.] 


THEIR  SPIRITED  CONDUCT. 


401 


was  not  in  Philip's  confidence.  It  is  equally  cer 
tain  that  he  possessed  one  Christian  virtue  which 
belonged  neither  to  Philip  nor  to  Henry,  —  the 
virtue  of  toleration.  Greatly  shocked  by  the  intel- 
ligence he  had  received,  William  at  once  commu- 
nicated it  to  several  of  his  friends  in  the  Nether- 
lands. One  of  the  letters  unfortunately  fell  into 
Philip's  hands.  The  prince  soon  after  obtained 
permission  to  return  to  his  own  country,  bent,  as 
he  tells  us  in  his  Apology,  on  ridding  it  of  the 
Spanish  vermin.^^  Philip,  who  understood  the 
temper  of  his  mind,  had  his  eye  on  his  movements, 
and  knew  well  to  what  source,  in  part  at  least,  he 
was  to  attribute  the  present  opposition.  It  was 
not  long  after,  that  a  Castilian  courtier  intimated 
to  the  prince  of  Orange  and  to  Egmont,  that  it 
would  be  well  for  them  to  take  heed  to  themselves ; 
that  the  names  of  those  who  had  signed  the  peti- 
tion for  the  removal  of  the  troops  had  been  noted 
down,  and  that  Ihilip  and  his  council  were  re- 
solved, when  a  fitting  occasion  offered,  to  caU  them 
to  a  heavy  reckoning  for  their  temerity .^^ 

Yet  the  king  so  far  yielded  ^o  the  wishes  of  the 


16  «  Je  confesse  que  je  fus  teU«- 
ment  esmeu  de  pitie  et  de  compaf*- 
lion  que  dfes  lore  j*entrepris  k  bon 
escient  d'ayder  h.  faire  cbasaer  cette 
vermine  d'Espaignols  hore  de  ce 
Pays."  Apology  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  ap.  Dumont,  Corps  Diplo- 
matique, torn.  V.  p.  392. 

1"  "  Que  le  Roi  et  son  Conseil 
avoyent  arrest^  que  tous  ceux  qui 


avoient  con^nti  et  sign^  la  Re- 
queste,  par  laquelle  on  demandoit 
oue  la  Gendarmerie  Espaignolle 
s'ep  allast,  qu*on  auroit  souvenance 
de  les  chastier  avec  le  temps,  et 
quand  la  commodite  s*en  presente- 
roit,  et  qu'il  les  en  advertissoit 
comme  amy."  Meteren,  Hist,  det 
Pays-Bas,  fol.  25. 


people  as  to  promise  the  speedy  departure  of  the 
troops.  But  no  power  on  earth  could  have  been 
strong  enough  to  shake  his  purpose  where  the 
interests  of  religion  were  involved.  Nor  would 
he  abate  one  jot  of  the  stem  provisions  of  the 
edicts.  When  one  of  his  ministers,  more  hardy 
than  the  rest,  ventured  to  suggest  to  him  that 
perseverance  in  this  policy  might  cost  him  the 
sovereignty  of  the  provinces,  "Better  not  reign 
at  all,"  he  answered,  "  than  reign  over  heretics !  "  ^^ 
—  an  answer  extolled  by  some  as  the  height  of  the 
sublime,  by  others  derided  as  the  extravagance  of 
a  fanatic.  In  whatever  light  we  ^dew  it,  it  must 
be  admitted  to  furnish  the  key  to  the  permanent 
policy  of  Philip  in  his  government  of  the  Nether- 
lands. 

Before  dissolving  the  states-general,  Philip,  un- 
acquainted with  the  language  of  the  country, 
addressed  the  deputies  through  the  mouth  of  the 
bishop  of  Arras.  He  expatiated  on  the  warmth 
of  his  attachment  to  his  good  people  of  the  Neth- 
erlands, and  paid  them  a  merited  tribute  for  their 
loyalty  both  to  his  father  and  to  himself.  He 
enjoined  on  them  to  show  similar  respect  to  the 
regent,  their  own  countrywoman,  into  whose  hands 
he  had  committed  the  government.  They  would 
reverence  the  laws  and  maintain  public  tranquil- 
lity.    Nothing  would   conduce   to   this   so   much 


W  « Cbe  egli  voleva    piuttosto    conVeresia."    Bentivoglio,  Guem 
restar  senza  regni,  che  possedergli    di  Fiandra,  p.  31. 
VOL.  I.  51 


1) 


403 


SYSTEM  ESTABLISHED  BT  PHILIP.        [Book  IL 


Oh.  n.J  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  COUNCILS. 


403 


as  the  faithful  execution  of  the  edicts.  It  was 
their  sacred  duty  to  aid  in  the  extermination  of 
heretics,  —  the  deadliest  foes  both  of  God  and 
their  sovereign.  Philip  concluded  by  assuring 
the  states  that  he  should  soon  return  in  person 
to  the  Netherlands,  or  send  his  son  Don  Carlos 
as  his  representative. 

The  answer  of  the  legislature  was  temperate  and 
respectful.  They  made  no  allusion  to  Philip's  pro- 
posed ecclesiastical  reforms,  as  he  had  not  author- 
ized this  by  any  allusion  to  them  himself.  They 
still  pressed,  however,  the  removal  of  the  foreign 
troops,  and  the  further  removal  of  all  foreigners 
from  office,  as  contrary  to  the  constitution  of  the 
land.  This  last  shaft  was  aimed  at  Granvelle, 
who  held  a  high  post  in  the  government,  and 
was  understood  to  be  absolute  in  the  confidence 
of  the  king.  Philip  renewed  his  assurances  of 
the  dismissal  of  the  forces,  and  that  within  the 
space,  as  he  promised,  of  four  months.  The 
other  request  of  the  deputies  he  did  not  con- 
descend to  notice.  His  feelings  on  the  subject 
were  intimated  in  an  exclamation  he  made  to  one 
of  his  ministers :  "  I  too  am  a  foreigner ;  will  they 
refuse  to  obey  me  as  their  sovereign?"*® 

The  regent  was  to  be  assisted  in  the  government 
by  three  councils  which  of  old  time  had  existed  in 
the  land ;  —  the  council  of  finance,  for  the  admin- 

W  Ranke,  Spanish  Empire,  p.  di  Fiandra,  p.  27.  —  Strada,  De 
•1. —  Schiller,  Abfall  der  Nieder-  Bello  Belgico,  p.  57.  —  Meteren, 
lande,  p.  85. —  Bentivoglio,  Guerra    Hist,  des  Pays-Bas,  fol.  25. 


istration,  as  the  name  implies,  of  the  revenues ;  the 
privy  council,  for  affairs  of  justice  and  the  internal 
concerns  of  the  country ;  and  the  council  of  state, 
for  matters  relating  to  peace  and  war,  and  the  for- 
eign policy  of  the  nation.  Into  this  last,  the  su- 
preme council,  entered  several  of  the  Flemish 
nobles,  and  among  them  the  prince  of  Orange 
and  Count  Egmont.  There  were,  besides.  Count 
Barlaimont,  president  of  the  council  of  finance, 
Viglius,  president  of  the  privy  council,  and  lastly 
Granvelle,  bishop  of  Arras. 

The  regent  was  to  act  with  the  cooperation 
of  these  several  bodies  in  their  respective  depart- 
ments. In  the  conduct  of  the  government,  she 
was  to  be  guided  by  the  council  of  state.  But 
by  private  instructions  of  Philip,  questions  of  a 
more  delicate  nature,  involving  the  tranquillity  of 
the  country,  migh^  be  first  submitted  to  a  select 
portion  of  this  council;  and  in  such  cases,  or 
when  a  spirit  of  faction  had  crept  into  the  coun- 
cil, the  regent,  if  she  deemed  it  for  the  interest 
of  the  state,  might  adopt  the  opinion  of  the 
minority.  The  select  body  with  whom  Margaret 
was  to  advise  in  the  more  important  matters  was 
termed  the  Consulta  ;  and  the  members  who 
composed  it  were  Barlaimont,  Viglius,  and  the 
bishop  of  Arras.^ 


so  The  existence  of  such  a  con-  not  given  in  the  instructions  to 

fidential  body  proved    a   fruitful  the  regent,  which  leave  all  to  her 

source  of  disaster.     The  names  of  discretion.     According  to  Strada, 

the  parties  who  composed  it  are  however,  the  royal  will  in  the  mat* 


If 


404 


SYSTEM  ESTABLISHED  BY  PHILIP.       [Book  n 


The  first  of  these  men,  Count  Barlaimont,  be- 
longed   to    an    ancient    Flemish    family.      With 
respectable  talents  and  constancy  of  purpose,  he 
was  entirely  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  crown. 
The  second,  Viglius,  was  a  jurist  of  extensive  eru- 
dition, at  this  time  well  advanced   in   years,  and 
with  infirmities  that  might  have  pressed  heavily 
on  a  man  less  patient  of  toil.     He   was  person- 
ally  attached  to  Granvelle;   and  as  his  views  df 
government  coincided  very  nearly  with  that  min- 
ister's,  Viglius   was   much   under    his    influence. 
The  last  of  the  three,  Granvelle,  from  his  large 
acquaintance  with   affairs,  and   his   adroitness   in 
managing    them,    was    far    superior    to    his   col- 
leagues;^  and  he  soon  acquired  such  an  ascen- 
dency over   them,  that   the   government  may  be 
said  to  have  rested  on  his  shoulders.     As  there  is 
no  man  who  for  some  years  is  to  take  so  promi- 
nent a  part  in  the   story  of  the   Netherlands,  it 
will  be  proper  to  introduce   the   reader   to   some 
acquaintance  with  his  earlier  history. 

Anthony  Perrenot  —  whose  name  of  Granvelle 


ter  was  plainly  intimated  by  Philip. 
(De  Bello  Belgico,  torn.  I.  p.  57.) 
Copies  of  the  regent's  commission, 
as  well  as  of  two  documents,  the  one 
indorsed  as  "private,"  the  other  as 
"secret**  instructions,  and  all  three 
bearing  the  date  of  August  8, 1559, 
are  to  be  found  entire  in  the  Cor- 
respondance  de  Philippe  XL,  tom. 
II.,  Appendix,  Nos.  2-4. 
'*  "Ma  non   dal   tanto  alcuno 


delPaltri  nh  tutf  insieme  quanto 
Mons'-  d'  Aras  solo,  il  quale  per  il 
gran  giudicio  che  ha  et  per  la  longa 
prattica  del  governo  del  mondo  et 
nel  tentar  Timprese  grandi  piii 
accorto  et  piii  animoso  di  tutti  piii 
destro  et  piii  sicuro  nel  maneggiarle 
et  nel  finirle  piii  eonstante  et  piu 
risoluto."  Relatione  di  Soriana 
MS. 


Ch.  n.]      RISE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  GRANVELLE.         405 

was  derived  from  an  estate  purchased  by  his  father 
—  was  born  in  the  year  1517,  at  Besancon,  a  town 
in  Franche  Comte.  His  father,  Nicholas  Perre- 
not, founded  the  fortunes  of  the  family,  and  from 
the  humble  condition  of  a  poor  country  attorney 
rose  to  the  rank  of  chancellor  of  the  empire.  This 
extraordinary  advancement  was  not  owing  to  ca- 
price, but  to  his  unwearied  industry,  extensive 
learning,  and  a  clear  and  comprehensive  intellect, 
combined  with  steady  devotion  to  the  interests  of 
his  master,  Charles  the  Fifth.  His  talent  for 
affairs  led  him  to  be  employed  not  merely  in 
official  business,  but  in  diplomatic  missions  of 
great  importance.  In  short  he  possessed  the  con- 
fidence of  the  emperor  to  a  degree  enjoyed  by  no 
other  subject;  and  when  the  chancellor  died,  in 
1550,  Charles  pronounced  his  eulogy  to  Philip 
in  a  single  sentence,  saying  that  in  Granvelle  they 
had  lost  the  man  on  whose  wisdom  they  could 
securely  repose.^ 

Anthony-  Perrenot,  distinguished  from  his  fa- 
ther in  later  times  as  Cardinal  Granvelle,  was  the 
eldest  of  eleven  children.  In  his  childhood  he 
discovered  such  promise,  that  the  chancellor  be- 
stowed much  pains  personally  on  his  instruction. 
At  fourteen  he  was  sent  to  Padua,  and  after 
some  years  was  removed  to  Louvain,  then  the 
university  of  greatest  repute  in  the  Netherlands. 

^  "Mio  figliuolo   et  io  e    voi    repose  on.     Led,  Vita  di  Filippc 
habbiamo  perso  un  buon  letto  di     IL,  tom.  L  p.  195. 
riposo,**  —  literally,  a  good  bed  to 


406 


SYSTEM  ESTABLISHED  BY  PHILIP.        [Book  H. 


It  was  not  till  later  that  the  seminary  of  Douay 
was  founded,  under  the  auspices  of  Philip  the 
Second.^  At  the  university,  the  young  Perrenot 
soon  distinguished  himself  by  the  vivacity  of  his 
mind,  the  acuteness  of  his  perceptions,  an  in 
dustry  fully  equal  to  his  father's,  and  remark- 
able  powers  of  acquisition.  Besides  a  large  range 
of  academic  study,  he  made  himself  master  of 
seven  languages,  so  as  to  read  and  converse  in 
them  with  fluency.  He  seemed  to  have  little 
relish  for  the  amusements  of  the  youth  of  his 
own  age.  His  greatest  amusement  was  a  book 
Under  this  incessant  application  his  health  gave 
way,  aud  for  a  time  his  studies  were  suspended. 

Whether  from  his  father's  preference  or  his 
own,  yoimg  Granvelle  embraced  the  ecclesiastical 
profession.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one  he  was 
admitted  to  orders.  The  son  of  the  chancellor 
was  not  slow  in  his  advancement,  and  he  was 
soon  possessed  of  several  good  benefices.  But 
the  ambitious  and  worldly  temper  of  Granvelle 
was  not  to  be  satisfied  with  the  humble  duties 
of  the  ecclesiastic.  It  was  not  long  before  he 
was  called  to  court  by  his  father,  and  there  a  bril- 
liant career  was  opened  to  his  aspiring  genius. 

The  yoxmg  man  soon  showed  such   talent  for 


>3  A  principal  motive  of  Philip 
the  Second  in  founding  this  uni- 
versity, according  to  Hopper,  was 
lo  give  Flemings  the  means  of  get- 
ting a  knowledge  of  the  French 


language  without  going  abroad  into 
foreign  countries  for  it  Recueil 
et  Memorial  des  Troubles  des  Pays- 
Bas,  cap.  2,  ap.  Hoynck,  Analecta 
Belgica,  torn.  II. 


3h.  it.]      rise  and  CHARACTEll  OF  GRANVELLE.        401 

business,  and  such  shrewd  insight  into  character, 
as,  combined  with  the  stores  of  learning  he  had 
at  his  command,  made  his  services  of  great  value 
to  his  father.  He  accompanied  the  chancellor  on 
some  of  his  public  missions,  among  others  to  the 
Council  of  Trent,  where  the  younger  Granvelle, 
who  had  already  been  promoted  to  the  see  of 
Arras,  first  had  the  opportunity  of  displaying 
that  subtle,  insinuating  eloquence,  which  capti- 
vated as  much  as  it  convinced. 

The  emperor  saw  with  satisfaction  the  promise  af- 
forded by  the  young  statesman,  and  looked  forward 
to  the  time  when  he  would  prove  the  same  pillar 
of  support  to  his  administration  that  his  father  had 
been  before  him.  Nor  was  that  time  far  distant. 
As  the  chancellor's  health  declined,  the  son  be- 
came more  intimately  associated  with  his  father 
in  the  counsels  of  the  emperor.  He  justified  this 
confidence  by  the  unwearied  toil  with  which  he 
devoted  himself  to  the  business  of  the  cabinet ;  a 
toil  to  which  even  night  seemed  to  aiford  no  res- 
pite. He  sometimes  employed  five  secretaries  at 
once,  dictating  to  them  in  as  many  different  lan- 
guages.^ The  same  thing,  or  something  as  mi- 
raculous, has  been  told  of  other  remarkable  men, 
both  before  and  since.     As  a  mere  tour  de  force^ 


»*  "  On  remarque  de  lui  ce  qu'on  diffdrentes    langues."      Levesque, 

avoit  remarque  de  Cesar,  et  meme  Memoires  pour  servir  k  THistoire 

d'une  fa^on  plus  singuliere,  c*est  du  Cardinal  de  Granvelle,  (Paris, 

qu'il  occupoit  cinq  secretaires  k  la  1753,)  tom.  L  p.  215. 
fois,  en  leur  dictant  des  lettres  en 


408 


SYSTEM  ESTABLISHED  BY  PHILIP.        [Boojt  II 


Ch.  n.]      RISE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  GRAN\T:LLE.         40i) 


Granvelle  may  possibly  have  amused  himself  with 
it  But  it  was  not  in  this  way  that  the  corre- 
spondence was  written  which  furnishes  the  best 
key  to  the  events  of  the  time.  K  it  had  been  so 
written,  it  would  never  have  been  worth  the  pub- 
lication. 

Every  evening  Granvelle  presented  himself  be- 
fore the  emperor,  and  read  to  him  the  pro- 
gramme he  had  prepared  of  the  business  of  the 
following  day,  with  his  own  suggestions.^  The 
foreign  ambassadors  who  resided  at  the  court 
were  surprised  to  find  the  new  minister  so  en- 
tirely in  the  secrets  of  his  master;  and  that  he 
was  as  well  instructed  in  all  their  doings  as  the 
emperor  himself^  In  short,  the  confidence  of 
Charles,  given  slowly  and  with  much  hesitation, 
was  at  length  bestowed  as  freely  on  the  son  as 
it  had  been  on  the  father.  The  two  Granvelles 
may  be  truly  said  to  have  been  the  two  persons 
who  most  possessed  the  confidence  of  the  em- 
peror, from  the  time  that  he  took  the  reins  of 
government  into  his  own  hands. 

When  raised  to  the  see  of  Arras,  Granvelle  was 


85  "Di  modo  che  ogni  sera  sopra 
xm  foglio  di  carta  che  lor  chiamano 
beliero  esso  Gran  vela,  manda  all* 
Imperatore  il  suo  parere  del  quale 
Bopra  li  negotii  del  seguente  porno 
sua  maesth  ha  da  fare.**  Relatione 
di  Soriano,  MS. 

*  "  Havendo  prima  lui  senza 
risolvere  cosa  alcuna  mandata  oirn* 
infomiatione   et    ogni   particolare 


negotiatione  con  gli  Ambaseiatori 
et  altri  ad  esso  Monsignore,  di 
modo  che  et  io  et  tutti  gl*  altri 
Ambaseiatori  si  sono  avveduti  es- 
sendo  rimesse  a  Monsignor  Gran- 
vela  che  sua  Eccellenza  ha  inteso 
ogni  particolare  et  quasi  ogni  parola 
passata  fra  1*  Lnperatore  et  loro." 
Ibid. 


but  twenty-five  years  old.  It  is  rare  that  the  mitre 
has  descended  on  a  man  of  a  more  ambitious  spirit. 
Yet  Granvelle  was  not  averse  to  the  good  things 
of  the  world,  nor  altogether  insensible  to  its  pomps 
and  vanities.  He  affected  great  state  in  his  man- 
ner of  livmg,  and  thus  necessity,  no  less  than  taste, 
led  him  to  covet  the  possession  of  wealth  as  well  as 
of  power.  He  obtained  both ;  and  his  fortunes 
were  rapidly  advancing  when,  by  the  abdication  of 
his  royal  master,  the  sceptre  passed  into  the  hands 
of  Philip  the  Second. 

Charles  recommended  Granvelle  to  his  son  as 
every  way  deserving  of  his  confidence.  Granvelle 
knew  that  the  best  recommendation  —  the  only 
effectual  one  —  must  come  from  himself.  He 
studied  carefully  the  character  of  his  new  sove- 
reign, and  showed  a  wonderful  flexibility  in  con- 
forming to  his  humors.  The  ambitious  minister 
proved  himself  no  stranger  to  those  arts  by  which 
great  minds,  as  well  as  little  ones,  sometimes  con- 
descend to  push  their  fortunes  in  a  court. 

Yet,  in  truth,  Granvelle  did  not  always  do  vio- 
lence to  his  own  inclinations  in  conforming  to 
those  of  Philip.  Like  the  king,  he  did  not  come 
rapidly  to  results,  but  pondered  long,  and  viewed 
a  question  in  all  its  bearings,  before  arriving  at 
a  decision.  He  had,  as  we  have  seen,  the  same 
patient  spirit  of  application  as  Philip,  so  that  both 
may  be  said  to  have  found  their  best  recreation  in 
labor.  Neither  was  he  less  zealous  than  the  king 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  true  faith,  though  hij 


VOL.   I. 


52 


410 


SYSTEM  ESTABLISHED  BY  PHTLIP.        [Bot>K  H 


Ch.  n.] 


PHILIP»S  DEPARTURE. 


411 


accommodating  nature,  if  left  to  itself,  might  have 
sanctioned  a  different  policy  from  that  dictated  by 
the  stem,  uncompromising  spirit  of  his  master. 

Granvelle's  influence  was  further  aided  by  the 
charms  of  his  personal  intercourse.  His  polished 
and  insinuating  manners  seem  to  have  melted  even 
the  icy  reserve  of  Philip.  He  maintained  his  in- 
fluence by  his  singular  tact  in  suggesting  hints 
for  carrying  out  his  master's  policy,  in  such  a 
way  that  the  suggestion  might  seem  to  have  come 
from  the  king  himself  Thus  careful  not  to  alarm 
the  jealousy  of  his  sovereign,  he  was  content  to 
forego  the  semblance  of  power  for  the  real  posses- 
sion of  it.^^ 

It  was  soon  seen  that  he  was  as  well  settled  in 
the  confidence  of  Philip  as  he  had  previously  been 
in  that  of  Charles.  Notwithstanding  the  apparent 
distribution  of  power  between  the  regent  and  the 
several  councils,  the  arrangements  made  by  the 
king  were  such  as  to  throw  the  real  authority  into 
the  hands  of  Granvelle.  Thus  the  rare  example  was 
afforded  of  the  same  man  continuing  the  favorite 
of  two  successive  sovereigns.  Granvelle  did  not 
escape  the  usual  fate  of  favorites;  and  whether 


^  A  striking  example  of  the 
manner  in  which  Granvelle  con- 
veyed his  own  views  to  the  king 
is  shown  by  a  letter  to  Philip  dated 
Brussels,  July  17,  1559,  in  which 
the  minister  suggests  the  arguments 
that  might  be  used  to  the  author- 
ities of  Brabant  for  enforcinji  the 
■idicts.    The  letter  shows,  too,  that 


Granvelle,  if  possessed  naturally  of 
a  more  tolerant  spirit  than  Phil- 
ip, could  accommodate  himself  so 
far  to  the  opposite  temper  of  his 
master  as  to  furnish  him  with  some 
very  plausible  grounds  for  persecu- 
tion. Papiers  d'Etat  de  Granvelle, 
tom.  V,  p.  614. 


* 


from  the  necessity  of  the  case,  or  that,  as  some 
pretend,  he  did  not  on  his  elevation  bear  his  facul- 
ties too  meekly,  no  man  was  so  generally  and  so 
heartily  detested  throughout  the  country.^ 

Before  leaving  the  Netherlands,  Philip  named 
the  governors  of  the  several  provinces,  —  the  nomi- 
nations, for  the  most  part,  only  confirming  those 
already  in  ofiice.  Egmont  had  the  governments  of 
Flanders  and  Artois ;  the  prince  of  Orange,  those 
of  Holland,  Zealand,  Utrecht,  and  West  Friesland. 
The  commission  to  William,  running  in  the  usual 
form,  noticed  "  the  good,  loyal,  and  notable  ser- 
■  vices  he  had  rendered  both  to  the  emperor  and  his 
present  sovereign."^  The  command  of  two  bat- 
talions of  the  Spanish  army  was  also  given  to  the 
two  nobles,  —  a  poor  contrivance  for  reconciling 
the  nation  to  the  continuance  of  these  detested 
troops  in  the  country. 


38  Levesque,  Memoires  de  Gran- 
TcUe,  tom.  L  p.  207  et  seq. — 
Courchetet,  Histoire  du  Cardinal 
de  Granvelle,  (Bruxelles,  1784,) 
tom.  I.  passim.  —  Strada,  De  Bello 
Belgico,  p.  85.  —  Burgon,  Life  of 
Gresham,  vol.  I.  p.  267. 

The  author  of  the  Memoires  de 
Granvelle  was  a  member  of  a 
Benedictine  convent  in  Besan9on, 
which,  by  a  singular  chance,  be- 
came possessed  of  the  manuscripts 
of  Cardinal  Granvelle,  more  than 
a  century  after  his  death.  The 
good  Father  Levesque  made  but  a 
very  Indifferent  use  of  the  rich 
Store  of  materials  placed  at  his 


disposal,  by  digesting  them  into 
two  duodecimo  volumes,  in  which 
the  little  that  is  of  value  seems  to 
have  been  pilfered  from  the  un- 
published MS.  of  a  previous  biog- 
rapher of  the  Caixlinal.  The  work 
of  the  Benedictine,  however,  has 
the  merit  of  authenticity.  I  shall 
take  occasion,  hereafter,  to  give  a 
more  particular  account  of  the 
Granvelle  collection. 

89  "  En  consideration  des  bons, 
leaux,  notables  et  agreables  servi- 
ces faits  par  lui,  pendant  plusieurs 
annees,  k  feu  I'Empereur,  et  depuii 
au  Roi."  Correspondance  de  Phi« 
lippe  II.,  tom.  I.  p.  184. 


412  SYSTEM  ESTABLISHED  BY  PHILIP.        [Book  U 

Philip  had  anxiously  waited  for  the  arrival  of 
the  papal  bull  which  was  to  authorize  the  erection 
of  the  bishoprics.  Granvelle  looked  still  more 
anxiously  for  it.  He  had  read  the  signs  of  the 
coming  storm,  and  would  gladly  have  encountered 
it  when  the  royal  presence  might  have  afforded 
some  shelter  from  its  fury.  But  the  court  of 
Rome  moved  at  its  usual  dilatory  pace,  and  the 
apostolic  nuncio  did  not  arrive  with  the  missive 
till  the  eve  of  Philip's  departure,  —  too  late  for 
him  to  witness  its  publication.* 

Having  completed  all  his  arrangements,  about 
the  middle  of  August  the  king  proceeded  to  Zea- 
land, where,  in  the  port  of  Flushing,  lay  a  gallant 
fleet,  waiting  to  take  him  and  the  royal  suite  to 
Spain.      It   consisted   of  fifty  Spanish   and   forty 
other  vessels,  — all  well  manned,  and  victualled 
for  a  mucli  longer  voyage."^     Philip  was  escorted 
to  the  place  of  embarkation  by  a  large  body  of 
Flemish  nobles,  together  with  the  foreign  ambas- 
sadors and  the  duke  and  duchess  of  Savoy.     A 
curious  scene  is  reported  to  have  taken  place  as  he 
was  about  to  go  on  board.    Turning  abruptly  round 
to  the  prince  of  Orange,  who  had  attended  him  on 
the  journey,  he  bluntly  accused*  him  of  being  the 
true  source  of  the  opposition  which  his  measures 


^  Vandervynckt,  Troubles  des 
Plays-Bas,  torn.  II.  p.  69  et  seq. — 
Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  p.  40. — 
Hopper,  Recueil  et  Memorial,  cap. 
2 — Franc'a,  AJborotosde  Flandes, 
MS. 


31  The  royal  larder  seems  to 
have  been  well  supplied  in  the 
article  of  poultry,  to  jud^re  from 
one  item,  mentioned  by  Meferen, 
of  fifteen  thousand  capons.  Hist, 
des  Pays-Bas,  torn.  I.  fol.  25. 


Cn.  n.] 


PHILIP'S  DEPARTURE. 


113 


had  encountered  in  the  states-general.  William, 
astonished  at  the  suddenness  of  the  attack,  replied 
that  the  opposition  was  to  be  regarded,  not  as  the 
act  of  an  individual,  but  of  the  states.  "  No,"  re- 
joined the  incensed  monarch,  shaking  him  at  the 
same  time  violently  by  the  wrist,  "  not  the  states, 
but  you,  you,  you!"**  an  exclamation  deriving 
additional  bitterness  from  the  fact  that  the  word 
yow,  thus  employed,  in  the  Castilian  was  itself 
indicative  of  contempt.  William  did  not  think  it 
prudent  to  reply,  nor  did  he  care  to  trust  himself 
with  the  other  Flemish  lords  on  board  the  royal 
squadron.^ 

The  royal  company  being  at  length  all  on  board, 
on  the  twentieth  of  August,  1559,  the  fleet  weighed 
anchor ;  and  Philip,  taking  leave  of  the  duke  and 
duchess  of  Savoy,  and  the  rest  of  the  noble  train 
who  attended  his  embarkation,  was  soon  wafted 
from  the  shores,  —  to  which  he  was  never  to 
return. 


32  "Le  Roi  le  prenant  par  le 
poignet,  et  le  lui  secoiiant,  repliqua 
en  Espagnol,  No  los  Estados,  mm 
ros,  vosy  vos,  repetant  ce  vos  par 
trois  fois,  terme  de  m^pris  chez 
les  Espagnols,  qui  veut  dire  toy, 
toy  en  Francois."  Aubdri,  M^- 
moires  pour  servir  k  THistoire 
d'Hollande  et  des  autres  Provinces- 
Unies,  (Paris,  1711,)  p.  7. 

33  One  might  wish  the  authority 
for  this  anecdote  better  than  it  is, 
oonsiderincr  that  it  is  contradicted 


by  the  whole  tenor  of  Philip's  life, 
in  which  self-conmiiand  was  a  pre- 
dominant trait.  The  story  waa 
originally  derived  from  Aub^ri 
(loc.  cit.).  The  chronicler  had  it, 
as  he  tells  us,  from  his  father,  to 
whom  it  was  told  by  an  intimate 
friend  of  the  prince  of  Orange, 
who  was  present  at  the  scene. 
Aub^ri,  though  a  dull  writer,  was, 
according  to  Voltaire's  admission, 
well  informed,  —  "  ecrivain  m^di< 
ocre,  mais  fort  instruit." 


414 


SYSTEM  ESTABLISHED  BY  PHILIP.        [Book  II 


Luc-Jean-Joseph  Vandervynckt,  to  whom  I  have  repeatedly  had  oc- 
casion to  refer  in  the  course  of  the  preceding  chapter,  was  a  Fleming, 
—  bom  at  Ghent  in  1691.  He  was  educated  to  the  law,  became  em- 
inent in  his  profession,  and  at  the  age  of  thirty-eight  was  made  a  mem- 
ber of  the  council  of  Flanders.  He  employed  his  leisure  in  studying 
the  historical  antiquities  of  his  own  country.  At  the  suggestion  of  Cob- 
lentz,  prime  minister  of  Maria  Theresa,  he  compiled  his  work  on  the 
Troubles  of  the  Netherlands.  It  was  designed  for  the  instruction  of 
the  younger  branches  of  the  imperial  family,  and  six  copies  only  of  it 
■  were  at  first  printed,  in  1 765.  Since  the  author's  death,  which  took 
place  in  1779,  when  he  had  reached  the  great  age  of  eighty-eight,  the 
work  has  been  repeatedly  published. 

As  Vandervynckt  had  the  national  archives  thrown  open  to  his  in- 
spection, he  had  access  to  the  most  authentic  sources  of  information. 
He  was  a  man  of  science  and  discernment,  fair-minded,  and  temperate 
in  his  opinions,  which  gives  value  to  a  book  that  contains,  moreover, 
much  interesting  anecdote,  not  elsewhere  to  be  found.  The  work, 
though  making  only  four  volumes,  covers  a  large  space  of  historical 
ground,  —  from  the  marriage  of  Philip  the  Fair,  in  1495,  to  the  peace 
of  Westphalia,  in  1648.  Its  literary  execution  is  by  no  means  equal 
to  ita  other  merits.  The  work  is  written  in  French;  but  Vandervynckt, 
unfortunately,  while  he  both  wrote  and  spoke  Flemish,  and  even  Latin, 
with  ^ility,  was  but  indifferently  acquainted  with  French. 


CHAPTER    III. 


PROTESTANTISM  IN  SPAIN. 


Philip's  Arrival  in  Spain.  —  The  Reformed  Doctrines.  —  Their  Sup- 
pression. —  Autos  de  Fd.  —  Prosecution  of  Carranza.  —  Extinction 
of  Heresy.  —  Fanaticism  of  the  Spaniards. 

1559. 

The  voyage  of  King  Philip  was  a  short  and 
prosperous  one.  On  the  twenty-ninth  of  August, 
1559,  he  arrived  off  the  port  of  Laredo.  But 
while  he  was  in  sight  of  land,  the  weather,  which 
had  been  so  propitious,  suddenly  changed.  A  furi 
ous  tempest  arose,  which  scattered  his  little  navy. 
Nine  of  the  vessels  foundered,  and  though  the 
monarch  had  the  good  fortune,  under  the  care  of 
an  experienced  pilot,  to  make  his  escape  in  a  boat, 
and  reach  the  shore  in  safety,  he  had  the  mortifica^ 
tion  to  see  the  ship  which  had  borne  him  go  down 
with  the  rest,  and  with  her  the  inestimable  cargo 
he  had  brought  from  the  Low  Countries.  It  con- 
sisted of  curious  furniture,  tapestries,  gems,  pieces 
of  sculpture,  and  paintings,  —  the  rich  productions 
of  Flemish  and  Italian  art,  which  his  father,  the 
emperor,  had  been  employed  many  years  of  his  life 
in  collecting.     Truly  was  it  said  of  Charles,  that 


416 


PROTESTANTISM  IN  SPAIN. 


[Book  H 


"  he  had  sacked  the  land  only  to  feed  the  ocean."  * 
To  add  to  the  calamity,  more  than  a  thousand  per- 
sons perished  in  this  shipwreck.^ 

The  king,  without  delay,  took  the  road  to  Valla- 
dolid;  but  on  arriving  at  that  capital,  whether 
depressed  by  his  late  disaster,  or  from  his  habitual 
dislike  of  such  empty  parade,  he  declined  the  hon- 
ors with  which  the  loyal  inhabitants  would  have 
greeted  the  return  of  their  sovereign  to  his  do- 
minions. Here  he  was  cordially  welcomed  by  his 
sister,  the  Regent  Joanna,  who,  long  since  weary 
of  the  cares  of  sovereignty,  resigned  the  sceptre 
into  his  hands,  with  a  better  will  than  that  with 
which  most  persons  would  have  received  it.  Here, 
too,  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  embracing  his  son 
Carlos,  the  heir  to  his  empire.  The  length  of 
Philip's  absence  may  have  allowed  him  to  see 
some  favorable  change  in  the  person  of  the  young 
prince,  though,  if  report  be  true,  there  was  little 
change  for  the  better  in  his  disposition,  which, 
headstrong  and  imperious,  had  already  begun  to 
make  men  tremble  for  the  future  destinies  of  their 
country. 

Philip  had  not  been  many  days  in  Valladolid 
when  his  presence  was  celebrated  by  one  of  those 
exhibitions,  which,  unhappily  for  Spain,  may  be 


»  «  Carlo  V.  haueua  saccheggiato  V.  cap.  8.— Sepulveda,  De  Rebus 

la  Terra,  per  arrichime  'A  Mare."  Gestis  PhiUppi  II.,  Opera,  torn.  III. 

I^ti,  Vita  di  Filippo  n.,  torn.  L  p.  p.  53.  — Leti,  Vita  di  Filippo  II., 

535.  torn.  I.  p.  335. 

*  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib. 


Cn.  in.] 


THE  REFORMED  DOCTRINES. 


417 


called  national.  This  was  an  auto  de  fe,  not, 
however,  as  formerly,  of  Jews  and  Moors,  but  of 
Spanish  Protestants.  The  Reformation  had  been 
silently,  but  not  slowly,  advancing  in  the  Peninsula ; 
and  intelligence  of  this,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
was  one  cause  of  Philip's  abrupt  departure  from 
the  Netherlands.  The  brief  but  disastrous  attempt 
at  a  religious  revolution  in  Spain  is  an  event  of 
too  much  importance  to  be  passed  over  in  silence 
by  the  historian. 

Notwithstanding  the  remote  position  of  Spain, 
under  the  imperial  sceptre  of  Charles  she  was 
brought  too  closely  into  contact  with  the  other 
states  of  Europe  not  to  feel  the  shock  of  the  great 
religious  reforai  which  was  shaking  those  states  to 
their  foundations.  Her  most  intimate  relations, 
indeed,  were  with  those  very  countries  in  which 
the  seeds  of  the  Reformation  were  first  planted. 
It  was  no  uncommon  thing  for  Spaniards,  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  to  be  indebted  for  some  portion 
of  their  instruction  to  German  universities.  Men 
of  learning,  who  accompanied  the  emperor,  became 
familiar  with  the  religious  doctrines  so  widely 
circulated  in  Germany  and  Flanders.  The  troops 
gathered  the  same  doctrines  from  the  Lutheran 
soldiers,  who  occasionally  served  with  them  under 
the  imperial  banners.  These  opinions,  crude  for 
the  most  part  as  they  were,  they  brought  back  to 
their  own  country ;  and  a  curiosity  was  roused 
which  prepared  the  mind  for  the  reception  of  the 
great    truths   which   were   quickening   the   other 


VOL.  I. 


5S 


418 


PROTESTANTISM  IN  SPAIN. 


[Book  II 


Ch.  in] 


THE  REFORMED  DOCTRINES. 


419 


nations  of  Europe.  Men  of  higher  education,  on 
their  return  to  Spain,  found  the  means  of  dissemi- 
nating these  truths.  Secret  societies  were  estab- 
lished ;  meetings  were  held ;  and,  with  the  same 
secrecy  as  in  the  days  of  the  early  Christians,  the 
Gospel  was  preached  and  explained  to  the  growing 
congregation  of  the  faithful.  The  greatest  diffi- 
culty was  the  want  of  books.  The  enterprise  of 
a  few  self-devoted  proselytes  at  length  overcame 
this  difficulty. 

A  Castilian  version  of  the  Bible  had  been  printed 
in  Germany.  Various  Protestant  publications, 
whether  originating  in  the  Castilian  or  translated 
into  that  language,  appeared  in  the  same  country. 
A  copy,  now  and  then,  in  the  possession  of  some 
private  individual,  had  found  its  way,  without 
detection,  across  the  Pyrenees.  These  instances 
were  rare,  when  a  Spaniard  named  Juan  Hernan- 
dez, resident  in  Geneva,  where  he  followed  the 
business  of  a  corrector  of  the  press,  undertook, 
from  no  other  motive  but  zeal  for  the  truth,  to 
introduce  a  larger  supply  of  the  forbidden  fruit 
into  his  native  land. 

With  great  adroitness,  he  evaded  the  vigilance 
of  the  custom-house  officers,  and  the  more  vigilant 
spies  of  the  Inquisition,  and  in  the  end  succeeded 
in  landing  two  large  casks  filled  with  prohibited 
works,  which  were  quickly  distributed  among  the 
members  of  the  infant  church.  Other  intrepid 
converts  followed  the  example  of  Hernandez,  and 
with   similar   success;    so   that,  with   the   aid   of 


books  and  spiritual  teachers,  the  number  of  the 
faithful  multiplied  daily  throughout  the  country.* 
Among  this  number  was  a  much  larger  proportion, 
it  was  observed,  of  persons  of  rank  and  education 
than  is  usually  found  in  like  cases ;  owing  doubt- 
less to  the  circumstance,  that  it  was  this  class  of 
persons  who  had  most  frequented  the  countries 
where  the  Lutheran  doctrines  were  taught.  Thus 
the  Reformed  Church  grew  and  prospered,  not 
indeed  as  it  had  prospered  in  the  freer  atmospheres 
of  Germany  and  Britain,  but  as  well  as  it  could 
possibly  do  under  the  blighting  influence  of  the 
Inquisition;  like  some  tender  plant,  which,  nur- 
tured in  the  shade,  waits  only  for  a  more  genial 
season  for  its  full  expansion.  That  season  was  not 
in  reserve  for  it  in  Spain. 

It  may  seem  strange  that  the  spread  of  the 
Reformed  religion  should  so  long  have  escaped 
the  detection  of  the  agents  of  the  Holy  Office. 


3  The  editors  of  the  "  Documen- 
tos  Indditos  para  la  Historia  de 
Espana,**  in  a  very  elaborate  notice 
of  the  prosecution  of  Archbishop 
Carranza,  represent  the  literary 
intercourse  between  the  German 
and  Spanish  Protestants  as  even 
more  extensive  than  it  is  stated 
to  be  in  the  text  According  to 
them,  a  regular  dip6t  was  estab- 
lished at  Medina  del  Campo  and 
Seville,  for  the  sale  of  the  forbid- 
den books  at  very  low  rates.  "  De 
las  imprentas  de  Alemania  se  de- 
spachaban  &  Flandes,  y  desde  alii 


d  Espana,  al  principio  por  los 
puertos  de  mar,  y  despues  cuando 
ya  hubo  mas  vigilancia  de  parte 
del  gobiemo,  los  enviaban  a  Leon 
de  Francia  desde  donde  se  intro- 
ducian  en  la  peninsula  por  Navar- 
ra  y  Aragon.  Un  tal  Vilman 
librero  de  Amberes  tenia  tienda 
en  Medina  del  Campo  y  en  Sevilla 
donde  vendia  las  obras  de  los 
protestantes  en  espanol  y  latin. 
Estos  Ubros  de  Francfort  se  daban 
d  buen  mercado  para  que  circu- 
lasen  con  mayor  facilidad.'*  Doc* 
umentos  In^itos,  torn.  V.  p.  399. 


420 


PROTESTANTISM  IN  SPAIN. 


[Book  11 


Ch.  HI.] 


SUPPRESSION  OF  THE  REFORM. 


421 


Yet  it  is  certain  that  the  first  notice  which  the 
Spanish  inquisitors  received  of  the  fact  was  from 
their  brethren  abroad.  Some  ecclesiastics  in  the 
train  of  Philip,  suspecting  the  heresy  of  several  of 
their  own  countrymen  in  the  Netherlands,  had 
them  seized  and  sent  to  Spain,  to  be  examined  by 
the  Inquisition.  On  a  closer  investigation,  it  was 
found  that  a  correspondence  had  long  been  main- 
tained between  these  persons  and  their  country- 
men, of  a  similar  persuasion  with  themselves,  at 
home.  Thus  the  existence,  though  not  the 
extent,  of  the  Spanish  Reformation  was  made 
known.* 

No  sooner  was  the  alarm  sounded,  than  Paul 
the  Fourth,  quick  to  follow  up  the  scent  of  heresy 
in  any  quarter  of  his  pontifical  dominions,  issued 
a  brief,  in  February,  1558,  addressed  to  the  Span- 
ish inquisitor-general.  In  this  brief,  his  holiness 
enjoins  it  on  the  head  of  the  tribunal  to  spare  no 
efforts  to  detect  and  exterminate  the  growing  evil  ; 
and  he  empowers  that  functionary  to  arraign  and 
bring  to  condign  punishment  all  suspected  of 
heresy,  of  whatever  rank  or  profession,  —  whether 
bishops  or  archbishops,  nobles,  kings,  or  emperors. 
Paul  the  Fourth  was  fond  of  contemplating  him- 
self as  seated  in  the  chair  of  the  Innocents  and  the 


*  For  the  preceding  pages  see  of  sundry  subtill  Practises  of  the 

Llorente,  Histoire  de  I'lnquisition  Holy  Inquisition  of  Spayne,  (Lon* 

d'Espagne,  torn.  11.  p.  282;  torn,  don,   1569,)   p.  73.  —  Sepulveda 

in.  pp.    191,    258.  —  Montanus,  Opera,  torn.  III.  p.  54 
Discovery  and  playne  Declaration 


Gregories,  and  like  them  setting  his  pontifical 
foot  on  the  necks  of  princes.  His  natuml  arro- 
gance  was  probably  not  diminished  by  the  con- 
cessions which  Philip  the  Second  had  thought 
proper    to    make    to    him    at    the    close    of   the 

Roman  war. 

Philip,  far  from  taking  umbrage  at  the  swelling 
tone  of  this  apostolical  mandate,  followed  it  up,  in 
the  same  year,  by  a  monstrous  edict,  borrowed 
from  one  in  the  Netherlands,  which  condemned 
all  who  bought,  sold,  or  read  prohibited  works 
to  be  burned  alive. 

In  the  following  January,  Paul,  to  give  greater 
efficacy  to  this  edict,  published  another  bull,  in 
which  he  commanded  all  confessors,  under  pain 
of  excommunication,  to  enjoin  on  their  penitents 
to  inform  against  all  persons,  however  nearly 
allied  to  them,  who  might  be  guilty  of  such 
practices.  To  quicken  the  zeal  of  the  informer, 
Philip,  on  his  part,  revived  a  law  fallen  some- 
what into  disuse,  by  which  the  accuser  was  to 
receive  one  fourth  of  the  confiscated  property  of 
the  convicted  party.  And  finally,  a  third  bull 
from  Paul  allowed  the  inquisitors  to  withhold 
a  pardon  from  the  recanting  heretic,  if  any  doubt 
existed  of  his  sincerity;  thus  placing  the  life  as 
well  as  fortune  of  the  unhappy  prisoner  entirely 
at  the  mercy  of  judges  who  had  an  obvious  in- 
terest  in  finding  him  guilty.  In  this  way  the 
pope  and  the  king  continued  to  play  into  each 
others    hands,    and   while    his    holiness   artfully 


422 


PROTESTANTISM  IN  SPAIN. 


[Book  II 


Ch.  III.] 


SUPPRESSION  OF  THE  REFORM. 


4251 


spread  the  toils,  the  king  devised  the  means  for 
driving  the  quarry  into  them.* 

Fortunately  for  these  plans,  the  Inquisition  was 
at  this  time  imder  the  direction  of  a  man  pecu- 
liarly fitted  to  execute  them.  This  was  Fernando 
Valdes,  cardinal-archbishop  of  Seville,  a  person  of 
a  hard,  inexorable  nature,  and  possessed  of  as 
large  a  measure  of  fanaticism  as  ever  fell  to  a 
grand-inquisitor  since  the  days  of  Torquemada. 
Valdes  readily  availed  himself  of  the  terrible 
machinery  placed  under  his  control.  Careful  not 
to  alarm  the  suspected  parties,  his  approaches 
were  slow  and  stealthy.  He  was  the  chief  of  a 
tribunal  which  sat  in  darkness,  and  which  dealt 
by  invisible  agents.  He  worked  long  and  silently 
imder  ground  before  firing  the  mine  which  was 
to  bury  his  enemies  in  a  general  ruin. 

His  spies  were  everywhere  abroad,  mingling 
with  the  suspected,  and  insinuating  themselves 
into  their  confidence.  At  length,  by  the  treach- 
ery of  some,  and  by  working  on  the  nervous  ap- 
prehensiDns  or  the  religious  scruples  of  others,  he 
succeeded  in  detecting  the  lurking-places  of  the 
new  heresy,  and  the  extent  of  ground  which  it 
covered.  This  was  much  larger  than  had  been  im- 
agined, although  the  Eeformation  in  Spain  seemed 
less  formidable  from  the  number  of  its  pros- 
elytes than  from  their  character  and  position. 
Many   of  them  were  ecclesiastics,   especially   in- 

*  Llorente,  Hist  de  rinquisition  d'Espagne,  torn.  L  pp.  470,  471 
torn.  n.  pp.  183,  184,  215-217. 


trusted  with  maintaming  the  purity  of  the  faith. 
The  quarters  in  which  the  heretical  doctrines 
most  prevailed  were  Aragon,  which  held  an  easy 
communication  with  the  Huguenots  of  France, 
and  the  ancient  cities  of  Seville  and  Valladolid, 
indebted  less  to  any  local  advantages  than  to  the 
influence  of  a  few  eminent  men,  who  had  early 
embraced  the  faith  of  the  Reformers. 

At  length,  the  preliminary  information  having 
been  obtained,  the  proscribed  having  been  marked 
out,  the  plan  of  attack  settled,  an  order  was  given 
for  the  simultaneous  arrest  of  all  persons  suspected 
of  heresy,  throughout  the  kingdom.     It  fell  like  a 
thunderbolt  on  the  unhappy  victims,  who  had  gone 
on  with  their  secret  associations,  little  suspecting 
the  ruin  that  hung  over  them.     No  resistance  was 
attempted.     Men  and  women,  churchmen  and  lay- 
men, persons  of  all  ranks  and   professions,  were 
hurried  from  their  homes,  and  lodged  in  the  secret 
chambers  of  the  Inquisition.     Yet  these  could  not 
furnish  accommodations  for  the  number,  and  many 
were  removed  to  the  ordinary  prisons,  and  even  to 
convents  and  private  dwellings.     In  Seville  alone 
eight   hundred   were   arrested   on    the   first    day. 
Fears  were  entertained  of  an   attempt   at  rescue, 
and   an   additional  guard  was  stationed  over  the 
places  of  confinement.     The   inquisitors  were   in 
the  condition  of  a  fisherman  whose  cast  has  been 
so   successful   that   the   draught   of  fishes   seems 
likely  to  prove  too  heavy  for  his  net.^ 

*  McCri€,  History  of  the  Reformation  in  Spain,  (Edinburgh,  1829,) 


424 


PROTESTANTISM  IN  SPAIN. 


[Book  U 


Ch.  III.] 


AUTOS  DE  FE 


425 


The  arrest  of  one  party  gradually  led  to  the 
detection  of  others.  Dragged  from  his  solitary 
dungeon  before  the  secret  tribunal  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion, alone,  without  counsel  to  aid  or  one  friendly 
face  to  cheer  him,  without  knowmg  the  name 
of  his  accuser,  without  being  allowed  to  confront 
the  witnesses  who  were  there  to  swear  away  his 
life,  without  even  a  sight  of  his  own  process,  ex- 
cept such  garbled  extracts  as  the  wily  judges 
thought  fit  to  communicate,  is  it  strange  that  the 
unhappy  victim,  in  his  perplexity  and  distress, 
should  have  been  drawn  into  disclosures  fatal  to 
his  associates  and  himself?  If  these  disclosures 
were  not  to  the  mind  of  his  judges,  they  had 
only  to  try  the  efficacy  of  the  torture,  —  the 
rack,  the  cord,  and  the  pulley,  —  until,  when 
every  joint  had  been  wrenched  from  its  socket, 
the  barbarous  tribunal  was  compelled  to  suspend, 
not  terminate,  the  application,  from  the  inabil- 
ity of  the  sufferer  to  endure  it.  Such  were  the 
dismal  scenes  enacted  in  the  name  of  religion, 
and  by  the  ministers  of  religion,  as  well  as  of 
the  Inquisition,  —  scenes  to  which  few  of  those 
who  had  once  witnessed  them,  and  escaped  with 
life,  dared  ever  to  allude.  For  to  reveal  the  se- 
crets of  the  Inquisition  was  death.^ 

At  the  expiration  of  eighteen  months  from  the 

p.  243. — Relacion  del  Auto  que  matter  will  find  a  more  particular 

•e  bi9o  en  Valladolid  el  dia  de  account  of  the  orijnn  and  orsran- 

b  Sanctissima  Trinidad,  Afio  de  ization  of  the  modem  Inquisition 

1559,  MS.  in  the  "  History  of  Fenlinand  and 

'  The    reader    curious    in  the  Isabella,"  part  I.  cap.  9. 


period  of  the  first  arrests,  many  of  the  trials  had 
been  concluded,  the  doom  of  the   prisoners   was 
sealed,  and  it  was  thought  time  that  the  pris- 
ons  should  disgorge   their    superfluous    inmates. 
Valladolid  was  selected  as  the  theatre  of  the  first 
auto  de  fe,  both  from  the  importance  of  the  cap- 
ital and  the  presence  of  the  court,  which  would 
thus  sanction  and  give  greater  dignity  to  the  cel- 
ebration.    This  event  took  place  in  May,   1559. 
The   Regent    Joanna,   the    young    prince   of  the 
Asturias,  Don  Carlos,  and  the  principal  grandees 
of  the  court,  were  there  to  witness  the  spectacle. 
By  rendering  the  heir   of  the   crown   thus   early 
familiar  with  the   tender   mercies    of  the   Holy 
Office,  it  may  have  been  intended   to   conciliate 
his  favor  to  that  institution.     If  such  was  the 
object,  according   to  the  report  it  signally  faUed, 
since   the  woful   spectacle  left  no   other  impres- 
sions  on   the   mind   of  the  prince  than  those  of 
indignation  and  disgust. 

The  example  of  Valladolid  was  soon  followed 
by  autos  de  fe  in  Granada,  Toledo,  Seville,  Barce- 
lona,  — in  short,  in  the  twelve  capitals  in  which 
tribunals  of  the  Holy  Office  were  established. 
A  second  celebration  at  Valladolid  was  reserved 
for  the  eighth  of  October  in  the  same  year, 
when  it  would  be  graced  by  the  presence  of  the 
sovereign  himself.  Indeed,  as  several  of  the  pro- 
cesses had  been  concluded  some  months  before 
this  period,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the 
sacrifice   of  more   than   one   of  the   victims   had 


i 


VOL.   L 


64 


426 


PROTESTANTISM  IN  SPAIN. 


[Book  II. 


Ch.  III.] 


AUTOS  DE  f6. 


421 


beeu  postponed,  in  order  to  give  greater  effect  to 
the  6pectacle.^ 

The  auto  defe  —  "act  of  faith"  —  was  the  most 
imposing,  as  it  was  the  most  awful,  of  the  solem- 
nities authorized  by  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
It  was  intended,  somewhat  profanely,  as  has  been 
intimated,  to  combine  the  pomp  of  the  Eoman 
triumph  with  the  terrors  of  the  day  of  judgment.* 
It  may  remind  one  quite  as  much  of  those  bloody 
festivals  prepared  for  the  entertainment  of  the 
Caesars  in  the  Colisaeum.  The  religious  import  of 
the  auto  de  fe  was  intimated  by  the  cu'cumstance 
of  its  being  celebrated  on  a  Sunday,  or  some  other 
holiday  of  the  Church.  An  indulgence  for  forty 
days  was  granted  by  his  holiness  to  all  who  should 
be  present  at  the  spectacle ;  as  if  the  appetite  for 
witnessing  the  scenes  of  human  suffering  required 
to  be  stimulated  by  a  boimty ;  that  too  in  Spain, 
where  the  amusements  were,  and  still  are,  of  the 
most  sanguinary  character. 

The  scene  for  this  second  auto  de  fe  at  Valla- 
dolid  was  the  great  square  in  front  of  the  church 
of  St.  Francis.  At  one  end  a  platform  was  raised, 
covered  with  rich  carpeting,  on  which  were  ranged 
the  seats  of  the  inquisitors,  emblazoned  with  the 
arms   of  the  Holy  Office.     Near  to  this  was  the 

8  See  the  Register  of  such  as  were  de  la  Sanctissima  Trinidad,  1559, 

burned  at  Seville  and  ValladoHd,  MS. —  Sepulveda,  Opera,  torn.  ITL 

in  1559,  ap.  Montanus,  Discovery  p.  58. 

of  sundry  subtill  Practises  of  the        ^  McCrie,  Reformation  in  Spiiin, 

Inquisition.  —  Relacion   del   Auto  p.  274. 
que  se  hi9o  en  ValladoHd  el  dia 


royal  gallery,  a  private  entrance  to  which  secured 
the  inmates  from  molestation  by  the  crowd.  Op- 
posite to  this  gallery  a  large  scaffold  was  erect- 
ed, so  as  to  be  visible  from  all  parts  of  the 
arena,  and  was  appropriated  to  the  unhappy 
martyrs  who  were  to  suffer  in  the  auto. 

At  six  in  the  morning  all  the  bells  in  the  capi- 
tal began  to  toll,  and  a  solemn  procession  was  seen 
to  move  from  the  dismal  fortress  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion.    In   the  van  marched  a  body  of  troops,  to 
secure  a  free   passage  for  the  procession.     Then 
came   the   condemned,  each   attended  by  two  fa- 
miliars of  the  Holy  Office,  and   those  who  were 
to  suffer  at  the  stake  by  two  friars,  in  addition,  ex- 
horting the  heretic  to  abjure  his  errors.     Those  ad- 
mitted to  penitence  wore  a  sable  dress ;  while  the 
unfortunate  martyr  was  enveloped  in  a  loose  sack 
of  yellow  cloth,  —  the  san  benito,  —  with  his  head 
surmounted  by  a  cap  of  pasteboard  of  a  conical 
form,  which,  together  with   the   cloak,   was   em- 
broidered w  ith  figures  of  flames  and  of  devils  fan- 
ning  and  feeding  them ;   all  emblematical  of  the 
destiny  of  the  heretic's  «oul  in  the  world  to  come, 
as»\vell  as  of  his  body  in  the  present.     Then  came 
the   magistrates   of  the   city,   the  judges   of   the 
courts,  the  ecclesiastical  orders,  and  the  nobles  of 
the  land,  on  horseback.     These  were  followed  by 
the  members  of  the  dread  tribunal,  and  the  fiscal, 
bearing  a  standard  of  crimson  damask,  on  one  side 
of  which  were  displayed  the  arms  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion, and  on  the  other  the  insignia  of  its  found- 


428 


PROTESTANTISM  IN  SPAIN. 


[Book  H. 


Ch.  m.] 


AUTOS  DE  F^. 


429 


ers,  Sixtus  the  Fifth  and  Ferdinand  the  Catho- 
lic. Next  came  a  numerous  train  of  familiars, 
well  mounted,  among  whom  were  many  of  the 
gentry  of  the  province,  proud  to  act  as  the  body- 
guard of  the  Holy  Office.  The  rear  was  brought 
up  by  an  immense  concourse  of  the  common  peo- 
ple, Stimulated  on  the  present  occasion,  no  doubt, 
by  the  loyal  desire  to  see  their  new  sovereign,  as 
well  as  by  the  ambition  to  share  in  the  triumphs 
of  the  auto  de  fe.  The  number  thus  drawn  to- 
gether from  the  capital  and  the  country,  far 
exceeding  what  was  usual  on  such  occasions,  is 
estimated  by  one  present  at  full  two  hundred 
thousand.^® 

As  the  multitude  defiled  into  the  square,  the 
inquisitors  took  their  place  on  the  seats  pre- 
pared for  their  reception.  The  condemned  were 
conducted  to  the  scaffold,  and  the  royal  station 
was  occupied  by  Philip,  with  the  different  mem- 
bers of  his  household.  At  his  side  sat  his  sis- 
ter, the  late  regent,  his  son,  Don  Carlos,  his 
nephew,  Alexander  Famese,  several  foreign  am- 
bassadors, and  the  principal  grandees  and  high- 
er ecclesiastics  in  attendance  on  the  court.  It 
was  an  august  assembly  of  the  greatest  and  the 
proudest  in  the  land.  But  the  most  indifferent 
spectator,  who  had  a  spark  of  humanity  in  his 
bosom,  might  have  turned  with  feelings  of  ad- 
miration  from   this   army   of  worldly   power,   to 

W  De  Castro,  Historia  de  los  Protestantes  Espanoles,  (Cadiz,  1851,) 
p.  177. 


the  poor  martyr,  who,  with  no  support  but  what 
he  drew  from  within,  was  prepared  to  defy  this 
power,  and  to  lay  down  his  life  in  vindication  of 
the  rights  of  conscience.  Some  there  may  have 
been,  in  that  large  concourse,  who  shared  in  these 
sentiments.  But  their  number  was  small  indeed 
in  comparison  with  those  who  looked  on  the 
wretched  victim  as  the  enemy  of  God,  and  his 
approaching  sacrifice  as  the  most  glorious  tri- 
umph of  the  Cross. 

The  ceremonies  began  with  a  sermon,  "  the 
sermon  of  the  faith,"  by  the  bishop  of  Zamora. 
The  subject  of  it  may  well  be  guessed,  from 
the  occasion.  It  was  no  doubt  plentifully  larded 
with  texts  of  Scripture,  and,  unless  the  preacher 
departed  from  the  fashion  of  the  time,  with  pas- 
sages  from  the  heathen  writers,  however  much  out 
of  place  they  may  seem  in  an  orthodox  discourse. 

When   the  bishop   had   concluded,  the   grand- 
mquisitor  administered  an  oath  to  the  assembled 
multitude,  who  on  their  knees  solemnly  swore  to 
defend  the  Inquisition,  to  maintain  the  puiity  of 
the   faith,   and   to   inform   against   any  one   who 
should   swerve  from   it.     As   Philip   repeated  an 
oath  of  similar  import,  he  suited  the  action  to  the 
word,  and,  rising  from  his  seat,  drew  his  sword 
from  its  scabbard,  as  if  to  announce  himself  the 
determined  champion  of  the  Holy  Office.     In  the 
earlier  autos  of  the  Moorish  and  Jewish  infidels, 
so  humiliating  an   oath  had  never  been  exacted 
from  the  sovereign. 


iSO 


PROTESTANTISM  IN  SPAIN. 


[Book  H, 


Ch.  in.] 


AUTOS  DE  FE. 


431 


After  this,  the  secretary  of  the  tribunal  read 
aloud  an  instrument  reciting  the  grounds  for  the 
conviction  of  the  prisoners,  and  the  respective  sen- 
tences pronounced  against  them.  Those  who  were 
to  be  admitted  to  penitence,  each,  as  his  sentence 
was  proclaimed,  knelt  down,  and,  with  his  hands 
on  the  missal,  solemnly  abjured  his  errors,  and  was 
absolved  by  the  grand-inquisitor.  The  absolution, 
however,  was  not  so  entire  as  to  relieve  the  of- 
fender from  the  penalty  of  his  transgressions  in 
this  world.  Some  were  doomed  to  perpetual  im- 
prisonment in  the  cells  of  the  Inquisition,  others 
to  lighter  penances.  All  were  doomed  to  the 
confiscation  of  their  property,  —  a  point  of  too 
great  moment  to  the  welfare  of  the  tribunal 
ever  to  be  omitted.  Besides  this,  in  many  cases 
the  oiFender,  and,  by  a  glaring  perversion  of  jus- 
tice, his  immediate  descendants,  were  rendered 
forever  ineligible  to  public  office  of  any  kind, 
and  their  names  branded  with  perpetual  infamy. 
Thus  blighted  in  fortune  and  in  character,  they 
were  said,  in  the  soft  language  of  the  Inquisition, 
to  be  reconciled. 

As  these  unfortunate  persons  were  remanded, 
under  a  strong  guard,  to  their  prisons,  all  eyes 
were  turned  on  the  little  company  of  martyrs,  who, 
clothed  in  the  ignominious  garb  of  the  san  benito^ 
stood  waiting  the  sentence  of  their  judges, —  with 
cords  round  their  necks,  and  in  their  hands  a  cross, 
or  sometimes  an  inverted  torch,  typical  of  their 
own  speedy  dissolution.     The  interest  of  the  spec- 


tators was  still  further  excited,  in  the  present 
instance,  by  the  fact  that  several  of  these  victims 
were  not  only  illustrious  for  their  rank,  but  yet 
more  so  for  their  talents  and  virtues.  In  their 
haggard  looks,  their  emaciated  forms,  and  too 
often,  alas!  their  distorted  limbs,  it  was  easy 
to  read  the  story  of  their  sufferings  in  their  long 
imprisonment,  for  some  of  them  had  been  con- 
fined in  the  dark  cells  of  the  Inquisition  much 
more  than  a  year.  Yet  their  countenances,  though 
haggard,  far  from  showing  any  sign  of  weakness  or 
fear,  were  lighted  up  with  the  glow  of  holy  en- 
thusiasm,  as  of  men  prepared  to  seal  their  testi- 
mony with  their  blood. 

When  that  part  of  the  process  showing  the 
grounds  of  their  conviction  had  been  read,  the 
grand-uiquisitor  consigned  them  to  the  hands  of 
the  corregidor  of  the  city,  beseeching  him  to  deal 
with  the  prisoners  m  all  kindness  and  mercy  -^^  a 
honeyed,  but  most  hypocritical  phrase,  since  no 
choice  was  left  to  the  civil  magistrate  but  to  exe- 
cute the  terrible  sentence  of  the  law  against  here- 
tics, the  preparations  for  which  had  been  made 
by  him  a  week  before.^ 

The  whole  number  of  convicts  amounted  to 
thirty,  of  whom  sixteen  were  reconciled,  and  the 
remainder  relaxed  to  the  secular  arm,  —  in  other 

n  «  Nous  recommandons  de  le        ^2  Colmenares,  Historia  de  Se- 

traiter  avec  bont^  et  mis^ricorde."  govia,  cap.  XLII.  sec.  3 —  Cabrera, 

Llorente,    Inquisition   d'Espagne,  FiUpe  Segundo,  lib.  V.  cap.  3. 
lorn.  n.  p.  253. 


i32 


PROTESTANTISM  IN  SPAIN. 


[Book  II 


Ch.  m.] 


AUTOS  DE  FE. 


433 


words,  turned  over  to  the  civil  magistrate  for  ex- 
ecution. There  were  few  of  those  thus  condemned 
who,  when  brought  to  the  stake,  did  not  so  far 
shrink  from  the  dreadful  doom  that  awaited  them 
as  to  consent  to  purchase  a  commutation  of  it  by 
confession  before  they  died ;  in  which  case  they 
were  strangled  by  the  garrote^  before  their  bodies 
were  thrown  into  the  flames. 

Of  the  present  number  there  were  only  two 
whose  constancy  triumphed  to  the  last  over  the 
dread  of  suffering,  and  who  refused  to  purchase 
any  mitigation  of  it  by  a  compromise  with  con- 
science. The  names  of  these  martyrs  should  be 
engraven  on  the  record  of  history. 

One  of  them  was  Don  Carlos  de  Seso,  a  noble 
Florentine,  who  had  stood  high  in  the  favor  of 
Charles  the  Fifth.  Being  united  with  a  lady  of 
rank  in  Castile,  he  removed  to  that  country,  and 
took  up  his  residence  in  Valladolid.  He  had  be- 
come a  convert  to  the  Lutheran  doctrines,  which 
he  first  communicated  to  his  own  family,  and  after- 
wards showed  equal  zeal  in  propagating  among 
the  people  of  Valladolid  and  its  neighborhood. 
In  short,  there  was  no  man  to  whose  untiring 
and  intrepid  labors  the  cause  of  the  Reformed 
religion  in  Spain  was  more  indebted.  He  was,  of 
course,  a  conspicuous  mark  for  the  Inquisition. 

During  the  fifteen  months  in  which  he  lay  in 
its  gloomy  cells,  cut  off  from  human  sympathy  and 
support,  his  constancy  remained  unshaken.  The 
night  preceding  his  execution,  when  his  sentence 


had  been  announced  to  him,  De  Seso  called  for 
writing  materials.  It  was  thought  he  designed  to 
propitiate  his  judges  by  a  full  confession  of  his 
errors.  But  the  confession  he  made  was  of  an- 
other kind.  He  insisted  on  the  errors  of  the 
Komish  Church,  and  avowed  his  unshaken  trust 
in  the  great  truths  of  the  Reformati'^n.  The 
document,  covering  two  sheets  of  paper,  is  pro- 
nounced by  the  secretary  of  the  Inquisition  to  be 
a  composition  equally  remarkable  for  its  energy 
and  precision.^^  When  led  before  the  royal  gallery, 
on  his  way  to  the  place  of  execution,  De  Seso  pa- 
thetically exclaimed  to  Philip,  "  Is  it  thus  that  you 
allow  your  innocent  subjects  to  be  persecuted  1 " 
To  which  the  king  made  the  memorable  reply, 
"  If  it  were  my  own  son,  I  would  fetch  the  wood 
to  bum  him,  were  he  such  a  wretch  as  thou  art ! " 
It  was  certainly  a  characteristic  answer.^* 

At  the  stake  De  Seso  showed  the  same  im- 
shaken  constancy,  bearing  his  testimony  to  the 
truth  of  the  great  cause   for  which  he  gave  up 


13  Llorente,  Inquisition    d*Es- 
pagne,  \joxn.  II.  p.  236. 

14  The  anecdote  is  well  attested. 
(Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  V. 
cap.  3.)  Father  Agustin  Davila 
notices  what  he  styles  this  sentencia 
famosa  in  his  funeral  discourse  on 
Philip,  delivered  at  Valladolid  soon 
after  that  monarch's  death.  (Ser- 
mones  Funerales,  en  las  Honras 
del  Rey  Don  Felipe  H.,  fol.  77.) 
Colmenares  still  more  emphatically 
euloofizes  the  words  thus  uttered 


in  the  cause  of  the  true  faith,  as 
worthy  of  such  a  prince.  "  El 
primer  sentenciado  al  fuego  en  este 
Auto  fu^  Don  Carlos  de  Seso  de 
sangre  noble,  que  osd  dezir  al  Rey, 
como  consentia  que  le  quemasen, 
y  severo  respondio,  Yo  trahere  la 
lena  para  quemar  i.  mi  hijo,  si 
fuere  tan  malo  como  vos.  Accion 
y  palabras  dignas  de  tal  Rey  en 
causa  de  la  suprema  religion." 
Historia  de  Segovia,  cap.  XLIL 
sec.  3. 


VOL.  I. 


55 


434 


PROTESTANTISM  IN  SPAIN. 


i*BooK  IL 


Ch.  m.j 


AUTOS  DE  FE. 


435 


his  lile.  As  the  flames  crept  slowly  around  him, 
he  called  on  the  soldiers  to  heap  up  the  fagots, 
that  his  agonies  might  be  sooner  ended;  and 
his  executioners,  indignant  at  the  obstinacy  — 
the  heroism  —  of  the  martyr,  were  not  slow  in 
obeying  his  commands.^ 

The  companion  and  fellow-sufferer  of  De  Seso 
was  Domingo  de  Roxas,  son  of  the  marquis  de 
Poza,  an  unhappy  noble,  who  had  seen  five  of 
his  family,  including  his  eldest  son,  condemned 
to  various  humiliating  penances  by  the  Inquisi- 
tion for  their  heretical  opinions.  This  one  was 
now  to  suffer  death.  De  Roxas  was  a  Do- 
minican  monk.  It  is  singular  that  this  order, 
from  which  the  ministers  of  the  Holy  Office  were 
particularly  taken,  furnished  many  proselytes  to 
the  Reformed  religion.  De  Roxas,  as  was  the 
usage  with  ecclesiastics,  was  allowed  to  retain  his 
sacerdotal  habit  until  his  sentence  had  been  read, 
when  he  was  degraded  from  his  ecclesiastical  rank, 
his  vestments  were  stripped  off  one  after  another, 
and  the  hideous  dress  of  the  san  benito  thrown  over 
him,  amid  the  shouts  and  derision  of  the  populace 
Thus  apparelled,  he  made  an  attempt  to  address 
the  spectators  around  the  scaffold ;  but  no  sooner 
did  he  begin  to  raise  his  voice  against  the  errors 
and  cruelties  of  Rome,  than  Philip  indignantly 
commanded  him  to  be  gagged.  The  gag  was  a 
piece  of  cleft  wood,  which,  forcibly  compressing  the 

M  Llorente,  Inquisition  d'Espagne,  torn.  II.  p.  287. 


tongue,  had  the  additional  advantage  of  causing 
great  pain  while  it  silenced  the  offender.  Even 
when  he  was  bound  to  the  stake,  the  gag,  though 
contrary  to  custom,  was  suffered  to  remain  in  the 
mouth  of  De  Roxas,  as  if  his  enemies  dreaded  the 
effects  of  an  eloquence  that  triumphed  over  the 
anguish  of  death.^^ 

The  place  of  execution  —  the  quemadero,  the 
burning-place,  as  it  was  called  —  was  a  spot 
selected  for  the  purpose  without  the  walls  of 
the  city.^^  Those  who  attended  an  auto  de  ft 
were  not,  therefore,  necessarily,  as  is  commonly 
imagined,  spectators  of  the  tragic  scene  that  con- 
cluded it.  The  great  body  of  the  people,  and 
many  of  higher  rank,  no  doubt,  followed  to  the 
place  of  execution.  On  this  occasion,  there  is 
reason  to  think,  from  the  language  —  somewhat 
equivocal,  it  is  true  —  of  Philip's  biographer,  that 
the  monarch  chose  to  testify  his  devotion  to  the 
Inquisition  by  witnessing  in  person  the  appalling 
close  of  the  drama ;  while  his  guards  mingled  with 
the  menials  of  the  Holy  Office,  and  heaped  up 
the  fagots  round  their  victims.^* 


18  Montanus,  Discovery  of  sun- 
dry subtill  Practises  of  the  Inqui- 
sition, p.  52.  —  Llorente,  Inquisi- 
tion d'Espagne,  torn.  II.  p.  239. 
—  Sepulveda,  Opera,  torn.  III.  p. 
58. 

17  Puigblanch,  The  Inquisition 
Unmasked,  (London,  1816,)  vol. 
I.  p.  336. 

18  "  Halldse  por  esto  presente 


a  ver  llevar  i  entrejrar  al  fuego 
muchos  delinquentes  aconpanados 
de  sus  guardas  de  a  pie  i  de  a 
cavallo,  que  ayudaron  a  la  execu- 
cion."  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo, 
lib.  V.  cap.  3. 

It  may  be  doubted  whether  the 
historian  means  anything  more  than 
that  Philip  saw  the  unfortunate 
men  led  to  execution,  at  whicn  nifi 


i 


436 


PROTESTANTISM  IN  SPAIN. 


[Book  II 


Cb.  m.] 


PROSECUTION  OF  CARRANZA. 


431 


Such  was  the  cruel  exhibition  which,  under  the 
garb  of  a  religious  festival,  was  thought  the  most 
fitting  ceremonial  for  Avelcoming  the  Catholic  mon- 
arch to  his  dominions!  During  the  whole  time 
of  its  duration  in  the  public  square,  from  six  in 
the  morning  till  two  in  the  afternoon,  no  symptom 
of  impatience  was  exhibited  by  the  spectators,  and, 
as  may  well  be  believed,  no  sign  of  sympathy  for 
the  suiferers.^'  It  would  be  difficult  to  devise  a 
better  school  for  perverting  the  moral  sense,  and 
deadening  the  sensibilities  of  a  nation.^ 


own  guards  assisted.  Ddvila,  the 
friar  who,  as  I  have  noticed,  pro- 
nounced a  ftineral  oration  on  the 
king,  speaks  of  him  simply  as  hav- 
innr  assisted  at  this  act  of  faith,  — 
**  Assistir  a  los  actos  de  Fe,  como 
m  vio  en  esta  Ciudad."  (Sermones 
Funerales,  fol.  77.)  Could  the 
worthy  father  have  ventured  to 
give  Philip  credit  for  being  present 
at  the  death,  he  would  not  have 
failed  to  do  so.  Leti,  less  scrupu- 
lous, tells  us  that  Philip  saw  the 
execution  from  the  windows  of  his 
palace,  heard  the  cries  of  the  dying 
martyrs,  and  enjoyed  the  spectacle ! 
The  picture  he  gives  of  the  scene 
loses  nothing  for  want  of  coloring. 
Vita  di  Filippo  II.,  tom.  I.  p.  342. 

19  How  little  sympathy,  may  be 
inferred  from  the  savage  satisfac- 
tion with  which  a  wise  and  tem- 
perate historian  of  the  time  dis- 
misses to  everlasting  punishment 
one  of  the  martyrs  at  the  first 
Muto  at  Valladolid.  "  Jureque 
vivus  flammis    corpore    cruciatus 


miserrimam  animam  efflavit  ad 
supplicia  sempitema."  Sepulveda, 
Opera,  tom.  III.  p.  58. 

30  Balmes,  one  of  the  most  suc- 
cessful champions  of  the  Romish 
faith  in  our  time,  finds  in  the  terri- 
ble apathy  thus  shown  to  the  suf- 
ferings of  the  martyrs  a  proof  of  a 
more  vital  religious  sentiment  than 
exists  at  the  present  day  !  "  We 
feel  our  hair  grow  stiff  on  our 
heads  at  the  mere  idea  of  burning 
a  man  alive.  Placed  in  society 
where  the  religious  sentiment  is  con- 
siderably diminished ;  accustomed  to 
live  among  men  who  have  a  differ- 
ent religion,  and  sometimes  none  at 
all ;  we  cannot  bring  ourselves  to 
believe  that  it  could  be,  at  that 
time,  quite  an  ordinary  thing  to 
see  heretics  or  the  impious  led  to 
punishment**  Protestantism  and 
Catholicity  compared  in  their  Ef- 
fects on  the  Civilization  of  Europe, 
Eng.  trans.,  (Baltimore,  1851,)  p. 
217. 

According  to  this  view  of  thu 


Under  the  royal  sanction,  the  work  of  persecu- 
tion now  went  forward  more  briskly  than  ever.^' 
No  calling  was  too  sacred,  no  rank  too  high,  to 
escape  the  shafts  of  the  informer.  In  the  course 
of  a  few  years,  no  less  than  nine  bishops  were  com- 
pelled to  do  humiliating  penance  in  some  form  or 
other  for  heterodox  opinions.  But  the  most  illus- 
trious victim  of  the  Inquisition  was  Bartolome 
Carranza,  archbishop  of  Toledo.  The  primacy  of 
Spain  might  be  considered  as  the  post  of  the  high- 
est consideration  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
after  the  papacy.^     The  proceedings  agamst  this 


matter,  the  more  religion  there  is 
among  men,  the  harder  will  be  their 
hearts. 

21  The  zeal  of  the  king  and  the 
Inquisition  together  in  the  work 
of  persecution  had  wellnigh  got 
the  nation  into  more  than  one 
difficulty  with  foreign  countries. 
Mann,  the  English  minister,  was 
oblijred  to  remonstrate  ajrainst  the 
manner  in  which  the  independence 
of  his  own  household  was  violated 
by  the  agents  of  the  Holy  Office. 
The  complaints  of  St.  Sulpice,  the 
French  ambassador,  notwithstand- 
ing the  gravity  of  the  subject,  are 
told  in  a  vein  of  caustic  humor 
that  may  provoke  a  smile  in  the 
reader.  "  I  have  complained  to 
the  king  of  the  manner  in  which 
the  Marseillese,  and  other  French- 
men, are  maltreated  by  the  Inqui- 
sition. He  excused  himself  by 
Baying  that  he  had  little  power  or 
authority  in  matters  which  de- 
pended on  that  body  ;  he  could  do 
oothinfi  further  than  recommend 


the  grand-inquisitor  to  cause  good 
and  speedy  justice  to  be  done  to 
the  parties.  The  grand-inquisitor 
promised  that  they  should  be  treat- 
ed no  worse  than  born  Castilians, 
and  the  '  good  and  speedy  justice  * 
came  to  this,  that  they  were  burnt 
alive  in  the  king's  presence."  Rau- 
mer.  Sixteenth  and  Seventeenth 
Centuries,  vol.  I.  p.  111. 

22  The  archbishop  of  Toledo, 
according  to  Lucio  Marineo  Siculo, 
who  wrote  a  few  years  before  this 
period,  had  jurisdiction  over  more 
than  fifteen  large  towns,  besides 
smaller  places,  which  of  course 
made  the  number  of  his  vassals 
enormous.  His  revenues  also, 
amounting  to  eighty  thousand  du- 
cats, exceeded  those  of  any  gran- 
dee in  the  kingdom.  The  yearly 
revenues  of  the  subonlinate  ben- 
eficiaries of  his  church  were  to- 
gether not  less  than  a  hundred 
and  eighty  thousand  ducats.  Co- 
sas  ^lemorables  de  Espana,  ( Alcali 
de  Henares,  1539,)  &1.  13. 


/ 


438 


PBOTESTANTISM  IN  SPAIN. 


[Book  n 


Ch.  m.] 


PROSECUTION  OF  CARRANZA. 


439 


prelate,  on  the  whole,  excited  more  interest 
throughout  Christendom  than  any  other  case  that 
came  before  the  tribunal  of  the  Inquisition. 

Carranza,  who  was  of  an  ancient  Castilian  fam 
ily,  had  early  entered  a  Dominican  convent  in  the 
suburbs  of  Guadalajara.  His  exemplary  life,  and 
his  great  parts  and  learning,  recommended  him  to 
the  favor  of  Charles  the  Fifth,  who  appointed  him 
confessor  to  his  son  Philip.  The  emperor  also 
sent  him  to  the  Council  of  Trent,  where  he  made 
a  great  impression  by  his  eloquence,  as  well  as  by 
a  tract  which  he  published  against  plurality  of 
benefices,  which,  however,  excited  no  little  disgust 
in  many  of  his  order.  On  Philip's  visit  to  Eng- 
land to  marry  Queen  Mary,  Carranza  accompanied 
his  master,  and  while  in  that  country  he  distin- 
guished himself  by  the  zeal  and  ability  with  which 
he  controverted  the  doctrines  of  the  Protestants. 
The  alacrity,  moreover,  which  he  manifested  in  the 
work  of  persecution  made  him  generally  odious 
imder  the  name  of  the  "  black  friar,"  —  a  name 
peculiarly  appropriate,  as  it  applied  not  less  to 
his  swarthy  complexion  than  to  the  garb  of  his 
order.  On  Philip's  return  to  Flanders,  Carranza, 
who  had  twice  refused  a  mitre,  was  raised  —  not 
without  strong  disinclination  on  his  own  part  — 
to  the  archiepiscopal  see  of  Toledo.  The  "  nolo 
episcopUriy^'  in  this  instance,  seems  to  have  been 
sincere.  It  would  have  been  well  for  him  if  it 
had  been  effectual.  Carranza's  elevation  to  the 
primacy  was  the  source  of  all  his  troubles. 


The  hatred  of  theologians  has  passed  into  a 
proverb  ;  and  there  would  certainly  seem  to  be  nc 
rancor  surpassing  that  of  a  Spanish  ecclesiastic. 
Among  the  enemies  raised  by  Carranza's  success, 
the  most  implacable  was  the  grand-inquisitor, 
Valdes.  The  archbishop  of  Seville  could  ill  brook 
that  a  humble  Dominican  should  be  thus  raised 
from  the  cloister  over  the  head?  of  the  proud  prel- 
acy of  Spain.  With  unwearied  pains,  such  as  hate 
only  could  induce,  he  sought  out  whatever  could 
make  against  the  orthodoxy  of  the  new  prelate, 
whether  in  his  writings  or  his  conversation.  Some 
plausible  ground  was  afforded  for  this  from  the 
fact,  that,  although  Carranza,  as  his  whole  life  had 
shown,  was  devoted  to  the  Eoman  Catholic  Church, 
yet  his  long  residence  in  Protestant  countries,  and 
his  familiarity  with  Protestant  works,  had  given 
a  coloring  to  his  language,  if  not  to  his  opinions, 
which  resembled  that  of  the  Reformers.  Indeed, 
Carranza  seems  to  have  been  much  of  the  same 
way  of  thinking  with  Pole,  Contarini,  Morone,  and 
other  illustrious  Romanists,  whose  liberal  natures 
and  wide  range  of  study  had  led  them  to  sanction 
more  than  one  of  the  Lutheran  dogmas  which 
were  subsequently  proscribed  by  the  Council  of 
Trent.  One  charge  strongly  urged  against  the 
primate  was  his  assent  to  the  heretical  doctrine  of 
justification  by  faith.  In  support  of  this,  Father 
Regla,  the  confessor,  as  the  reader  may  remember, 
of  Charles  the  Fifth,  and  a  worthy  coadjutor  of 
Valdes,  quoted  words  of  consolation  employed  by 


440 


PBOTESTANTISM  IN  SPAIN. 


[Book  IL 


Carranza,   in   his   presence,   at    the  death-bed  of 
the  emperor.^ 

The  exalted  rank  of  the  accused  made  it  necessary 
for  his  enemies  to  proceed  with  the  greatest  caution. 
Never  had  the  bloodhounds  of  the  Inquisition  been 
set  on  so  noble  a  quarry.  Confident  in  his  own 
authority,  the  prelate  had  little  reason  for  distrust. 
He  could  not  ward  off  the  blow,  for  it  was  an 
invisible  arm  stronger  than  his  own  that  was 
raised  to  smite  him.  On  the  twenty-second  of 
August,  1559,  the  emissaries  of  the  Holy  Office 
entered  the  primate's  town  of  Torrelaguna.  The 
doors  of  the  episcopal  palace  were  thrown  open  to 
the  ministers  of  the  terrible  tribunal.  The  prelate 
was  dragged  from  his  bed  at  midnight,  was  hurried 
into  a  coach,  and  while  the  inhabitants  were  or- 
dered not  so  much  as  to  present  themselves  at  the 
windows,  he  was  conducted,  under  a  strong  guard, 
to  the  prisons  of  the  Inquisition  at  VaPddolid. 
The  arrest  of  such  a  person  caused  a  great  sensa- 
tion throughout  the  country,  but  no  attempt  was 
made  at  a  rescue. 

The  primate  would  have  appealed  from  the 
Holy  Office  to  the  pope,  as  the  only  power  com- 
petent to  judge  him.  But  he  was  un willing  to 
give  umbrage  to  Philip,  who  had  told  him  in  any 
extremity  to  rely  on  him.  The  king,  however, 
was  still  in  the  Netherlands,  where  his  mind  had 


83  Salazar,  Vida  de  Carranza,    389   et  seq.  —  Llorente,  Inqaiw- 
(Madrid,    1788,)    cap.    1-11.—    tion  d'Espagne,  torn.  II.  p.  a6A 
Documentos  Ineditos,  torn.  V.  p.    torn.  III.  p.  183  et  seq. 


Ch.  lU.j 


PROSECUTION  OF  CARRANZA. 


u\ 


been  preoccupied,  through  the  archbishop's  eue* 
mies,  with  rumors  of  his  defection.  And  the  mere 
imputation  of  heresy,  in  this  dangerous  crisis,  and 
especially  in  one  whom  he  had  so  recently  raised 
to  the  highest  post  in  the  Spanish  church,  was 
enough,  not  only  to  efface  the  recollection  of  past 
services  from  the  mind  of  Philip,  but  to  turn  his 
favor  into  aversion.  For  two  years  Carranza  was 
suffered  to  languish  in  confinement,  exposed  to  all 
the  annoyances  which  the  malice  of  his  enemies 
could  devise.  So  completely  was  he  dead  to  the 
world,  that  he  knew  nothing  of  a  conflagration 
which  consumed  more  than  four  hundred  of  the 
principal  houses  in  Valladolid,  till  some  years  after 
the  occurrence.^ 

At  length  the  Council  of  Trent,  sharing  the 
indignation  of  the  rest  of  Christendom  at  the 
archbishop's  protracted  imprisonment,  called  on 
Philip  to  interpose  in  his  behalf,  and  to  remove 
the  cause  to  another  tribunal.  But  the  kins:  srave 
little  heed  to  the  remonstrance,  which  the  inquisi- 
tors treated  as  a  presumptuous  interference  with 
their  authority. 

In  1566,  Pius  the  Fifth  ascended  the  pontifical 
throne.  He  was  a  man  of  austere  morals  and  a 
most  inflexible  will.  A  Dominican,  like  Carranza, 
he  was  greatly  scandalized  by  the  treatment  which 


*♦  ♦*  En  que  se  quemaron  mas  Arzobispo,  pero  ni  lo  supo  hasta 

de  400  casas  principales,  y  ricas,  y  muchos  anos  despues  de  estar  en 

algunas  en  aquel  barrio  donde  dl  Roma.'*    Salazar,  Vida  de  Carran- 

estaba ;  no  solo  no  lo  entendid  el  za,  cap.  15. 

VOL.  r.  56 


442 


PROTESTANTISM  IN  SPAIN. 


[Book  II 


the  primate  had  received,  and  by  the  shameful 
length  to  which  his  process  had  been  protracted. 
He  at  once  sent  his  orders  to  Spain  for  the  re- 
moval of  the  grand-inquisitor,  Valdes,  from  office, 
summoning,  at  the  same  time,  the  cause  and  the 
prisoner  before  his  own  tribunal.  The  bold  mquis- 
itor,  loath  to  lose  his  prey,  would  have  defied  the 
power  of  Rome,  as  he  had  done  that  of  the  Council 
of  Trent.  Philip  remonstrated ;  but  Pius  was  firm, 
and  menaced  both  king  and  inquisitor  with  excom- 
munication. Philip  had  no  mind  for  a  second 
collision  with  the  papal  court.  In  imagination  he 
already  heard  the  thunders  of  the  Vatican  rolling 
in  the  distance,  and  threatening  soon  to  break  upon 
his  head.  After  a  confinement  of  now  more  than 
seven  years'  duration,  the  archbishop  was  sent  un- 
der a  guard  to  Eome.  Pie  was  kindly  received  by 
the  pontifi",  and  honorably  lodged  in  the  castle  of 
St.  Angelo,  in  apartments  formerly  occupied  by  the 
popes  themselves.     But  he  was  still  a  prisoner. 

Pius  now  set  seriously  about  the  examination  of 
Carranza's  process.  It  was  a  tedious  business,  re- 
quiring his  holiness  to  wade  through  an  ocean  of 
papers,  while  the  progress  of  the  suit  was  perpetu- 
ally .  impeded  by  embarrassments  thrown  in  his 
way  by  the  industrious  malice  of  the  inquisitors. 
At  the  end  of  six  years  more,  Pius  was  preparing 
to  give  his  judgment,  which  it  was  understood 
would  be  favorable  to  Carranza,  when,  imhappily 
for  the  primate,  the  pontiff  died. 

The  Holy  Office,  stung  by  the  prosj)ect  of  its 


Ch.  m] 


PROSECUTION  OF  CARRANZA. 


443 


failure,  now  strained  every  nerve  to  influence  the 
mind  of  the  new  pope,  Gregory  the  Thirteenth, 
to  a  contrary  decision.  New  testimony  was  col- 
lected, new  glosses  were  put  on  the  primate's  text, 
and  the  sanction  of  the  most  learned  Spanish 
theologians  was  brought  in  support  of  them.  At 
length,  at  the  end  of  three  years  further,  the  holy 
father  announced  his  purpose  of  giving  his  final 
decision.  It  was  done  with  great  circumstance. 
The  pope  was  seated  on  his  pontifical  throne, 
surrounded  by  all  his  cardinals,  prelates,  and 
functionaries  of  the  apostolic  chamber.  Before 
this  august  assembly,  the  archbishop  presented 
himself  unsupported  and  alone,  while  no  one  ven- 
tured to  salute  him.  His  head  was  bare.  His 
once  robust  form  was  bent  by  infirmity  more  than 
by  years ;  and  his  care-worn  features  told  of  that 
sickness  which  arises  from  hope  deferred.  He 
knelt  down  at  some  distance  from  the  pope,  and 
m   this   humble   attitude   received  his   sentence. 

He  was  declared  to  have  imbibed  the  per- 
nicious doctiines  of  Luther.  The  decree  of  the 
Inquisition  prohibiting  the  use  of  his  catechism 
was  confirmed.  He  was  to  abjure  sixteen  prop- 
ositions found  in  his  writings ;  was  suspended 
from  the  exercise  of  his  episcopal  functions  for 
five  years,  during  which  time  he  was  to  be  con- 
fined in  a  convent  of  his  order  at  Orvieto ;  and, 
finally,  he  was  requu'ed  to  visit  seven  of  the  prin- 
cipal churches  in  Rome,  and  perform  mass  there 
hy  way  of  penance. 


444 


PROTESTANTISM  IN  SPAIN. 


[Book  IL 


Cb.  m.] 


EXTINCTION  OF  HERESY. 


445 


This  was  the  end  of  eighteen  years  of  doubt, 
anxiety,  and  imprisonment.  The  tears  streamed 
down  the  face  of  the  unhappy  man,  as  he  lis- 
tened to  the  sentence;  but  he  bowed  in  silent 
submission  to  the  will  of  his  superior.  The  very 
next  day  he  began  his  work  of  penance.  But 
nature  could  go  no  further;  and  on  the  second 
of  May,  only  sixteen  days  after  his  sentence  had 
been  pronounced,  Carranza  died  of  a  broken 
heart.  The  triumph  of  the  Inquisition  was 
complete. 

The  pope  raised  a  monument  to  the  memory 
of  the  primate,  with  a  pompous  inscription,  pay- 
ing a  just  tribute  to  his  talents  and  his  scholar- 
ship, endowing  him  with  a  full  measure  of  Chris- 
tian worth,  and  particularly  commending  the  ex- 
emplary manner  in  which  he  had  discharged  the 
high  trusts  reposed  in  him  by  his  sovereign.^ 

Such  is  the  story  of  Carranza  s  persecution,  — 
considering  the  rank  of  the  party,  the  unprece- 
dented length  of  the  process,  and  the  sensation 
it  excited  thoughout  Europe,  altogether  the  most 
remarkable  on   the  records  of  the   Inquisition.^ 


«5  Salazar,  Vida  de  Carranza, 
cap.  12  -  35.  —  Documentos  Inddi- 
t08,  torn.  V.  pp.  458-463.— Llo- 
rente,  Inquisition  d*Espagne,  torn. 
in.  p.  218  et  seq. 

*  The  persecution  of  Carranza 
has  occupied  the  pens  of  several 
Castilian  writers.  The  most  am- 
ple biographical  notice  of  him  is 
by  the  Doctor  Salazar  de  Miran- 


da, who  derived  his  careful  and 
trustworthy  narrative  from  the 
best  original  sources.  Llorente 
had  the  advantage  of  access  to  the 
voluminous  records  of  the  Holy 
Office,  of  which  he  was  the  secre- 
tary ;  and  in  his  third  volume  he 
has  devoted  a  large  space  to  the 
process  of  Carranza,  which,  with 
the  whole  mass  of  legal  document! 


Our  sympathy  for  the  archbishop's  sufferings  may 
be  reasonably  mitigated  by  the  reflection,  that  he 
did  but  receive  the  measure  which  he  had  meted 
,out  to  others. 

While  the  prosecution  of  Carranza  was  going 
on,  the  fires  lighted  for  the  Protestants  con- 
tinued to  burn  with  fury  in  all  parts  of  the 
country,  until  at  length  they  gradually  slackened 
and  died  away,  from  mere  want  of  fuel  to  feed 
them.  The  year  1570  may  be  regarded  as  the 
period  of  the  last  auto  de  ft  in  which  the  Lu- 
therans played  a  conspicuous  part.  The  subse- 
quent celebrations  were  devoted  chiefly  to  relapsed 
Jews  and  Mahometans ;  and  if  a  Protestant  heretic 
was  sometimes  added  to  this  list,  it  was  "but  as 
the  gleaning  of  grapes  after  the  vintage  is  done."  '^ 

Never  was  there  a  persecution  which  did  its 
work  more  thoroughly.  The  blood  of  the  mar- 
tjT   is    commonly   said    to    be    the    seed    of   the 


growing  out  of  the  protracted  pros- 
ecution, amounted,  as  he  assures 
us,  to  no  less  than  twenty-six  thou- 
sand leaves  of  manuscript.  This 
enormous  mass  of  testimony  leads 
one  to  suspect  that  the  object  of 
the  Inquisition  was  not  so  much  to 
detect  the  truth  as  to  cover  it  up. 
The  learned  editors  of  the  "  Do- 
cumentos Ineditos"  have  profited 
by  both  these  works,  as  well  as 
by  some  unpublished  manuscripts 
of  that  day,  relating  to  the  affair, 
to  exhibit  it  fully  and  fairly  to  the 
Castilian  reader,  who  in  this  brief 
history  may  learn  the  value  of  the 


institutions  under  which  his  fathers 
lived. 

^  So  says  McCrie,  whose  vol 
ume  on  the  Reformation  in  Spain 
presents  in  a  reasonable  compass 
a  very  accurate  view  of  that  inter- 
esting movement  Tlie  historian 
does  not  appear  to  have  had  access 
to  any  rare  or  recondite  materials; 
but  he  has  profited  well  by  those 
at  his  command,  comprehending 
the  best  published  works,  and  has 
digested  them  into  a  narrative  dis* 
tinguished  for  its  temperance  and 
truth. 


i> 


446 


PROTESTANTISM  m  SPAIN. 


[Book  II 


thurch.  But  the  storm  of  persecution  fell  as 
heavily  on  the  Spanish  Protestants  as  it  did  on 
the  Albigenses  in  the  thirteenth  century ;  blight- 
ing every  living  thing,  so  that  no  germ  remained^ 
for  future  harvests.  Spain  might  now  boast  that 
the  stain  of  heresy  no  longer  defiled  the  hem  of 
her  garment.  But  at  what  a  price  was  this  pur- 
chased !  Not  merely  by  the  sacrifice  of  the  live?  • 
and  fortunes  of  a  few  thousands  of  the  existing 
generation,  but  by  the  disastrous  consequences 
entailed  forever  on  the  country.  Folded  undei 
the  dark  wing  of  the  Inquisition,  Spain  was  shut 
out  from  the  light  which  in  the  sixteenth  century 
broke  over  the  rest  of  Europe,  stimulating  the 
nations  to  greater  enterprise  in  every  department 
of  knowledge.  The  genius  of  the  people  was 
rebuked,  and  their  spirit  quenched,  under  the 
malignant  influence  of  an  eye  that  never  slum- 
bered, of  an  unseen  arm  ever  raised  to  strike. 
How  could  there  be  freedom  of  thought,  where 
there  was  no  freedom  of  utterance?  Or  freedom 
of  utterance,  where  it  was  as  dangerous  to  say 
too  little  as  too  much?  Freedom  cannot  go 
along  with  fear.  Every  way  the  mind  of  the 
Spaniard  was  in  fetters. 

His  moral  sense  was  miserably  perverted.  Men 
were  judged,  not  by  their  practice,  but  by  their  pro- 
fessions. Creed  became  a  substitute  for  conduct. 
Difference  of  faith  made  a  wider  gulf  of  separation 
than  difference  of  race,  language,  or  even  interest. 
Spain  no  longer  formed  one  of  the  great  brother* 


Ch.  III.]  FANATICISM  OF  THE  SPANIARDS. 


447 


hood  of  Christian  nations.  An  immeasurable  bar- 
rier was  raised  between  that  kingdom  and  the  Prot- 
estant states  of  Europe.  The  early  condition  of 
perpetual  warfare  with  the  Arabs  who  overran  the 
country  had  led  the  Spaniards  to  mingle  religion 
strangely  with  their  politics.  The  effect  continued 
when  the  cause  had  ceased.  Their  wars  with  the 
European  nations  became  religious  wars.  In  fight- 
ing England  or  the  Netherlands,  they  were  fightmg 
the  enemies  of  God.  It  was  the  same  everywhere. 
In  their  contest  with  the  unoffending  natives  of 
the  New  World,  they  were  still  battling  with  the 
enemies  of  God.  Their  wars  took  the  character 
of  a  perpetual  crusade,  and  were  conducted  with 
all  the  ferocity  which  fanaticism  could  inspire. 

The  same  dark  spirit  of  fanaticism  seems  to 
brood  over  the  national  literature;  even  that 
lighter  literature  which  in  other  nations  is  made 
up  of  the  festive  sallies  of  wit,  or  tlio  tender 
expression  of  sentiment.  The  greatest  geniuses  of 
the  nation,  the  masters  of  the  drama  and  of  the 
ode,  while  they  astonish  us  by  their  miracles  of 
invention,  show  that  they  have  too  often  kindled 
their  inspiration  at  the  altars  of  the  Inquisition. 

Debarred  as  he  was  from  freedom  of  speculation, 
the  domain  of  science  was  closed  against  the  Span- 
iard. Science  looks  to  perpetual  change.  It  turns 
to  the  past  to  gather  warning,  as  well  as  instruc- 
tion, for  the  future.  Its  province  is  to  remove 
old  abuses,  to  explode  old  errors,  to  unfold  new 
truths.     Its  condition,  in   short,  is  that  of  prog- 


448 


PROTESTANTISM  IN  SPAIN. 


[Book  II 


ress.  But  in  Spain,  everything  not  only  looked 
to  the  past,  but  rested  on  the  past.  Old  abuses 
gathered  respect  from  their  antiquity.  Eeform 
was  innovation,  and  innovation  was  a  crime.  Fai* 
from  progress,  all  was  stationary.  The  hand  of 
the  Inquisition  drew  the  line  which  said,  "No 
further !  "  This  was  the  limit  of  human  intelli- 
gence in  Spain. 

The  effect  was  visible  in  every  department  of 
science,  —  not  in  the  speculative  alone,  but  in  the 
physical  and  the  practical;  in  the  declamatory 
rant  of  its  theology  and  ethics,  in  the  childish 
and  chimerical  schemes  of  its  political  economists. 
In  every  walk  were  to  be  seen  the  symptoms 
of  premature  decrepitude,  as  the  nation  clung  to 
the  antiquated  systems  which  the  march  of  civil- 
ization in  other  countries  had  long  since  effaced. 
Hence  those  frantic  experiments,  so  often  repeated, 
in  the  financial  administration  of  the  kingdom, 
which  made  Spain  the  byword  of  the  nations, 
and  which  ended  in  the  ruin  of  trade,  the  pros- 
tration of  credit,  and  finally  the  bankruptcy  of 
the  state.  —  But  we  willingly  turn  from  this  sad 
picture  of  the  destinies  of  the  country  to  a  more 
cheerful  scene  in  the  history  of  Phiiif . 


CHAPTER    IV. 

PHILIP'S   THIRD  MARRIAGE. 

Keceptton  of  Isabella.— Marriage  Festivities Tbe  Queen's  Mode  of 

Life.  —  The  Court  removed  to  Madrid. 

1560. 

So  soon  as  Philip  should  be  settled  in  Spain,  it 
had  been  arranged  that  his  young  bride,  Elizabeth 
of  France,  should  cross  the  Pyrenees.  Early  in 
January,  1560,  Elizabeth,  —  or  Isabella,  to  use  the 
corresponding  name  by  which  she  was  known  to 
the  Spaniards,  —  under  the  protection  of  the  Cardi- 
nal  de  Bourbon  and  some  of  the  French  nobility, 
reached  the  borders  of  Navarre,  where  she  was 
met  by  the  duke  of  Infantado,  who  was  to  take 
charge  of  the  prinpess,  and  escort  her  to  Castile. 

Ifiigo  Lopez  de  Mendoza,  fourth  duke  of  Infan- 
tado, was  the  head  of  the  most  illustrious  house  in 
Castile.  He  was  at  this  time  near  seventy  years 
of  age,  having  passed  most  of  his  life  in  attendance 
at  court,  where  he  had  always  occupied  the  posi- 
tion suited  to  his  high  birth  and  his  extensive 
property,  which,  as  his  title  intimated,  lay  chiefly 
in  the  north.  He  was  a  fine  specimen  of  the  old 
Castilian  hidalgo,  and  displayed  a  magnificence  in 


1  )■ 


VOL.  I. 


57 


450 


PHILIP'S   THIKD  ^lAKl^IAGE. 


[Book  II 


I'l 


his  vtay  of  living  that  became  his  station.  He  was 
well  educated,  for  the  time ;  and  his  fondness  for 
books  did  not  prevent  his  excelling  in  all  knightly 
exercises.  He  was  said  to  have  the  best  library 
and  the  best  stud  of  any  gentleman  in  Castile.* 

He  appeared  on  this  occasion  in  great  state, 
accompanied  by  his  household  and  his  kinsmen, 
the  heads  of  the  noblest  families  in  Spain.  The 
iluke  was  attended  by  some  fifty  pages,  who,  in 
their  rich  dresses  of  satin  and  brocade,  displayed 
the  gay  colors  of  the  house  of  Mendoza.  The 
nobles  in  his  train,  all  suitably  mounted,  were 
followed  by  twenty-five  hundred  gentlemen,  well 
equipped,  like  themselves.  So  lavish  were  the 
Castilians  of  that  day  in  the  caparisons  of  their 
horses,  that  some  of  these  are  estimated,  without 
taking  into  account  the  jewels  with  which  they 
were  garnished,  to  have  cost  no  less  than  two 
thousand  ducats!^  The  same  taste  is  visible  at 
this  day  in  their  descendants,  especially  in  South 
America  and  in  Mexico,  where  the  love  of  barbaric 
ornament  in  the  housings  and  caparisons  of  their 
Bleeds  is  conspicuous  among  all  classes  of  the  people. 

Several  days  were  spent  in  settling  the  etiquette 


J  A  full  account  of  this  diike  of 
Infantado  is  to  be  found  in  the 
extremely  rare  work  of  Nunez  de 
Castro,  Historia  Ecclesiastica  y 
Seglar  de  Guadalajara,  (Madrid, 
1653,)  p.  180  et  seq.  Oviedo,  in 
his  curious  volumes  on  the  Castilian 
aristocracy,  which  he  brings  down 
to  1556,  speaks  of  the  dukes  of 


Infantado  as  having  a  body-guard 
of  two  hundred  men,  and  of  being 
able  to  muster  a  force  of  thirty 
thousand !     Quincuagcnas,  MS. 

*  "  Avia  gualdrapas  de  dos  mil 
ducados  de  costa  sin  conputar  valof 
de  piedras.**  Cabrera,  Filipe  Se- 
gundo,  lib.  V.  cap.  7. 


Jh.  IV.J 


BECEPTION  OF  ISABELLA. 


451 


to  be  observed  before  the  presentation  of  the  duke 
and  his  followers  to  the  princess,  —  a  peiilous 
matter  with  the  Spanish  hidalgo.  When  at  length 
the  interview  took  place,  the  cardinal  of  Burgos, 
the  duke's  brother,  opened  it  by  a  formal  and 
rather  long  address  to  Isabella,  who  replied  in  a 
tone  of  easy  gayety,  which,  though  not  undignified, 
savored  much  more  of  the  manners  of  her  own 
country  than  of  those  of  Spain.*  The  place  of 
meeting  was  at  Roncesvalles,  —  a  name  which  to 
the  reader  of  romance  may  call  up  scenes  very 
different  from  those  presented  by  the  two  nations 
now  met  together  in  kindly  courtesy.* 

From  Roncesvalles  the  princess  proceeded,  under 
the  strong  escort  of  the  duke,  to  his  town  of 
Guadalajara  in  New  Castile,  where  her  marriage 
with  King  Philip  was  to  be  solemnized.  Great 
preparations  were  made  by  the  loyal  citizens  for 
celebrating  the  event  in  a  manner  honorable  to 
their  own  master  and  their  future  queen.  A  huge 
mound,  or  what  might  be  called  a  hill,  was  raised 
at  the  entrance  of  the  town,  where  a  grove  of 
natural  oaks  had  been  transplanted,  amongst 
which  was  to  be  seen  abundance  of  game.     Isa- 


3  "  Elle  r^pondit  d'un  air  riant, 
et  avec  des  termes  pleins  tout  en- 
semble de  douceur  et  de  majesty." 
De  Tliou,  torn.  III.  p.  426. 

*  W^e  have  a  minute  account  of 
this  interview  from  the  pens  of 
two  of  Isabella's  train,  who  accom- 
panied her  to  Castile,  and  whose 
letters  to  the  cardinal  of  Lorraine 


are  to  be  found  in  the  valuable 
collection  of  historical  documents, 
the  publication  of  which  was  be- 
gun under  the  auspices  of  Louis 
Philippe.  Documents  Inedits  sur 
I'Histoire  de  France,  Ndgociations, 
etc.  relatives  au  Rfegne  de  Fran- 
cois n.,  p.  171  et  seq. 


452 


PHILIPS  THIRD  MARRIAGE. 


[Book  D 


Ch.  IV.] 


MARRIAGE  FESTIVITIES. 


453 


bella  was    received    by   the    magistrates    of   the 
place,  and  escorted  through  the  principal  streets 
by  a  brilliant   cavalcade,  composed  of  the  great 
nobility  of  the  court.     She  was  dressed  in  eimine, 
and  rode  a  milk-white  palfrey,  which  she  managed 
with  an  easy  grace  that  delighted  the  multitude. 
On  one  side  of  her  rode  the  duke  of  Infantado, 
and  on  the  other  the  cardinal  of  Burgos.     After 
performing   her   devotions  at   the  church,  where 
Te  Deum  was  chanted,  she  proceeded  to  the  ducal 
palace,  in  which  the  marriage  ceremony  was  to  be 
performed.     On  her  entering  the  court,  the  Prin- 
cess Joanna  came  down  to  receive  her  sister-in- 
law,  and,  after  an  affectionate  salutation,  conducted 
her  to  the  saloon,  where  Philip,  attended  by  his 
son,  was  awaiting  his  bride.*^ 

It  was  the  first  time  that  Isabella  had  seen  her 
destined  lord.  She  now  gazed  on  him  so  intently, 
that  he  good-humoredly  asked  her  "if  she  were 
looking  to  see  if  he  had  any  gray  hairs  in  his 
head."  The  bluntness  of  the  question  somewhat 
disconcerted  her.«    Philip's  age  was  not  much  less 


*  Lucio  Marineo,  in  his  curious 
farrago  of  notable  matters,  speaks 
of  the  sumptuous  residence  of  the 
dukes  of  Infantado  in  Guadalajara. 
*'  Los  muy  magnificos  y  sumptico- 
gos  palacios  que  alii  estan  de  los 
muy  illustres  duques  de  la  casa 
muy  antigua  de  los  Mcndo^as." 
Cosas  Memorables,  fol.  13. 

6  "  J'ay  ouy  conter  k  une  de  ses 
lames  que  la  premiere  fois  qu*elle 


vist  son  mary,  elle  se  mit  k  le  con- 
templer  si  fixement,  que  le  Roy, 
ne  le  trouvant  pas  bon,  luy  de- 
manda:  Que  mirais^  si  tengo  cartas  t 
c*est-k-dire,  *  Que  regardez-vous, 
si  j'ai  les  cheveux  blancs  ?  *  Ces 
mots  luy  toucherent  si  fort  au  cceur 
que  depuis  on  augura  mal  poui 
elle."  Brantome,  CEuvres,  trm.  V 
p.  131. 


than  that  at  which  the  first  gray  hairs  made  their 
appearance  on  his  father's  temples.  Yet  the  dis- 
crepancy between  the  ages  of  the  parties  in  the 
present  instance  was  not  greater  than  often  hap- 
pens in  a  royal  union.  Isabella  was  in  her  fif- 
teenth year,^  and  Philip  in  his  thirty-fourth. 

From  all  accounts,  the  lady's  youth  was  her 
least  recommendation.  "Elizabeth  de  Valois," 
says  Brantome,  who  knew  her  well,  "  was  a  true 
daughter  of  Fmnce,  —  discreet,  witty,  beautiful, 
and  good,  if  ever  woman  was  so."^  She  was  well 
made,  and  tall  of  stature,  and  on  this  account  the 
more  admired  in  Spain,  where  the  women  are  rare- 
ly above  the  middle  height.  Her  eyes  were  dark, 
and  her  luxuriant  tresses,  of  the  same  dark  color, 
shaded  features  that  were  delicately  fair.^  There 
was  sweetness  mingled  with  dignity  in  her  deport- 
ment, in  which  Castilian  stateliness  seemed  to  be 
happily  tempered  by  the  vivacity  of  her  own  na- 
tion.    "  So  attractive  was  she,"  continues  the  gal- 


7  In  this  statement  I  conform  to 
Sismondi's  account.  In  the  pres- 
ent instance,  however,  there  is  even 
more  uncertainty  than  is  usual  in  re- 
ganl  to  a  lady's  age.  According  to 
Cabrera,  Isabella  was  eighteen  at 
the  time  of  her  marriage;  while  De 
Thou  makes  her  only  eleven  when 
the  terms  of  the  alliance  were  ar- 
ranged by  the  commissioners  at 
Cateau-Cambresis.  These  are  the 
extremes,  but  within  them  there  is 
no  agreement  amongst  the  author- 
ities I  have  consulted. 


8  "  Elizabeth  de  France,  et 
vraye  fille  de  France,  en  tout  belle, 
sage,  vertueuse,spirituelle  et  bonne, 
s'il  en  fust  oncques.**  Brantdme, 
(Euvres,  torn.  V.  p.  126. 

9  "  Son  visage  estoit  beau,  et 
ses  cheveux   et  yeux   noirs,    qui 

adombroient    son    teint Sa 

taille  estoit  tres  belle,  et  plus  grande 
que  toutes  ses  soeurs,  qui  la  rendoit 
fort  admirable  en  Esi)agne,  d'au- 
tant  que  les  tailles  hautcs  y  sont 
rares,  et  pour  ce  fort  estimables." 
Ibid.,  p.  128. 


451 


PHILIP'S  THIRD  J^IARRIAGB. 


[Book  H 


Ch  IV.] 


MARRIAGE  FESTIVITIES. 


455 


lant  old  courtier,  "  that  no  cavalier  durst  look  on 
her  long,  for  fear  of  losmg  his  heart,  which  in  that 
jealous  court  might  have  proved  the  loss  of  his 

life."i<» 

Some  of  the  chroniclers  notice  a  shade  of  melan- 
choly as  visible  on  Isabella's  features,  which  they 
refer  to  the  comparison  the  young  bride  was  natu- 
rally led  to  make  between  her  own  lord  and  his 
son,  the  prince  of  Asturias,  for  whom  her  hand 
had  been  origmally  intended."  But  the  daughter 
of  Catherine  de  Medicis,  they  are  careful  to  add, 
had  been  too  well  trained,  from  her  cradle,  not  to 
know  how  to  disguise  her  feelings.  Don  Carlos 
had  one  advantage  over  his  father,  in  his  youth ; 
though  in  this  respect,  since  he  was  but  a  boy 
of  fourteen,  he  might  be  thought  to  fall  as 
much  too  short  of  the  suitable  age  as  the  king 
exceeded  it.  It  is  also  intimated  by  the  same 
gossiping  writers,  that  from  this  hour  of  their 
meeting,  touched  by  the  chaims  of  his  step-mother, 
the  prince  nourished  a  secret  feeling  of  resentment 
against  his  father,  who  had  thus  come  between 
him  and  his  beautiful  betrothed."     It  is  this  light 


1®  "  Les  seigneurs  ne  Tosoient 
regarder  de  peur  d'en  estre  espris, 
et  en  causer  jalousie  au  roy  son 
mar)',  et  par  consequent  eux  courir 
fortune  de  la  vie.**    Ibid.,  p.  128. 

1^  "  La  regina  istessa  parue  non 
80  come  sorpressa  da  vn  sentimento 
di  malinconica  passione,  nel  vedersi 
abbracciare  da  vn  re  di  33  anni, 
di  garbo  ordinario  alia  presenza 


d*vn  giouine  prencipe  molto  ben 
fatto,  e  che  prima  dell'  altro  V  era 
stato  promesso  in  sposo.'*  Leti, 
Vita  di  Filippo  II.,  torn.  I.  p.  345. 
12  Brantdme,  who  was  certainly 
one  of  those  who  believed  in  the 
jealousy  of  Philip,  if  not  in  the 
passion  of  Isabella,  states  the  cir- 
cumstance of  the  king's  supplant- 
ing his  son  in  a  manner  suffici<«utly 


gossip  of  the  chroniclers  that  has   furnished  the 
romancers  of  later  ages  with  the  flimsy  materials 
for  that  web  of  fiction,  which   displays  in   such 
glowing  colors  the  loves  of  Carlos   and   Isabella. 
I  shall   have   occasion  to   return  to  this   subject 
when  treating  of  the  fate  of  this  unhappy  prince. 
When  the  nuptials  were   concluded,  the   good 
people  of  Guadalajara  testified  their  loyalty  by  all 
kinds  of  festivities  in  honor  of  the  event,  —  by 
fireworks,   music,   and    dancing.      The    fountains 
flowed  with  generous  liquor.     Tables  were  spread 
in  the  public  squares,  laden  with  good  cheer,  and 
freely  open  to  all.     In  the  evening,  the  regidores 
of  the  town,  to  the  number  of  fifty  or  more,  pre- 
sented   themselves    before   the    king   and   queen. 
They   were    dressed   in   their    gaudy   liveries    of 
crimson  and  yellow  velvet,  and  each  one  of  these 
functionaries  bore  a  napkin  on  his  arm,  while  he 
carried  a  plate  of  sweetmeats,  which  he  presented 
to  the  royal  pair  and  the  ladies  of  the  court.     The 
following  morning  Philip  and  his  consort  left  the 
hospitable  walls  of  Guadalajara,  and  set  out  with 
their  whole   suite  for   Toledo.      At  parting,  the 
duke  of  Infantado  made  the  queen  and  her  ladies 
presents  of  jewels,  lace,  and  other  rich  articles  of 
dress ;  and  the  sovereigns  took  leave  of  their  noble 

na»i;€.     "  Mais  le  roy  d'Espagne  et  fort  k  son  gre,  en  coupa  I'herbe 

son  pere,  venant  ^  estre  veuf  par  soubs  le  pied  k  son  fils,  et  la  prit 

ij  trespas  de  la  reyne  d'Angleterre  pour  luy,  commen9ant  cette  charity 

sa  femme  et  sa  cousine  germaine,  k  soy  mesme.*'     (Euvres,  torn.  V. 

ayant  veu  le  pourtraict  de  madame  p.  127. 
Elizabeth,  et  la  trouvant  fort  belle 


156 


PHILIP'S  THIRD  MARRUGl. 


[Book  II. 


host,  well  pleased  with  tlie  princely  entertainment 
he  had  given  them.^ 

At  Toledo  preparations  were  made  for  the  re- 
ception of  Philip  and  Isabella  in  a  style  worthy 
of  the  renown  of  that  ancient  capital  of  the  Visi- 
goths. In  the  broad  vega  before  the  city,  three 
thousand  of  the  old  Spanish  infantry  engaged  in 
a  mock  encounter  with  a  body  of  Moorish  cavalry, 
having  their  uniforms  and  caparisons  fancifully 
trimmed  and  ornamented  in  the  Arabesque  fashion. 
Then  followed  various  national  dances  by  beautiful 
maidens  of  Toledo,  dances  of  the  Gypsies,  and  the 
old  Spanish  "war-dance  of  the  swords."^* 

On  entering  the  gates,  the  royal  pair  were  wel- 
comed by  the  municipality  of  the  city,  who  sup- 
ported a  canopy  of  cloth  of  gold  over  the  heads 
of  the  king  and  queen,  emblazoned  with  their 
ciphers.  A  procession  was  formed,  consisting  of 
the  principal  magistrates,  the  members  of  the 
military  orders,  the  officers  of  the  Inquisition,  — 
for  Toledo  was  one  of  the  principal  stations  of 
the  secret  tribunal,  —  and,  lastly,  the  chief  nobles 
of  the  court.  In  the  cavalcade  might  be  dis- 
cerned the  iron  form  of  the  duke  of  Alva,  and  his 


W  Cabrera,  FUipe  Segundo,  lib. 
V.  cap  6.  —  Florez,  Reynas  Cato- 
licas,  p.  897. 

*'  A  la  (lespedida  presentd  el 
Duque  del  Ynfantado  al  Rey,  Rey- 
na,  Damas,  Buenas  de  honor,  y  i. 
las  de  la  Camara  ricas  joyas  de 
ore  y-  plata,  telas,  guantes,  y  otras 
^rcseas  tan  rica^,  por  la  prolixidad 


del  arte,  como  por  lo  precioso  de 
la  materia."  De  Castro,  Hist  de 
Guadalajara,  p.  116. 

^'*  "  Dan^as  de  hermosisimas  don- 
zellas  de  la  Sagra,  i  las  de  espadaa 
antigua  invencion  do  Espanoles." 
Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  V 
cap.  6. 


Ch.  IV.] 


MARRIAGE  FESTIVITIES. 


457 


more  courtly  rival,  E,uy  Gomez  de  Silva,  count  of 
Melito,  —  the  two  nobles  highest  in  the  royal 
confidence.  Triumphal  arches,  ornamented  with 
quaint  devices  and  emblematical  figures  from  an- 
cient mythology,  were  thrown  across  the  streets, 
which  were  filled  with  shouting  multitudes.  Gay 
wreaths  of  flowers  and  flaunting  streamers  adorned 
the  verandas  and  balconies,  which  were  crowded 
with  spectators  of  both  sexes  in  their  holiday  at- 
tire, making  a  show  of  gaudy  colors  that  reminds 
an  old  chronicler  of  the  richly  tinted  tapestries 
and  carpetings  of  Flanders.^  In  this  royal  state, 
the  new-married  pair  moved  along  the  streets 
towards  the  great  cathedral ;  and  after*  paying 
their  devotions  at  its  venerable  shrine,  they  re- 
paired to  the  alcazar^  —  the  palace-fortress  of 
Toledo. 

For  some  weeks,  during  which  the  sovereigns 
remained  in  the  capital,  there  was  q,  general 
jubilee.^^     All  the  national  games  of  Spain  w^re 


15  ti  Por  la  mucha  hermosura  que 
avia  en  las  damas  de  la  ciudad  i 
Corte,  el  adorno  de  los  miradores 
i  calles,  las  libreas  costosas  i  varias 
i  muchas,  que  todo  hazia  un  florido 
campo  o  lien90  de  Flandres."  Ibid., 
ubi  supra. 

16  The  royal  nuptials  were  com- 
memorated in  a  Latin  poem,  in 
two  books,  "  De  Pace  et  Nuptiis 
Phiiip|)i  ct  Isabellae.**  It  was  the 
work  of  Fernando  Ruiz  de  Ville- 
jjds,  an  eminent  scholar  of  that  day, 
whose  writings  did  not  make  their 


appearance  in  print  till  nearly  two 
centuries  later,  —  and  then  not  in 
his  own  land,  but  in  Italy.  In  this 
epithalamium,  if  it  may  be  so  called, 
the  poet  represents  Juno  as  invok- 
ing Jupiter  to  interfere  in  behalf 
of  the  French  monarchy,  that  it 
may  not  be  crushed  by  the  arms 
of  Spain.  Venus,  under  the  form 
of  the  duke  of  Alva,  —  as  effectual 
a  disguise  as  could  be  imagined.  — 
takes  her  seat  in  the  royal  coun- 
cil, and  implores  Philip  to  admit 
France  to  terms,  and  to  accept  the 


VOL.   I. 


5S 


458 


PHILIP'S  THIRD  MARRIAGE. 


[Book  IL 


Oh.  IV.] 


MARRIAGE  FESTIVITIES. 


459 


'I 

!    I 


exhibited  to  the  young  queen ;  the  bull-fight,  the 
Moorish  sport  of  the  caiias,  or  tilt  of  reeds,  and 
tournaments  on  horseback  and  on  foot,  in  both  of 
which  Philip  often  showed  himself  armed  cajh 
a-pie  in  the  lists,  and  did  his  devoir  in  the  pres- 
ence of  his  fair  bride,  as  became  a  loyal  knight 
Another  show,  which  might  have  been  better 
reserved  for  a  less  joyous  occasion,  was  exhibited 
to  Isabella.  As  the  court  and  the  cortes  were 
drawn  together  in  Toledo,  the  Holy  Office  took 
the  occasion  to  celebrate  an  auto  de  /d,  which, 
from  the  number  of  the  victims  and  quality  of 
the  spectators,  was  the  most  imposing  spectacle 
of  the  kind  ever  witnessed  in  that  capital. 

No  country  in  Europe  has  so  distinct  an  in- 
dividuality as  Spain;  shown  not  merely  in  the 
character  of  the  inhabitants,  but  in  the  smallest 
details  of  life,  —  in  their  national  games,  their 
dress,  tb^ir  social  usages.  The  tenacity  with 
which  the  people  have  clung  to  these  amidst  all 
the  changes  of  dynasties  and  laws  is  truly  admi- 
rable. Separated  by  their  mountain  barrier  from 
the  central  and  eastern  parts  of  Emope,  and  dur- 


hand  of  Isabella  as  the  pledge  of 
peace  between  the  nations.  Philip 
graciously  relents ;  peace  is  pro- 
claimed ;  the  marriage  between  the 
parties  is  solemnized,  with  the 
proper  Christian  rites ;  and  Venus 
appears,  in  her  own  proper  shape, 
to  bless  the  nuptials  !  One  might 
have  feared  tliat  this  jumble  of 
Christian  rites  and  heathen  my- 


thology would  have  scandalized  the 
Holy  Office,  and  exposed  its  in- 
genious author  to  the  honors  of  a 
san  benito.  But  the  poet  wore  his 
laurels  unscathed,  and,  for  aught  I 
know  to  the  contrary,  died  quietly 
in  his  bed.  See  Opera  Ferdinandi 
Ruizii  Villegatis,  (Venetiis,  1736,) 
pp.  30  -  70. 


mg  the  greater  part  of  their  existence  brought 
into  contact  with  Oriental  forms  of  civilization, 
the  Spaniards  have  been  but  little  exposed  to  those 
influences  which  have  given  a  homogeneous  com- 
plexion to  the  other  nations  of  Christendom. 
The  system  imder  which  they  have  been  trained 
is  too  peculiar  to  be  much  affected  by  these 
influences,  and  the  ideas  transmitted  from  then- 
ancestors  are  too  deeply  settled  in  their  minds  to 
be  easily  disturbed.  The  present  in  Spain  is  but 
the  mirror  of  the  past.  In  other  countries  fash- 
ions become  antiquated,  old  errors  exploded,  early 
tastes  reformed.  Not  so  in  the  Peninsula.  The 
traveller  has  only  to  cross  the  Pyrenees  to  find 
himself  a  contemporary  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
The  festivities  of  the  court  were  suddenly 
terminated  by  the  illness  of  Isabella,  who  was 
attacked  by  the  small-pox.  Her  life  was  in 
no  danger;  but  great  fears  were  entertained  lest 
the  envious  disease  should  prove  fatal  to  her 
beauty.  Her  mother,  Catherine  de  Medicis,  had 
great  apprehensions  on  this  point;  and  couriers 
crossed  the  Pyrenees  frequently,  during  the 
queen's  illness,  bringing  prescriptions  —  some  of 
them  rather  extraordinary  —  from  the  French 
doctors  for  preventing  the  ravages  of  the  dis- 
order."   Whether  it  was  by  reason  of  these  nos- 

17  The  sovereign  remedy,   ac-  luy  secourust  son  visage  si  bion 

f?ording  to  the  curious  Brantome,  par  des  sueurs  d'oeufs  frais,  chose 

was  new-laid  eggs.    It  is  a  pity  the  fort  propre  pour  cela,   gull  n'y 

prescription  should  be  lost.    "  On  parut  rien ;  dont  j'en  vis  la  Reyne 


460 


PHILIP'S  THIRD  MARRIAGE. 


[Book  II 


Ch.  IV.] 


THE  QTJEEN»S  MODE  OF  LIFE. 


461 


tnims,  or  her  own  excellent  constitution,  the 
queen  was  fortunate  enough  to  escape  from  the 
sick-room  without  a   scar. 

Philip  seems  to  have  had  much  reason  to  be 
contented  not  only  with  the  person,  but  the  dis- 
position, of  his  wife.  As  her  marriage  had  formed 
one  of  the  articles  in  the  treaty  with  France,  she 
was  called  by  the  Spaniards  Isabel  de  la  Paz^  — 
"Isabella  of  the  Peace."  Her  own  countrymen 
no  less  fondly  styled  her  "  the  Olive-Branch  of 
Peace,"  —  intimating  the  sweetness  of  her  dispo- 
sition.^ In  this  respect,  she  may  be  thought  to 
have  formed  a  contrast  to  Philip's  former  wife, 
Mary  of  England ;  at  least  after  sickness  and  mis- 
fortime  had  done  their  work  upon  that  queen's 
temper,  in  the  latter  part  of  her  life. 

If  Isabella  was  not  a  scholar,  like  Mary,  she 
at  least  was  well  instructed  for  the  time,  and  was 
fond  of  reading,  especially  poetr)%  She  had  a 
ready  apprehension,  and  learned  in  a  short  time 
to  speak  the  Castilian  with  tolerable  fluency, 
while  there  was  something  pleasing  in  her  foreign 
accent,  that  made  her  pronunciation  the  more 
interesting.  She  accommodated  herself  so  well  to 
the  usages  of  her  adopted  nation,  that  she  soon 
won  the  hearts  of  the  Spaniards.     "  No  queen  of 

la  mere  fort  curieuse  k  luy  envoyer  de  la  paz  y  de  la  hondad,  c*est-a- 

par  force  couriers  beaucoup  de  re-  dire  la  Reyne  de  la  paix  et  de  la 

aiedes,  mais  celui  de  la  sucur  d'oeuf  bont^ ;  et  nos  Fran9ois  Tappella- 

en  estoit  le  souveram."    (Euvres,  rent  Tolive  de  paix.**    Ibid.,  ubi 

toiii.  V.  p.  129.  supra. 
W  **  Aussi  Tappelloit-ou  la  Reyna 


Castile,"  says  the  loyal  Brantome,  "with  due 
deference  to  Isabella  the  Catholic,  was  ever 
so  popular  in  the  coimtry."  When  she  went 
abroad,  it  was  usually  with  her  face  uncovered, 
after  the  manner  of  her  countrywomen.  The 
press  was  always  great  around  her  whenever 
she  appeared  in  public,  and  happy  was  the  man 
who  could  approach  so  near  as  to  get  a  glimpse 
of  her  beautiful  countenance.^^ 

Yet  Isabella  never  forgot  the  land  of  her  birth ; 
and  such  of  her  countrymen  as  visited  the  Castilian 
court  were  received  by  her  with  distinguished 
courtesy.  She  brought  along  with  her  in  her 
train  to  Castile  several  French  ladies  of  rank, 
as  her  maids  of  honor.  But  a  rivalry  soon  grew 
up  between  them  and  the  Spanish  ladies  in  the 
palace,  which  compelled  the  queen,  after  she  had 
in  vain  attempted  to  reconcile  the  parties,  to  send 
back  most  of  her  own  countrywomen.  In  doing 
so,  she  was  careful  to  provide  them  with  gener- 
ous marriage  portions.^ 


w  "  Et  bien  heureux  et  heureuse 
estoit  celuy  ou  celle  qui  pouvoit  le 
»oir  dire  'J'ay  veu  la  Reyne.*** 
Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 

^  The  difficulty  began  so  soon 
as  Isabella  had  crossed  the  borders. 
The  countess  of  Urena,  sister  of 
the  duke  of  Albuquerque,  one  of 
the  train  of  the  duke  of  Infantado, 
claimed  precedence  of  the  count- 
ess of  Rieux  and  Mademoiselle 
de  Montpensier,  kinswomen  of  the 
queen.      ITie  latter  would   have 


averted  the  discussion  by  giving 
the  Castilian  dame  a  seat  in  her 
carriage ;  but  the  haughty  countess 
chose  to  take  the  affair  into  her 
own  hands ;  and  her  servants  came 
into  collision  with  those  of  the 
French  ladies,  as  they  endeavored 
to  secure  a  place  for  their  mis- 
tress's litter  near  the  queen.  Is- 
abella, with  all  her  desire  to  ac- 
commodate matters,  had  the  spirit 
to  decide  in  favor  of  her  own  fol- 
lowers, and  the  aspiring  lady  waa 


462 


PHILIP'S  THIRD  ^lAKRIAGE. 


TBooK  n 


Ch.  IV.J 


THE  QUEEN'S  MODE  OF  LIFE. 


463 


The  queen  maintained  great  state  in  her  house- 
hold, as  was  Philip's  wish,  who  seems  to  have 
lavished  on  his  lovely  consort  those  attentions  for 
which  the  unfortunate  Mary  Tudor  had  pined  in 
vain.  Besides  a  rare  display  of  jewels,  Isabella's 
wardrobe  was  exceedingly  rich.  Few  of  her  robes 
cost  less  than  three  or  four  hundred  crowns  each, — 
a  great  sum  for  the  time.  Like  her  namesake  and 
contemporary,  Elizabeth  of  England,  she  rarely 
wore  the  same  dress  twice.  But  she  gave  away  the 
discarded  suit  to  her  attendants,^^  unlike  in  this 
to  the  English  queen,  who  hoarded  up  her  ward- 
robe so  carefully,  that  at  her  death  it  must  have 
displayed  every  fashion  of  her  reign.  Brantome, 
who,  both  as  a  Frenchman  and  as  one  who  had 
seen  the  queen  often  in  the  court  of  Castile,  may 
be  considered  a  judge  in  the  matter,  dwells  with 
rapture  on  the  elegance  of  her  costume,  the  match- 
less taste  in  its  arrangement,  and  the  perfection  of 
her  coiffure. 

A  manuscript  of  the  time,  by  an  eyewitness, 
gives  a  few  particulars  respecting  her  manner 
of  living,   in  which   some   readers   may  take   an 


\% 


compelled  —  with  an  ill  grace  — 
to  give  way  to  the  blood  royal  of 
France.  It  was  easier,  as  Isabella, 
or  rather  as  her  husband,  after- 
wards found,  to  settle  disputes  be- 
tween rival  states  than  between 
the  rival  beauties  of  a  court.  The 
affair  is  told  by  Lansac,  Ndgocia- 
tions  relatives  au  R^gne  de  Fran- 
cois II.,  p.  17L 


21  "  EUe  ne  porta  jamais  niie 
robe  deux  fois,  et  puis  la  donnoit 
k  ses  femmes  et  ses  filles  :  et  Dieu 
s^ait  quelles  robbes,  si  riches  et  si 
superbes,  que  la  moindre  estoit  de 
trois  ou  quatre  cens  escus  ;  car  le 
Roy  son  mary  Tentretenoit  fort 
superbement  de  ces  choses  Ik.* 
Brantdme,  (Euvres,  tom.  V.  p 
140. 


interest.  Among  the  persons  connected  with  the 
queen's  establishment,  the  writer  mentions  her 
confessor,  her  almoner,  and  four  physicians.  The 
medical  art  seems  to  have  been  always  held  in 
high  repute  in  Spain,  though  in  no  country,  con 
sidering  the  empirical  character  of  its  professors, 
with  so  little  reason.  At  dinner  the  queen  was 
usually  attended  by  some  thirty  of  her  ladies. 
Two  of  them,  singularly  enough  as  it  may  seem 
to  us,  performed  the  office  of  carvers.  Another 
served  as  cupbearer,  and  stood  by  her  majesty's 
chair.  The  rest  of  her  attendants  stood  round 
the  apartment,  conversing  with  their  gallants, 
who,  in  a  style  to  which  she  had  not  been  used 
in  the  French  court,  kept  their  heads  covered 
during  the  repast.  "  They  were  there,"  they  said, 
"  not  to  wait  on  the  queen,  but  her  ladies." 
After  her  solitary  meal  was  over,  Isabella  retired 
with  her  attendants  to  her  chamber,  where, 
with  the  aid  of  music,  and  such  mirth  as  the 
buffoons  and  jesters  of  the  palace  could  afford, 
she  made  shift  to  pass  the  evening.^ 

Such  is  the  portrait  which  her  contemporaries 
have  left  us  of  Elizabeth  of  France ;  and  such 
the  accounts  of  her  popularity  with  the  nation, 
and  the  state  maintained  in  her  establishment. 
Well  might  Brantome  sadly  exclaim,  "  Alas ! 
what  did  it  all  avail  1 "     A  few  brief  years  only 

29  The  MS.,  which  is  in  Italian,    mer^s  Sixteenth  and  Seventeentk 
19  in  the  Royal  Library  at  Paris.     Centuries,  vol.  I.  p.  104  et  seq. 
See  the  extracts  from  it  in  Rau- 


r 


464 


PHILIP'S  TfflRD  MARRUGB. 


[Book  II 


were  to  pass  away  before  this  spoiled  child  of 
fortune,  the  delight  of  the  monarch,  the  ornament 
and  pride  of  the  court,  was  to  exchange  the  pomps 
and  glories  of  her  royal  state  for  the  dark  cham- 
bers of  the  Escorial. 

From  Toledo  the  court  proceeded  to  Valladolid, 
long  the  favorite  residence  of  the  Castilian  princes, 
though  not  the  acknowledged  capital  of  the  coun- 
try. Indeed  there  was  no  city,  since  the  time  of 
the  Visigoths,  that  could  positively  claim  that  pre- 
eminence. This  honor  was  reserved  for  Madrid, 
which  became  the  established  residence  of  the 
court  under  Philip,  who  in  this  but  carried  out 
the  ideas  of  his  father,  Charles  the  Fifth. 

The  emperor  had  passed  much  time  in  this 
place,  where,  stmnge  to  say,  the  chief  recom- 
mendation to  him  seems  to  have  been  the  cli- 
mate. Situated  on  a  broad  expanse  of  table- 
land, at  an  elevation  of  twenty-four  hundred 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  the  brisk  and 
rarefied  atmosphere  of  Madrid  proved  favorable 
to  Charles's  health.  It  preserved  him,  in  particu- 
lar, from  attacks  of  the  fever  and  ague,  which 
racked  his  constitution  almost  as  much  as  the 
gout.  In  the  ancient  alcazar  of  the  Moors  he 
found  a  stately  residence,  which  he  made  com- 
modious by  various  alterations.  Philip  extended 
these  improvements.  He  added  new  apartments, 
and  spent  much  money  in  enlarging  and  embellish- 
ing the  old  ones.  The  ceilings  were  gilded  and 
richly  carved.     The  walls  were  hung  with  tapes- 


. 


\t 


Ch.  IV.]   THE  COURT  REMOVED  TO  MADRID. 


4(55 


tries,  and  the  saloons  and  galleries  decorated  with 
sculpture  and  with  paintings,  —  many  of  them  the 
productions  of  native  artists,  the  first  disciples  of 
a  school  which  was  one  day  to  rival  the  great  mas- 
ters of  Italy.  Extensive  grounds  were  also  laid 
out  around  the  palace,  and  a  park  was  formed, 
which  in  time  came  to  be  covered  with  a  growth 
of  noble  trees,  and  well  stocked  with  game.  The 
alcazar,  thus  improved,  became  a  fitting  residence 
for  the  sovereign  of  Spain.  Indeed,  if  we  may 
trust  the  magnificent  vaunt  of  a  contemporary, 
it  was  "allowed  by  foreigners  to  be  the  rarest 
thing  of  the  kind  possessed  by  any  monarch  in 
Christendom."  23  it  continued  to  be  the  abode  of 
the  Spanish  princes  until,  in  1734,  in  the  reign 
of  Philip  the  Fifth,  the  building  was  destroyed 
by  a  fire,  which  lasted  nearly  a  week.  But  it 
rose  like  a  phoenix  from  its  ashes;  and  a  new 
palace  was  raised  on  the  site  of  the  old  one,  of 
still  larger  dimensions,  presenting  in  the  beauty 
of  its  materials  as  well  as  of  its  execution  one 
of  the  noblest  monuments  of  the  architecture  of 
the  eighteenth  century.^ 

Having  completed  his  arrangements,  Philip  es- 
tablished his  residence  at  Madrid  in  1563.     The 


23  "  Don  Felipe  Segundo  nuestro 
senor,  el  cual  con  muy  suntuosas, 
y  exquisitas  fabricas  dignas  de  tan 
grande  Principe,  de  nuevo  le  ilu- 
Btra,  de  manera  que  es,  considera- 
das  todas  sus  calidades,  la  mas  rara 
casa  que  ningun  Principe  tiene  en 
el  mundo,  A  dicho  de  los  estrange- 


pos."  Juan  Lopez,  ap.  Quintana, 
Antiguedad,  Nobleza  y  Grandeza 
de  la  Villa  y  Corte  de  Madrid,  p.  33 1 . 
^  Ibid.,  ubi  supra.  —  Sylva,  Po- 
blacion  de  Espana,  (Madrid,  1675,) 
cap.  4.  —  Estrada,  Poblacion  de 
Espafia,  (Madrid,  1748,)  torn.  I 
p.  123. 


VOL.  I. 


59 


466 


PHILIP'S  THIRD  MARRIAGE. 


[Book  II 


town  then  contained  about  twelve  thousand  in- 
habitants. Under  the  forcing  atmosphere  of  a 
court,  the  population  rose  by  the  end  of  his 
long  reign  to  three  hundred  thousand,^  —  a 
number  which  it  has  probably  not  since  ex- 
ceeded. The  accommodations  in  the  capital  kept 
pace  with  the  increase  of  population.  Every- 
thing was  built  for  duration.  Instead  of  flimsy 
houses  that  might  serve  for  a  temporarj^  residence, 
the  streets  were  lined  with  strong  and  substantial 
edifices.  Under  the  royal  patronage  public  works 
on  a  liberal  scale  were  executed.  Madrid  was 
ornamented  with  bridges,  aqueducts,  hospitals, 
the  Museum,  the  Armory,  —  stately  structures 
which  even  now  chaUenge  our  admiration,  not 
less  by  the  excellence  of  their  designs  than  by 
the  richness  of  their  collections  and  the  enlight- 
ened taste  which  they  infer  at  this  early  period. 
In  the  opinion  of  its  inhabitants,  indeed  we 
may  say  of  the  nation,  Madrid  surpassed,  not 
only  every  other  city  in  the  country,  but  in 
Christendom.  "  There  is  but  one  Madrid,"  says 
the  Spanish  proverb.^  "When  Madrid  is  the 
theme,  the  world  listens  in  silence ! "  ^  In  a 
similar  key,   the   old  Castilian   writers    celebrate 


Ch.  IV.]   '.HE  COURT  REMOVED  TO  MADRID. 


467 


*  I  quote  tbe  words  of  a  work 
BOW  become  very  scarce.  "  De 
dos  mil  y  quinientas  y  veinte  casas 
que  tenia  Madrid  quando  su  Ma- 
gestad  traxo  desde  Toledo  &  ella 
la  Corte,  en  las  quales  quando 
mucho  avria  de  doce  mil  a  catorce 
mil  personas, ....  avia  el  ano  de  mil 


y  quinientos  y  noventa  y  oclio,  re- 
partidas  en  trece  Parroquias  doce 
mil  casas,  y  en  ellas  trescicntas 
mil  personas  y  mas.**  Quintana, 
Antiguedad  dc  Madrid,  p.  331. 
*  "  No  hay  sino  un  Madrid.** 
37  "  Donde  Madrid  esti,  calle  el 
mundo." 


the  glories  of  their  capital,  —  the  nursery  of  wit, 
genius,  and  gallantry,  —  and  expatiate  on  the 
temperature  of  a  climate  propitious  alike  to  the 
beauty   of   the   women   and   the   bravery   of   the 


men. 


28 


Yet,  with  all  this  lofty  panegyric,  the  foreigner 
is  apt  to  see  things  through  a  very  different  me- 
dium from  that  through  which  they  are  seen  by 
the  patriotic  eye  of  the  native.  The  traveller  to 
Madrid  finds  little  to  praise  in  a  situation  where 
the  keen  winds  from  the  mountains  come  laden 
with  disease,  and  where  the  subtle  atmosphere,  to 
use  one  of  the  national  proverbs,  that  can  hardly 
put  out  a  candle,  will  extinguish  the  life  of  a 
man;^  where  the  capital,  insulated  in  the  midst 
of  a  dreary  expanse  of  desert,  seems  to  be  cut  off 
from  sjmpathy,  if  not  from  intercourse,  with  the 
provinces ;  ^  and  where,  instead  of  a  great  river 
that  might  open  to  it  a  commerce  with  distant 
quarters   of  the   globe,  it  is   washed   only  by  a 


28  "  No  se  conoce  cielo  mas  bene- 
volo, mas  apacible  clima,  influxo  mas 
favorable,  con  que  sobresalen  her- 
mosos  rostros,  disposiciones  gallar- 
das,  lucidos  ingenios,  cora^ones 
valientes,  y  gencrosos  animos." 
Sylva,  Poblacion  de  Espana,  cap.  4. 

29  "  El  aire  de  Madrid  es  tan  sotil 

Que  mata  a  an  honibre,  y  no  apaga 
a  an  candil  " 

**  Lucio  Marineo  gives  a  very 
different  view  of  the  environs  of 
Madrid  in  Ferdinand  and  Isabel- 
la's time.      The  picture,  by  the 


hand  of  a  contemporary,  affords 
so  striking  a  contrast  to  the  pres- 
ent time  that  it  is  worth  quoting. 
"  Corren  por  ella  los  ayres  muy 
delgados :  por  los  quales  siepre 
bive  la  gete  muy  sana.  Tiene  mas 
este  lugar  grades  terminos  y  cam- 
pos  muy  fertiles :  los  quales  llami 
lomos  de  Madrid.  Por  que  cojen 
en  ellos  mucho  pan  y  vino,  y  otras 
cosas  necessarias  y  mateniraientos 
muy  sanos.**  Cosas  Memoiablef 
de  Espana,  fol.  13. 


468 


PHILIFS  THIRD  MARRIAGE. 


[Book  n 


stream,  —  "  the  far-famed  Manzanares,"  —  the  bed 
of  which  in  summer  is  a  barren  watercourse.  The 
traveller  may  well  doubt  whether  the  fanciful  ad- 
vantage, so  much  vaunted,  of  being  the  centre  of 
Spain,  is  sufficient  to  compensate  the  manifold 
evils  of  such  a  position,  and  even  whether  those 
are  far  from  truth  who  find  in  this  position  one 
of  the  many  causes  of  the  decline  of  the  national 
prosperity.*^ 

A  full  experience  of  the  inconveniences  of  the 
site  of  the  capital  led  Charles  the  Third  to  con- 
template its  removal  to  Seville.  But  it  was  too 
late.  Madrid  had  been  too  long,  in  the  Castilian 
boast,  "  the  only  court  in  the  world,"  ^ —  the  focus 
to  which  converged  talent,  fashion,  and  wealth 
from  all  quarters  of  the  country.  Too  many 
patriotic  associations  had  gathered  round  it  to 
warrant  its  desertion ;  and,  in  spite  of  its  local 
disadvantages,  the  capital  planted  by  Philip  the 
Second  continued  to  remain,  as  it  will  probably 
ever  remain,  the  capital  of  the  Spanish  monarchy. 


31  Such  at  least  is  Ford's  opin-  W  "  Solo  Madrid  es  corte." 

ion.   (See  the  Handbook  of  Spain,  Ford,  who    has    certainly   not 

p.  720  et  seq.)     His  clever  and  ministered  to  the  vanity  of  the 

caustic  remarks  on  the  climate  of  Madrileno,    has    strung    together 

Madrid  will  disenchant  the  trav-  these  varions  proverbs  with  good 

eller  whose  notions  of  the  capital  effect, 
have  been  derived  only  from  the 
reports  of  the  natives. 


CHAPTER    V. 


DISCONTENT  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS. 


The  Reformation.  —  Its  Progress  in  the  Netherlands. —  Grenera    D» 
content  —  William  of  Orange. 


The  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century  presented 
one  of  those  crises  which  have  occurred  at  long 
intervals  in  the  history  of  Europe,  when  the  course 
of  events  has  had  a  permanent  influence  on  the 
destiny  of  nations.  Scarcely  forty  years  had  elapsed 
since  Luther  had  thro^vn  down  the  gauntlet  to  the 
Vatican,  by  publicly  burning  the  papal  bull  at 
Wittenberg.  Since  that  time,  his  doctrines  had 
been  received  in  Denmark  and  Sweden.  In  Eng- 
land, after  a  state  of  vacillation  for  three  reigns, 
Protestantism,  in  the  peculiar  form  which  it  still 
wears,  was  become  the  established  religion  of  the 
state.  The  fiery  cross  had  gone  round  over  the 
nills  and  valleys  of  Scotland,  and  thousands  and 
tens  of  thousands  had  gathered  to  hear  the  word 
of  life  from  the  lips  of  Knox.  The  doctrines  of 
Luther  were  spread  over  the  northern  parts  of 
Germany,  and  freedom  of  worship  was  finally 
guarantied  there,  by  the  treaty  of  Passau.  The 
Low   Countries   were   the   "debatable    land,"    on 


470 


DISCONTENT  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS.     [Book  H 


which  the  various  sects  of  Keformers,  the  Lu 
theran,  the  Calvinist,  the  English  Protestant,  con 
tended  for  mastery  with  the  established  church 
Calvinism  was  embraced  by  some  of  the  cantons 
of  Switzerland,  and  at  Geneva  its  great  apostle 
had  fixed  his  head-quarters.  His  doctrines  were 
widely  circulated  through  France,  tiU  the  divided 
nation  was  preparing  to  plunge  into  that  worst 
of  all  wars,  in  which  the  hand  of  brother  is 
raised  against  brother.  The  cry  of  reform  had 
even  passed  the  Alps,  and  was  heard  under  the 
walls  of  the  Vatican.  It  had  crossed  the  Pyrenees. 
The  king  of  Navarre  declared  himself  a  Protestant ; 
and  the  spirit  of  the  Reformation  had  secretly  in- 
sinuated itself  into  Spain,  and  taken  hold,  as  we 
have  seen,  of  the  middle  and  southern  provinces 
of  the  kingdom. 

A  contemporary  of  the  period,  who  reflected  on 
the  onward  march  of  the  new  religion  over  every 
obstacle  in  its  path,  who  had  seen  it  gather  imder 
its  banners  states  and  nations  once  the  most  loyal 
and  potent  vassals  of  Rome,  would  have  had  little 
reason  to  doubt  that,  before  the  end  of  the  century, 
the  Reform  would  have  extended  its  sway  over  the 
whole  of  Christendom.  Fortunately  for  Catholi- 
cism, the  most  powerful  empire  in  Europe  was  in 
the  hands  of  a  prince  who  was  devoted  with  his 
whole  soul  to  the  interests  of  the  Church.  Philip 
the  Second  understood  the  importance  of  his  posi- 
tion. His  whole  life  proves  that  he  felt  it  to  be 
his  especial  mission  to  employ  his  great  resources 


Ch.  v.] 


THE  REFORMATION. 


471 


to  restore  the  tottering  fortunes  of  Catholicism,  and 
stay  the  progress  of  the  torrent  which  was  sweep- 
ing away  every  landmark  of  the  primitive  faith. 

We  have  seen  the  manner  in  which  he  crushed 
the  efforts  of  the  Protestants  in  Spain.  This  was 
the  first  severe  blow  struck  at  the  Reformation. 
Its  consequences  cannot  well  be  exaggerated ;  not 
the  immediate  results,  which  would  have  been 
little  without  the  subsequent  reforms  and  increased 
activity  of  the  Church  of  Rome  itself  But  the 
moral  influence  of  such  a  blow,  when  the  minds  of 
men  had  been  depressed  by  a  long  series  of  reverses, 
is  not  to  be  estimated.  In  view  of  this,  one  of  the 
most  eminent  Roman  Catholic  writers  does  not 
hesitate  to  remark,  that  "  the  power  and  abilities  of 
Philip  the  Second  afforded  a  counterpoise  to  the 
Protestant  cause,  which  prevented  it  from  making 
itself  master  of  Europe."  ^  The  blow  was  struck ; 
and  from  this  period  little  beyond  its  present 
conquests  was  to  be  gained  for  the  cause  of  the 
Reformation. 

It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  Philip,  after  hav- 
ing exterminated  heresy  in  one  part  of  his  domin- 
ions, should  tolerate  its  existence  in  any  other ; 
least  of  all,  in  a  country  so  important  as  the  Neth- 
erlands. Yet  a  little  reflection  might  have  satis- 
fied him  that  the  same  system  of  measures  could 
hardly  be  applied  with  a  prospect  of  success  to  two 
countries  so  differently  situated  as  Spain  and  the 


1  Balmes,  Protestantism  and  Catholicity  compared,  p.  215. 


472 


DISCONTENT  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS.  [Book  H 


C«.  v.]   REFORMATION  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS.     473 


a 


Netherlands.  The  Romish  faith  may  be  said  to 
have  entered  into  the  being  of  the  Spaniard.  It  was 
not  merely  cherished  as  a  form  of  religion,  but  as 
a  principle  of  honor.  It  was  part  of  the  national 
history.  For  eight  centuries  the  Spaniard  had 
been  fighting  at  home  the  battles  of  the  Church. 
Nearly  every  inch  of  soil  in  his  own  country  was 
won  by  arms  from  the  infidel.  His  wars,  as  I 
have  more  than  once  had  occasion  to  remark,  were 
all  wars  of  religion.  He  carried  the  same  spirit 
across  the  waters.  There  he  was  still  fighting  the; 
infideL  His  life  was  one  long  crusade.  How 
could  this  champion  of  the  Church  desert  her  in 
her  utmost  need  1 

With  this  predisposition,  it  was  easy  for  Philip 
to  enforce  obedience  in  a  people  naturally  the  most 
loyal  to  their  princes,  to  whom,  moreover,  since 
the  fatal  war  of  the  Comunidades^  they  had  been 
accustomed  to  pay  an  almost  Oriental  submission. 
Intrenched  behind  the  wall  of  the  Pyrenees,  Spain, 
we  must  bear  in  mind,  felt  little  of  the  great  shock 
which  was  convulsing  France  and  the  other  states 
of  Europe ;  and  with  the  aid  of  so  formidable  an 
engine  as  the  Inquisition,  it  was  easy  to  extermi- 
nate, before  they  could  take  root,  such  seeds  of 
heresy  as  had  been  borne  by  the  storm  across  the 
•mountains. 

The  Netherlands,  on  the  other  hand,  lay  like  a 
valley  among  the  hills,  which  drinks  in  all  the 
waters  of  the  surrounding  country.  They  were  a 
common  reservoir  for  the  various  opinions  which 


agitated  the  nations  on  their  borders.  On  the 
south  were  the  Lutherans  of  Germany.  The 
French  Huguenots  pressed  them  on  the  west ; 
and  by  the  ocean  they  held  communication  with 
England  and  the  nations  of  the  Baltic.  The  sol- 
dier  quartered  on  their,  territory,  the  seaman  who 
visited  their  shores,  the  trader  who  trafficked  in 
their  towns,  brought  with  them  different  forms  of 
the  new  religion.  Books  from  France  and  from 
Germany  circulated  widely  among  a  people,  nearly 
all  of  whom,  as  we  have  seen,  were  able  to  read. 

The  new  doctrines  were  discussed  by  men  accus- 
tomed to  think  and  act  for  themselves.  Freedom 
of  speculation  on  religious  topics  soon  extended  to 
political.  It  was  the  natural  tendencv  of  reform. 
The  same  spirit  of  free  inquiry  which  attacked  the 
foundations  of  unity  of  faith,  stood  ready  next  to 
assail  those  of  unity  of  government ;  and  men  be- 
gan boldly  to  criticize  the  rights  of  kings  and  the 
duties  of  subjects. 

The  spuit  of  independence  was  fostered  by  the 
institutions  of  the  country.  The  provinces  of  the 
Netherlands,  if  not  republican  in  fonn,  were  filled 
with  the  spirit  of  republics.  In  many  of  their 
features  they  call  to  mind  the  free  states  of  Italy 
in  the  Middle  Ages.  Under  the  petty  princes  who 
ruled  over  them  in  early  days,  they  had  obtained 
charters,  as  we  have  seen,  which  secured  a  certain 
degree  of  constitutional  freedom.  The  province  of 
Brabant,  above  all,  gloried  in  its  ''Joi/euse  Entree^^* 
which  guarantied   privileges  and  immunities  of  a 


Mi 


:    5,. 

'  Ml 


\ 


I 


VOL.  I. 


60 


474  DISCONTENT  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS.     [Book  n 

more  liberal  character  than  those  possessed  by  the 
other  states  of  the  Netherlands.     When  the  prov- 
inces  passed  at  length  under  the  sceptre  of  a  single 
sovereign,  he  lived  at  a  distance,  and  the  govern- 
ment was   committed   to  a  viceroy.      Since   their 
connection  with  Spain,  the  administration  had  been 
for  the  most  part  in  the  hands  of  a  woman ;  and 
the  delegated  authority  of  a  woman  pressed  but 
lightly  on  the  independent  temper  of  the  Flemings. 
Yet  Charles  the  Fifth,  as  we  have  seen,  partial 
as  he  was  to  his  countrymen  in  the  Netherlands, 
could  ill  brook  their  audacious  spirit,  and  made 
vigorous  efforts  to  repress  it.     But  his  zeal  for  the 
spiritual  welfare  of  his  people  never  led  him  to 
overlook  their  material  interests.     He  had  no  de- 
sign by  his  punishments  to  cripple  their  strength, 
much  less  to  ui'ge  them  to  extremity.     When  the 
regent,  Mary  of  Hungary,  his  sister,  warned  him 
that  his  laws  bore  too  heavily  on  the  people  to 
be  endured,  he  was  careful  to  mitigate  their  sever- 
ity.    His  edicts  in  the  name  of  religion  were,  in- 
deed,  written  in  blood.     But  the  frequency  of  their 
repetition  shows,  as  already  remarked,  the  imper- 
fect manner  in  which  they  were  executed.     This 
was  stUl  further  proved  by  the  prosperous  condi- 
tion  of  the  people,  the  flourishing  aspect  of  the 
various  branches  of  industry,  and  the  great  enter- 
prises to  facilitate  commercial  intercourse  and  fos- 
ter  the  activity  of  the  country.     At  the  close  of 
Charles's   reign,  or  rather  at   the  commencement 
of  his   successor's,   in    1560,   was   completed   the 


Ch.  v.]       REFORMATION  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS.  475 

grand  canal  extending  from  Antwerp  to  Brassele, 
the  construction  of  which  had  consumed  thirty 
years,  and  one  million  eight  hundred  thousand 
florins.^  Such  a  work,  at  such  a  penod,  —  the 
fruit,  not  of  royal  patronage,  but  of  the  public 
spirit  of  the  citizens,  —  is  evidence  both  of  large 
resources  and  of  wisdom  in  the  direction  of  them. 
In  this  state  of  things,  it  is  not  surprising  that 
the  Flemings,  feeling  their  own  strength,  should 
have  assumed  a  free  and  independent  tone  little 
grateful  to  the  ear  of  a  sovereign.  So  far  had  this 
spirit  of  liberty  or  license,  as  it  was  termed,  in- 
creased, in  the  latter  part  of  the  emperor's  reign, 
that  the  Regent  Mary,  when  her  brother  abdicated, 
chose  also  to  resign,  declaring,  in  a  letter  to  him, 
that  "  she  would  not  continue  to  live  with,  much 
less  to  reign  over,  a  people  whose  manners  had 
undergone  such  a  change.  —  in  whom  respect  for 
God  and  man  seemed  no  longer  to  exist."  ^ 

A  philosopher  who  should  have  contemplated 
at  that  day  the  condition  of  the  country,  and  the 
civilization   at  which  it  had   arrived,  might   feel 


*  "  n  y  avoit  bien  30.  ans  que 
ceux  de  Brusselles  avoyent  com- 
mence, et  avoyent  perce  des  col- 
lines,  des  champs  et  chemins,  des- 
quels  ils  avoient  achapt^  les  fonds 
des  proprietaires,  on  y  avoit  faict 

40.  grandes  escluses et  cou- 

8ta  dix  liuits  cent  mille  florins." 
Meteren,  Hist  des  Pays-Bas,  tom. 
I.  fol.  26. 

3  "  Je  vois  une  grande  jeunesse 


en  ces  pays,  avec  les  moeurs  des- 
quelz  ne  me  s^aurois  ny  ne  vou- 
drois  accommoder;  la  fiddlitd  du 
monde  et  respect  envers  Dieu  et 

son  prince  si  corrompuz, que 

ne  d^sirerois  pas  seullement  de  les 

pas    gouvemer, mais    aussy 

me  fasche  de  le  veoir,  congnoistre 

et  de  vivre entre  telles  gens.** 

Papiers  d'Etat  de  Granvelle,  tom 
IV.  p.  476. 


176  DISCONTENT  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS.     [Book  IL 

satisfied  that  a  system  of  toleration  in  religious 
matters  would  be  the  one  best  suited  to  the  genius 
of  the  people  and  the  character  of  their  mstitu- 
tions.  But  Philip  was  no  philosopher ;  and  tolem- 
tion  was  a  virtue  not  understood,  at  that  time,  by 
Calvinist  any  more  than  by  Catholic.  The  ques- 
tion,  therefore,  is  not  whether  the  end  he  proposed 
was  the  best  one ;  —  on  this,  few  at  the  present 
day  wiU  difier;  — but  whether  Philip  took  the 
best  means  for  effecting  that  end.  This  is  the 
point  of  view  from  which  his  conduct  in  the 
Netherlands  should  be  criticized. 

Here,  in  the  outset,  he  seems  to  have  fallen  into 
a  capital  error,  by  committing  so  large  a  share  in 
the  government  to  the   hands  of  a  foreigner,— 
Granvelle.      The  country  was  filled  with  nobles, 
some  of  them  men  of  the  highest  birth,  whose 
ancestors  were  associated  with  the  most  stirring 
national    recollections,   and   who   were    endeared, 
moreover,  to  their  countrymen  by  their  o^vn  ser- 
vices.    To  several  of  these  PhUip  himself  was  under 
no  slight  obligations  for  the  aid  they  had  afforded 
him  in  the  late  war,  —  on  the  fields  of  Gravelines 
and   St.  Quentin,  and  in  the  negotiation  of  the 
treaty  which   closed   his   hostilities   with   France. 
It  was   hardly  to   be  expected  that  these   proud 
nobles,   conscious   of    their  superior   claims,   and 
accustomed  to   so  much   authority  and  deference 
in  their  own  land,  would  tamely  submit  to  the 
control  of  a  stmnger,  a  man  of  obscure  family,  like 
his  father  indebted  for  his  elevation  to  the  royal 
favor. 


Ch.  v.]        discontent  in  the  NETHERLANDS. 


477 


Besides  these  great  lords,  there  was  a  numerous 
aristocracy,  inferior  nobles  and  cavaliers,  many  of 
whom  had  served  under  the  standard  of  Charles 
in  his  long  wars.  They  there  foimed  those  for 
midable  companies  of  ordonnance,  whose  fame  per- 
haps stood  higher  than  that  of  any  other  corps  of 
the  imperial  cavalry.  The  situation  of  these  men, 
now  disbanded,  and,  with  their  roving  military 
habits,  hanging  loosely  on  the  country,  has  been 
compared  by  a  modem  author  to  that  which,  on 
the  accession  of  the  Bourbons,  was  occupied  by 
the  soldiers  whom  Napoleon  had  so  often  led  to 
victory.*  To  add  to  their  restlessness,  many  of 
these,  as  well  as  of  the  higher  nobility,  were  em- 
barrassed by  debts  contracted  in  their  campaigns, 
or  by  too  ambitious  expenditure  at  home,  espe- 
cially in  rivalry  with  the  ostentatious  Spaniard. 
"  The  Flemish  nobles,"  says  a  writer  of  the  time, 
*'  were  too  many  of  them  oppressed  by  heavj^  debts 
and  the  payment  of  exorbitant  interest.  They 
spent  twice  as  much  as  they  were  worth  on  their 
palaces,  furniture,  troops  of  retainers,  costly  liver- 
ies, their  banquets  and  sumptuous  entertainments 
of  every  description,  —  in  fine,  in  every  form  of 
luxury  and  superfiuity  that  could  be  devised. 
Thus  discontent  became  prevalent  through  the 
country,  and  men  anxiously  looked  forward  to 
some  change."* 

*  Gerlache,  Histoire  du  Royaume  5  «  Es  menester  ver  como  la 
des  Pays-Bas,  (Bruxelles,  1842,)  nobleza  se  ha  desde  mucho  tiempo 
torn.  I.  p.  71.  desmandada  y  empenada  per  usura 


!ii 


478     DISCONTENT  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS.  [Book  II. 


Ch.  v.]   DISCONTENT  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS. 


479 


StUl   another  element   of   discontent,   and   one 
that  extended  to  all  classes,  was  antipathy  to  the 
Spaniards.     It  had  not  been   easy  to  repress  this 
even  under  the  rule  of  Charles  the  Fifth,  who  had 
shown  such  manifest  preference  for  his  Flemish 
subjects.     But  now  it  was  more  decidedly  called 
out,  under  a  monarch  whose  sympathies  lay  alto- 
gether on  the  side  of  their  rivals.     No  doubt  this 
popular   sentiment  is  to   be  explained   partly  by 
the   contrast   afforded    by   the    characters    of   the 
two  nations,  so  great  as  hardly  to  afford  a  point 
of  contact   between   them.     But  it  may  be  fairly 
charged,   to   a    great    extent,   on    the    Spaniards 
themselves,  who,  while  they  displayed  many  noble 
and  magnanimous   traits  at   home,  seemed  desir- 
ous   to   exhibit   only  the   repulsive  side   of  their 
character  to  the  eye  of  the   stranger.     Cold   and 
impenetrable,  assuming   an   arrogant   tone   of  su- 
periority over  every  other  nation,  in  whatever  land 
it  was  their  destiny  to   be  cast,   England,  Italy, 
or  the   Netherlands,  as   allies  or  as   enemies,  we 
find  the  Spaniards  of  that  day  equally  detested. 
Brought  with  them,  as  the  people  of  the  Nether- 
lands were,  under  a  common  sceptre,  a  spirit  of 


J  gastos  snperfluos,  gastando  casi 
mas  que  doble  de  lo  que  tenian  en 
edificios,  muebles,  festines,  danzas, 
mascaradas,  fucgos  de  dados,  naipes, 
vestidos,  libreas,  seguimiento  de 
criados  y  gencralmente  en  todas 
caertes  de  delej'tes,  luxuria,  y  su- 
perfluidad,  lo  que  se  avia  comen- 


zado  antes  de  la  yda  de  su  nia- 
gestad  i.  Espana.  Y  desde  enton- 
ces  uvo  un  descontento  casi  general 
en  el  pais  y  esperanza  de  esta  gente 
asi  alborotada  de  veer  en  poco 
tiempo  una  mudanza/'  Renom  de 
Francia,  Alborotos  de  Flandea, 
MS. 


comparison   and  rivalry  grew  up,  which   induced 
a  thousand  causes  of  irritation. 

The  difficulty  was  still  further  increased  by 
the  condition  of  the  neighboring  countries,  where 
the  minds  of  the  inhabitants  were  now  in  the 
highest  state  of  fermentation  in  matters  of  re- 
ligion. In  short,  the  atmosphere  seemed  everj^- 
where  to  be  in  that  highly  electrified  condition 
which  bodes  the  coming  tempest.  In  this  critical 
state  of  things,  it  was  clear  that  it  was  only  by  a 
most  careful  and  considerate  policy  that  harmony 
could  be  maintained  in  the  Netherlands ;  a  pol- 
icy manifesting  alike  tenderness  for  the  feelings 
of  the  nation  and  respect  for  its  institutions. 

Having  thus  shown  the  general  aspect  of  things 
when  the  duchess  of  Parma  entered  on  her  regency, 
towards  the  close  of  1559,  it  is  time  to  go  forward 
with  the  narrative  of  the  prominent  events  which 
led  to  the  War  of  the  Revolution. 

We  have  already  seen  that  Philip,  on  leaving 
the  country,  lodged  the  administration  nominally 
in  three  councils,  although  in  truth  it  was  on 
the  council  of  state  that  the  weight  of  govern 
ment  actually  rested.  Even  here  the  nobles  who 
composed  it  were  of  little  account  m  matters  of 
real  importance,  which  were  reserved  for  a  con- 
sultay  consisting,  besides  the  regent,  of  Granvelle, 
Count  Barlaimont,  and  the  learned  jurist  Viglius- 
As  the  last  two  were  altogether  devoted  to  Gran, 
velle,  and  the  regent  was  instructed  to  defer  greatly 
to  his  judgment,  the  government  of  the  Nether- 


480 


DISCONTENT  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS.     [Book  U 


Ch.  v.] 


WILLIAM  OF  ORANGE. 


481 


lands  may  be  said  to  have  been  virtually  deposited 
in  the  hands  of  the  bishop  of  Arras. 

At  the  head  of  the  Flemish  nobles  in  the  coun- 
cil of  state,  and  indeed  in  the  coimtry,  taking  into 
view  their  rank,  fortune,  and  public  services,  stood 
Count  Egmont  and  the  prince  of  Orange.  I  have 
already  given  some  account  of  the  former,  and  the 
reader  has  seen  the  important  part  which  he  took 
in  the  great  victories  of  Gravelines  and  St.  Quen- 
tin.  To  the  prince  of  Orange  Philip  had  also 
been  indebted  for  his  counsel  in  conducting  the 
war,  and  still  more  for  the  aid  which  he  had  af- 
forded in  the  negotiations  for  peace.  It  will  be 
proper,  before  going  further,  to  give  the  reader 
some  particulars  of  this  celebrated  man,  the  great 
leader  in  the  war  of  the  Netherlands. 

William,  prince  of  Orange,  was  bom  at  Dillen- 
burg,  in  the  German  duchy  of  Nassau,  on  the 
twenty-fifth  of  April,  1533.  He  was  descended 
from  a  house,  one  of  whose  branches  had  given 
an  emperor  to  Germany ;  and  William's  own  an- 
cestors were  distinguished  by  the  employments 
they  had  held,  and  the  services  they  had  ren- 
dered, both  in  Germany  and  the  Low  Countries. 
It  was  a  proud  vaimt  of  his,  that  Philip  was 
raider  larger  obligations  to  him  than  he  to  Philip ; 
and  that,  but  for  the  house  of  Nassau,  the  king 
of  Spain  would  not  be  able  to  write  as  many  titles 
as  he  now  did  after  his  name.* 

«  Apologie  de  Guillaume  IX.  Prince  d'Orange  centre  la  Proscrip 


When  eleven  years  old,  by  the  death  of  his 
cousin  Rene  he  came  into  possession  of  a  large 
domain  in  Holland,  and  a  still  larger  property  in 
Brabant,  where  he  held  the  title  of  Lord  of  Breda. 
To  these  was  added  the  splendid  inheritance  of 
Chalons,  and  of  the  principality  of  Orange ; 
which,  however,  situated  at  a  distance,  in  the 
heart  of  France,  might  seem  to  be  held  by  a 
somewhat  precarious  tenure. 

William's  parents  were  both  Lutherans,  and  in 
their  faith  he  was  educated.  But  Charles  saw 
with  displeasure  the  false  direction  thus  given 
to  one  who  at  a  future  day  was  to  occupy  so 
distinguished  a  position  among  his  Flemish  vas- 
sals. With  the  consent  of  his  parents,  the  child, 
in  his  twelfth  year,  was  removed  to  Brussels,  to 
be  brought  up  in  the  family  of  the  emperor's 
sister,  the  Regent  Mary  of  Hungary.  However 
their  consent  to  this  step  may  be  explained,  it 
certainly  seems  that  their  zeal  for  the  spiritual 
welfare  of  their  son  was  not  such  as  to  stand 
in  the  way  of  his  temporal.  In  the  fiimily  of 
the  regent  the  youth  was  bred  a  Catholic,  while 
in  all  respects  he  received  an  education  suited 
to  his  rank.^     It  is  an   interesting  fact,  that  his 


tion  de  Philippe  IT.  Roi  d'Espagne, 
presentee  aux  Etats  Gdneraux 
des  Pays-Bas,  le  13  Decembre, 
1580,  ap.  Dumont,  Corps  Diplo- 
matique, torn.  V.  p.  384. 

7  M.  Green  Van  Prinsterer  has 
taken  some  pains  to  explain  the 

VOL.  I.  61 


conduct  of  William's  parents,  on 
the  ground,  chiefly,  that  they  had 
reason  to  think  their  son,  after  all, 
might  be  allowed  to  worship  ac- 
cording to  the  way  in  which  he 
had  been  educated  (p.  195).  But 
whatever  concessions  -to  the  Prot- 


482 


DISCONTENT  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS.     [Book  11. 


preceptor  was  a  younger  brother  of  Granvelle,  — 
the  man  with  whom  William  was  afterwards 
to  be  placed  in  an  attitude  of  such  bitter  hos- 
tility. 

When  fifteen  years  of  age,  the  prince  was  taken 
into  the  imperial  household,  and  became  the  page 
of  Charles  the  Fifth.  The  emperor  was  not  slow 
in  discerning  the  extraordinary  qualities  of  the 
youth;  and  he  showed  it  by  intrusting  him,  as 
he  grew  older,  with  various  important  commis- 
sions. He  was  accompanied  by  the  prince  on 
his  military  expeditions,  and  Charles  gave  a  re- 
markable proof  of  his  confidence  in  his  capacity, 
by  raising  him,  at  the  age  of  twenty-two,  over 
the  heads  of  veteran  officers,  and  giving  him  the 
command  of  the  imperial  forces  engaged  in  the 
siege  of  Marienburg.  During  the  six  months 
that  William  was  in  command,  they  were  still 
occupied  with  this  siege,  and  with  the  construc- 
tion of  a  fortress  for  the  protection  of  Flanders. 
There  was  little  room  for  military  display.  But 
the  troops  were  in  want  of  food  and  of  money,  and 
their  young  commander's  conduct  under  these  em- 
barrassments was  such  as  to  vindicate  the  wisdom 
of  his  appointment.  Charles  afterwards  employed 
him  on  several  diplomatic  missions,  —  a  more  con- 


estants  may  have  been  wrung  from  to  allow  one  of  his  own  household, 
Charles  by  considerations  of  pub-  one  to  whom  he  stood  in  the  re- 
lic policy,  we  suspect  few  who  have  lation  of  a  guardian,  to  be  nur- 
ftudied  his  character  will  believe  tured  in  the  faith  of  heretics. 
fhat  he  would  ever  have  consented 


. 


Ch.  v.] 


WILLIAM  OF  ORANGE. 


483 


genial  field  for  the  exercise  of  his  talents,  which 
appear  to  have  been  better  suited  to  civil  than  to 
military  affairs. 

The  emperor's  regard  for  the  prince  seems  to 
have  increased  with  his  years,  and  he  gave  pub- 
lic proof  of  it,  in  the  last  hour  of  his  reign,  by 
leaning  on  William's  shoulder  at  the  time  of  his 
abdication,  when  he  made  his  parting  address  to 
the  states  of  the  Netherlands.  He  showed  this 
still  further  by  selecting  him  for  the  honorable 
mission  of  bearing  the  imperial  crown  to  Ferdi- 
nand. 

On  his  abdication,  Charles  earnestly  commended 
William  to  his  successor.  Philip  profited  by  his 
services  in  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  when  the 
prince  of  Orange,  who  had  followed  him  in  the 
French  war,  was  made  one  of  the  four  plenipo- 
tentiaries for  negotiating  the  treaty  of  Cateau- 
Cambresis,  for  the  execution  of  which  he  re 
mained   as   one   of  the   hostages   in   France. 

While  at  the  court  of  Henry  the  Second, 
it  will  be  remembered,  the  prince  became  ac- 
quainted with  the  secret  designs  of  the  French 
and  Spanish  monarchs  against  the  Protestants 
in  their  dominions ;  and  he  resolved,  from  that 
hour,  to  devote  all  his  strength  to  expel  the 
"  Spanish  vermin "  from  the  Netherlands.  One 
must  not  infer  from  this,  however,  that  William, 
at  this  early  period,  meditated  the  design  of 
shaking  off  the  rule  of  Spain  altogether.  The 
object  he  had  in  view  went  no  further  than  to 


484 


DISCONTENT   IN  THE  NETHERLANDS.     [Book  n. 


relieve  the  country  from  the  odious  presence  of 
the  Spanish  troops,  and  to  place  the  administra- 
tion in  those  hands  to  which  it  rightfully  belonged. 
They,  however,  who  set  a  revolution  in  motion 
have  not  always  the  power  to  stop  it.  If  they  can 
succeed  in  giving  it  a  direction,  they  will  probably 
be  carried  forward  by  it  beyond  their  intended  lim- 
its, until,  gathering  confidence  with  success,  they 
aim  at  an  end  far  higher  than  that  which  they  had 
originally  proposed.  Such,  doubtless,  was  the  case 
with  WUliam  of  Orange. 

Notwithstanding  the  emperor's  recommendation, 
the  prince  of  Orange  was  not  the  man  whom  PhUip 
selected  for  his  confidence.  Nor  was  it  possible 
for  William  to  regard  the  king  with  the  same 
feelings  which  he  had  entertained  for  the  em- 
peror. To  Charles  the  prince  was  under  ob- 
\'ious  obligations  for  his  nurture  in  early  life. 
His  national  pride,  too,  was  not  woimded  by 
having  a  Spaniard  for  his  sovereign,  since  Charles 
was  not  by  birth,  much  less  in  heart,  a  Spaniard. 
All  this  was  reversed  in  PhUip,  in  whom  William 
saw  only  the  representative  of  a  detested  race. 
The  prudent  reserve  which  marked  the  char- 
acter of  each,  no  doubt,  prevented  the  outward 
demonstration  of  their  sentiments ;  but  from 
their  actions  we  may  readily  infer  the  instinctive 
aversion  which  the  two  parties  entertained  for 
each  other. 

At  the  early  age  of  eighteen,  William  married 
Anne  of  Egmont,  daughter  of  the  count  of  Biiren. 


Ch.  v.] 


WILLIAM  OF  ORANGE. 


485 


The  connection  was  a  happy  one,  if  we  may  trust 
the  loving  tone  of  their  correspondence.  Un 
happily,  in  a  few  years  their  union  was  dissolved 
by  the  lady's  death.  The  prince  did  not  long 
remain  a  widower,  before  he  made  proposals  to 
ihe  daughter  of  the  duchess  of  Lorraine.  The 
prospect  of  such  a  match  gave  great  dissatisfaction 
to  Philip,  who  had  no  mind  to  see  his  Flemish 
vassal  allied  with  the  family  of  a  great  feudatory 
of  France.  Disappointed  in  this  quarter,  William 
next  paid  his  addresses  to  Anne  of  Saxony,  an 
heu-ess,  whose  large  possessions  made  her  one 
of  the  most  brilliant  matches  in  Germany.  Wil- 
liam's passion  and  his  interest,  it  was  remarked, 
kept  time  well  together. 

The  course  of  love,  however,  was  not  destined 
to  run  smoothly  on  the  present  occasion.  Anne 
was  the  daughter  of  Maurice,  the  great  Lutheran 
champion,  the  implacable  enemy  of  Charles  the 
Fifth.  Left  early  an  orphan,  she  had  been  reared 
in  the  family  of  her  uncle,  the  elector  of  Saxony, 
in  the  strictest  tenets  of  the  Luthemn  faith.  Such 
a  connection  was,  of  course,  every  way  distasteful 
to  Philip,  to  whom  William  was  willing  so  far 
to  defer  as  to  solicit  his  approbation,  though  he 
did  not  mean  to  be  controlled  by  it.®  The  corre- 
spondence on  the  subject,  in  which  both  the  regent 
and  Granvelle  took  an  active  part,  occupies  as 
much  space  in  collections  of  the  period   as  more 


8  See  partici  larly  Margaret's  let-     Correspondance     de     Mai-gueritc 
ter  to  the  king,  of  March  13, 1560,     d'Autrichc,  p.  2G0  et  seq. 


486 


DISCONTENT  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS.     [Book  IL 


important  negotiations.  The  prince  endeavored  to 
silence  the  king's  scruples,  by  declaring  that  he 
was  too  much  a  Catholic  at  heart  to  marry  any 
woman  Avho  was  not  of  the  same  persuasion  as  him- 
self;  and  that  he  had  received  assurances  from  the 
elector  that  his  wife  in  this  respect  should  entirely 
conform  to  his  wishes.  The  elector  had  scruples 
as  to  the  match,  no  less  than  Philip,  though  on 
precisely  the  opposite  grounds;  and,  after  the 
prince's  assurance  to  the  king,  one  is  surprised 
to  find  that  an  understanding  must  have  existed 
with  the  elector  that  Anne  should  be  allowed 
the  undisturbed  enjoyment  of  her  own  religion.' 
This  double-dealing  leaves  a  disagreeable  im- 
pression in  regard  to  William's  character.  Yet 
it  does  not  seem,  to  judge  from  his  later  life, 
to  be  altogether  inconsistent  with  it.  Machia- 
velli  is  the  author  whom  he  is  said  to  have  had 
most  frequently  in  his  hand;^^  and  in  the  policy 
with  which  he  shaped  his  course,  we  may  some- 
times fancy  that  we  can  discern  the  influence 
of  the  Italian  statesman. 

The  maniage  was  celebrated  with  great  pomp 
at  Leipsic,  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  August,  1561. 
The  king  of  Denmark,  several  of  the  electors,  and 
many  princes  and  nobles  of  both  Germany  and  the 


•  M.  Groen  Van  Prinsterer  lias  matrimonial  diplomacy.    See  Ar. 

industriously  collated    the   corre-  chives    de    la    Maison  d' Orange* 

■pondence  of  the  several  parties,  Nassau,  torn.  I.  p.  202. 

which  must  be  allowed  to  form  an  lo  M^moires  de  Granvelle,  torn 

0dif}*ing  chapter  in  the  annals  of  I.  p.  251. 


' 


• 


. 


Ch.  V] 


WILLIAM  OF  ORANGE. 


487 


Low  Countries,  were  invited  guests ;  and  the  whole 
assembly  present  on  the  occasion  was  estimated  at 
nearly  six  thousand  persons.^^  The  king  of  Spain 
complimented  the  bride  by  sending  her  a  jewel 
worth  three  thousand,  ducats.^  It  proved,  however, 
as  Granvelle  had  predicted,  an  ill-assorted  union. 
After  living  together  for  nearly  thirteen  years,  the 
prince,  weary  of  the  irregularities  of  his  wife,  sepa- 
rated from  her,  and  sent  her  back  to  her  friends  in 

Germany. 

During  his  residence  in  Brussels,  William  easily 
fell  into  the  way  of  life  followed  by  the  Flemish 
nobles.  He  was  very  fond  of  the  healthy  exercise 
of  the  chase,  and  especially  of  hawking.  He  was 
social,  indeed  convivial,  in  his  habits,  after  the 
fashion  of  his  countrymen ;  ^^  and  was  addicted  to 
gallantries,  which  continued  long  enough,  it  is 
said,  to  suggest  an  apology  for  the  disorderly  con- 
duct of  his  wife.  He  occupied  the  ancient  palace 
of  his  family  at  Brussels,  where  he  was  surrounded 
by  lords  and  cavaliers,  and  a  numerous  retinue  of 
menials.^*      He  lived  in  great  state,  displaying  a 


11  Raumer,  Hist.  Tasch.,  p.  109, 
ap.  Archives  de  la  Maison  d'Orange- 
Nassau,  torn.  I.  p.  115. 

12  Correspondance  de  Margue- 
rite d'Autriche,  p.  284. 

13  It  may  give  some  idea  of  the 
scale  of  William's  domestic  estab- 
lishment to  state,  that,  on  reducing 
it  to  a  more  economical  standard, 
twenty-eight  head-cooks  were  dis- 
missed. (Van  der  Haer,  De  Initiis 
Tumult.,  p.  182,  ap.  Archives  de 


la  Msuson  d*Orange-Nassau,  tom. 
I.  p.  200*.)  The  same  contem- 
porary tells  us  that  there  were 
few  princes  in  Germany  who  had 
not  one  cook,  at  least,  that  had 
served  an  apprenticeship  in  Wil- 
liam's kitchen,  —  the  best  school 
in  that  day  for  the  noble  science 
of  gastronomy. 

14  "  Audivi  rem  domesticam  sic 
splendide  habuisse  ut  ad  ordinari. 
um  domus  ministerium  haberet  24 


188 


DISCONTENT  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS.     [Book  U 


profuse  magnificence  in  his  entertainments ;  and 
few  there  were,  natives  or  foreigners,  who  had  any 
claim  on  his  hospitality,  that  did  not  receive  it.^ 
By  this  expensive  way  of  life,  he  encumbered  his 
estate  with  a  heavy  debt ;  amounting,  if  we  may 
take  Granvelle's  word,  to  nine  hundred  thousand 
florins.^^  Yet,  if  William's  own  account,  but  one 
year  later,  be  true,  the  debt  was  then  brought 
within  a  very  moderate  compass." 

With  his  genial  habits  and  love  of  pleasure,  and 
with  manners  the  most  attractive,  he  had  not 
the  free  and  open  temper  which  often  goes  along 
with  them.  He  was  called  by  his  contempora- 
ries "William  the  Silent."  Perhaps  the  epithet 
was  intended  to  indicate  not  so  much  his  taci- 
turnity, as  that  impenetrable  reserve  which  locked 
up  his  secrets  closely  within  his  bosom.  No  man 
knew  better  how  to  keep  his  counsel,  even  from 
those  who  acted  with  him.  But  while  masking 
his  own  designs,  no  man  was  more  sagacious  in 


Nobiles,  pueros  vero  Nobiles  (Pa- 
gios  nominamus)  18.**  Ibid.,  ubi 
supra. 

15  "  Rei  doraesticae  splendor,  fa- 
mulorumque  et  asseclarum  muld- 
tudo  magnis  Principibus  par.  Nee 
uUa  toto  Belgio  sedes  hospltalior, 
ad  quam  frequentiiis  peregrini  Pro- 
ceres  Legatique  diverterent,  exci- 
perenturque  magnificentiiis,  qukm 
Orangii  domus.**  Strada,  De  Bello 
Belgico,  p.  99. 

1*  "  Le  prince  d'Orange,  qui 
ient  un  grand  dtat  de  maison,  et 


mbne  k  sa  suite  des  eomtes,  des 
barons  et  beaucoup  d'autres  gen- 
tilshommes  d*Allemagne,  doit,  pour 
le  moins,  900,000  fl."  Correspon- 
dance  de  Philippe  II.,  torn.  I.  p. 
239. 

*7  In  January,  1564,  we  find 
him  writing  to  his  brother,  "  Puii 
qu'il  ne  reste  que  k  XV.  cens  flo- 
rins par  an,  que  serous  bien  tost 
delivr^  des  debtes.**  Archives  d* 
la  Maison  d'Orange-Nassau,  tomv 
I.  p.  196. 


Ch.  v.] 


WILLIAM  OF  ORANGE. 


48ft 


penetrating  those  of  others.  He  carried  on  an  ex- 
tensive correspondence  in  foreign  countries,  and 
employed  every  means  for  getting  infonnation. 
Thus,  while  he  had  it  in  his  power  to  outwit 
others,  it  was  very  rare  that  he  became  their  dupe. 
Though  on  ordinary  occasions  frugal  of  words, 
when  he  did  speak  it  was  mth  effect.  His  elo- 
quence was  of  the  most  persuasive  kind ;  ^  and  as 
towards  his  inferiors  he  was  affable,  and  exceed- 
ingly considerate  of  their  feelings,  he  acquired  an 
unbounded  ascendency  over  his  countrymen.^^  It 
must  be  admitted  that  the  prince  of  Orange  pos- 
sessed many  rare  qualities  for  the  leader  of  a  great 
revolution. 

The  course  William  took  in  respect  to  his  wife's 
religion  might  lead  one  to  doubt  whether  he  were 
at  heart  Catholic  or  Protestant ;  or  indeed  whether 
he  were  not  equally  indifferent  to  both  persuasions. 
The  latter  opinion  might  be  strengthened  by  a  re- 
mark imputed  to  him,  that  "he  would  not  have 
his  wife  trouble  herself  with  such  melancholy 
books  as  the  Scriptures,  but  instead  of  them  amuse 


18  « n  estoit  d*une  eloquence 
admirable,  avec  laquelle  il  mettoit 
en  evidence  les  conceptions  su- 
blimes de  son  esprit,  et  faisoit  plier 
les  aultres  seigneurs  de  la  court, 
ainsy  que  bon  luy  scmbloit."  Ga- 
chard,  (Correspondance  de  Guil- 
laumc  le  Taciturne,tom.  IL,  Preface, 
p.  3,)  who  quotes  a  manuscript  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  preserved 
in  the  library  of  Arras,  entitled, 

VOL.  I.  Q2 


"  Commencement  de  rilistolre  des 
Troubles  des  Pays-Bas,  advenuz 
soubz  le  Gouvernement  de  Ma^ 
dame  la  Duchesse  de  Parme.** 

19  *<Sy  estoit  singulierementaime 
et  bien  voUu  de  la  commune,  pour 
une  gracieuse  fa(;on  de  faire  qu'il 
avoit  de  saluer,  caresser  et  arrai- 
sonner  privement  et  famili^rement 
tout  le  monde.'*    Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


! 


490 


DISCONTENT  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS.     [Book  XL 


herself  with  Amadis  de  Gaul,  and  other  pleasant 
works  of  the  kind."^  "The  prince  of  Orange," 
says  a  writer  of  the  time,  "  passed  for  a  Catholic 
among  Catholics,  a  Lutheran  among  Lutherans. 
If  he  could,  he  would  have  had  a  religion  com- 
pounded of  both.  In  truth,  he  looked  on  the 
Christian  religion  like  the  ceremonies  which  Numa 
introduced,  as  a  sort  of  politic  invention."  ^^  Gran- 
velle,  in  a  letter  to  Philip,  speaks  much  to  the 
same  purpose.^  These  portraits  were  by  un- 
friendly hands.  Those  who  take  a  different  view 
of  his  character,  while  they  admit  that  in  his 
early  days  his  opinions  in  matters  of  faith  were 
unsettled,  contend  that  in  time  he  became  sincerely 
attached  to  the  doctrines  which  he  defended  with 
his  sword.  This  seems  to  be  no  more  than  natu- 
ral. But  the  reader  will  have  an  opportunity  of 
judging  for  himself,  when  he  has  followed  the 
great  chief  through  the  changes  of  his  stormy 
career. 

It  would  be  strange,  indeed,  if  the  leader  in  a 
religious  revolution  should  have  been  himself  with- 


so  "D  ne  Toccuperoit  point  de 
ces  choses  melaneoliques,  mais  il 
lu:  feroit  lire,  au  lieu  des  Saintes- 
Ecritures,  Amadis  de  Gaule  et 
d'autres  livres  amusants  du  meme 
genre.'*  Archives  de  la  Maison 
d'Orange-Nassau,  torn.  I.  p.  203*. 

21  "  II  estoit  du  nombre  de  eeulx 
qui  pensent  que  la  religion  chresti- 
enne  soit  une  invention  politique, 
pour  contenir  le  peuple  en  office 
par  voie  de  Dieu,  non  plus   ni 


moins  que  les  ceremonies,  divina- 
tions et  superstitions  que  Numa 
Pompilius  introduisit  k  Rome." 
Commencement  de  Tllist.  des  Trou- 
bles, MS.,  ap.  Gachard,  Cor.  de 
Guillaume,  torn.  II.,  Preface,  p.  6. 
»  "  Tantot  Catholique,  tantot 
Calviniste  ou  Luther" on  selon  les 
difFerentes  occasions,  et  selon  ses 
divers  desseins.**  Memoires  do 
Granvelle,  torn.  II.  p.  54. 


. 


Cb.  v.] 


WILLIAM  OF  ORANGE. 


491 


out  any  religious  convictions.  One  thing  is  certain, 
he  possessed  a  spirit  of  toleration,  the  more  honor- 
able that  in  that  day  it  was  so  rare.  He  con- 
demned the  Calvinists  as  restless  and  seditious ; 
the  Catholics,  for  their  bigoted  attachment  to  a 
dogma.  Persecution  in  matters  of  faith  he  totally 
condemned,  for  freedom  of  judgment  in  such  mat- 
ters he  regarded  as  the  inalienable  right  of  man.^ 
These  conclusions,  at  which  the  world,  after  an 
incalculable  amount  of  human  suffering,  has  been 
three  centuries  in  arriving,  (has  it  altogether  ar- 
rived at  them  yet?)  must  be  allowed  to  reflect 
great  credit  on  the  character  of  William. 

^  "  Estimant,  ainsy  que  faisoient  avoir  soustenu  une  opinion,  jasoit 

lors  beaucoup  de  catholiques,  que  qu'elle  fut  erronde.**    MS.  quoted 

c'estoit  chose  cruelle  de  faire  mou-  by  Gachard,  Cor.  de  GuiUaunw* 

rir  ung  homme,  pour  seulement  torn.  U.,  Frd&ce,  p.  4. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

OPPOSITION  TO  THE  GOVERNMENT. 

Grounds  of  Complaint.  —  The  Spanish  Troops.  —  The  New  Bishoprics. 
—  Influence  of  Granvelle.  —  Opposed  by  the  Nobles.  — His  Un- 
popularity. 

1559-1562. 

The  first  cause  of  trouble,  after  Philip's  de- 
parture  from    the   Netherlands,   arose   from    the 
detention  of  the  Spanish  troops  there.     The  king 
had  pledged  his  word,  it  will  be  remembered,  that 
they  should  leave  the  country  by  the  end  of  four 
months,  at  farthest.      Yet  that   period  had  long 
since  passed,  and  no  preparations  were  made  for 
their  departure.      The  indignation  of  the  people 
rose  higher  and  higher  at  the  insult  thus  offered 
by  the  presence  of  these  detested  foreigners.     It 
was  a  season  of  peace.     No  invasion  was  threat- 
ened    from   abroad;    no    insurrection    existed   at 
home.      There  was  nothing  to  require  the  main- 
tenance of  an  extraordinary  force,  much  less  of  one 
composed  of  foreign  troops.     It  could  only  be  that 
the  king,  distrusting  his  Flemish  subjects,  designed 
to  overawe  them  by  his  mercenaries,  in  sufficient 
strength  to  enforce  his  arbitrary  acts.     The  free 


Cb.  VL] 


GROUNDS  OF  COMPLAINT. 


493 


spuit  of  the  Netherlanders  was  roused  by  these 
suggestions,  and  they  boldly  demanded  the  removal 
of  the  Spaniards. 

Granvelle  himself,  who  would  willingly  have 
pleased  his  master  by  retaining  a  force  in  the 
coimtry  on  which  he  could  rely,  admitted  that  the 
project  was  impracticable.  "The  troops  must  be 
withdraAvn,"  he  wrote,  "  and  that  speedUy,  or  the 
consequence  will  be  an  insurrection."^  The  states 
would  not  consent,  he  said,  to  furnish  the  neces- 
sary subsidies  while  they  remained.  The  piince 
of  Orange  and  Count  Egmont  threw  up  the  com- 
mands intrusted  to  them  by  the  king.  They  dared 
no  longer  hold  them,  as  the  minister  added,  it  was 
so  unpopular.^ 

The  troops  had  much  increased  the  difficulty  by 
their  own  misconduct.  They  were  drawn  from  the 
great  mass,  often  the  dregs,  of  the  people ;  and 
their  morals,  such  as  they  were,  had  not  been  im- 
proved in  the  life  of  the  camp.  However  strict 
their  discipline  in  time  of  active  service,  it  was 
greatly  relaxed  in  their  present  state  of  inaction ; 
and  they  had  full  license,  as  well  as  leisure,  to 
indulge  theii'  mischievous  appetites,  at  the  expense 


1  "  No  se  vee  que  puedan  que- 
dar  aquf  mas  tiempo  sin  grandissi- 
mo  peligro  do  que  dende  agora  las 
cosas  entrassen  en  alboroto.**  Pa- 
piers  d'iStat  de  Granvellet  torn.  VI. 
p.  166. 

2  "  Harto  se  declaran  y  el  Prin- 
cipe d'Oranges  y  Mons'  d'Egmont 


que  aunque  tuviessen  la  mayor 
Yoluntad  del  mundo  para  servir  en 
esto  &  V.  M.  de  tener  cargo  mas 
tiempo  de  los  Espanoles,  no  lo 
osarian  emprender  si  bolviessen, 
por  no  perderse  y  su  credito  y  re- 
putacion  con  estos  estados.**  Ibid., 
p.  197. 


494 


OPPOSITION  TO  THE  GOVERNMENT.      [Book  H 


of  the  unfortunate  districts  in  wMch  they  were 
quartered. 

Yet  Philip  was  slow  in  returning  an  answer  to 
the  importunate  letters  of  the  regent  and  the  min- 
ister ;  and  when  he  did  reply,  it  was  to  evade  their 
request,  lamenting  his  want  of  funds,  and  declar- 
ing his  purpose  to  remove  the  forces  so  soon  as  he 
could  pay  their  arrears.  The  public  exchequer 
was  undoubtedly  at  a  low  ebb ;  lower  in  Spain 
than  in  the  Netherlands.*  But  no  one  could  be- 
lieve the  royal  credit  so  far  reduced  as  not  to  be 
able  to  provide  for  the  arrears  of  three  or  four 
thousand  soldiers.  The  regent,  however,  saw  that, 
with  or  without  instructions,  it  was  necessary  to 
act.  Several  of  the  members  of  the  council  became 
sureties  for  the  payment  of  the  arrears,  and  the 
troops  were  ordered  to  Zealand,  in  order  to  embark 
for  Spain.  But  the  winds  proved  unfavorable. 
Two  months  longer  they  were  detained,  on  shore 
or  on  board  the  transports.  They  soon  got  into 
brawls  with  the  workmen  employed  on  the  dikes ; 
and   the  inhabitants,  still  apprehensive  of  orders 


S  Some  notion  of  the  extent  of 
these  embarrassments  may  be 
formed  from  a  schedule  prepared 
by  the  king's  own  hand,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1560.  From  this  it  ap- 
pears that  the  ordinary  sources  of 
revenue  were  already  mortgaged  : 
and  that,  taking  into  view  all  avail- 
able means,  there  was  reason  to 
fear  there  would  be  a  deficiency 
at  the  end  of  the  following  year  of 


no  less  than  nine  millions  of  ducats. 
"Where  the  means  of  meeting  thia 
are  to  come  from,**  Philip  bitterly 
remarks,  "I  do  not  know,  un- 
less it  be  from  the  clouds,  for  all 
usual  resources  are  exhausted.** 
This  was  a  sad  legacy,  entailed  on 
the  young  monarch  by  his  father'f 
ambition.  The  document  is  to  bo 
found  in  the  Papiers  d*Stat  de 
Granvelle,  torn.  VI.  pp.  156-165. 


Ch.  VI.] 


THE  SPANISH  TROOPS. 


495 


from  the  king  countermanding  the  departure  of 
the  Spaniards,  resolved,  in  such  an  event,  to  aban 
don  the  dikes,  and  lay  the  country  under  water!* 
Fortunately,  they  were  not  driven  to  this  extremity. 
In  January,  1561,  more  than  a  year  after  the  date 
assigned  by  Philip,  the  nation  was  relieved  of  the 
presence  of  the  intruders.^ 

Philip's  conduct  in  this  affair  it  is  not  very  easy 
to  explain.  However  much  he  might  have  desired 
originally  to  maintain  the  troops  in  the  Nether- 
lands, as  an  armed  police  on  which  he  could  rely 
to  enforce  the  execution  of  his  orders,  it  had 
become  clear  that  the  good  they  might  do  in 
quelling  an  insurrection  was  more  than  counter- 
balanced by  the  probability  of  their  exciting  one. 
It  was  characteristic  of  the  king,  however,  to 
be  slow  in  retreating  from  any  position  he  had 
taken ;  and,  as  we  shall  often  have  occasion  to 
see,  there  was  a  certain  apathy  or  sluggishness  in 
his  nature,  which  led  him  sometimes  to  leave 
events  to  take  their  own  course,  rather  than  to 
shape  a  course  for  them  himself. 

This  difficulty  was  no  sooner  settled,  than  it 
was  followed  by  another  scarcely  less  serious.  We 
have  seen,  in  a  former  chapter,  the  arrangements 
made  for  adding   thirteen  new  bishoprics  to  the 


*  "  Dizen  todos  los  de  aquella  d'Etat  de  Granvelle,  torn.  VI.  p. 

isla  que  ^ntes  se  dexardn  ahogar  200. 

con  ellos,  que  de  poner  la  mano  5  Correspondance    de  Philippe 

mas  adelante  en  el  reparo  tan  ne-  II.,  torn.  I.  p.  192.  —  Strada,  Da 

cessario  de  los  diques.**    Papiers  Bello  Belgico,  p.  111. 


496 


OPPOSITION  TO  THE  GOVERNMENT.      [Book  n 


Oh.  VI.] 


THE  NEW  BISHOPRICS. 


491 


four  already  existing  in  the  Netherlands.  The 
measure,  in  itself  a  good  one,  and  demanded  by 
the  situation  of  the  country,  was,  from  the  posture 
of  affairs  at  that  time,  likely  to  meet  with  opposi- 
tion,  if  not  to  occasion  great  excitement.  For  this 
reason,  the  whole  affair  had  been  kept  profoundly 
secret  by  the  government.  It  was  not  till  1561 
that  Philip  disclosed  his  views,  in  a  letter  to  some 
of  the  principal  nobles  in  the  council  of  state. 
But,  long  before  that  time,  the  project  had  taken 
wind,  and  created  a  general  sensation  through  the 

country. 

The  people  looked  on  it  as  an  attempt  to  subject 
them  to  the  same  ecclesiastical  system  which  existed 
in  Spain.  The  bishops,  by  yirtue  of  their  office, 
were  possessed  of  certain  inquisitorial  powers,  and 
these  were  stUl  further  enlarged  by  the  provisions 
of  the  royal  edicts.  Philip's  attachment  to  the 
Inquisition  was  well  understood,  and  there  was 
probably  not  a  child  in  the  country  who  had  not 
heard  of  the  auto  de  fe  which  he  had  sanctioned  by 
his  presence  on  his  return  to  his  dominions.  The 
present  changes  were  regarded  as  part  of  a  great 
scheme  for  introducing  the  Spanish  Inquisition 
into  the  Netherlands.^  However  erroneous  these 
conclusions,  there  is  little  reason  to  doubt  they 

•  "  Base  con  industria  persua-  to  Philip,  Papiers  d*6tat  de  Gran- 
dido  I  los  pueblos  que  V.  M.  quiere  velle,  torn.  VI.  p.  554.     See  also 
poner  aquf  d  mi  instancia  la  in-  Correspondance  de  Philippe  IL, 
quisicion  de  Espana  so  color  de  torn.  I.,  passim, 
los  nuevos  obispados  "    Granvelle 


were  encouraged  by  those  who  knew  their  fal- 
lacy. 

The  nobles  had  other  reasons  for  opposing  the 
measure.  The  bishops  would  occupy  in  the  legis- 
lature the  place  formerly  held  by  the  abbots,  who 
were  indebted  for  their  election  to  the  religious 
houses  over  which  they  presided.  The  new  prel- 
ates, on  the  contrary,  would  receive  their  nomina- 
tion from  the  crown ;  and  the  nobles  saw  with 
alarm  their  own  independence  menaced  by  the  ac- 
cession of  an  order  of  men  who  would  naturally  be 
subservient  to  the  interests  of  the  monarch.  That 
the  crown  was  not  insensible  to  these  advantages 
is  evident  from  a  letter  of  the  minister,  in  which 
he  sneers  at  the  abbots,  as  "  men  fit  only  to  rule 
over  monasteries,  ever  willing  to  thwart  the  king, 
and  as  perverse  as  the  lowest  of  the  people."  ^ 

But  the  greatest  opposition  arose  from  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  new  dignitaries  were  to  be  main- 
tained. This  was  to  be  done  by  suppressing  the 
offices  of  the  abbots,  and  by  appropriating  the 
revenues   of  their  houses  to  the  maintenance  of 


'  "  Los  quales,  aunque  pueden 
ser  d  proposito  para  administrar 
sus  abadias,  olvidan  el  beneficio 
recebido  del  principe  y  en  las 
cosas  de  su  servicio  y  beneficio 
coraun  de  la  provincia  son  durissi- 
mos,  y  tan  rudes  para  que  se  les 
pueda  persiiadir  la  razon,  como 
seria  qualquier  menor  hombre  del 
pueblo."  Papiers  d'etat  de  Gran- 
velle, torn.  VI.  p.  18. 

VOL.  I.  6.1 


The  intention  of  the  crown  ap- 
pears more  clearly  from  the  rather 
frank  avowal  of  Granvelle  to  the 
duchess  of  Parma,  made  indeed 
some  twenty  years  later,  1582, 
that  it  was  a  great  object  with 
Philip  to  afibrd  a  counterpoise  in 
the  states  to  the  authoritv  of  Wil- 
liam  and  his  associates.  Archives 
de  la  Maison  d'Orange-Nassau, 
torn.  Vni.  p.  96. 


498 


OPPOSITION  TO  THE  GOVERNMENT.      [Book  II. 


the  bishops.  For  this  economical  arrangement 
Granvelle  seems  to  have  been  chiefly  responsible. 
Thus  the  income  —  amounting  to  fifty  thousand 
ducats  —  of  the  abbey  of  Afflighen,  one  of  the 
wealthiest  in  Brabant,  was  to  be  bestowed  on 
the  archiepiscopal  see  of  Mechlin,  to  be  held  by 
the  minister  himself.^  In  virtue  of  that  dignity, 
Granvelle  would  become  primate  of  the  Nether 
lands. 

Loud  was  the  clamor  excited  by  this  arrange- 
ment among  the  members  of  the  religious  frater- 
nities, and  all  those  who  directly  or  indirectly  had 
any  interest  in  them.  It  was  a  manifest  perversion 
of  the  funds  from  the  objects  for  which  they  had 
been  given  to  the  institutions.  It  was  interfering 
with  the  economy  of  these  institutions,  protected 
by  the  national  charters ;  and  the  people  of  Bra- 
bant appealed  to  the  ^'Joyeuse  Entree.''  Jurists 
of  the  greatest  eminence,  in  different  parts  of  Eu- 
rope, were  consulted  as  to  the  legality  of  these 
proceedings.  Thirty  thousand  florins  were  ex- 
pended by  Brabant  alone  in  this  matter,  as  well  as 
in  emplojing  an  agent  at  the  court  of  Rome  to 
exhibit  the  true  state  of  the  affair  to  his  holiness, 
and  to  counteract  the  efforts  of  the  Spanish  gov- 
em«ient.^ 

The  reader  may  remember,  that,  just  before  Phil- 
ip's departure  from  the  Netherlands,  a  bull  arrived 
from  Rome  authorizing  the  erection  of  the  new 

«  Papiers  d'lfitat  de  Granvelle,        ®  Vandervynekt,  Troubles  dm 
torn.  VI.  p.  17.  Pays-Bas,  torn.  II.  p.  71. 


Ch.  VI.J 


THE  NEW  BISHOPRICS. 


499 


bishoprics.  This  was  but  the  initiatory  step. 
Many  other  proceedings  were  necessary  before  the 
consummation  of  the  affair.  Owing  to  impedi- 
ments thrown  in  the  way  by  the  provinces,  and 
the  habitual  tardiness  of  the  court  of  Rome,  nearly 
three  years  elapsed  before  the  final  briefs  were 
expedited  by  Pius  the  Fourth.  New  obstacles 
were  raised  by  the  jealous  temper  of  the  Flemings, 
who  regarded  the  whole  matter  as  a  conspiracy  of 
the  pope  and  the  king  against  the  liberties  of  the 
nation.  Utrecht,  Gueldres,  and  three  other  places, 
refused  to  receive  their  bishops  ;  and  they  never 
obtained  a  footing  there.  Antwerp,  which  was  to 
have  been  made  an  episcopal  see,  sent  a  commis- 
sion to  the  king  to  represent  the  ruin  this  would 
bring  on  its  trade,  from  the  connection  supposed 
to  exist  between  the  episcopal  establishment  and 
the  Spanish  Inquisition.  For  a  year  the  king 
would  not  condescend  to  give  any  heed  to  the 
remonstrance.  He  finally  consented  to  defer  the 
decision  of  the  question  till  his  arrival  in  the 
country ;  and  Antwerp  was  saved  from  its  bishop.^® 
In  another  place  we  find  the  bishop  obtaining 
an  admission  through  the  management  of  Gmn- 


^0  Papiers  d*^tat  de  Granvelle, 
torn.  VI.  p.  6 1 2.  —  Correspondance 
de  Philippe  II.,  torn.  I.  p.  263.  — 
Meteren,  Hist  des  Pays-Bas,  fol. 
SI. 

By  another  arrangement  the 
obligations  of  Afflighen  and  the 
other    abbeys    of   Brabant    were 


commuted  for  the  annual  payment 
of  eight  thousand  ducats  for  the 
support  of  the  bishops.  Thii 
agreement,  as  well  as  that  with 
Antwerp,  was  afterwards  set  aside 
by  the  unscrupulous  Alya,  who 
fully  carried  out  the  original  in- 
tentions of  the  crown. 


500 


OPPOSITION  TO  THE  GOVERNMENT.      [Book  II. 


Ch.  VI .] 


INFLUENCE  OF  GRANVELLE. 


501 


velle,  who  profited  by  the  temporary  absence  of 
the  nobles.  Nowhere  were  the  new  prelates  re- 
ceived with  enthusiasm,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
wherever  they  were  admitted,  it  was  with  a 
coldness  and  silence  that  intimated  too  plainly 
the  aversion  of  the  inhabitants.  Such  was  the 
case  with  the  archbishop  of  Mechlin  himself,  who 
made  his  entry  into  the  capital  of  his  diocese 
with  not  a  voice  to  cheer  or  to  welcome  him." 
In  fact,  everywhere  the  newly  elected  prelate 
seemed  more  like  the  thief  stealthily  climbing  into 
the  fold,  than  the  good  shepherd  who  had  come 
to  guard  it. 

Meanwhile  the  odium  of  these  measures  fell 
on  the  head  of  the  minister.  No  other  man  had 
been  so  active  in  enforcing  them,  and  he  had 
the  credit  universally  with  the  people  of  having 
originated  the  whole  scheme,  and  proposed  it  to 
the  sovereign.  But  from  this  Philip  expressly 
exonerates  him  in  a  letter  to  the  regent,  in 
which  he  says,  that  the  whole  plan  had  been 
settled  long  before  it  was  communicated  to  Gran- 
velle.^^  Indeed,  the  latter,  with  some  show  of 
reason,  demanded  whether,  being  already  one 
of  four  bishops  in  the  country,  he  should  be 
likely  to   recommend  a  plan  which  would  make 


"  Vandervynckt,  Troubles  des 
Pays-Bas,  torn.  H.  p.  77. 

*8  "  En  ce  qui  concerne  les 
nouveaux  ^v§ch^s,  le  Roi  d^lare 
que  jamais  Granvelle  ne  lui  en 
fonseilla  I'drection ;    qu'il    en  fit 


mdme  dans  le  principe  un  myst^re 
au  cardinal,  et  que  celui-ci  n*en  eut 
connaissance  que  lorsque  Taffaire 
^tait  d4jk  bien  avanc^e.**  Corre- 
spondance  de  Philippe  II.,  torn.  L 
p.  207. 


him  only  one  of  seventeen.^^  This  appeal  to  self- 
interest  did  not  wholly  satisfy  those  who  thought 
that  it  was  better  to  be  the  first  of  seventeen,  than 
to  be  merely  one  of  four  where  all  were  equal. 

Whatever  may  have  been  Granvelle's  original 
way  of  thinking  in  the  matter,  it  is  certain  that, 
whether  it  arose  from  his  accomm(»dating  temper, 
or  from  his  perceptions  of  the  advantages  of  the 
scheme  being  quickened  by  his  prospect  of  the  pri- 
macy, he  soon  devoted  himself,  heart  as  well  as 
hand,  to  carry  out  the  royal  ^dews.  "  I  am  con- 
vinced," he  writes,  in  the  spring  of  1560,  to 
Philip's  secretary,  Perez,  "  that  no  measure  could 
be  more  advantageous  to  the  country,  or  more 
necessary  for  the  support  of  religion;  and  if 
necessary  to  the  success  of  the  scheme,  I  would 
willingly  devote  to  it  my  fortune  and  my  life."^* 

Accordingly  we  find  him  using  all  his  strength 
to  carry  the  project  through,  devising  expedients 
for  raising  the  episcopal  revenues,  and  thus  oc- 
cupying a  position  which  exposed  him  to  general 
obloquy.  He  felt  this  bitterly,  and  at  times,  even 
with  all  his  constancy,  was  hardly  able  to  endure  it. 
"Though  I  say  nothing,"  he  writes  in  the  month 
of  September,  1561,  to  the  Spanish  ambassador  m 
Rome,  "  I  feel  the  danger  of  the  situation  in  which 
the  king  has  placed  me.  All  the  odium  of  these 
measures  falls  on  my  head ;  and  I  only  pray  that  a 

13  Archives  de  la  Maison  d'O-     de  sa  fortune,  de  son  sang  et  de  sa 
range-Nassau,  torn.  VIII.  p.  54.         propre  vie.**     Correspondance  d« 
1*  "  n  serait  pret  k  y  contribuer    Philippe  II.,  torn.  I.  p.  189. 


I 


502 


OPPOSITION  TO  THE  GOVERNMENT.      [Book  U 


Ch.  VI.] 


INFLUENCE  OF  GRANVELLE. 


505 


remedy  for  the  evil  may  be  found,  though  it  should 
be  by  the  sacrifice  of  myself.  Would  to  God 
the  erection  of  these  bishoprics  had  never  been 
thought  of!"^ 

In  February,  1561,  Granvelle  received  a  cardi- 
nal's hat  from  Pope  Pius  the  Fourth.  He  did 
not  show  the  alacrity  usually  manifested  in  accept- 
ing this  distuiguished  honor.  He  had  obtained 
it  by  the  private  intercession  of  the  duchess  of 
Parma ;  and  he  feared  lest  the  jealousy  of  Philip 
might  be  alarmed,  were  it  to  any  other  than  him- 
self that  his  minister  owed  this  distinction.  But 
the  king  gave  the  proceeding  his  cordial  sanction, 
declaring  to  Granvelle  that  the  reward  was  no 
higher  than  his  desert. 

Thus  clothed  with  the  Roman  purple,  primate 
of  the  Netherlands,  and  first  minister  of  state, 
Granvelle  might  now  look  down  on  the  proudest 
noble  in  the  land.  He  stood  at  the  head  of  both 
the  civil  and  the  ecclesiastical  administration  of 
the  country.  AU  authority  centred  in  his  person. 
Indeed,  such  had  been  the  organization  of  the 
council  of  state,  that  the  minister  might  be  said 
to  be  not  so  much  the  head  of  the  government 
as  the  government  itself. 

The  affairs  of  the  coimcil  were  conducted  in  the 


15  tt  Yeo  el  odio  de  los  Estados  pensado  en  esta  ereccion  destas 

cargar  sobre  mi,  mas  pluguiesse  i  yglesias ;  amen^  (tmen."    Archivea 

Dies  que  con  sacrificarme  fuesse  de    la   Maison    d'Orange-Nassau, 

todo  remediado Que  plugi-  tom.  I.  p.  117. 

era  i  Dio6  que  jamas  se  huviera 


manner  prescribed  by  Philip.  Ordinary  business 
passed  through  the  hands  of  the  whole  body ;  but 
afiairs  of  moment  were  reserved  for  the  cardinal 
and  his  two  coadjutors  to  settle  with  the  regent. 
On  such  occasions  the  other  ministers  were  not 
even  summoned,  or,  if  summoned,  such  only 
of  the  despatches  from  Spain  as  the  minister 
chose  to  communicate  were  read,  and  the  re- 
mainder reserved  for  the  consulta.  When,  as  did 
sometimes  happen,  the  nobles  carried  a  meas- 
ure in  opposition  to  Granvelle,  he  would  refei* 
the  whole  question  to  the  court  at  Madrid.^^  By 
this  expedient  he  gained  time  for  the  present, 
and  probably  obtained  a  decision  in  his  favor  at 
last.  The  regent  conformed  entirely  to  the  car- 
dinal's views.  The  best  possible  understanding 
seems  to  have  subsisted  between  them,  to  judge 
from  the  tone  of  their  correspondence  with  Philip, 
in  which  each  of  the  parties  bestows  the  most  un- 
qualified panegyric  on  the  other.  Yet  there  was  a 
strange  reserve  in  their  official  intercourse.  Even 
when  occupying  the  same  palace,  they  are  said  to 
have  communicated  with  each  other  by  writing.^^ 
The  reason  suggested  for  this  singular  proceeding 
is,  that  it  might  not  appear,  from  their  being  much 
together,  that  the  regent  was  acting  so  entirely 
under  the  direction  of  the  minister.  It  is  certain 
that  both  Margaret  and  Granvelle  had  an  uncom- 
mon passion  for  letter-writing,  as  is  shown  by  the 

J^  Meferen,  Hist,  des  Pays-Bas,        17  Strada,  de  Bello  Belgico,  p^ 
fol.  63.  88. 


It  K 

m 


504 


OPPOSITION  TO  THE  GOVERNMENT.      [Book  U 


length  and  number  of  their  epistles,  particularly 
to  the  king.  The  cardinal  especially  went  into 
a  gossiping  minuteness  of  detail,  to  which  few 
men  in  his  station  would  have  condescended. 
But  his  master,  to  whom  his  letters  at  this 
period  were  chiefly  addressed,  had  the  virtue  of 
patience  in  an  extraordinary  degree,  as  is  evinced 
by  the  faithful  manner  in  which  he  perused  these 
despatches,  and  made  notes  upon  them  with  hid 
own  hand. 

The  minister  occupied  a  palace  in  Brussels, 
and  had  another  residence  at  a  short  distance  from 
the  capital.^®  He  maintained  great  pomp  in  his 
establishment,  was  attended  by  a  large  body  of 
retainers,  and  his  equipage  and  liveries  were  dis- 
tinguished by  their  magnificence.  He  gave  nu- 
merous banquets,  held  large  levees,  and,  in  short, 
assumed  a  state  in  his  manner  of  living  which 
corresponded  with  his  station,  and  did  no  violence 
to  his  natuml  taste.  We  may  well  believe  that 
the  great  lords  of  the  country,  whose  ancestors 
had  for  centuries  filled  its  highest  places,  must 
have  chafed  as  they  saw  themselves  thrown  into 
the  shade  by  one  whose  fortunes  had  been  thus 
suddenly  forced  to  this  unnatural  height  by  the 
sunshine  of  royal  favor.  Their  indignation  was 
heightened  by  the  tricky  arrangement,  which,  while 
it  left  them  ciphers  in  the  administration,  made 
them  responsible  to  the  people  for  its  measures. 
And  if  the  imputation  to  Granvelle  of  arrogance, 

18  Vandervynckt,  Troubles  des  Pays-Bas,  torn.  II.  p.  52. 


Ch.  VIJ 


OPPOSED  BY  THE  NOBLES 


506 


in  the  pride  of  his  full-blown  fortunes,  was  war- 
ranted, feelings  of  a  personal  nature  may  have 
mingled  with  those  of  general  discontent. 

But,  however  they  may  have  felt,  the  Flemish 
lords  must  be  allowed  not  to  have  been  precipitate 
in  the  demonstration  of  their  feelings.  It  is  not 
till  1562  that  we  observe  the  cardinal,  in  his  corre- 
spondence with  Spain,  noticing  any  discourtesy  in 
the  nobles,  or  intimating  the  existence  of  any  mis- 
understanding with  them.  In  the  spring  of  the 
preceding  year  we  find  the  prince  of  Orange  "  com- 
mending himself  cordially  and  affectionately  to  the 
cardinal's  good- will " ;  and  subscribing  himself, 
"your  very  good  friend  to  command." ^^  In  four 
months  after  this,  on  the  twenty-third  of  July,  we 
have  a  letter  from  this  "  very  good  friend "  and 
Count  Egmont,  addressed  to  Philip.  In  this  epis- 
tle the  writers  complain  bitterly  of  their  exclusion 
from  all  business  of  importance  in  the  council  of 
state.  They  were  only  invited  to  take  part  in 
deliberations  of  no  moment.  This  was  contrary  to 
the  assurance  of  his  majesty  when  they  reluctant- 
ly accepted  office ;  and  it  was  in  obedience  to  his 
commands  to  advise  him  if  this  should  occur  that 
they  now  wrote  to  him.*^    Nevertheless,  they  should 


W  Correspondance  de  Guillaume 
le  Taciturne,  torn.  II.  p.  15. 

30  The  nobles,  it  appears,  had 
complained  to  Philip  that  they  had 
been  made  to  act  this  unworthy- 
part  in  the  cabinet  of  the  duke 
of   Savoy,    when   regent  of   the 

VOL.  I.  64 


Netherlands.  Granvelle,  singularly 
enough,  notices  this  in  a  letter  to 
the  Regent  IVIarj',  in  1555,  treating 
it  as  a  mere  suspicion  on  their 
part  (See  Correspondance  de 
Guillaume  le  Taciturne,  torn.  II., 
Prdface,  p.  ix.)      The  course  of 


r 


506 


OPPOSITION  TO  THE  GOVERNMENT.      [Book  U 


have  still  continued  to  bear  the  indignity  in  si- 
lence, had  they  not  found  that  they  were  held 
responsible  by  the  people  for  measures  in  which 
they  had  no  shai-e.^  —  Considering  the  arrangement 
Philip  had  made  for  the  consulta^  one  has  little 
reason  to  commend  his  candor  in  this  transaction, 
and  not  much  to  praise  his  policy.  As  he  did  not 
redress  the  evil,  his  implied  disavowal  of  being 
privy  to  it  would  hardly  go  for  anything  with  the 
injured  party.  In  his  answer,  Philip  thanked  the 
nobles  for  their  zeal  in  his  service,  and  promised  to 
reply  to  them  more  at  large  on  the  return  of  Count 
Hoome  to  Flanders.^ 

There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  Granvelle 
was  ever  acquainted  with  the  fact  of  the  letter 
having  been  written  by  the  two  lords.  The  privi- 
lege claimed  by  the  novelist,  who  looks  over  the 
shoulders  of  his  heroes  and  heroines  when  they 
are  inditing  their  epistles,  is  also  enjoyed  by  the 
historian.  With  the  materials  rescued  from  the 
mouldering  archives  of  the  past,  he  can  present 
the  reader  with  a  more  perfect  view  of  the  motives 
and  opinions  of  the  great  actors  in  the  drama  three 
centuries  ago,  than  they  possessed  in  respect  to  one 
another.  This  is  particularly  true  of  the  period 
before  us,  when  the  correspondence  of  the  parties 
interested  was  ample  in  itself,  and,  through  the 
care  taken  of  it,  in  public  and  private  collections, 

things  under  the  present  regency        21  Correspondance  de  Philippe 
may  be  thought  to  show  there  was    II.,  torn.  I.  p.  195. 
good  ground  for  this  suspicion.  ^a  Ibid.,  p.  197. 


Ch  VI.] 


OPPOSED  BY  THE  NOBLES. 


507 


has  been  well  preserved.  Such  care  was  seldom  be- 
stowed on  historical  documents  of  this  class  before 
the  sixteenth  century. 

It  is  not  till  long  —  nearly  a  year  —  after  the  date 
of  the  preceding  letter,  that  anything  appears  to 
intimate  the  existence  of  a  coldness,  much  less  of  an 
open  rupture,  between  Granvelle  and  the  discon- 
tented nobles.    Meanwhile,  the  religious  troubles  in 
France  had  been  fast  gathering  to  a  head ;  and  the 
opposite  factions  ranged  themselves  under  the  ban- 
ners  of  their  respective  chiefs,  prepared  to  decide  the 
question  by  arms.     Philip  the  Second,  who  stood 
forth  as  the  champion  of  Catholicism,  not  merely 
in  his  own  dominions,  but  throughout  Christendom, 
watched  with  anxiety  the  struggle  going  forward  in 
the  neighboring  kingdom.    It  had  the  deeper  inter- 
est for  him,  from  its  influence  on  the  Low  Countries. 
His  Italian  possessions  were  separated  from  France 
by  the  Alps ;  his  Spanish,  by  the  Pyrenees.     But 
no  such  mountain  barrier  lay  between  France  and 
Flanders.     They  were  not  even  separated,  in  the 
border  provinces,  by  difference  of  language.     Every 
shock  giv^en  to  France  must  necessarily  be  felt  in 
the  remotest   corner  of  the  Netherlands.      Gran- 
velle  was  so  well  aware  of  this,  that  he  besought 
the  king  to  keep  an  eye  on  his  French  neighbors, 
and  support  them  in  the  maintenance  of  the  Ro- 
man  Catholic   religion.     "That    they   should   be 
maintained   in   this   is   quite  as   important  to  us 
as  it  is  to  them.     Many  here,"  he  adds,  "  would 
be  right  glad  to  see  affairs  go  badly  for  the  Catho- 


508 


OPPOSITION  TO  THE  GOVERNMENT.      [Book  H 


lies  in  that  kingdom.  No  noble  as  yet  among  us 
has  openly  declared  himself.  Should  any  one  do 
so,  God  only  could  save  the  country  from  the  fate 
of  France." » 

Acting  on  these  hints,  and  conformably  to  his 
own  views,  Philip  sent  orders  to  the  regent  to 
raise  two  thousand  men,  and  send  them  across  the 
borders  to  support  the  French  Catholics.  The 
orders  met  with  decided  resistance  in  the  council 
of  state.  The  great  Flemish  lords,  at  this  time, 
must  have  affected,  if  they  did  not  feel,  devotion 
to  the  established  religion.  But  they  well  knew 
there  was  too  large  a  leaven  of  heresy  in  the  coun- 
try to  make  these  orders  palatable.  They  felt  no 
desire,  moreover,  thus  unnecessarily  to  mix  them- 
selves up  with  the  feuds  of  France.  They  repre- 
sented that  the  troops  could  not  safely  be  dispensed 
with  in  the  present  state  of  feeling  at  home  ;  and 
that,  if  they  marched  against  the  Protestants  of 
France,  the  German  Protestants  might  be  expected 
to  march  against  them. 

Granvelle,  on  the  other  hand,  would  have  en- 
forced the  orders  of  Philip,  as  essential  to  the 
security  of  the  Netherlands  themselves.  Mar- 
garet, thus  pressed  by  the  opposite  parties,  felt 
the  embarrassment  of  either  course.     The  altema- 


83  "  Que  bien  claro  muestran 
muchos  que  no  les  pesaria  de  que 
faessen  mal,  y  que,  si  lo  de  all^ 
diesse  al  traves,  bien  brevemente 
le  yria  per  aci  el  mismo  camino. 
Y  ba  sido  muestra  dicha,  que  nin- 


guno  destos  senores  se  baya  decla- 
rado,  que  si  lo  hiziera  alguno,  otro 
que  Dios  no  pudiera  estorvar  que 
lo  de  aqui  no  siguiera  el  eamino 
de  Francia."  Correspondance  de 
Philippe  n.,  torn.  I.  p.  230. 


Ch.  VI.] 


OPPOSED  BY  THE  NOBLES. 


509 


tive  presented  was,  that  of  disobeying  the  king,  or 
of  incurring  the  resentment,  perhaps  the  resistance, 
of  the  nation.  Orange  and  Egmont  besought  her 
to  convoke  the  states-general,  as  the  only  safe 
counsellors  in  such  an  emergency.  The  states 
had  often  been  convened  on  matters  of  less  mo- 
ment by  the  former  regent,  Mary  of  Hungary. 
But  the  cardinal  had  no  mind  to  invoke  the  inter- 
ference of  that  "  mischievous  animal,  the  people."  ^ 
He  had  witnessed  a  convocation  of  the  states 
previous  to  the  embarkation  of  Philip;  and  he 
had  not  forgotten  the  independent  tone  then  as- 
sumed  by  that  body.  It  had  been,  indeed,  the 
last  mjunction  of  the  king  to  his  sister,  on  no 
account  to  call  a  meeting  of  the  national  legisla- 
ture till  his  return  to  the  country. 

But  while  on  this  ground  Margaret  refused  to 
summon  the  states-general,  she  called  a  meeting  of 
the  order  of  the  Golden  Fleece,  to  whom  she  was 
to  apply  for  counsel  on  extraordinary  occasions. 
The  knights  of  the  order  consisted  of  persons  of 
the  highest  consideration  in  the  country,  including 
the  governors  of  the  provinces.  In  May,  1562, 
they  assembled  at  Brussels.  Before  meeting  in 
public,  the  prince  of  Orange  invited  them  to  a 
conference  in  his  own  palace.  He  there  laid  be- 
fore them  the  state  of  the  country,  and  endeavored 
to  concert  with  the  members  some  regular  system 
of  resistance  to  the  exclusive  and  arbitrary  course 

»•  "  Ce  m^bant  animal  nomm^    words,  in  a  letter  to  tbe    king. 
*•  peuple**;  —  tbe  cardinal's  own    Ibid.,  p.  290. 


510  OPPOSITION  TO  THE  GOVERNMENT      [Book  n 

of  the  minister.     Although  no  definite  action  took 
place  at  that  time,  most  of  those  present  would 
seem  to  have  fallen  in  with  the  views  of  the  prince. 
There   were   some,   however,   who   took   opposite 
ground,  and  who  declared  themselves  content  with 
Granvelle,  and  not  disposed  to  prescribe  to  their 
sovereign  the  choice  of  his  ministers.     The  fore- 
most of  these  were  the  duke  of  Arschot,  a  zealous 
Catholic,  and  Count  Barlaimont,  president  of  the 
council  of  finance,  and,  as  we  have  already  seen,  al- 
together  devoted  to  the  minister.     This  nobleman 
communicated  to  Margaret  the  particulars  of  the 
meeting   in   the   prince's   palace;    and  the  regent 
was  careful  to  give  the  knights  of  the  order  such 
incessant  occupation  during  the  remainder  of  their 
stay   in   the   capital,  as   to   afford   the   prince   of 
Orange  no   opportunity   of  pursuing   his  scheme 
of  agitr4Lion.^ 

Before  the  assembly  of  the  Golden  Fleece  had 
been  dissolved,  it  was  decided  to  send  an  envoy  to 
the  kmg  to  lay  before  him  the  state  of  the  country, 
both  in  regard  to  the  religious  excitement,  much 
stimulated  in  certain  quarters  by  the  condition  of 
France,  and  to  the  financial  embarrassments,  which 
now  pressed  heavily  on  the  government.  The 
person  selected  for  the  office  was  Florence  de 
Montmorency,  lord  of  Montigny,  a  cavalier  who 
had  the  boldness  to  avow  his  aversion  to  any  inter- 
ference with  the  rights  of  conscience,  and  whose 

«  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  p.  145.— Correspondance  de  PhilipM 
n.,  torn.  I.  p.  202. 


Ch.  VI  • 


OPPOSED  BY  THE  NOBLES. 


511 


sympathies,  it  will  be  believed,  were  not  on  the 
side  of  the  minister. 

Soon  after  his  departure,  the  vexed  question  of 
aid  to  France  was  settled  in  the  council  by  com- 
muting personal  service  for  money.  It  was  de- 
cided to  raise  a  subsidy  of  fifty  thousand  crowns, 
to  be  remitted  at  once  to  the  French  govern- 
ment.^ 

Montigny  reached  Spain  in  June,  1562.  He 
was  graciously  received  by  Philip,  who,  in  a  pro- 
tracted audience,  gathered  from  him  a  circumstan- 
tial account  of  the  condition  of  the  Netherlands. 
In  answer  to  the  royal  queries,  the  envoy  also  ex- 
posed the  misunderstanding  which  existed  between 
the  minister  and  the  nobles. 

But  the  duchess  of  Parma  did  not  trust  this 
delicate  affair  to  the  representations  of  Montigny. 
She  wrote  herself  to  her  brother,  in  Italian,  which, 
when  she  would  give  her  own  views  on  matters 
of  importance,  she  used  instead  of  French,  ordi- 
narily employed  by  the  secretaries.  In  Italian 
she  expressed  herself  with  the  greatest  fluency, 
and  her  letters  in  that  language,  for  the  purpose 
of  secrecy,  were  written  with  her  own  hand. 

The  duchess  informed  the  king  of  the  troubles 
that  had  arisen  with  the  nobles  ;  charging  Orange 
and  Egmont,  especially,  as  the  source  of  them. 
She  accused  them  of  maliciously  circulating  ru- 
mors  that    the   cardinal    had   advised    Philip   to 

38  Correspondance  de  Philippe  11.,  torn.  I.  pp.  210,  214. 


512 


OPPOSITION  TO  THE  GOVERNMENT.      [Book  H. 


invade  the  country  with  an  armed  force,  and  tc 
cut  off  the  heads  of  some  five  or  six  of  the  princi- 
pal malecontents.^  She  paid  a  high  tribute  to  the 
minister's  loyalty,  and  his  talent  for  business  ;  and 
she  besought  the  king  to  disabuse  Montigny  in 
respect  to  the  common  idea  of  a  design  to  intro- 
duce the  Spanish  Inquisition  into  the  country, 
and  to  do  violence  to  its  institutions. 

The  war  was  now  openly  proclaimed  between 
the  cardinal  and  the  nobles.  Whatever  decorum 
might  be  preserved  in  their  intercourse,  there  was 
no  longer  any  doubt  as  to  the  hostile  attitude  in 
which  they  were  hereafter  to  stand  in  respect  to 
each  other.  In  a  letter  written  a  short  time 
previous  to  that  of  the  regent,  the  cardinal  gives 
a  brief  view  of  his  situation  to  the  king.  The 
letter  is  written  in  the  courageous  spirit  of  one 
who  does  not  shrink  from  the  dangers  that  menace 
him.  After  an  observation  intimating  no  great 
confidence  in  the  orthodoxy  of  the  prince  of 
Orange,  he  remarks:  "Though  the  prince  shows 
me  a  friendly  face,  when  absent  he  is  full  of  dis- 
content. They  have  formed  a  league  against  me,'' 
he  continues,  "  and  threaten  my  life.  But  I  have 
little  fear  on  that  score,  as  I  think  they  are  much 
too  wise  to  attempt  any  such  thing.  They  com- 
plain of  my  excluding  them  from  ofiice,  and  en- 
deavoring to  secure  an  absolute  authority  for  your 

27  «t  A  qui  fls  imputent  d'avoir    en  force,  pour  conqu^rir  le  pays.*" 
^rit  au  Roi  qu'il  fallait  couper  une    Ibid.,  p.  203. 
demi-douzaine  de  tdtes,  et  venir 


Ch.  VI.] 


OPPOSED  BY  THE  NOBLES. 


513 


majesty.  All  which  they  repeat  openly  at  their 
banquets,  with  no  good  effect  on  the  people.  Yet 
never  were  there  governors  of  the  provinces  who 
possessed  so  much  power  as  they  have,  or  who  had 
^  all  appointments  more  completely  in  their  own 
hands.  In  truth,  their  great  object  is  to  reduce 
your  majesty  and  the  regent  to  the  condition  of 
mere  ciphers  in  the  government." 

"They  refuse  to  come  to  my  table,"  he  adds, 
"  at  which  I  smile.  I  find  guests  enough  in  the 
gentry  of  the  country,  the  magistrates,  and  even 
the  worthy  burghers  of  the  city,  whose  good-will 
it  is  well  to  conciliate  against  a  day  of  trouble. 
These  evils  I  bear  with  patience,  as  I  can.  For 
adversity  is  sent  by  the  Almighty,  who  will  recom- 
pense those  who  suffer  for  religion  and  justice." 
The  cardinal  was  fond  of  regarding  himself  in  the 
light  of  a  martyr. 

He  concludes  this  curious  epistle  with  beseech- 
ing the  king  to  come  soon  to  the  Netherlands; 
"  to  come  well  attended,  and  with  plenty  of  money; 
since,  thus  provided,  he  will  have  no  lack  of  troops, 
if  required  to  act  abroad,  while  his  presence  will 
serve  to  calm  the  troubled  spirits  at  home."^  The 
politic  minister  says  nothing  of  the  use  that  might 
be  made  of  these  troops  at  home.  Such  an  inti- 
mation would  justify  the  charges  already  brought 


*  "  Lo  principal  es  que  venga  y  su  presencia  valdra  mucho  para 

con  dinero  y  cr^dito,  que  con  esto  assossegar  todo  lo  de  sus  siibditos." 

no  faltar^  gente  para  lo  que  se  Papiers  d'etat  de  Granvelle,  torn. 

huviesse  de  hazcr  con  los  vezinos,  VI.  p.  562. 

VOL.  I.  65 


514 


OPPOSITION  TO  THE  GOVERNMENT.      [Book  II. 


Cm.  VI.] 


OPPOSED  BY  THE  NOBLES. 


515 


against  him.      He  might  safely  leave  his  master 
to  make  that  application  for  himself 

In   December,    1562,   Montigny  returned  from 
his   mission,  and  straightway  made  his  report  to 
the  council  of  state.     He  enlarged  on  the  solici- 
tude which  Philip  had  shown  for  the  interests  of 
the  country.     Nothing  had  been  further  from  his 
mind  than   to   introduce   into  it  the  Spanish  In- 
quisition.    He  was  .only  anxious   to   exterminate 
the  growing  heresy  from  the  land,  and  called  on 
those  in  authority  to  aid  in  the  good  work  with 
all   their   strength.     Finally,   though    pressed   by 
want  of  funds,  he  promised,  so  soon  as  he  could 
settle  his  affairs  in  Spain,  to  return  to  Flanders.  — 
It  was  not  unusual  for  Philip  to  hold  out  the  idea 
of  his  speedy  return  to  the  countr)\     The  king's 
gracious  reception  seems  to  have  had  some  effect 
on  Montigny.     At  all  events,  he  placed  a  degree 
of  confidence  in  the  royal  professions,  in  which  the 
sceptical  temper  of  William  was  far  from  acquies- 
cing.    He  intimated   as  much  to  his  friend,  and 
the  latter,   not    relishing    the    part   of    a    dupe, 
which   the  prince's  language  seemed  to  assign  to 
him,   retorted  in   an   angry   manner;    and   some- 
thing like  an  altercation  took   place  between  the 
two   lords,  in  the   presence   of  the   duchess.     At- 
least,  such  is  the  report  of  the  historians.®     But 
historians  in  a  season  of  faction  are  not  the  best 

»  Vandervj-nckt,  Troubles  des    24,  — a  doubtful  authority,  it  miMt 
Pays-Bas,  torn.  II.   p.  91.  — M4-    be  admitted, 
moires  de  Granvelle,  torn.  II.  p. 


authorities.  In  the  troubles  before  us  we  have 
usually  a  safer  guide  in  the  correspondence  of 
the  actors. 

By  Montigny  despatches  were  also  brought  from 
Philip  for  the  duchess  of  Parma.  They  contained 
suggestions  as  to  her  policy  in  reference  to  the 
factious  nobles,  whom  the  king  recommended  to 
her,  if  possible,  to  divide  by  sowing  the  seeds  of 
jealousy  among  them.*^  Egmont  was  a  stanch 
Catholic,  loyal  in  his  disposition,  ambitious,  and 
vain.  It  would  not  be  difficult  to  detach  him 
from  his  associates  by  a  show  of  preference,  which, 
while  it  flattered  his  vanity,  would  excite  in  them 
jealousy  and  distrust. 

In  former  times  there  had  been  something  of 
these  feelings  betwixt  Egmont  and  the  prince  of 
Orange.  At  least  there  had  been  estrangement. 
This  might,  in  some  degree,  be  referred  to  the  con- 
trast in  their  characters.  Certainly  no  two  char- 
acters could  be  more  strongly  contrasted  with  each 
other.  Egmont,  frank,  fiery,  impulsive  in  his  tem- 
per, had  little  in  common  with  the  cool,  cau- 
tious, and  calculating  William.  The  showy  qual- 
ities of  the  former,  lying  on  the  surface,  more 
readily  caught  the  popular  eye.  There  was  a 
depth    in   William's    character    not    easy  to    be 


^  "It  is  not  true,**  Philip  re-  adds  tbe  monarch,  "it  may  per- 
marks,  in  a  letter  to  the  duchess  haps  be  well  enough  to  have  re- 
dated  July  17,  1562,  "that  Gran-  course  to  this  measure."  Corre* 
relle  ever  recommended  me  to  cut  spondance  de  Philippe  IF.,  torn.  I 
off  half  a  dozen  heads.     Though,"  p.  207. 


M 


516  OPPOSITION  TO  THE  GOVERNMENT.      [Book  H. 

fathomed,  —  an  habitual  reserve,  which  made   it 
difficult  even  for   those   who  knew  him  best  al- 
ways   to   read  him  right.     Yet  the  coolness  be- 
tween  these   two    nobles    may  have    arisen    less 
from   difference  of  character  than  from  similarity 
of  position.     Both,  by  their  mnk  and  services,  took 
the  foremost  ground  in  public  estimation,  so  that 
it  was   scarcely   possible   they   should  not  jostle 
each  other  in  the  career  of  ambition.     But  how- 
ever  divided  formerly,  they  were  now  too  closely 
united  by  the  pressure  of  external   circumstances 
to  be   separated  by  the   subtle   policy  of  Philip. 
Under  the  influence   of  a  common  disgust  with 
the    administration    and    its    arbitrary   measures, 
they   contmued   to   act  in  concert  together,  and, 
in   their    union,   derived    benefit   from    the   very 
opposition  of  their  characters.      For  what  better 
augury   of    success    than    that    afforded    by   the 
union   of  wisdom    in    council  with    boldness   in 

execution  ] 

The  consequences  of  the  troubles  in  France,  as 
had  been  foreseen,  were  soon  visible  in  the  Low 
Countries.  The  Protestants  of  that  time  con- 
stituted a  sort  of  federative  republic,  or  rather 
a  great  secret  association,  extending  through  the 
different  parts  of  Europe,  but  so  closely  linked 
together  that  a  blow  struck  in  one  quarter  in- 
stantly vibrated  to  every  other.  The  Calvinists 
in  the  border  provinces  of  the  Low  Countries 
felt,  in  particular,  great  sympathy  with  the 
movements    of    their    French    brethren.     Manj 


Gh.  VI.] 


RESISTANCE  TO   THE  EDICTS. 


sn 


Huguenots  took  shelter  among  them.  Others 
came  to  propagate  their  doctrines.  Tracts  in 
the  French  tongue  were  distributed  and  read  with 
avidity.  Preachers  harangued  in  the  conventicles ; 
and  the  people,  by  hundreds  and  thousands,  openly 
assembled,  and,  marching  in  procession,  chanted 
the  Psalms  of  David  in  the  translation  of  Marot.^^ 

This  open  defiance  of  the  edicts  called  for  the 
immediate  interposition  of  the  government.  At 
Toumay  two  Calvinist  preachers  were  arrested, 
and,  after  a  regular  trial,  condemned  and  burned 
at  the  stake.  In  Valenciennes  two  others  were 
seized,  in  like  manner,  tried,  and  sentenced  to  the 
same  terrible  punishment.  But  as  the  marquis  of 
Bergen,  the  governor  of  the  province,  had  left  the 
place  on  a  visit  to  a  distant  quarter,  the  execution 
was  postponed  till  his  return.  Seven  months  thus 
passed,  when  the  regent  wrote  to  the  marquis, 
remonstrating  on  his  unseasonable  absence  from 
his  post.  He  had  the  spirit  to  answer,  that  "it 
neither  suited  his  station  nor  his  character  to 
play  the  part  of  an  executioner."**  The  marquis 
of  Bergen  had  early  ranged  himself  on  the  side 
of  the  prince  of  Orange,  and  he  is  repeatedly 
noticed  by  Granvelle,  in  his  letters,  as  the  most 
active  of  the  malecontents.  It  may  well  be  believed 
he  was  no  friend  to  the  system  of  persecution  pur- 

31  Strada,  De  BeUo  Belgico,  pp.        32  u  Qu'Q  n'^toit  ni  de  son  ca- 

78,    79,   133,    134.  —  Renom    de  ractere  ni  de  son  honneur  d*6tr« 

Francia,    Alborotos    de    Flandes,  le  Bourreau  des  Heretiques.'*    M^ 

MS.  — Meteren,   Hist  des  Pays-  moires  de  Granvelle,    torn.   I.  p 

Bas,  foL  31,  32.  S04. 


518 


OPPOSITION  TO  THE  GOVERNMENT.      [Book  U 


Ch   VI-l 


RESISTANCE  TO  THE  EDICTS. 


519 


I 


11 


f 


m 


i 


sued  by  the  govemment.  Urged  by  Gi-anvelle,  the 
magistrates  of  the  city  at  length  assumed  the  office 
of  conducting  the  execution  themselves.  On  the 
day  appointed,  the  two  martyrs  were  escorted  to 
the  stake.  The  funeral  pile  was  prepared,  and 
the  torch  was  about  to  be  applied,  when,  at  a 
signal  from  one  of  the  prisoners,  the  multitude 
around  broke  in  upon  the  place  of  execution, 
trampled  down  the  guards  and  officers  of  justice, 
scattered  the  fagots  collected  for  the  sacrifice, 
and  liberated  the  victims.  Then,  throwmg  them- 
selves  into  a  procession,  they  paraded  the  streets 
of  the  city,  singing  their  psalms  and  Calvinistic 

hymns. 

Meanwhile  the  officers  of  justice  succeeded  in 
again  arresting  the  unfortunate  men,  and  carry- 
ing them  back  to  prison.  But  it  was  not  long 
before  their  friends,  assembling  in  greater  num- 
bers than  before,  stormed  the  fortress,  forced  the 
gates,  and,  rescuing  the  prisoners,  carried  them 
off  in  triumph. 

These  high-handed  measures  caused,  as  may 
be  supposed,  great  indignation  at  the  court  of 
the  regent.  She  instantly  ordered  a  levy  of  three 
thousand  troops,  and,  placing  them  under  the 
marquis  of  Bergen,  sent  them  against  the  insur- 
gents. The  force  was  such  as  to  overcome  all 
resistance.  Arrests  were  made  in  great  numbers, 
and  the  majesty  of  the  law  was  vindicated  by  the 
trial  and  punishment  of  the  ringleaders.^ 

»  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  pp.  136,  137.  — Renom  de  FrancMV 


"Rigorous  and  severe  measures,"  wrote  Philip, 
'  are  the  only  ones  to  be  employed  in  matters 
of  religion.  It  is  by  fear  only  that  the  rabble" 
—  meaning  by  this  the  Reformers  — "  can  be 
made  to  do  their  duty,  and  not  always  then."** 
This  liberal  sentiment  found  less  favor  in  the 
Low  Countries  than  in  Spain.  "  One  must 
ponder  well,"  writes  the  cardinal  to  Perez,  the 
royal  secretary,  "  before  issuing  those  absolute 
decrees,  which  are  by  no  means  as  implicitly 
received  here  as  they  are  in  Italy."  ^  The 
Fleming  appealed  to  his  laws,  and,  with  all  the 
minister's  zeal,  it  was  found  impossible  to  move 
forward  at  the  fiery  pace  of  the  Spanish  Inqui- 
sition. 

"  It  would  raise  a  tumult  at  once,"  he  writes, 
"  should  we  venture  to  arrest  a  man  without  the 
clearest  evidence.  No  man  can  be  proceeded 
against  without  legal  proof"  ^  But  an  insur- 
mountable obstacle  in  the  way  of  enforcing  the 
cruel  edicts  lay  in  the'  feelings  of  the  nation. 
No  law  repugnant  to  such  feelings  can  long  be 
executed.  "  I  accuse  none  of  the  nobles  of  being 
heretics,"  writes  the  regent  to  her  brother ;  "  but 


Alborotos    de    Flandes,     MS.  —  con  el,  no  todas  vezes."    Papien 

Brandt,  Reformation  in  the  Low  d'Etat  de  Granvelle,  torn.  VL  p. 

Countries,  vol.  I.  pp.  137,  138.  421. 

34  "  En  las  [cosas]  de  la  religion  35  Correspondanee  de  Philippe 

no  se  9ufre  temporizar,  sino  casti-  II.,  torn.  I.  p.  207. 

garlas  con  todo  rigor  y  severidad,  36  Papiers  d'etat  de  Granvell^ 

que  estos  villacos  sino  es  por  mi-  tom.  VL  p.  280. 
fdo  no  hazcQ  cosa  buena,  y  aun 


520 


OPPOSITION  TO  THE  GOVERNMENT.      [Book  H. 


they  show  little  zeal  in  the  cause  of  religion,  while 
the  magistrates  shrink  from  their  duty  from  fear 
of  the  people."^  "How  absurd  is  it,"  exclaims 
Granvelle,  "  for  depositions  to  be  taken  before 
the  Inquisition  in  Spain,  in  order  to  search  out 
heretics  in  Antwerp,  where  thousands  are  every 
day  walking  about  whom  no  one  meddles  with !  "  * 
"  It  is  more  than  a  year,"  he  says,  "  since  a  sin- 
gle arrest  on  a  charge  of  heresy  has  taken  place 
in  that  city."*  Yet  whatever  may  have  been 
the  state  of  persecution  at  the  present  time,  the 
vague  dread  of  the  future  must  have  taken  strong 
hold  of  people's  minds,  if,  as  a  contemporary 
writes,  there  were  no  less  than  eighteen  or 
twenty  thousand  refugees  then  in  England,  who 
had  fled  from  Flanders  for  the  sake  of  their 
religion.^ 

The  odium  of  this  persecution  all  fell  on  the 
head  of  Granvelle.  He  was  the  tool  of  Spain. 
Spain  was  under  the  yoke  of  the  Inquisition. 
Therefore  it  was  clearly  the  minister's  design  to 
establish  the  Spanish  Inquisition  over  the  Neth- 
erlands. Such  was  the  concise  logic  by  which 
the  people  connected  the  name  of  Granvelle  with 


^  **  Quoi(|u*elle  ne  puisse  dire 
qu'aucun  des  seigneurs  ne  soit  pas 
bon  catholique,  elle  ne  voit  pour- 
tant  pas  qu'ils  precedent,  dans  les 
mati^res  religieuses,  avec  toute  la 
2haleur  qui  serait  ndcessaire.** 
Correspondance  de  Philippe  II, 
torn.  I.  p.  240. 

»  Ibid.,  p.  202. 


39  Ibid.,  uIh  supra. 

**  **  C'est  une  grande  confusion 
de  la  multitude  des  nostres  qui 
sont  icy  fuis  pour  la  religion.  On 
les  estime  en  Londres,  Sandvich, 
et  comarque  adjacente,  de  xviij  k 
XX  mille  testes.'*  Letter  of  As- 
sonleville  to  Granvelle,  Ibid.,  p. 
247. 


Ch.  VL] 


GRANVELLE'S  UNPOPULARITY. 


321 


that  of  the  most  dreaded  of  tribunals.*^  He  was 
held  responsible  for  the  contrivance  of  the  most 
unpopular  measures  of  government,  as  well  as 
for  their  execution.  A  thousand  extravagant 
stories  were  circulated  both  of  his  private  and 
his  political  life,  which  it  is  probably  doing  no 
injustice  to  the  nobles  to  suppose  they  did  not 
take  much  pains  to  correct.  The  favorite  of  the 
prince  is  rarely  the  favorite  of  the  people.  But 
no  minister  had  ever  been  so  unpopular  as  Gran- 
velle in  the  Netherlands.  He  was  hated  by  the 
nobles  for  his  sudden  elevation  to  power,  and 
for  the  servile  means,  as  they  thought,  by  which 
he  had  risen  to  it.  The  people  hated  him,  because 
he  used  that  power  for  the  ruin  of  their  liberties. 
No  administration  —  none  certainly,  if  we  except 
that  of  the  iron  Alva  —  was  more  odious  to  the 
nation. 

Notwithstanding  Granvelle's  constancy,  and  the 
countenance  he  received  from  the  regent  and  a 
few  of  the  leading  councillors,  it  was  hard  to 
bear  up  under  this  load  of  obloquy.  He  would 
gladly  have  had  the  king  return  to  the  country, 
and  sustain  him  by  his  presence.  It  is  the  bur- 
den of  his  correspondence  at  this  period.  "  It 
is  a  common  notion  here,"  he  writes  to  the  sec- 
retarj-   Perez,  "that   they  are   all  ready  in  Spain 


*l  "  Et  qu*aus8y  ne  se  feroit  rien  suy vroit,  que  tout  se  mettroit  en 

par  le  Cardinal  sans  Taccord  des  la  puissance  et  arbitrage  d'iceuU 

Seigneur's    et    inquisiteurs    d'Es-  Seigneurs  inquisiteurs  d'Espaigne." 

paigne,  dont  necessairement  s'en-  Hopper,  Recueilet  Memorial,  p.  2i. 

VOL.  I.  66 


522 


OPPOSITION  TO  THE  GOVERNMENT.      [Book  IL 


'! 


to  sacrifice  the  Low  Countries.  The  lords  talk 
so  freely,  that  every  moment  I  fear  an  insur- 
rection  For    God's    sake,    persuade    the 

king   to   come,   or  it  will   lie  heavy  on  his  con- 
science."^    The  minister  complains  to  the  secre- 
tary that  he  seems  to  be  entirely  abandoned  by 
the  government  at  home.     "  It  is  three  months, " 
he  writes,  "  since  I  have  received  a  letter  from  the 
court.     We  know  as  little  of  Spain  here  as  of  the 
Indies.     Such  delays   are  dangerous,  and  may  cost 
the  king  dear."*^  —  It  is  clear  his  majesty  exer- 
cised his   royal   prerogative  of  ha\ing  the  corre- 
spondence  all   on   one   side.     At    least    his   own 
share   in   it,   at  this   period,  was   small,  and  his 
letters  were  concise  indeed  in  comparison  Avith  the 
voluminous  epistles  of  his  minister.    Perhaps  there 
was  some  policy  in  this  silence   of  the  monarch. 
His    opinions,   nay,   his    wishes,   would  have,   to 
some    extent,   the   weight    of   laws.     He    would 
not,  therefore,  willingly  commit  himself     He  pre- 
ferred to  conform  to  his  natural  tendency  to  trust 
to  the  course  of  events,  instead  of  disturbing  them 
by  too  precipitate  action.     The  cognomen  by  which 
Philip  is  recognized  on  the  roll  of  Castilian  prin- 
ces is  "the  Prudent." 


42  "  Que,  pour  Tamour  de  Dieu, 
le  Roi  se  dispose  k  venir  aux  Pays- 

Bas ! ce  serait  une  grande 

rharge  pour  sa  conscience,  que  do 
ae  le  pas  faire.**  Correspondance 
de  Philippe  II.,  torn.  I.  p.  218. 

43  "Bes  choses  de  cette  cour 


nous  ne  savons  pas  plus  que  ceux 

qui  sont  aux  Indes Le  d^lai 

que  le  Roi  met  k  repondre  aux 
lettres  qu*on  lui  adresse  cause  un 
grand  prejudice  aux  affaires  ;  i) 
pourra  couter  cher  un  jour." 
Ibid.,  p.  199. 


' 


CHAPTER    VII. 

GRANVELLE   COMPELLED  TO  WITHDRAW 

League  against  Granvelle. — Margaret  desires  his  Removal. —  Philip 
deliberates.  —  Granvelle  dismissed.  —  Leaves  the  Netherlands. 

1562-1564. 

While  the  state  of  feeling  towards  Granvelle, 
in  the  nation  generally,  was  such  as  is  described 
in  the  preceding  chapter,  the  lords  who  were  in 
the  council  of  state  chafed  more  and  more  under 
their  exclusion  from  business.  As  the  mask  was 
now  thrown  away,  they  no  longer  maintained 
the  show  of  deference  which  they  had  hitherto 
paid  to  the  minister.  From  opposition  to  his 
measures,  they  passed  to  irony,  ridicule,  sarcasm ; 
till,  finding  that  their  assaults  had  little  effect 
to  disturb  Granvelle's  temper,  and  still  less  to 
change  his  policy,  they  grew  at  length  less  and 
less  frequent  in  their  att^ndence  at  the  council, 
where  they  played  so  insignificant  a  part.  This 
was  a  sore  embarrassment  to  the  regent,  who 
needed  the  countenance  of  the  great  nobles  to 
protect  her  with  the  nation,  in  the  unpopular 
measures  in  which  she  was  involved. 

Even  Granvelle,  with  all  his  equanimity,  con- 


524       GRANVELLE  COMPELLED  TO  WITHDRAW.  [Book  n 

sidered  the  crisis  so  gmve  as  to  demand  some 
concession,  or  at  least  a  show  of  it,  on  his  own 
part,  to  conciliate  the  good-will  of  his  enemies. 
He  authorized  the  duchess  to  say  that  he  was 
perfectly  willing  that  they  should  be  summoned 
to  the  consulta^  and  to  absent  himself  from  its 
meetings;  indeed,  to  resign  the  administration 
altogether,  pro\ided  the  king  approved  of  it.^ 
Whether  Margaret  communicated  this  to  the 
nobles  does  not  appear ;  at  all  events,  as  nothing 
came  of  these  magnanimous  concessions  of  the 
minister,  they  had  no  power  to  soothe  the  irrita- 
tion of  his  enemies.' 

On  the  contrary,  the  disaffected  lords  were  bend- 
ing their  efforts  to  consolidate  their  league,  of 
which  Granvelle,  it  may  be  recollected,  noticed 
the  existence  in  a  letter  of  the  preceding  year. 
We  now  find  the  members  binding  themselves 
to   each   other  by  an  oath  of  secrecy.*    The  per^ 


1  Correspondance  de  Philippe 
n.,  torn.  I.  pp.  236,  242. 

*  Philip's  answer  to  the  letter  of 
the  duchess  in  which  she  stated 
Granvelle's  proposal  was  eminently 
characteristic.  If  Margaret  could 
not  do  better,  she  might  enter  inft> 
negotiations  with  the  malecontents 
on  the  subject ;  but  she  should 
take  care  to  delay  sending  advices 
of  it  to  Spain ;  and  the  king,  on 
his  part,  would  delay  as  long  as 
possible  returning  his  answers.  For 
the  measure,  Philip  concludes,  is 
equally  repugnant  to  justice  and 


to  the  interests  of  the  crown. 
(Correspondance  de  Philippe  IL, 
torn.  L  p.  237.)  This  was  the 
royal  policy  of  procrastination  ! 

3  "  Conclusero  una  lega  contra 
1  Cardenal  p*  detto  k  diffesa  com- 
mune contra  chi  volesse  offendere 
alcun  di  loro,  laqual  confortorono 
con  solenniss*  giuramento,  ne  si 
curarono  che  se  non  li  particolari 
fossero  secreti  per  alf  hora;  ma 
publicorono  questa  loro  unione,  et 
questa  lega  fatta  contra  il  Card'*.*' 
Relatione  di  Tiepolo,  MS. 


:'a    VII.J 


LEAGUE   AGAINST   GRANVELLE. 


525 


sons  who  foimed  this  confederacy  were  the  gover- 
nors of  the  provinces,  the  knights  of  the  Golden 
Fleece,  and,  in  short,  most  of  the  aristocracy  of 
any  consideration  in  the  country.  It  seemed  im- 
possible that  any  minister  could  stand  against 
such  a  coalition,  resting,  moreover,  on  the  sym- 
l)athies  of  the  people.  This  formidable  associa- 
tion, seeing  that  all  attempts  to  work  on  the 
cardinal  were  ineffectual,  resolved  at  length  to 
apply  dh-ectly  to  the  king  for  his  removal.  They 
stated  that,  knowing  the  heavy  cares  which  pressed 
on  his  majesty,  they  had  long  dissembled  and  kept 
silence,  rather  than  aggravate  these  cares  by  their 
complaints.  If  they  now  broke  this  silence,  it  was 
from  a  sense  of  duty  to  the  king,  and  to  save  their 
country  from  ruin.  They  enlarged  on  the  lam- 
entable condition  of  affairs,  which,  without  specify- 
ing any  particular  charges,  they  imputed  altogether 
to  the  cardinal,  or  rather  to  the  position  in  which 
he  stood  in  reference  to  the  nation.  It  was  impos- 
sible, they  said,  that  the  business  of  the  country 
could  prosper,  where  the  minister  who  directed 
it  was  held  in  such  general  detestation  by  the 
people.  They  earnestly  implored  the  king  to  take 
immediate  measures  for  removing  an  evil  which 
menaced  the  speedy  ruin  of  the  land.  And  they 
concluded  with  begging  that  they  might  be  allowed 
to  resign  their  seats  in  the  council  of  state,  where, 
in  the  existing  state  of  affairs,  their  presence 
could  be  of  no  service.  —  This  letter,  dated  the 
eleventh  of  March,  1563,  was  signed,  on  behalf  of 


526       GRANVELLE  COMPELLED  TO  WITHDRAW.  [Book  H 

'  the  coalition,  by  three  lords  who  had  places  in  the 
council  of  state,  —  the  prince  of  Orange,  Count 
Egmont,  and  Count  Hoome.* 

The  last  nobleman  was  of  an  ancient  and  most 
honorable  lineage.  He  held  the  high  office  of 
admiral  of  the  Netherlands,  and  had  been  gov- 
emor  both  of  Zutphen  and  of  Gueldres.  He  ac- 
companied Philip  to  Spain,  and  during  his  absence 
the  province  of  Gueldres  was  transferred  to  an- 
other, Count  Megen,  for  which  Hoome  considered 
that  he  was  indebted  to  the  good  offices  of  the 
cardinal.  On  his  return  to  his  own  country,  he  at 
once  enrolled  himself  in  the  ranks  of  the  opposi- 
tion. He  was  a  man  of  indisputable  bravery,  of  a 
quick  and  impatient  temper;  one,  on  the  whole, 
who  seems  to  have  been  less  indebted  for  his 
celebrity  to  his  character,  than  to  the  peculiar  cir- 
cumstances in  which  he  was  placed. 

On  the  day  previous  to  this  despatch  of  the 
nobles,  we  find  a  letter  to  the  king  from  Gran- 
velle,  who  does  not  seem  to  have  been  ignorant 
of  what  was  doing  by  the  lords.  He  had  expos- 
tulated with  them,  he  tells  Philip,  on  the  disloyalty 
of  their  conduct  in  thus  banding  against  the  gov- 
ernment,—  a  proceeding  which  in  other  times 
might  have  subjected  them  to  a  legal  prosecution.^ 
He  mentions  no   one  by  name   except  Egmont, 


*  Correspondance  de  Guillaume  Fiscales  proccder."     Archives  de 

le  Taciturne,  torn.  IL  pp.  36  -  38.  la  Maison  d'Orange-Nassau,  torn. 

^  "  Que  en   otros  tiempos  por  I.  p.  151. 
menor  causa  se  havia  mandado  a 


Ch.  Vn.]  LEAGUE  AGAINST  GRANVELLE. 


527 


whom  he  commends  as  more  tractable  and  open  to 
reason  than  his  confederates.  He  was  led  away  by 
evil  counsellors,  and  Granvelle  expresses  the  hope 
that  he  will  one  day  open  his  eyes  to  his  errors, 
and  return  to  his  allegiance. 

It  is  difficult  to  conceive  the  detestation,  he 
goes  on  to  say,  in  which  the  Spaniards  are  held 
by  the  nation.  The  Spaniards  only,  it  was  every- 
where said,  were  regarded  by  the  court  of  Madrid 
as  the  lawful  children;  the  Flemings,  as  illegiti- 
mate.^ It  was  necessary  to  do  away  this  impres- 
sion; to  place  the  Flemings  on  the  same  footing 
with  the  Spaniards  ;  to  give  them  lucrative  ap- 
pointments, for  they  greatly  needed  them,  in  Spain 
or  in  Italy ;  and  it  might  not  be  amiss  to  bestow 
the  viceroyalty  of  Sicily  on  the  prince  of  Orange.  — 
Thus,  by  the  same  act,  the  politic  minister  would 
both  reward  his  rivals  and  remove  them  from  the 
country.  But  he  greatly  misunderstood  the  char- 
acter of  William,  if  he  thought  in  this  way  to  buy 
aim  off  from  the  opposition. 

It  was  four  months  before  the  confederates 
received  an  answer;  during  which  time  afiairs 
continued  to  wear  the  same  gloomy  aspect  as 
before.  At  length  came  the  long-expected  epistle 
from  the  monarch,  dated  on  the  sixth  of  June. 
It  was  a  brief  one.  Philip  thanked  the  lords 
for  their  zeal  and  devotion  to  his  service.  After 
well  considering  the  matter,  however,  he  had  not 

«  "  Que  solos  los  de  Espaiia  scan     que  aqui  y  en  Italia  se  usa.*'    n)id., 
legitimos,  que  son  las  palabras  de    p.  153. 


r 


528       GRANVELLE  COMPELLED  TO  WITHDRAW.  [Book  H 

found  any  specific  ground  of  complaint  alleged,  to 
account  for  the  advice  given  hivi  to  part  with  his 
minister.  The  king  hoped  before  long  to  visit  the 
Low  Countries  in  person.  Meanwhile,  he  should 
be  glad  to  see  any  one  of  the  nobles  in  Spain,  to 
learn  from  him  the  whole  state  of  the  afiair ;  as  it 
was  not  his  wont  to  condemn  his  ministers  with- 
out knowing  the  grounds  on  which  they  were 
accused.^ 

The  fact  that  the  lords  had  not  specified  any 
particular  subject  of  complaint  against  the  cardinal 
gave  the  king  an  obvious  advantage  in  the  corre- 
spondence. It  seemed  to  be  too  much  to  expect 
his  immediate  dismissal  of  the  minister,  on  the 
vague  pretext  of  his  impopularity,  without  a  sin- 
gle instance  of  misconduct  being  alleged  against 
him.  Yet  this  was  the  position  in  which  the 
enemies  of  Granvelle  necessarily  found  themselves. 
The  minister  acted  by  the  orders  of  the  king. 
To  have  assailed  the  minister's  acts,  therefore, 
would  have  been  to  attack  the  king  himself. 
Egmont,  some  time  after  this,  with  even  more 
fi-ankness  than  usual,  is  said  to  have  declared  at 
table  to  a  friend  of  the  cardinal,  that  "  the  blow 
was  aimed  not  so  much  at  the  minister  as  at  the 
monarch."® 

7  «  Car  ce  n*est  ma  coustume  de  advanch^  aujourd'huy  huict  jours 

grever  aucuns  de   mes  ministres  post  pocvla  dire  k  Hoppdrus,  avec 

eans  cause."    Correspondance  de  lequel  il  fut  bien  deux  heures  en 

Guillaume  le  Taciturne,  torn.  11.  devises,  que  ce  n'estoit  point    k 

r.  42.  Granvelle    que    Ton    en   vouloit, 

•  "  S'estant  le  comte  d*Egmont  mais  au  Roy,  qui  administre  tr^ 


Ch.  VII.]  LEAGUE  AGAINST  GRANVELLE. 


529 


The  discontent  of  the  lords  at  receiving  this 
laconic  epistle  may  be  imagined.  They  were  in- 
dignant that  so  little  account  should  be  made  of 
their  representations,  and  that  both  they  and  the 
country  should  be  sacrificed  to  the  king's  partiality 
for  his  minister.  The  three  lords  waited  on  the 
regent,  and  extorted  from  her  a  reluctant  consent 
to  assemble  the  knights  of  the  order,  and  to  confer 
with  them  and  the  other  nobles  as  to  the  course 
to  be  taken. 

It  was  there  decided  that  the  lords  should  ad- 
dress a  second  letter,  in  the  name  of  the  whole 
body,  to  Philip,  and  henceforth  should  cease  to 
attend  the  council  of  state.* 

In  this  letter,  which  bears  the  date  of  July  the 
twenty-ninth,  they   express   their  disappointment 
that  his  majesty  had  not  come  to  a  more  definite 
resolution,   when   prompt   and   decisive   measui^es 
could  alone  save  the  country  from  ruin.      They 
excuse  themselves  from  visiting  Spam  in  the  criti- 
cal state  of  affairs  at  home.     At  another  time,  and 
for  any  other  purpose,  did  the  king  desire  it,  they 
would  willingly  do  so.     But  it  was  not  their  de- 
sign to  appear  as  accusers,  and  institute  a  process 
against  the  minister.     They  had  hoped  their  own 
word  in  such  an  affair  would  have  sufficed  with 
his  majesty.     It  was  not  the  question  whether  the 

mal  le  public  et  mesmes  ce  de  la  de    la    Maison    d'Orange-Naasau, 

Religion,  comme  Ton  luy  at  assez  torn.  I.  p.  247. 

adTcrty."     Morillon,  Archdeacon  9  Correspondance  de   Philippe 

of  Mechlin,  to  Granvelle,  Archives  IL,  torn.  L  pp.  256,  258,  259. 
VOL.  I.                                67 


530       GRANVELLE  COMPELLED  TO  WITHDRAW.  [Book  IL 

minister  was  to  be  condemned,  but  whether  he 
was  to  be  removed  from  an  office  for  which  he  was 
in  no  respect  qualified.^^  They  had  hoped  their 
attachment  and  tried  fidelity  to  the  crown  would 
have  made  it  supei-fluous  for  them  to  go  into  a 
specification  of  charges.  These,  indeed,  could  be 
easily  made,  but  the  discontent  and  disorder  which 
now  reigned  throughout  the  country  were  suffi- 
cient evidence  of  the  minister's  incapacity." 

They  stated  that  they  had  acquainted  the  regent 
with  their  intention  to  absent  themselves  in  future 
from  the  council,  where  their  presence  could  be  no 
longer  useful ;  and  they  trusted  this  would  receive 
his  majesty's  sanction.  They  expressed  their  de- 
termination loyally  and  truly  to  discharge  eveiy 
trust  reposed  in  them  by  the  government;  and 
they  concluded  by  apologizing  for  the  homely 
language  of  their  epistle,  —  for  they  were  no 
haranguers  or  orators,  but  men  accustomed  to 
act  rather  than  to  talk,  as  was  suited  to  persons 
of  their  quality.^^  —  This  last  shaft  was  doubtless 
aimed  at  the   cardinal.  —  The   letter  was   signed 


10  "  n  n'est  pas  icy  question  de 
grever  ledict  cardinal,  ains  plustost 
de  le  descharger,  voire  d'une  charge 
laquelle  non-seulement  lui  est  peu 
convenable  et  comme  extraordi- 
naire, mais  aiissi  ne  peult  plus  estre 
en  ses  mains,  sans  grand  dangier 
d'inconveniens  et  troubles."  Cor- 
respondance  de  Guillaume  le  Taci- 
tume,  torn.  II.  p.  45. 

11  "  Quant  il  n*y  auroit  que  le 
i^rdrc,  mescoutentement  et  con- 


fusion qui  se  trouve  aujourdliuy 
en  vos  pays  de  par  de^h,  ce  seroit 
assez  tcsmoinage  de  combicn  peu 
sert  icy  sa  presence,  credit  et 
auetoritd.**     Ibid.,  p.  46. 

1'  "  Que  ne  sommes  \xnnt  de 
nature  <jrans  orateurs  ou  haran- 
gueurs,  et  plus  accoustumcz  k  bien 
faire  qu'a  bien  dire,  comme  aussy 
il  est  mieulx  s6^nt  k  gens  de  nostrc 
qualitd."     Ibid.,  p.  47. 


Ch.  Vn.]  LEAGUE  AGAINST  GRANVELLE. 


531 


by  the  same  triumvirate  as  the  former.  The  ab- 
stract here  given  does  no  justice  to  the  document, 
which  is  of  considerable  length,  and  carefully 
written.  The  language  is  that  of  men  who  to 
the  habitual  exercise  of  authority  united  a  feeling 
of  self-respect,  which  challenged  the  respect  of 
their  opponents.  Such  were  not  the  men  to  be 
cajoled  or  easily  intimidated.  It  was  the  first 
time  that  Philip  had  been  addressed  in  this  lofty 
tone  by  his  great  vassals.  It  should  have  opened 
his  eyes  to  the  condition  and  the  character  of  his 
subjects  in  the  Netherlands. 

The  coalition  drew  up,  at  the  same  time,  an 
elaborate  "  remonstrance,"  which  they  presented 
to  Margaret.  In  it  they  set  forth  the  various  dis- 
orders of  the  country,  especially  those  growing 
out  of  the  state  of  religion  and  the  embarrassment 
of  the  finances.  The  only  remedy  for  these  evils 
is  to  be  found  in  a  meeting  of  the  states-general. 
The  king's  prohibition  of  this  measure  must  have 
proceeded,  no  doubt,  from  the  evil  counsels  of 
persons  hostile  to  the  true  interests  of  the  nation. 
As  their  services  can  be  of  little  use  while  they  are 
thus  debarred  from  a  resort  to  their  true  and  only 
remedy  in  their  embarrassments,  they  trust  the  re- 
gent wiU  not  take  it  amiss,  that,  so  long  as  the  pres- 
ent policy  is  pursued,  they  decline  to  take  their  seats 
in  the  council  of  state,  to  be  merely  shadows  there, 
as  they  have  been  for  the  last  four  years.^^ 


13  "  Faisans  cesser  Tumbre  dont  avons  servy  en  iceluy  quatre 
Ibid.,  p.  50. 


^1 


532       GRANVELLE  COMPELLED  TO  WITHDRAW.  [Book  n 

From  this  period  the  malecontent  lords  no  more 
appeared  in  council.  The  perplexity  of  Margaret 
was  great.  Thus  abandoned  by  the  nobles  in 
whom  the  country  had  the  greatest  confidence,  she 
was  left  alone,  as  it  were,  with  the  man  whom  the 
country  held  in  the  greatest  abhorrence.  She  had 
long  seen  with  alarm  the  storm  gathering  round 
the  devoted  head  of  the  minister.  To  attempt 
alone  to  uphold  his  falling  fortunes  would  be 
probably  to  bury  herself  in  their  ruins.  In  her 
extremity,  she  appealed  to  the  confederates,  and, 
since  she  could  not  divide  them,  endeavored  to 
divert  them  from  then-  opposition.  They,  on  the 
other  hand,  besought  the  regent  no  longer  to 
connect  herself  with  the  desperate  cause  of  a 
minister  so  odious  to  the  country.  Possibly  they 
infused  into  her  mind  some  suspicions  of  the  sub- 
ordinate part  she  was  made  to  play,  through  the 
overweening  ambition  of  the  cardinal.  At  all 
events,  an  obvious  change  took  place  in  her  con- 
duct, and  while  she  deferred  less  and  less  to  Gran- 
velle,  she  entered  into  more  friendly  relations  with 
his  enemies.  This  was  especially  the  case  with 
Egmont,  whose  frank  and  courteous  bearing  and 
loyal  disposition  seem  to  have  won  greatly  on  the 
esteem  of  the  duchess. 

Satisfied,  at  last,  that  it  would  be  impracticable 
to  maintain  the  government  much  longer  on  its 
present  basis,  Margaret  resolved  to  write  to  her 
brother  on  the  subject,  and  at  the  same  time  tc 
send    her   confidential    secretary,   Armenteros,   tc 


<i^ 


Ch.  Vn.]      MARGARET  DESIRES  HIS  REMOVAL. 


535 


Spain,  to  acquaint  the  king  with  the  precise  state 
of  affairs  in  the  Netherlands.^* 

After  enlarging  on  the  disorders  and  difficulties 
of  the  country,  the  duchess  came  to  the  quarrel 
between  the  cardinal  and  the  nobles.  She  had 
made  every  effort  to  reconcile  the  parties  ;  but  that 
was  impossible.  She  was  fully  sensible  of  the 
merits  of  Granvelle,  his  high  capacity,  his  expe- 
rience in  public  affairs,  his  devotion  to  the  inter- 
ests both  of  the  king  and  of  religion.^^  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  to  maintain  him  in  the  Nether 
lands,  in  opposition  to  the  will  of  the  nobles,  was 
to  expose  the  country,  not  merely  to  great  embar- 
rassments, but  to  the  danger  of  insurrection.^^ 
The  obligations  of  the  high  place  which  she  oc- 
cupied compelled  her  to  lay  the  true  state  of  the 
case  before  the  king,  and  he  would  determine 
the  course  to  be  pursued.  —  With  this  letter,  bear- 
ing the  date  of  August  twelfth,  and  fortified  with 
ample  instructions  from  the  duchess,  Armenteros 
was  forthwith  despatched  on  his  mission  to  Spain. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  state  of  feeling  in  the 
cabinet  of  Brussels  was  known,  or  at  least  sur- 
mised, throughout  the  country.     It  was  the  inter- 


1*  M^moires  de  Granvelle,  torn, 
n.  p.  39  et  seq. —  Correspondance 
de  Philippe  II.,  torn.  I.  p.  256. 

^  "  Elle  connait  tout  le  m^rite 
du  cardinal,  sa  haute  capacite,  son 
experience  des  affaires  d*Etat,  le 
z^le  et  le  d^vouement  qu*il  montre 
^ur  le  service  de  Dieu  et  du  Eoi.** 


Correspondance  de   Philippe  II., 
torn.  I.  p.  266. 

16  "  D*un  autre  cot^,  elle  recon- 
nait  que  vouloir  le  maintenir  aux 
Pays-Bas,  contre  le  gre  des  sei- 
gneurs, pourrait  entrainer  de  grands 
inconvenients,  et  meme  le  souleve- 
ment  du  pays.**    Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


I 


534       GRANYELLE  COMPELLED  TO  WITHDRAW.  [Book  U 

est  of  some  of  the  parties  that  it  should  not  be 
kept  secret.  The  cardinal,  thus  abandoned  by 
his  friends,  became  a  more  conspicuous  mark 
for  the  shafts  of  his  enemies.  Libels,  satires,  pas- 
quinades, were  launched  against  him  from  every 
quarter.  Such  fugitive  pieces,  like  the  msect 
which  dies  when  it  has  left  its  sting,  usually 
perish  with  the  occasion  that  gives  them  birth. 
But  some  have  survived  to  the  present  day,  or  at 
least  were  in  existence  at  the  close  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, and  are  much  commended  by  a  critic  for  the 
merits  of  their  literary  execution." 

It  was  the  custom,  at  the  period  of  our  narra- 
tive, for  the  yoimg  people  to  meet  in  the  towns 
and  villages,  and  celebrate  what  were  called  "  aca- 
demic games,"  consisting  of  rhetorical  discussions 
on  the  various  topics  of  the  day,  sometimes  of  a 
theological  or  a  political  character.  Public  affairs 
furnished  a  fruitful  theme  at  this  crisis ;  and  the 
cardinal,  in  particular,  was  often  roughly  handled. 
It  was  in  vain  the  government  tried  to  curb  this 
license.  It  only  served  to  stimulate  the  disputants 
to  new  displays  of  raillery  and  ridicule.^* 

Granvelle,  it  will  be  readily  believed,  was  not 
slow  to  perceive  his  loss  of  credit  with  the  regent, 
and  the  more  intimate  relations  into  which  she  had 
entered  with  his  enemies.  But  whatever  he  may 
have  felt,  he  was  too  proud  or  too  politic  to  betmy 

^'^  Reifienberg,  Correspondance        ^8  Vandervynckt,  Troubles  dei 
do  Marguerite  d'Autriche,  p.  26,    F&yi-Bta,  torn.  II.  p.  58. 
note. 


Ch.  VU.]      MARGARET  DESIRES   HIS  REMOVAL. 


53iy 


his  mortification  to  the  duchess.  Thus  discredited 
by  all  but  an  insignificant  party,  who  were  branded 
as  the  "  Cardinalists,"  losing  influence  daily  with  the 
regent,  at  open  war  with  the  nobles,  and  hated  b\ 
the  people,  never  was  there  a  minister  in  so  forlorn 
a  situation,  or  one  who  was  able  to  maintain  his 
post  a  day  in  such  circumstances.  Yet  Granvelle 
did  not  lose  heart ;  as  others  failed  him,  he  relied 
the  more  on  himself;  and  the  courage  which  he 
displayed,  when  thus  left  alone,  as  it  were,  to  face 
the  anger  of  the  nation,  might  have  well  command- 
ed the  respect  of  his  enemies.  He  made  no  mean 
concession  to  secure  the  support  of  the  nobles,  or 
to  recover  the  favor  of  the  regent.  He  did  not 
shrink  from  the  dangers  or  the  responsibilities  of 
his  station ;  though  the  latter,  at  least,  bore  heavily 
on  him.  Speaking  of  the  incessant  pressure  of 
his  cares,  he  writes  to  his  correspondent,  Perez, 
"  My  hairs  have  turned  so  white  you  would  not 

He  was  then  but  forty-six.     On 


recognize  me. 


"19 


one  occasion,  indeed,  we  do  find  him  telling  the 
king,  that,  "  if  his  majesty  does  not  soon  come  to 
the  Netherlands,  he  must  withdraw  from  them."^ 
This  seems  to  have  been  a  sudden  burst  of  feeling, 
as  it  was  a  solitary  one,  forced  from  him  by  the 
extremity  of  his  situation.  It  was  much  more  in 
character   that  he  wrote  afterwards  to  the  secre- 


19  "  Vous  ne  me  reconnaitriez        2o  Correspondance  de  Philippi 
plus,  tant  mes  cbeveux  ont  blan-    II.,  torn.  I.  p.  274. 
cbi.**    Correspondance  de  Philippe 
n.,  tono.  I.  p.  268. 


536       GRANVELLE  COMPELLED  TO  WITHDRAW.  [Book  H 

tary  Perez :  "  I  am  so  beset  with  dangei*s  on  every 
side,  that  most  people  give  me  up  for  lost.  But  I 
mean  to  live  as  long,  by  the  grace  of  God,  as  I  can ; 
and  if  they  do  take  away  ray  life,  I  trust  they  will 
not  gain  everything  for  all  that."^  He  nowhere 
intimates  a  wish  to  be  recalled.  Nor  would  his 
ambition  allow  him  to  resign  the  helm ;  but  the 
fiercer  the  tempest  raged,  the  more  closely  did  he 
cling  to  the  wreck  of  his  fortunes. 

The  arrival  of  Armenteros  with  the  despatches, 
and  the  tidings  that  he  brought,  caused  a  great 
sensation  in  the  court  of  Madrid.  "We  are  on 
the  eve  of  a  terrible  conflagration,"  writes  one 
of  the  secretaries  of  Philip;  "and  they  greatly 
err  who  think  it  will  pass  away  as  formerly."  He 
expresses  the  wish  that  Granvelle  would  retire 
from  the  country,  where,  he  predicts,  they  would 
soon  wish  his  return.  "  But  ambition,"  he  adds, 
"  and  the  point  of  honor,  are  alike  opposed  to  this. 
Nor  does  the  king  desire  it."^ 

Yet  it  was  not  easy  to  say  what  the  king  did 
desire,  —  certainly  not  what  course  he  would  pur- 
sue. He  felt  a  natural  reluctance  to  abandon  the 
minister,  whose  greatest  error  seemed  to  be  that 
of  too  implicit  an  obedience  to  his  master's  com- 
mands.    He   declared  he  would  rather  risk   the 

*l  **  Moi,  qui  ne  suis  qu'un  ver  Ton  me  tue,  j'esp^re  qu'on  n'aura 

de  terre,  je  suis  menace  de  tant  pas  gagnd  tout  par  Ik."    ftid.,  p. 

de  cdt^s,  que  beaueoup  doivent  me  264. 

tenir  dejk  pour    mort ;    mais  je  ^  Archives  de  la  Maison  d*0- 

tftcherai,  avec  Taide  de  Dieu,  de  range-Nassau,  torn.  L  p.  1 90. 
rivre  autant  que  possible,    et  si 


Ch.  vn.j 


PHUIP  DELIBERATES. 


537 


loss  of  the  Netherlands  than  abandon  him.^ 
Yet  how  was  that  minister  to  be  maintained  in 
his  place,  in  opposition  to  the  will  of  the  nation  ] 
In  this  perplexity,  Philip  applied  for  counsel  to 
the  man  in  whom  he  most  confided,  —  the  duke 
of  Alva;  the  very  worst  counsellor  possible  in 
the  present  emergency. 

The  duke's  answer  was  eminently  characteristic 
of  the  man.  "When  I  read  the  letters  of  these 
lords,"  he  says,  "  I  am  so  filled  with  rage,  that, 
did  I  not  make  an  effort  to  suppress  it,  my  lan- 
guage would  appear  to  you  that  of  a  madman."  ^ 
After  this  temperate  exordium,  he  recommends 
the  king  on  no  account  to  remove  Granvelle 
from  the  administration  of  the  Netherlands.  "  It 
is  a  thing  of  course,"  he  says,  "  that  the  cardinal 
should  be  the  first  victim.  A  rebellion  against 
the  prince  naturally  begins  with  an  attack  on 
his  ministers.  It  would  be  better,"  he  continues, 
"if  all  could  be  brought  at  once  to  summary 
justice.  Since  that  cannot  be,  it  may  be  best  to 
divide  the  nobles ;  to  win  over  Egmont  and  those 
who  follow  him  by  favors;  to  show  displeasure 
to  those  who  are   the   least   offenders.      For   the 


23  "Hablindole  yo  en  ello," 
writes  the  secretary  Perez  to 
Granvelle,  "  como  era  razon,  me 
respondid  que  por  su  fee  dntes 
aventuraria  i,  perder  essos  estados 
que  hazer  esse  agravio  d  V.  S.  en 
Ic  qual  conosceri  la  gran  voluntad 
que  le  tiene."  Papiers  d'Etat  de 
Granvelle,  torn.  VII.  p.  102. 


2*  "  Cada  vez  que  veo  los  despa- 
chos  de  aquellos  tres  senores  de 
Flandes  me  mueven  la  colera  de 
manera  que,  sino  procurasse  mucho 
templarla,  creo  parecia  d  V.  Mag* 
mi  opinion  de  hombre  frenetico." 
Carta  del  Duque  de  Alba  al  Rey, 
i.  21  de  Octobre  de  1563,  MS. 


VOL.   I. 


68 


538       GRANVELLE  COMPELLED  TO  WITHDRAW.  [Book  U 

greater  ones,  who  deserve  to  lose  their  heads, 
your  majesty  will  do  well  to  dissemble,  until 
you   can   give   them   their   deserts."^ 

Part  of  this  advice  the  king  accepted ;  for  to 
dissemble  did  no  violence  to  his  nature.  But 
the  more  he  reflected  on  the  matter,  the  more 
he  was  satisfied  that  it  would  be  impossible  to 
retam  the  obnoxious  minister  in  his  place.  Yet 
when  he  had  come  to  this  decision,  he  still 
shrunk  from  announcing  it.  Months  passed, 
and  yet  Armenteros,  who  was  to  carry  back  the 
royal  despatches,  was  still  detained  at  Madrid. 
It  seemed  as  if  Philip  here,  as  on  other  occasions 
of  less  moment,  was  prepared  to  leave  events 
to  take  their  own  course,  rather  than  duect  them 
himself. 

Early  in  January,  1564,  the  duchess  of  Parma 
admonished  her  brother  that  the  lords  chafed 
much  under  his  long  silence.  It  was  a  common 
opinion,  she  said,  that  he  cared  little  for  Flanders, 
and  that  he  was  under  the  influence  of  evil  coun- 
sellors, who  would  persuade  him  to  deal  with 
the  countr)'  as  a  conquered  province.  She  be- 
sought him  to  answer  the  letter  of  the  nobles, 
and  especially  to  write  in  affectionate  terms  to 
Count  Egmont,  who  well  deserved  this  for  the 
zeal  he  had  always  shown  for  his  sovereign's 
interests.^ 

*  "  X  los  que  destos  meriten,  *    "  Comme    je    I'ai    toujoure 

quiten  les  las  cave<;as,  hasta  poder  trouvd   plein    dVmpressenient    et 

lo    hacer,    dissimular   con    ellos.'*  de  zele  pour  tout  ce  qui  touche  le 

Ibid.  service  de  V.  M.  et  Ta vantage  da 


Ch.  vn.] 


PHILIP  DELIBERATES. 


539 


One  is  struck  with  the  tone  in  which  the  re- 
gent here  speaks  of  one  of  the  leaders  of  the 
opposition,  so  little  in  unison  with  her  former 
language.  It  shows  how  completely  she  was  now 
under  their  influence.  In  truth,  however,  we  see 
constantly,  both  in  her  letters  and  those  of  the 
cardinal,  a  more  friendly  tone  of  feeling  towards 
Egmont  than  to  either  of  his  associates.  On  the 
score  of  orthodoxy  in  matters  of  religion  he  was 
unimpeachable.  His  cordial  manners,  his  free  and 
genial  temper,  secured  the  sympathy  of  all  with 
whom  he  came  in  contact.  It  was  a  common 
opinion,  that  it  would  not  be  difiicult  to  detach 
him  from  the  party  of  malecontents  with  whom 
his  lot  was  cast.  Such  were  not  the  notions 
entertained   of  the   prince   of  Orange. 

In  a  letter  from  Granvelle  to  Philip,  without  a 
date,  but  written  perhaps  about  this  period,^'^  we 
have  portraits,  or  rather  outlines,  of  the  two  great 
leaders  of  the  opposition,  touched  with  a  masterly 
hand.  Egmont  he  describes  as  firm  in  his  faith, 
loyally  disposed,  but  under  the  evil  influence  of 
William.     It  would  not   be  difficult   to  win   him 


pays,  je  supplie  V.  M.  de  faire  au 
comte  d'Egmont  une  reponse  af- 
fectueuse,  afin  qu*il  ne  desespere 
pas  de  sa  bont^.'*  Correspondance 
de  Philippe  II.,  torn.  I.  p.  281. 

27  The  letter — found  among  the 
MSS.  at  Besan9on  —  is  given  by 
Dom  Prosper  Levesque  in  his  life 
of  the  cardinal.  (M^moiresde  Gran- 
velle, torn.  II.  p.  52.)     The  worthy 


Benedictine  assures  us,  in  his  pref- 
ace, that  he  has  always  given  the 
text  of  Granvelle's  correspondence 
exactly  as  he  found  it;  an  assur* 
ance  to  which  few  will  give  im- 
plicit credit  who  have  read  this 
letter,  which  bears  the  marks  of 
the  reviser's  hand  in  every  sen* 
tence. 


540       GRANVELLE  COMPELLED  TO  WITHDRAW.  [Book  IL 

over  by  flattery  and  favors.®  The  prince,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  a  cunning  and  dangerous  enemy, 
of  profound  views,  boundless  ambition,  difficult  to 
change,  and  impossible  to  control.®  In  the  latter 
character  we  see  the  true  leader  of  the  revolution. 

Disgusted  wth  the  indifference  of  the  king, 
shown  in  his  long-protracted  silence,  the  nobles, 
notwithstanding  the  regent's  remonstrances,  sent 
orders  to  their  courier,  who  had  been  waiting 
in  Madrid  for  the  royal  despatches,  to  wait  no 
longer,  but  return  without  them  to  the  Nether- 
lands.*^ Fortunately  Philip  now  moved,  and  at 
the  close  of  January,  1564,  sent  back  Armenteros 
with  his  instructions  to  Brussels.  The  most 
important  of  them  was  a  letter  of  dismissal  to 
the  cardinal  himself  It  was  very  short.  "  On 
considering  what  you  write,"  said  the  king,  "I 
deem  it  best  that  you  should  leave  the  Low 
Countries  for  some  days,  and  go  to  Burgundy 
to  see  your  mother,  with  the  consent  of  the 
duchess  of  Parma.  In  this  way,  both  my  author- 
ity and  your  own  reputation  will  be  preserved."  ^ 


«  Memolres  de  Granvelle,  torn. 

JI'  p.  55. 

»**!*€  prince  d'Orange  egt  un 
homme  dangereux,  fin,  rus^,  affec- 

tant  de  soutenir  le  peuple 

Je  pense  qu'un  pareil  g^nie  qui  a 
des  viies  profondes  est  fort  difficile 
k  menager,  et  qu'il  n'est  gueres 
possible  de  le  faire  changer."  ftid., 
pp.  53,  54. 

3**  "  Causant  I'autre  jour  avec 
flle/le  comte  d*£gQiont  lui  montra 


un  grand  m^contentement  de  ce 
que  le  Roi  n*avait  daignd  faire  un 
seul  mot  de  rdponse  ni  k  lui,  ni 
aux  autres.  II  dit  que,  voyant 
cela,  ils  etaient  d^ides  k  ordonner 
k  leur  courrier  qu'il  revint,  sans 
attendre  davantage."  Correspon- 
dance  de  Philippe  II.,  torn.  I.  p. 
283. 

'I  "  n  a  pens^  d*apr^  ce  que 
le  cardinal  lui  a  ^rit,  qu'il  serait 
trcs  k  propos  qu'il  allfit  voir  sa 


Ch.  Vn.]        PHILIP'S  LETTER  TO  GRANVELLE. 


541 


It  has  been  a  matter  of  dispute  how  far  th*^ 
resignation  of  the  cardinal  was  voluntary.  The 
recent  discovery  of  this  letter  of  Philip  deter- 
mines that  question.^  It  was  by  command  of 
the  sovereign.  Yet  that  command  was  extorted 
by  necessity,  and  so  given  as  best  to  save  the  feel- 
ings and  the  credit  of  the  minister.  Neither  party 
anticipated  that  Granvelle's  absence  would  con- 
tinue for  a  long  time,  much  less  that  his  dis- 
missal was  final.  Even  when  inditing  the  letter 
to  the  cardinal,  Philip  cherished  the  hope  that  the 
necessity  for  his  departure  might  be  avoided  alto- 
gether. This  appears  from  the  despatches  sent  at 
the  same  time  to  the  regent. 

Shortly  after  his  note  to  Granvelle,  on  the 
nineteenth  of  February,  Philip  wrote  an  answer  to 
the  lords  in  all  the  tone  of  offended  majesty.  He 
expressed  his  astonishment  that  they  should  have 
been  led,  by  any  motive  whatever,  to  vacate  their 


m^re,  avec  la  permission  de  la 
duchesse  de  Parme.  De  cette  ma- 
niere,  I'autoritd  du  Roi  et  la  repu- 
tation du  cardinal  seront  sauv^s.** 
Ibid.,  p.  285. 

32  That  indefatigable  laborer  in 
the  mine  of  MSS.,  M.  Gachard, 
obtained  some  clew  to  the  existence 
of  such  a  letter  in  the  Archives  of 
Simancas.  For  two  months  it 
eluded  his  researches,  when  in  a 
happ7  hour  he  stumbled  on  this 
pearl  of  price.  The  reader  may 
share  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Bel- 
gian scholar.  "  Je  redoublai  d'at- 
tention ;  et  enfin,  apres  deux  mois 


de  travail,  je  decouvris,  sur  un 
petit  chifibn  de  papier,  la  minute 
de  la  fameuse  lettre  dont  faisait 
mention  la  duchesse  de  Parme : 
elle  avait  4t6  classee,  par  une  me- 
prise  de  je  ne  sais  quel  official, 
avec  les  papiers  de  I'annee  1562. 
On  hsait  en  tete :  De  mano  del 
Rey  ;  secreta.  Vous  comprendrez, 
monsieur  le  Mini^re,  la  joie  que 
me  fit  ^prouver  cette  ddcouverte : 
ce  sont  Ik  des  jouissances  qui  d^ 
dommagent  de  bien  des  fatigues, 
de  bien  des  ennuis !  **  Rapport  k 
M.  le  Ministre  de  llnterieur,  Ibid., 
p.  clxxxv.^ 


542       GRANVELLE  COMPELLED  TO  WITHDRAW.  fBooK  II. 


seats  at  the  council,  where  he  had  placed  them.^ 
They  would  not  fail  to  return  there  at  once, 
and  show  that  they  preferred  the  public  weal  to 
all  private  considerations.^  As  for  the  removal  of 
the  minister,  since  they  had  not  been  pleased  to 
specify  any  charges  against  him,  the  king  would 

deliberate  further  before  deciding  on  the  matter. 

Thus,  three  weeks  after  Philip  had  given  the  car- 
dinal his  dismissal,  did  he  write  to  his  enemies  as 
if  the  matter  were  still  in  abeyance ;  hoping,  it 
would  seem,  by  the  haughty  tone  of  authority,  to 
rebuke  the  spirit  of  the  refractory  nobles,  and  in- 
timidate them  into  a  compliance  with  his  com- 
mands. Should  this  policy  succeed,  the  cardinal 
might  still  hold  the  helm  of  government.^ 

But  Philip  had  not  yet  learned  that  he  was 
dealing  with  men  who  had  little  of  that  spirit  of 
subserviency  to  which  he  was  accustomed  in  his 
Castilian  vassals.     The  peremptory  tone  of  his  let- 


33  **M*esbayz  bien  que,  pour 
chose  quelconque,  vous  ayez  d^ 
laiss^  d*entrer  au  conseil  oil  je 
vous  avois  laiss^."  Correspon- 
dance  de  Guillaume  le  Taciturne, 
torn.  II.  p.  67. 

**  "Ne  faillez  d'y  rentrer,  et 
monstrer  de  combien  vous  estimez 
plus  mon  service  et  le  bien  de  mes 
pays  de  delk,  que  autre  partieula- 
rit^  quelconque."    Ibid.,  p.  68. 

35  Abundant  evidence  of  Phil- 
ip's intentions  is  afforded  by  his 
despatches  to  Margaret,  together 
with  two  letters  which  they  in- 


closed to  Egmont.  These  letters 
were  of  directly  opposite  tenor; 
one  dispensing  with  Egmont's  pres- 
ence at  Madrid,  —  which  had  been 
talked  of,  —  the  other  invitinjr  him 
there.  Margaret  was  to  give  the 
one  which,  under  the  circumstan- 
ces, she  thought  expedient  The 
duchess  was  greatly  distressed  by 
her  brother's  manoeuvring.  She 
saw  that  the  course  she  must  pur- 
sue was  not  the  course  which  he 
would  prefer.  Philip  did  not  un- 
derstand her  countrymen  so  well 
as  she  did. 


Ch.  vn.] 


HIS  DEPARTURE  ANNOUNCED. 


543 


ter  fired  the  blood  of  the  Flemish  lords,  who  at 
once  waited  on  the  regent,  and  announced  their 
purpose  not  to  reenter  the  council.      The  aflFair 
was  not  likely  to  end  here ;  and  Margaret  saw  with 
alarm  the  commotion  that  would  be  raised  when 
the  letter  of  the  king  should  be  laid  before  the  • 
whole  body  of  the  nobles.^^     Fearing  some  rash 
step,  difficult  to  be  retrieved,  she  resolved  either 
that   the  cardinal  should   announce  his   intended 
departure,   or   that    she   would   do    so   for    him. 
Philip's  experiment  had  failed.      Nothing,  there- 
fore, remained   but   for   the  minister   publicly  to 
declare,  that,  as  his   brother,  the   late   envoy  to 
France,  had  returned  to  Brussels,  he  had  obtamed 
permission  from  the  regent  to  accompany  him  on 
a  visit  to  their  aged  mother,  whom  Granvelle  had 
not  seen  for  fourteen  years.^ 


*  "  En  effet,  le  prince  d^Orange 
et  le  comte  d'Egraont,  les  seuls  qui 
se  trouvassent  k  Bruxelles,  mon- 
trdrent  tant  de  tristesse  et  de  mc- 
contentement  de  la  courte  et  seehe 
rdponse  du  Roi,  qu'il  dtait  k  crain- 
dre  qu'apres  qu'elle  aurait  ete  com- 
muniquee  aux  autres  seigneurs,  il 
ne  fut  pris  quelque  resolution  con- 
traire  au  service  du  Roi."  Corre- 
spondance  de  Philippe  II.,  torn.  I. 
p.  294. 

37  "  Con  la  venida  de  Mons.  de 
Chantonnay,  mi  hermano,  i.  Bru- 
xelles, y  su  determinacion  de  enca- 
minarse  i.  estas  partes,  me  parescid 
tomar  color  de  venir  Iiazia  acd, 
doQde  no  ha  via  estado  en  19  anos, 


y  ver  a  madama  de  Granvella,  mi 
madre,  que  ha  14  que  no  la  havia 
visto.**     Ibid.,  p.  298. 

Granvelle  seems  to  have  fondly 
trusted  that  no  one  but  Margaret 
was  privy  to  the  existence  of  the 
royal  letter,  —  »  secret,  and  writ- 
ten with  the  king's  own  hand." 
So  he  speaks  of  his  departure  in 
his  various  letters  as  a  sponta- 
neous movement  to  see  his  vener- 
able parent.  The  secretary  Perez 
must  have  smiled,  as  he  read 
one  of  these  lettei-s  to  himself, 
since  an  abstract  of  the  roval  de- 

ml 

spatch  appears  in  his  own  hand- 
writing. The  Flemish  nobles  also 
—  probably  through   the   regent's 


s 


■I 


*. 


544       GRANVELLE  COMPELLED  TO  WITHDRAW.  [Book  U 

The  news  of  the  minister's  resignation  and 
speedy  departure  spread  like  wildfire  over  the 
country.  The  joy  was  universal ;  and  the  wits 
of  the  time  redoubled  their  activity,  assailing  the 
fallen  minister  with  libels,  lampoons,  and  carica- 
tures, without  end.  One  of  these  caricatures, 
thrust  into  his  own  hand  under  the  pretence  of 
its  being  a  petition,  represented  him  as  hatching 
a  brood  of  young  bishops,  who  were  crawling  out 
of  their  shells.  Hovering  above  might  be  seen 
the  figure  of  the  Devil;  while  these  words  were 
profanely  made  to  issue  from  his  mouth :  "  This 
is  my  son;  hear  ye  him!"® 

It  was  at  this  time  that,  at  a  banquet  at  which 
many  of  the  Flemish  nobles  were  present,  the 
talk  fell  on  the  expensive  habits  of  the  aristocracy, 
especially  as  shown  in  the  number  and  dress  of 
their  domestics.  It  was  the  custom  for  them  to 
wear  showy  and  very  costly  liveries,  intimating  by 
the  colors  the  family  to  which  they  belonged. 
Granvelle   had   set  an   example   of  this   kind  of 


secretary,  Armenteros  —  appear 
to  have  been  possessed  of  the  true 
state  of  the  case.  It  was  too  good 
a  thing  to  be  kept  secret. 

38  Schiller,  Abfall  der  Nieder- 
lande,  p.  147. 

Among  other  freaks  was  that  of 
a  masquerade,  at  which  a  devil 
was  seen  pursuing  a  cardinal  with 
a  scourge  of  foxes*  tails.  "  Deinde 
sequebatur  diabolus,  equum  dicti 
cardinalis  caudis  vulpinis  fusdgans, 
magiia  cum  totius  populi  admira- 


tione  et  scandalo."  (Papiers  d'jfetat 
de  Granvelle,  torn.  VIII.  p.  77.) 
The  fox*8  tail  was  a  punning  allu- 
sion to  Renard,  who  took  a  most 
active  and  venomous  part  in  the 
paper  war  that  opened  the  revo- 
lution. Renard,  it  may  be  remem- 
bered, was  the  imperial  minister 
to  England  in  Queen  Mary's  time. 
He  was  the  implacable  enemy  of 
Granvelle,  who  had  once  been  hit 
benefactor. 


Oo.  vn.] 


INSULTS  TO   GRANVELLE. 


545 


ostentation      It  was   proposed   to   regulate   their 
apparel  by  a  more  modest  and  uniform  standard 
The   lot  fell  on  Egmont  to  devise  some  suitable 
livery,  of  the  simple  kind  used  by  the  Germans. 
He  proposed  a  dark-gray  habit,  which,  instead  of 
the    aiguillettes    commonly    suspended    from    the 
shoulders,  should   have  flat   pieces  of  cloth,  em- 
broidered  with  the  figure  of  a  head  and  a  fooFs 
cap.     The  head  was  made  marvellously  like  that 
of  the  cardinal,  and  the  cap,  being  red,  was  thought 
to  bear  much  resemblance  to  a  cardinal's  hat.    This 
was  enough.     The  dress  was  received  with  accla- 
mation.     The  nobles  instantly  clad  their  retainers 
in  the  new  livery,  which   had  the   advantage  of 
greater  economy.     It  became  the  badge  of  party. 
The  tailors  of  Brussels  could  not  find  time  to  sup- 
ply their  customers.      Instead   of  being   confined 
to  Granvelle,  the  heads  occasionally  bore  the  fea- 
tures of  Arschot,  Aremberg,  or  Viglius,  the  cardi- 
naPs  friends.     The  duchess  at  first  laughed  at  the 
jest,   and  even  sent   some  specimens  of  the   em- 
broidery to  Philip.      But  Granvelle  looked  more 
gravely  on  the  matter,  declaring  it  an  insult  to  the 
government,  and  the  king  interfered  to  have  the 
device  given  up.     This  was  not  easy,  from  the  ex- 
tent to  which  it  had  been  adopted.     But  Margaret 
at  length  succeeded  in  persuading  the  lords  to  take 
another,  not  personal  in  its  nature.     The  substitute 
was  a  sheaf  of  arrows.     Even  this  was  found  to 
have  an  offensive  application,  as  it  intimated  the 
league  of  the  nobles.     It  was  the  origin,  it  is  said, 


VOL.  I. 


69 


546       GRANVELLE  COMPELLED  TO  WITHDRAW.  [Book  U 

of  the   device  afterwards   assumed  by   the  Seven 
United  Provinces.® 

On  the  thirteenth  of  March,  1564,  Granvelle 
quitted  Brussels,  —  never  to  return.*®  "  The  joy 
of  the  nobles  at  his  departure,"  writes  one  of  the 
privy  council,  "  was  excessive.  They  seemed  like 
boys  let  loose  from  school."*^  The  three  lords, 
members  of  the  council  of  state,  in  a  note  to  the 
duchess,  declared  that  they  were  ready  to  resume 
their  places  at  the  board ;  with  the  understanding, 
however,  that  they  should  retire  whenever  the 
minister  returned.*^  Granvelle  had  given  out 
that  his  absence  would  be  of  no  long  duration. 
The  regent  wrote  to  her  brother  in  warm  com- 
mendation   of   the   lords.     It  would   not  do    for 


Cu.  vn.] 


HE  LEAVES  THE  NETHERLANDS. 


547 


39  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  pp. 
161  -  164.  —  Vander  Haer,  De 
Initiis  Tumultuum  Belgicorum,  p. 
166.  — Vandervynckt,  Troubles  des 
Pay»-Bas,  torn.  H.  p.  53.  —  Corre- 
spondance  de  Philippe  U.,  torn.  I. 
pp.  294,  295. 

^  The  date  is  given  by  the 
prince  of  Orange  in  a  letter  to  the 
landgrave  of  Hesse,  written  a  fort- 
night after  the  cardinal's  depart- 
ure. (Archives  de  la  Maison  d*0- 
range-Nassau ,  torn.  L  p.  226.)  This 
&ct,  public  and  notorious  as  it 
was,  is  nevertheless  told  with  the 
gi-eatest  discrepancy  of  dates.  Hop- 
per, one  of  Granvelle*s  own  friends, 
fixes  the  date  of  his  departure  at 
the  latter  end  of  May.  (Recueil 
et  Memorial,  p.  86.)  Such  dis- 
crepancies will  not  seem  strange  to 
the  student  of  -listory. 


^*  "  Ejus  inimici,  qui  in  senatu 
erant,  non  aliter  exultavere  quam 
pueri  abeunte  ludimagistro.**  Vita 
Viglii,  p.  38. 

Hoogstraten  and  Brederode  in- 
dulged their  wild  humor,  as  they 
saw  the  cardinal  leaving  Brussels, 
by  mounting  a  horse,  —  one  in  the 
saddle,  the  other  en  a-oupe, — and  in 
this  way,  muffled  in  their  cloaks, 
accompanying  the  traveller  along 
the  heijjhts  for  half  a  leajnie  or 
more.  Granvelle  tells  the  story 
himself,  in  a  letter  to  ^largaret, 
but  dismisses  it  as  the  madcap 
frolic  of  young  men.  Papiers 
d'etat  de  Granvelle,  tom.  VH.  pp. 
410,  426. 

*2  Archives  de  la  Maison  d'0» 
range-Nassau,  tom.  L  p.  226. 


Granvelle  ever  to  return.  She  was  assured  by  the 
nobles,  if  he  did  return,  he  would  risk  the  loss  of 
his  life,  and  the  king  the  loss  of  the  Netherlands.** 
The  three  lords  wrote  each  to  Philip,  informing 
him  that  they  had  reentered  the  council,  and 
making  the  most  earnest  protestations  of  loyalty. 
Philip,  on  his  part,  graciously  replied  to  each,  and 
in  particular  to  the  prince  of  Orange,  who  had  in- 
timated that  slanderous  reports  respecting  himself 
had  found  their  way  to  the  royal  ear.  The  king 
declared  "  he  never  could  doubt  for  a  moment  that 
William  would  continue  to  show  the  same  zeal  in 
his  service  that  he  had  always  done ;  and  that  no 
one  should  be  allowed  to  cast  a  reproach  on  a  per- 
son of  his  quality,  and  one  whom  Philip  knew  so 
thoroughly."**  It  might  almost  seem  that  a  dou 
ble  meaning  lurked  under  this  smooth  language. 
But  whatever  may  have  been  felt,  no  distrust  was 
exhibited  on  either  side.  To  those  who  looked  on 
the  surface  only,  —  and  they  were  a  hundred  to 
one,  —  it  seemed  as  if  the  dismissal  of  the  cardinal 
had  removed  all  difficulties ;  and  they  now  confi- 
dently relied  on  a  state  of  permanent  tranquillity. 
But  there  were  others  whose  eyes  looked  deeper 


43  "  Le  comte  d*Egmont  lui  a 
dit,  entre  autres,  que,  si  le  cardi- 
nal revenait,  indubitablement  il 
perdrait  la  vie,  et  mettrait  le  Roi 
2n  risque  de  perdre  les  Pays-Bas." 
Correspondance  de  Philippe  H., 
tom.  I.  p.  295. 

4<  "  Je  n*ay  entendu  de  personne 
«bo8e  dont   je    peusse  concevoir 


quelque  doubte  que  vous  ne  fus- 
siez,  k  Tendroit  de  mon  service,  tel 
que  je  vous  ay  cogneu,  ny  suis  si 
Idgier  de  prester  Toreille  k  ceulx 
qui  me  tascheront  de  mettre  en 
umbre  d'ung  personage  de  vostre 
quality,  et  que  je  cognois  si  Hen." 
Correspondance  de  Guillaume  le 
Taciturne,  tom.  U.  p.  76, 


548       URANVELLE  COMPELLED  TO  WITHDRAW.  [Book  II 

than  the  calm  sunshine  that  lay  upon  the  surface  • 
who  saw,  more  distinctly  than  when  the  waters 
were  ruffled  by  the  tempest,  the  rocks  beneath. 
on  which  the  vessel  of  state  was  afterward  to  be 
wrecked. 

The  cardinal,  on  leaving  the  Low  Countries 
retired  to  his  patrimonial  estate  at  Besan9on, — 
embellished  with  all  that  wealth  and  a  cultivated 
taste  could  supply.  In  this  pleasant  retreat  the 
discomfited  statesman  found  a  solace  in  those  pur- 
suits which  in  earlier,  perhaps  happier,  days  had 
engaged  his  attention.*^  He  had  particularly  a 
turn  for  the  physical  sciences.  But  he  was  fond 
of  letters,  and  in  all  his  tastes  showed  the  fruits 
of  a  liberal  culture.  He  surrounded  himself  with 
scholars  and  artists,  and  took  a  lively  interest  in 
their  pursuits.  Justus  Lipsius,  afterwards  so  cele- 
brated, was  his  secretary.  He  gave  encouragement 
to  Plantin,  who  rivalled  in  Flanders  the  fame  of 
the  Aldi  in  Venice.  His  generous  patronStge  was 
readily  extended  to  genius,  in  whatever  form  it 
was  displayed.  It  is  some  proof  how  widely  ex- 
tended, that,  in  the  course  of  his  life,  he  is  said  to 
have  received  more  than  a  hundred  dedications. 
Though  greedy  of  wealth,  it  was  not  to  hoard  it, 
and  his  large  revenues  were  liberally  dispensed  in 
the  foundation  of  museums,  colleges,  and  public 

«  **  Quiero  de    aquf   adelante  nerme  qiianto  ad  repose  y  sossiego." 

bazerme  ciego  y  sordo,  y  tractar  Papiere  d'Etat  de  Granvelle,  torn 

con  mis  libros  y  negocios  pardcu-  VIII.  p.  91. 
lares,  y  dexar  el  publico  i  los  que        A  pleasing  illusion,  as  old  as  the 

tanto  saben  y  pueden,  y  compo-  time  of  Horace's  "  Bealus  illet**  &c 


Ch.  Vn.]  HE  LEAVES  THE  NETHERLANDS. 


549 


■ 


libraries.  Besan9on,  the  place  of  his  residence, 
did  not  profit  least  by  this  munificence.*^ 

Such  is  the  portrait  which  historians  have  given 
to  us  of  the  minister  in  his  retirement.  His  own 
letters  show  that,  with  these  sources  of  enjoyment, 
he  did  not  altogether  disdain  others  of  a  less  spir- 
itual character.  A  letter  to  one  of  the  regent's 
secretaries,  written  soon  after  the  cardinal's  arrival 
at  Besan9on,  concludes  in  the  following  manner: 
"  I  know  that  God  will  recompense  men  according 
to  their  deserts.  I  have  confidence  that  he  will 
aid  me ;  and  that  I  shall  yet  be  able  to  draw  profit 
from  what  my  enemies  designed  for  my  ruin.  This 
is  my  philosophy,  with  which  I  endeavor  to  live  as 
joyously  as  I  can,  laughing  at  the  world,  its  calum- 
nies and  its  passions."*^ 

With  all  this  happy  mixture  of  the  Epicurean 
and  the  Stoic,  the  philosophic  statesman  did  not 
so  contentedly  submit  to  his  fate  as  to  forego 
the  hope  of  seeing  himself  soon  reinstated  in 
authority  in  the  Netherlands.  "  In  the  course 
of  two  months,"  he  writes,  "you  may  expect  to 
see  me  there."  *^  He  kept  up  an  active  corre- 
spondence with  the  friends  whom  he  had  left  in 
Brussels,  and  furnished  the  results  of  the  informa- 


^  Gerlache,  Royaume  des  Pays- 
Bas,  torn.  I.  p.  79. 

*f  "  Vdlk  ma  philosophie,  et 
procurer  avec  tout  cela  de  vivre 
\e  plus  joyeusement  que  Ton  peut, 
et  se  rire  du  monde,  des  appassion- 
lez,  et  de  ce  qu'ilz  dient  eans  fon- 


dement**    Archives  de  la  Maison 
d*Orange-Nassau,  torn.  I.  p.  240. 

^  **  IIz  auront  avant  mon  retour, 
que  ne  sera,  k  mon  ?ompte,  plus 
tost  que  d'icy  h  deux  mois,  partant 
au  commencement  ie  juint^." 
Ibid.,  p.  236. 


550       GRANVELLE  COMPELLED  TO  WITHDRAW.  [Book  H 

tion  thus  obtained,  with  his  own  commentaries,  tc 
the  court  at  Madrid.  His  counsel  was  courted, 
and  greatly  considered,  by  Philip ;  so  that  from 
the  shades  of  his  retirement  the  banished  minister 
was  still  thought  to  exercise  an  important  influ- 
ence on  the  destiny  of  Flanders. 


Cn.  vn.] 


THE  GRANVELLE  PAPERS. 


551 


A  singular  histoiy  is  attached  to  the  papers  of  Granvellc.  That  min- 
uter resembled  his  master,  Philip  the  Second,  in  the  fertility  of  his 
epistolary  vein.  That  the  king  had  a  passion  for  writing,  notwithstand- 
ing he  could  throw  the  burden  of  the  correspondence,  when  it  suited 
him,  on  the  other  party,  is  proved  by  the  quantity  of  letters  he  left  be- 
hind him.  The  example  of  the  monarch  seems  to  have  had  its  influence 
on  his  courtiers ;  and  no  reign  of  that  time  is  illustrated  by  a  greater 
amount  of  written  materials  from  the  hands  of  the  principal  actors  in  it. 
Far  from  a  poverty  of  materials,  therefore,  the  historian  has  much  more 
reason  to  complain  of  an  embarrwt  de  richesses. 

Granvelle  filled  the  highest  posts  in  different  parts  of  the  Spanish 
empire ;  and  in  each  of  these  —  in  the  Netherlands,  where  he  was 
minister,  in  Naples,  where  he  was  viceroy,  in  Spain,  where  he  took  the 
lead  in  the  cabinet,  and  in  Besan9on,  whither  he  retired  from  public 
life  —  he  left  ample  memorials  under  his  own  hand  of  his  residence 
there.  This  was  particularly  the  case  with  Besan9on,  his  native  town, 
and  the  favorite  residence  to  which  he  turned,  as  he  tells  us,  from  the 
turmoil  of  office  to  enjoy  the  sweets  of  privacy,  —  yet  not,  in  truth,  so 
flweet  to  him  as  the  stormy  career  of  the  statesman,  to  judge  from  the 
tenacity  with  which  he  clung  to  office. 

The  cardinal  made  his  library  at  Besan9on  the  depository,  not  merely 
of  his  own  letters,  but  of  such  as  were  addressed  to  him.  He  preserved 
them  all,  however  humble  the  sources  whence  they  came,  and,  like 
Philip,  he  was  in  the  habit  of  jotting  down  his  own  reflections  in  the 
margin.  As  Granvelle's  personal  and  political  relations  connected  him 
with  the  most  important  men  of  his  time,  we  may  well  believe  that  the 
mass  of  correspondence  which  he  gathered  together  was  inunense.  Un- 
fortunately, at  his  death,  instead  of  bequeathing  his  manuscripts  to  some 
public  body,  who  might  have  been  responsible  for  the  care  of  them,  he  let) 


them  to  heirs  who  were  altogether  ignorant  of  their  value.  In  the  coursi 
of  time  the  manuscripts  found  their  way  to  the  garret,  where  they  soon 
came  to  be  regarded  as  little  better  than  waste  paper.  They  were 
pilfered  by  the  children  and  domestics,  and  a  considerable  quantity  was 
sent  off  to  a  neighboring  grocer,  who  soon  converted  the  correspondence 
of  the  great  statesman  into  wrapping-paper  for  his  spices. 

From  this  ignominious  fate  the  residue  of  the  collection  was  happily 
rescued  by  the  generous  exertions  of  the  Abbe  Boissot.  This  excel- 
lent and  learned  man  was  the  head  of  the  Benedictines  of  St.  Vincent 
in  Besan9on,  of  which  town  he  was  himself  a  native.  He  was  ac- 
quainted with  the  condition  of  the  Granvelle  papers,  and  comprehended 
their  importance.  In  the  course  of  eighty  years,  which  had  elapsed 
since  the  cardinal's  death,  his  manuscripts  had  come  to  be  distributed 
amontv  several  heirs,  some  of  whom  consented  to  transfer  their  prop- 
erty gratuitously  to  the  Abbe  Boissot,  while  he  purchased  that  of  oth 
ers.  In  this  way  he  at  length  succeeded  in  gathering  together  all  that 
survived  of  the  large  collection ;  and  he  made  it  the  great  business  of 
his  subsequent  life  to  study  its  contents  and  arrange  the  chaotic  mass  of 
papers  with  reference  to  their  subjects.  To  complete  his  labors,  h« 
caused  the  manuscripts  thus  arranged  to  be  bound,  in  eighty-two  vol- 
umes, folio,  thus  placing  them  in  that  permanent  form  which  might 
best  secure  them  against  future  accident. 

The  abbe  did  not  live  to  publish  to  the  world  an  account  of  his  col- 
lection, which  at  his  death  passed  by  his  will  to  his  brethren  of  the 
abbey  of  St.  Vincent,  on  condition  that  it  should  be  for  ever  opened  to 
the  use  of  the  town  of  Besan9on.  It  may  seem  strange  that,  notwith- 
standing the  existence  of  this  valuable  body  of  original  documents  was 
known  to  scholars,  they  should  so  rarely  have  resorted  to  it  for  instruc- 
tion. Its  secluded  situation,  in  the  heart  of  a  remote  province,  was 
doubtless  regarded  as  a  serious  obstacle  by  the  historical  inquirer,  in  an 
age  when  the  public  took  things  too  readily  on  trust  to  be  very  solicitous 
about  authentic  sources  of  information.  It  is  more  strange  that  Bois- 
sot's  Benedictine  brethren  should  have  shown  themselves  so  insensible 
to  the  treasures  under  their  own  roof  One  of  their  body,  Dom  Pros* 
per  I'Evesque,  did  indeed  profit  by  the  Boissot  collection  to  give  to  the 
world  his  Memoires  de  Granvelle,  a  work  in  two  volumes,  duodecimo; 
which,  notwithstanding  the  materials  at  the  writer's  command,  contain 
little  of  any  worth,  unless  it  be  an  occasional  extract  from  Granvelle's 
own  correspondence. 

At  length,  in  1834,  the  subject  drew  the  attention  of  M.  Guizot,  then 
lilinister  of  Public  Instruction  in  France.  By  his  direction  a  commis- 
sion  of  five  scholars  was  instituted,  with  the  learned  Weiss  at  its  hea«l» 


! 


552 


THE  GRANVELLE  P^VPERS. 


[Book  11 


for  the  purpose  of  examining  the  Granvelle  papers,  with  a  view  to  their 
immediate  publication.  The  work  was  performed  in  a  prompt  and  ac- 
curate manner,  that  must  have  satisfied  its  enlightened  projector.  In 
1839  the  whole  series  of  papers  had  been  subjected  to  a  careful  anal- 
Tsis,  and  the  portion  selected  that  was  deemed  proper  for  publication. 
The  first  volume  appeared  in  1841  ;  and  the  president  of  the  commis- 
sion, M.  Weiss,  expressed  in  his  preface  the  confident  hope  that  in  the 
course  of  1843  the  remaining  papers  would  all  be  given  to  the  press. 
But  these  anticipations  have  not  been  realized.  In  1854  only  nine 
volumes  had  appeared.  How  far  the  publication  has  since  advanced  I 
am  ignorant. 

The  Papiers  d'Etat,  besides  Granvelle's  own  letters,  contain  a  large 
amount  of  historical  materials,  such  as  official  documents,  state  papers, 
and  diplomatic  correspondence  of  foreign  ministers, — that  of  Renard,  for 
example,  so  often  quoted  in  these  pages.  There  are,  besides,  numerous 
letters  both  of  Philip  and  of  Charles  the  Fifth,  for  the  earlier  volumes 
embrace  the  times  of  the  emperor.  The  minister's  own  correspondence 
is  not  the  least  valuable  part  of  the  collection.  Granvelle  stood  so 
high  in  the  confidence  of  his  sovereign,  that,  when  not  intrusted  himseli 
with  the  conduct  of  affairs,  he  was  constantly  consulted  by  the  king  as 
to  the  best  mode  of  conducting  them.  With  a  different  fate  from  that 
of  most  ministers,  he  retained  his  influence  when  he  had  lost  his  place. 
Thus  there  were  few  transactions  of  any  moment  in  which  he  was  not 
called  on  direcdy  or  indirectly  to  take  part.  And  his  letters  furnish  a 
clew  for  conducting  the  historical  student  through  more  than  one  intri- 
cate negotiation,  by  revealing  the  true  motives  of  the  parties  who  were 
engaged  in  it. 

Granvelle  was  in  such  intimate  relations  with  the  most  eminent  per- 
sons of  the  time,  that  his  correspondence  becomes  in  some  sort  the  mir- 
ror of  the  age,  reflecting  the  state  of  opinion  on  the  leading  topics  of 
the  day.  For  the  same  reason  it  is  replete  with  matters  of  personal  as 
well  as  political  interest ;  while  the  range  of  its  application,  far  from 
being  confined  to  Spain,  embraces  most  of  the  states  of  Europe  witli 
which  Spain  held  intercourse.  The  French  government  has  done  good 
service  by  the  publication  of  a  work  which  contains  so  much  for  the 
illustration  of  the  history  of  the  sixteenth  century.  M.  Weiss,  the 
editor,  has  conducted  his  labors  on  the  true  principles  by  which  an 
editor  should  be  guided ;  and,  far  from  magnifying  his  office,  and  un- 
seasonably obtruding  himself  on  the  readei-'s  attention,  he  has  sought 
only  to  explain  what  is  obscure  in  the  text,  and  to  give  such  occasional 
notices  of  the  writers  as  may  enable  the  reader  to  understand  their 
correspondence. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

CHANGES  DEMANDED  BY  THE  LORDS. 

Policy  of  Philip.  —  Ascendency  of  the  Nobles.  —  The  Regent**  £mlar> 
rassments.  —  Egmont  sent  to  Spain. 

1564,  1565. 

We  have  now  arrived  at  an  epoch  in  the  history 
of  the  revolution,  when,  the  spirit  of  the  nation 
having  been  fully  roused,  the  king  had  been  com- 
pelled to  withdraw  his  unpopular  minister,  and  to 
intrust  the  reins  of  government  to  the  hands  of 
the  nobles.  Before  proceeding  further,  it  will  be 
well  to  take  a  brief  survey  of  the  ground,  that  we 
may  the  better  comprehend  the  relations  in  which 
the  parties  stood  to  each  other  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  contest. 

In  a  letter  to  his  sister,  the  regent,  written  some 
two  years  after  this  period,  Philip  says :  "  I  have 
never  had  any  other  object  in  view  than  the  good 
of  my  subjects.  In  all  that  I  have  done,  I  have  but 
trod  in  the  footsteps  of  my  father,  under  whom 
the  people  of  the  Netherlands  must  admit  they 
lived  contented  and  happy.  As  to  the  Inquisition, 
whatever  people  may  say  of  it,  I  have  never  at- 
tempted anything  new.    With  regard  to  the  edict«. 


•W>L.  I. 


70 


ii 


554  CHANGES  DEMANDED  BY  THE  LORDS.    (Book  IL 

I  have  been  always  resolved  to  live  and  die  in  the 
Catholic  faith.  I  could  not  be  content  to  have  my 
subjects  do  otherwise.  Yet  I  see  not  how  this  can 
be  compassed  without  punishing  the  transgressors. 
God  knows  how  willingly  I  would  avoid  shedding 
a  drop  of  Christian  blood,  —  above  all,  that  of  my 
people  in  the  Netherlands  ;  and  I  should  esteem  it 
one  of  the  happiest  circumstances  of  my  reign  to 
be  spared  this  necessity."^ 

Whatever  we  may  think  of  the  sensibility  of 
Philip,  or  of  his  tenderness  for  his  Flemish  sub- 
jects in  particular,  we  cannot  deny  that  the  policy 
he  had  hitherto  pursued  was  substantially  that  of 
his  father.  Yet  his  father  lived  beloved,  and  died 
lamented,  by  the  Flemings ;  while  Philip's  course, 
from  the  very  first,  had  encountered  only  odium 
and  opposition.  A  little  reflection  will  show  us 
the  reasons  of  these  different  results. 

Both  Charles  and  Philip  came  forward  as  the 
great  champions  of  *  Catholicism.  But  the  em- 
peror's zeal  was  so  far  tempered  by  reason,  that 
it  could  accommodate  itself  to  circumstan(  es.  He 
showed  this  on  more  than  one  occasion,  both  in 
Germany  and  in  Flanders.  Philip,  on  the  other 
hand,  admitted  of  no  compromise.  He  was  the 
inexorable  foe  of  heresy.  Persecution  was  his 
only  remedy,  and  the  Inquisition  the  weapon  on 
which  he  relied.  His  first  act  on  setting  foot  on 
his  native  shore  was  to  assist  at  an  auto  de  fe. 

I  This  remarkable  letter,  dated    the  Supplement  k  Strada,  torn.  11 
Madrid,  May  6,  is  to  be  found  in    p.  346. 


Ch.  vm.j 


POLICY  OF  PHILIP. 


55d 


This  proclaimed  his  purpose  to  the  world,  and 
associated  his  name  indelibly  with  that  of  the 
terrible  tribunal 

The  free  people  of  the  Netherlands  felt  the 
same  dread  of  the  Inquisition  that  a  free  and 
enlightened  people  of  our  own  day  might  be 
supposed  to  feel.  They  looked  with  gloomy  ap- 
prehension to  the  unspeakable  misery  it  was  to 
bring  to  their  firesides,  and  the  desolation  and 
ruin  to  their  coimtry.  Everything  that  could  in 
any  way  be  connected  with  it  took  the  dismal 
coloriag  of  their  fears.  The  edicts  of  Charles 
the  Fifth,  written  in  blood,  became  yet  more 
formidable,  as  declaring  the  penalties  to  be  in- 
flicted by  this  tribunal.  Even  the  erection  of  the 
bishoprics,  so  necessary  a  measure,  was  regarded 
with  distrust  on  account  of  the  inquisitorial  pow- 
ers which  of  old  were  vested  in  the  bishops,  thus 
seeming  to  give  additional  strength  to  the  arm 
of  persecution.  The.  popular  feeling  was  nour- 
ished by  every  new  convert  to  the  Protestant 
faith,  as  well  as  by  those  who,  from  views  of  their 
own,  were  willing  to  fan  the  flame  of  rebellion. 

Another  reason  why  Philip's  policy  met  with 
greater  opposition  than  that  of  his  predecessor 
was  the  change  in  the  condition  of  the  people 
themselves.  Under  the  general  relaxation  of  the 
law,  or  rather  of  its  execution,  in  the  latter  days 
of  Charles  the  Fifth,  the  number  of  the  Reformers 
had  greatly  multiplied.  Calvinism  predominated 
in   Luxemburg,   Artois,  Flanders,  and  the   states 


556  CHANGES  DEMANDED  BY  THE  LORDS.    [Book  II. 

lying  nearest  to  France.  Holland,  Zealand,  and 
the  North,  were  the  chosen  abode  of  the  Ana- 
baptists. The  Lutherans  swarmed  in  the  dis- 
tricts bordering  on  Germany ;  while  Antwerp, 
the  commercial  capital  of  Brabant,  and  the  great 
mart  of  all  nations,  was  filled  with  sectaries  of 
every  description.  Even  the  Jew,  the  butt  of 
persecution  in  the  Middle  Ages,  is  said  to  have 
li^'^d  there  unmolested.  For  such  a  state  of 
things,  it  is  clear  that  very  difierent  legislation 
was  demanded  than  for  that  which  existed  under 
Charles  the  Fifth.  It  was  one  thing  to  eradicate 
a  few  noxious  weeds,  and  quite  another  to  crush 
the  sturdy  growth  of  heresy,  which  in  every  di- 
rection  now   covered   the   land. 

A  further  reason  for  the  aversion  to  Philip, 
and  one  that  cannot  be  too  often  repeated,  was 
that  he  was  a  foreigner.  Charles  was  a  native 
Fleming;  and  much  may  be  forgiven  in  a  coun- 
tryman. But  Philip  was  a  Spaniard,  —  one  of 
a  nation  held  in  greatest  aversion  by  the  men  of 
the  Netherlands.  It  should  clearly  have  been  his 
policy,  therefore,  to  cover  up  this  defect  in  the 
eyes  of  the  inhabitants  by  consulting  their  national 
prejudices,  and  by  a  show,  at  least,  of  confidence 
in  their  leaders.  Far  from  this,  Philip  began  with 
placing  a  Spanish  army  on  their  borders  in  time 
of  peace.  The  administration  he  committed  to 
the  hands  of  a  foreigner.  And  while  he  thus 
outraged  the  national  feeling  at  home,  it  was 
remarked  that  into  the  royal  council  at  Madrid, 


Oh  Vm.l    ASCENDENCY  OF  THE  NOBLES. 


557 


where  the  affairs  of  the  Low  Countries,  as  of 
tbe  other  provinces,  were  settled  in  the  last  re- 
sort, not  a  Fleming  was  admitted.^  The  public 
murmured.  The  nobles  remonstrated  and  resist- 
ed. PhUip  was  obliged  to  retrace  his  steps.  He 
made  first  one  concession,  then  another.  He  re- 
called his  troops,  removed  his  minister.  The 
nobles  triumphed,  and  the  administration  of  the 
country  passed  into  their  hands.  People  thought 
the  troubles  were  at  an  end.  They  were  but  be- 
gun. Nothing  had  been  done  towards  the  solu- 
tion of  the  great  problem  of  the  rights  of  con- 
science. On  this  the  king  and  the  country  were 
at  issue  as  much  as  ever.  All  that  had  been 
done  had  only  cleared  the  way  to  the  free  dis- 
cussion of  this  question,  and  to  the  bloody  con- 
test   that   was   to   follow. 

On  the  departure  of  Granvelle,  the  discontented 
lords,  as  we  have  seen,  again  took  their  seats  in 
the  council  of  state.  They  gave  the  most  earnest 
assurances  of  loyalty  to  the  king,  and  seemed  as 
if  desirous  to  make  amends  for  the  past  by  an 
extraordinary  devotion  to  public  business.  Mar- 
garet  received   these   advances   in    the    spirit    in 


2  Hopper  does  not  hesitate  to 
regard  this  circumstance  as  a  lead- 
ing  cause  of  the  discontents  in 
Flanders.  "  Se  voyans  desestimez 
ou  pour  mieux  dire  opprimez  par 
les  Seigneurs  Espaignols,  qui  chas- 
sant  les  autres  hors  du  Conseil  du 
Roy,  participent  seulz  ayecq  iceluy, 
et  presument  de  commander  aux 


Seigneurs  et  Chevaliers  des  Pays 
d'embas :  ny  plus  ni  moins  qu*ilz 
font  h  aultres  de  Milan,  Naples,  et 
Sicille;  ce  que  eulx  ne  veuillans 
soufirir  en  mani^re  que  ce  soit,A 
este  et  est  la  vraye  ou  du  moins  la 
principale  cause  de  ces  maulx  et 
alterations."  Recteil  et  Memori- 
al, p.  79. 


If 


558 


CHANGES  DEMANDED  BY  THE  LORDS.    [Book  H. 


Ch.  Vni.]  ASCENDENCY  OF  THE  NOBLES. 


559 


which  they  were  made ;  and  the  confidence  which 
she  had  formerly  bestowed  on  Granvelle,  she  now 
transferred  in  full  measure  to  his  successful  rivals.' 
It  is  amusing  to  read  her  letters  at  this  period, 
and  to  compare  them  with  those  which  she  wrote 
to  Philip  the  year  preceding.  In  the  new  coloring 
given  to  the  portraits  it  is  hard  to  recognize  a 
single  individual.  She  cannot  speak  too  highly 
of  the  services  of  the  lords,  —  of  the  prince  of 
Orange,  and  Egmont  above  all,  —  of  their  devo- 
tion to  the  public  weal  and  the  interests  of  the 
sovereign.  She  begs  her  brother  again  and  again 
to  testify  his  own  satisfaction  by  the  most  gra- 
cious letters  to  these  nobles  that  he  can  write.* 
The  suggestion  seems  to  have  met  with  little  favor 
from  Philip.  No  language,  however,  is  quite 
strong  enough  to  express  Margaret's  disgust  with 
the  character  and  conduct  of  her  former  minister, 
Granvelle.  It  is  he  that  has  so  long  stood  be- 
twixt the  monarch  and  the  love  of  the  people. 
She  cannot  feel  easy  that  he  should  still  remain 
so  near  the  Netherlands.  He  should  be  sent  to 
Rome.^  She  distrusts  his  influence,  even  now, 
over  the  cabinet  at  Madrid.  He  is  perpetually 
talking,  she  understands,  of  the  probability  of  his 
speedy   return   to   Brussels.     The   rumor   of  this 


.•  Viglius  makes  many  pathetic        *  Correspondance  de   Philippe 

complaints  on  this  head,  in  his  let-  II.,  torn.  I.  pp.  312,  332,  et  alibi, 
ters  to  Granvelle.    See  Archives        *  "  II  faudrait  envoyer  le  rardi- 

le    la   Maison    d'Orange-Nassau,  nal  k  Borne."    Ibid.,  p.  329 
torn.  I.  p  319  et  alibi. 


causes  great  uneasiness  in  the  country.  Should 
he  be  permitted  to  return,  it  would  undoubtedly 
be  the  signal  for  an  insurrection.^  —  It  is  clear 
the  duchess  had  sorely  suifered  from  the  tyranny 
of  Granvelle.^ 

But  notwithstanding  the  perfect  harmony  which 
subsisted  between  Margaret  and  the  principal  lords, 
it  was  soon  seen  that  the  wheels  of  government 
were  not  destined  to  run  on  too  smoothly.  Al- 
though the  cardinal  was  gone,  there  still  remained 
a  faction  of  Cardinalists^  who  represented  his  opin- 
ions, and  who,  if  few  in  number,  made  themselves 
formidable  by  the  strength  of  their  opposition.  At 
the  head  of  these  were  the  viscount  de  Barlaimont 
and  the  President  Viglius. 

The  former,  head  of  the  council  of  finance, 
was  a  Flemish  noble  of  the  first  class,  —  vet 
more  remarkable  for  his  character  than  for  his 
rank.  He  was  a  man  of  unimpeachable  integrity, 
stanch  in  his  loyalty  both  to  the  Church  and  to 
the  crovm,  with  a  resolute  spirit  not  to  be  shaken, 
for  it  rested  on  principle. 

His  coadjutor,  Viglius,  was  an  eminent  jurist,  an 
able  writer,  a  sagacious  statesman.  He  had  been 
much  employed  by  the  emperor  in  public  affairs, 
which  he  managed  with  a  degree  of  caution  that 

*  Ibid.,  p.  295.  minister  only  made  her  his  dupe, 
7  Morillon,  in  a  letter  to  Gran-  or  from  whatever  cause,  never 
▼elle,  dated  July  9, 1564,  tells  him  hears  his  name  without  changing 
of  the  hearty  hatred  in  which  he  color.  Papiers  d'Etat  de  Gran- 
is  held  by  the  duchess  ;  who,  velle,  tom.  VIII.  p.  131. 
whether  she  h^s  been  told  that  the 


560  CHANGES  DEMANDED  BY  THE  LORDS.    [Book  H 

amounted   almost  to  timidity.     He  was   the   per 
sonal  friend  of  Granvelle,  had  adopted  his  views, 
and  carried  on  with  him  a  constant  correspondence, 
which   is  among  our  best  sources  of  information. 
He  was   frugal   and  moderate   in  his  habits,  not 
provoking    criticism,   like    that    minister,   by  his 
ostentation  and  irregularities  of  life.     But  he  was 
nearly  as  formidable,  from  the  official  powers  with 
which  he  was   clothed,  and  the  dogged  tenacity 
with  which  he  clung  to  his  purposes.     He  filled 
the  high   office   of  president  both   of  the  pnvy 
council   and   of  the   council   of    state,    and   was 
also   keeper  of  the  great  seal.     It  was  thus  ob- 
viously  in  his   power   to   oppose   a   great   check 
to  the  proceedings  of  the  opposite  party.     That 
he  did  thus  often  thwart  them   is  attested   by 
the  reiterated  complaints  of  the  duchess.     "  The 
president,"    she    tells  her    brother,    "makes  me 
endure   the    pains    of   hell    by    the    manner    m 
which  he  traverses  my  measures." «    His  real  ob- 
ject  like  that  of  Granvelle  and  of  their  foUowers, 
she'  says   on   another   occasion,  is   to   throw   the 
country   into    disorder.     They  would    find    their 
account  in  fishing  in  the  troubled  waters.     They 
dread  a  state  of  tranquillity,  which  would  afford 
opportunity  for  exposing  their   corrupt  practices 
in   the   government** 


Ch.  viil]       ascendency  of  the  nobles. 


561 


8  uviglius  lui  fait  souffrir  les  «  "Us    espferent    alo«   p^cher 

rw^inesde  renfer,  en  traversant  les  comme  on  dit,  en  eau  troube,  et 

^^1  c^u'exie   le    service    du  atteindre  le  but  qu^ib  poursmyent 

SI "ibUi.,  p.Tl4.  depub  longtemps :  celui  de  sem- 


To  these  general  charges  of  delinquency  the 
duchess  added  others,  of  a  more  vulgar  pecula- 
tion.  Viglius,  who  had  taken  priest's  orders  for 
the  purpose,  was  provost  of  the  church  of  St. 
Bavon.  Margaret  openly  accused  him  of  pur- 
loining the  costly  tapestries,  the  plate,  the  linen, 
the  jewels,  and  even  considerable  sums  of  money 
belonging  to  the  church.^^  She  insisted  on  the 
impropriety  of  allowing  such  a  man  to  hold  office 
under  the   government. 

Nor  was  the  president  silent  on  his  part,  and 
in  his  correspondence  with  Granvelle  he  retorts 
similar  accusations  in  full  measure  on  his  enemies. 
He  roundly  taxes  the  great  nobles  with  simony 
and  extortion.  Offices,  both  ecclesiastical  and 
secular,  were  put  up  for  sale  in  a  shameless  man- 
ner, and  disposed  of  to  the  highest  bidder.  It 
was  in  this  way  that  the  bankrupt  nobles  paid 
their  debts,  by  bestowing  vacant  places  on  their 
creditors.  Nor  are  the  regent's  hands,  he  inti- 
mates, altogether  clean  from  the  stain  of  these 
transactions."  He  accuses  the  lords,  moreover, 
of  using  their  authority  to   interfere  perpetually 


parer  de  toutes  les  affaires.  C'est 
pourquoi  ils  ont  ^te  et  sont  encore 
contraires  k  Tassemblee  des  etats 

gdneraux Le    cardinal,    le 

president  et  leur  sequelle  craignent, 
si  la  tranquillite  se  retablit  dans  le 
pays,  qu'on  ne  lise  dans  leurs  livres, 
et  qu*on  ne  d^couvre  leurs  injus- 
tices, simonies,  et  rapines."  Ibid., 
p.  311. 

TOL.  I.  71 


W  Jbid.,  p.  820  et  alibi. 

u  "  Ce  qu'elle  se  resent  le  plus 
contre  v.  i.  S.  et  centre  moy,  est 
ce  que  I'avons  si  longuement  garde 
d*en  faire  son  prouffit,  qu*elle  fait 
maintenant  des  offices  et  benefices 
et  aultres  graces.**  Archives  de  la 
Mauson  d'Orange-Nassau,  torn.  L 
p.  406. 


562  CHANGES  DEMANDED  BY  THE  LORDS.   [Book  H 

with  the  course  of  justice.  They  had  acquired 
an  unbounded  ascendency  over  Margaret,  and 
treated  her  with  a  deference  which,  he  adds, 
"is  ever  sure  to  captivate  the  sex.""  She  was 
more  especially  under  the  influence  of  her  secre- 
tary, Armenteros,  a  creature  of  the  nobles,  who 
profited  by  his  position  to  fill  his  own  coflfers  at 
the  expense  of  the  exchequer.^^  For  himself,  he 
is  in  such  disgrace  for  his  resistance  to  these 
disloyal  proceedings,  that  the  duchess  excludes 
him  as  far  as  possible  from  the  management  of 
affairs,  and  treats  him  with  undisguised  coldness. 
Nothing  but  the  desire  to  do  his  duty  would 
induce  him  to  remain  a  day  longer  in  a  post 
like  this,  from  which  his  only  wish  is  that  his 
sovereign   would  release  him.^* 

The  president  seems  never  to  have  written 
directly  to  Philip.  It  would  only  expose  him, 
he  said,  to  the  suspicions  and  the  cavils  of  his 
enemies.  The  wary  statesman  took  warning  by 
the  fate  of  Granvelle.     But  as  his  lettei-s  to   the 


13  "Ipsam  etiam  Ducissam  in 
8uam  pertraxere  sententiam,  honore 
etiam  majore  quam  antea  ipsam 
afficientes,  quo  muliebris  sexus  fa- 
cile capitur."  —  This  remark,  bow- 
ever,  is  taken,  not  from  his  corre- 
spondence with  Granvelle,  but  from 
his  autobiography.  See  Vita  Vi- 
glii,  p.  40. 

W  The  extortions  of  Margaret's 
•e^retary,  who  was  said  to  have 
amassed  a  fortune  of  seventy  thou- 
•and  ducats  in  her  service,  led  the 


people,  instead  of  Armenteros, 
punningly  to  call  him  Argenterios, 
This  piece  of  scandal  is  communi- 
cated for  the  royal  ear  in  a  letter 
addressed  to  one  of  the  king's  sec- 
retaries by  Fray  Lorenzo  de  Villa- 
cancio,  of  whom  I  shall  give  a  full 
account  elsewhere.  Gachard,  Cor- 
respondance  de  Philippe  II.,  torn. 
II.,  Rapport,  p.  xliii. 

1*  Archives  de  la  Maison  d*0- 
range-Nassau,  torn.  I.  p.  *?78  et 
alibi. 


::h.  vm.j       ascendency  of  the  nobles. 


563 


banished  minister  were  all  forwarded  to  Philip, 
the  monarch,  with  the  despatches  of  his  sister 
before  him,  had  the  means  of  contemplating  both 
sides  of  the  picture,  and  of  seeing  that,  to  which- 
ever party  he  intrusted  the  government,  the  inter- 
ests of  the  country  were  little  likely  to  be  served. 
Had  it  been  his  father,  the  emperor,  who  was  on 
the  throne,  such  knowledge  would  not  have  been 
in  his  possession  four  and  twenty  hours,  before 
he  would  have  been  on  his  way  to  the  Nether- 
lands. But  Philip  was  of  a  more  sluggish  temper. 
He  was  capable,  indeed,  of  much  passive  exer- 
tion, —  of  incredible  toil  in  the  cabinet,  —  and 
from  his  palace,  as  was  said,  would  have  given 
law  to  Christendom.  But  rather  than  encounter 
the  difficulties  of  a  voyage,  he  was  willing,  it 
appears,  to  risk  the  loss  of  the  finest  of  his  prov- 


mces. 


15 


Yet  he  wrote  to  his  sister  to  encourage  her  with 


i*  Granvelle  regarded  such  a 
step  as  the  only  effectual  remedy 
for  the  disorders  in  the  Low  Coun- 
tries. In  a  remarkable  letter  to 
Philip,  dated  July  20,  1565,  he 
presents  such  a  view  of  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  government  is 
conducted  as  might  well  alarm  his 
master.  Justice  and  religion  are 
at  the  lowest  ebb.  Public  offices 
are  disposed  of  at  private  sale. 
The  members  of  the  council  in- 
ilulge  in  the  greatest  freedom  in 
their  discussions  on  matters  of  re- 
ligion. It  is  plain  that  the  Con- 
fession of  Augsburg  would  be  ac- 


ceptable to  some  of  them.  The 
truth  is  never  allowed  to  reach 
the  king's  ears ;  as  the  letters  sent 
to  Madrid  are  written  to  suit  the 
majority  of  the  council,  and  so  as 
not  to  give  an  unfavorable  view  of 
the  country.  Viglius  is  afraid  to 
write.  There  are  spies  at  the 
court,  he  says,  who  would  betray 
his  correspondence,  and  it  might 
cost  him  his  life.  Granvelle  con- 
cludes by  urging  the  king  to  come 
in  person,  and  with  money  enough 
to  subsidize  a  force  to  support  him. 
Papiers  d'etat  de  Granvelle,  torn 
Vin.  p.  620  et  seq. 


If 

1*, 


564     CHANGES  DEMANDED  BY  THE  LORDS.  [Book  IT. 

the  prospect  of  his  visiting  the  country  as  soon  as 
he  could  be  released  from  a  war  in  which  he  was 
engaged  with  the  Turks.  He  invited  her,  at  the 
same  time,  to  send  him  further  particulars  of  the 
misconduct  of  Viglius,  and  expressed  the  hope 
that  some  means  might  be  found  of  silencing 
his  opposition.^* 

It  is  not  easy  at  this 'day  to  strike  the  balance 
between  the  hostile  parties,  so  as  to  decide  on  the 
justice  of  these  mutual  accusations,  and  to  assign 
to  each  the  proper  share  of  responsibility  for  the 
mismanagement  of  the  government.     That  it  was 
mismanaged    is   certain.     That    offices  were    put 
up  for  sale  is  undeniable ;  for  the  duchess  frankly 
discusses  the  expediency  of  it,  in  a  letter  to  her 
brother.     This,   at  least,   absolves    the    act    from 
the  unputation   of  secrecy.     The   conflict  of  the 
council  of  state  with  the  two  other  councils  often 
led  to  disorders,  since  the  decrees  passed  by  the 
privy  council,  which  had   cognizance   of  matters 
of  justice,  were  frequently  frustrated  by  the  am- 
nesties  and   pardons   granted   by   the   council   of 
state.     To  remedy  this,  the  nobles  contended  that 
it  was  necessary   to   subject   the   decrees   of  the 
other   councils   to   the   revision  of  the  council  of 
state,  and,  in  a  word,  to  concentrate  in  this  last 
body  the  whole   authority  of  government."     The 

W  Correspondance  de  Philippe  d'Orange-Naasau,  torn.  I.  p.  222.  — 

n.,  torn.  I.  p.  31 7.  Correspondance  de  Philippe  IL 

w  Hopper,  Recueil  et  M^mo-  torn.  I.  p.  347  et  a^ibi. 
rial,  p.  39.— Archives  de  la  Maison 


Cb.  Vm.]  ASCENDENCY  OF  THE  NOBLES. 


56o 


council  of  state,  composed  chiefly  of  the  great 
aristocracy,  looked  down  with  contempt  on  those 
subordinate  councils,  made  up  for  the  most  part 
of  men  of  humbler  condition,  pledged  by  their 
elevation  to  office  to  maintain  the  interests  of 
the  crown.  They  would  have  placed  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  country  in  the  hands  of  an 
oligarchy,  made  up  of  the  great  Flemish  nobles. 
This  would  be  to  break  up  that  system  of  dis- 
tribution into  separate  departments  established 
by  Charles  the  Fifth  for  the  more  perfect  de- 
spatch of  business.  It  would,  in  short,  be  such 
a  change  in  the  constitution  of  the  country  as 
would  of  itself  amount  to  a  revolution. 

In  the  state  of  things  above  described,  the 
Reformation  gained  rapidly  in  the  country.  The 
nobles  generally,  as  has  been  already  intimated, 
were  loyal  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  Many 
of  the  younger  nobility,  however,  who  had  been 
educated  at  Geneva,  returned  tinctured  with  he- 
retical doctrines  from  the  school  of  Calvin.^^  But 
whether  Catholic  or  Protestant,  the  Flemish  aris- 
tocracy looked  with  distrust  on  the  system  of  per- 
secution, and  held   the   Inquisition  in  the   same 


18  The  Spanish  ambassador  to 
England,  Guzman  de  Silva,  in  a 
letter  dated  from  the  Low  Coun- 
tries, refers  this  tendency  among 
the  younger  nobles  to  their  lax 
education  at  home,  and  to  their 
travels  abroad.  "La  noblesse  du 
pays  est  gdndralement  catholique : 


il  n*y  a  que  les  jeunes  gens  dont,  a 
cause  de  I'education  relachee  qulls 
ont  re<;ue,  et  de  leur  frequentation 
dans  les  pays  voisins,  les  principes 
soient  un  pen  ^uivoques.**  Cor- 
respondance de  Philippe  II.,  torn 
L  p.  383. 


I 

4 


1 


^ 


666 


CHANGES  DEMANDED  BY  THE  LORDS.    [Book  IL 


abhorrence  as  did  the  great  body  of  the  people.  It 
was  fortunate  for  the  Reformation  in  the  Nether- 
lands, that  at  its  outset  it  received  the  support 
even  of  the  Catholics,  who  resisted  the  Inquisition 
as  an  outrage  on  their  political  liberties. 

Under  the  lax  administration  of  the  edicts,  exiles 
who  had  fled  abroad  from  persecution  now  returned 
to  Flanders.  Calvinist  ministers  and  refugees  from 
France  crossed  the  borders,  and  busied  themselves 
with  the  work  of  proselytism.  Seditious  pam- 
phlets were  circulated,  calling  on  the  regent  to 
confiscate  the  ecclesiastical  revenues,  and  apply 
them  to  the  use  of  the  state,  as  had  been  done  in 
England.^^  The  Inquisition  became  an  object  of 
contempt,  almost  as  much  as  of  hatred.  Two  of 
the  principal  functionaries  wrote  to  Philip,  that, 
without  further  support,  they  could  be  of  no  use 
in  a  situation  which  exposed  them  only  to  derision 
and  danger.*^  At  Bruges  and  at  Brussels  the 
mob  entered  the  prisons,  and  released  the  prison- 
ers. A  more  flagrant  violation  of  justice  occurred 
at  Antwerp.  A  converted  friar,  named  Fabricius, 
who  had  been  active  in  preaching  and  propagating 
the  new  doctrines,  was  tried  and  sentenced  to  the 


1*  "  Se  dice  publico  que  ay  me- 
dlos  para  descargar  todas  las  deudas 
del  Bey  sin  cargo  del  pueblo  to- 
uiando  los  bienes  de  la  gente  de 
yglesia  6  parte  conforme  al  ejem- 
plo  que  se  ba  hecbo  en  ynglaterra 
y  francia  y  tamlHen  que  ellos  eran 
muy  ricos  y  volberian  mas  templa- 
dk)s  y  bombres  de  bien."    Renom 


de  Francia,  Alborotos  de  Flandes, 
MS. 

^  '^Leur  office  est  devenuodieux 
au  peuple ;  ils  rencontrent  tant  de 
resistances  et  de  calomnies,  qu*ils 
ne  peuvent  Texercer  sans  danger 
pour  leurs  personnes."  Corre- 
spondance  de  Pbilippe  II.,  torn.  I 
p.  353. 


Ch.  Vm.]      THE   REGENT'S  EMBARRASSMENTS. 


561 


stake.  On  the  way  to  execution,  the  people  called 
cut  to  him,  from  the  balconies  and  the  doorways, 
to  "take  courage,  and  endure  manfully  to  the 
last."^^  When  the  victim  was  bound  to  the  stake, 
and  the  pile  was  kindled,  the  mob  discharged  such 
a  volley  of  stones  at  the  officers  as  speedily  put 
them  to  flight.  But  the  unhappy  man,  though 
unscathed  by  the  fire,  was.  stabbed  to  the  heart 
by  the  executioner,  who  made  his  escape  in  the 
tumult.  The  next  morning,  placards  written  m 
blood  were  found  affixed  to  the  public  buildings, 
threatening  vengeance  on  all  who  had  had  any 
part  in  the  execution  of  Fabricius  ;  and  one  of  the 
witnesses  against  him,  a  woman,  hardly  escaped 
with  life  from  the  hands  of  the  populace.^ 

The  report  of  these  proceedings  caused  a  great 
fensation  at  Madrid;  and  Philip  earnestly  called 
^n  his  sister  to  hunt  out  and  pursue  the  offenders. 
This  was  not  easy,  where  most,  even  of  those  who 
did  not  join  in  the  act,  fully  shared  in  the  feeling 
which  led  to  it.  Yet  Philip  continued  to  urge  the 
necessity  of  enforcing  the  laws  for  the  preservation 
of  the  Faith,  as  the  thing  dearest  to  hi»  heart. 
He  would  sometimes  indicate  in  his  letters  the 
name  of  a  suspicious  individual,  his  usual  dress, 
his  habits  and  appearance,  —  descending  into  de- 
tails which  may  well  surprise  us,  considering  the 
multitude  of  affairs  of  a  weightier  character  that 

81  Brandt,  Reformation  in   the     Bello    Belgico,    p.   174.— Corr©i 
Low  Countries,  torn.  I.  p.  147.  spondance  de  Philippe  IL,  torn.  I 

29  Ibid.,  ubi  supra.—  Strada,  De    pp.  321,  327. 


r 
m 

m; 


568 


CHANGES  DEMANDED  BY  THE  LORDS.    [Book  H. 


pressed  upon  his  mind.^  One  cannot  doubt  that 
Philip  was  at  heart  an  inquisitor. 

Yet  the  fires  of  persecution  were  not  permitted 
wholly  to  slumber.  The  historian  of  the  Reforma- 
tion enumerates  seventeen  who  suffered  capitally 
for  their  religious  opinions  in  the  cours**  of  the 
year  1564.^  This,  though  pitiable,  was  a  small 
number  —  if  indeed  it  be  the  whole  number  — 
compared  with  the  thousands  who  are  said  to  have 
perished  in  the  same  space  of  time  in  the  preced- 
ing reign.  It  was  too  small  to  produce  any  effect 
as  a  persecution,  while  the  sight  of  the  martyr, 
singing  hymns  in  the  midst  of  the  flames,  only 
kindled  a  livelier  zeal  in  the  spectators,  and  a 
deeper  hatred  for  their  oppressors. 

The  finances  naturally  felt  the  effects  of  the 
general  disorder  of  the  country.  The  public  debt, 
already  large,  as  we  have  seen,  was  now  so  much 
increased,  that  the  yearly  deficiency  in  the  revenue, 
according  to  the  regent's  own  statement,  amounted 
to  six  hundred  thousand  florins ;  ^  and  she  knew 
of  no  way  of  extricating  the  country  from  its  em- 
barrassments, unless  the  king  should  come  to  its 
assistance.  The  convocation  of  the  states-general 
was  insisted  on  as  the  only  remedy  for  these  dis- 
orders.    That  body  alone,  it  was  contended,  was 

^  Stnwla,  Dc  Bello  Belgico,  p.  **  "  La  d^pense  excMe  annu- 

172. — Correspondancede  Philippe  ellement  les  revenus,  de  600,000 

n.,  torn.  L  p.  327  et  alibi.  florins."    Correspondance  de  Phi 

34  Brandt,  Reformation  in  the  lippe  IT.,  torn.  L  p.  828. 
Low  Countries,  torn.  I.  pp.  146  - 
149. 


Uh.  VIIL]      the  REGENT'S  EMBARRASSMENTS. 


565 


authorized  to  vote  the  requisite  subsidies,  and  to  re- 
dress the  manifold  grievances  of  the  nation.  —  Yet, 
in  point  of  fact,  its  powers  had  hitherto  been  little 
more  than  to  propose  the  subsidies  for  the  approba- 
tion of  the  several  provinces,  and  to  remonstrate  on 
the  grievances  of  the  nation.  To  invest  the  states- 
general  with  the  power  oi  redressing  these  grievances 
would  bestow  on  them  legislative  functions  which 
they  had  rarely,  if  ever,  exercised.  This  would  be 
to  change  the  constitution  of  the  country,  by  the 
new  weight  it  would  give  to  the  popular  element ; 
a  change  which  the  great  lords,  who  had  already 
the  lesser  nobles  entirely  at  their  disposal,^^  would 
probably  know  well  how  to  turn  to  account.^^  Yet 
Margaret  had  now  so  entirely  resigned  herself  to 
their  influence,  that,  notwithstanding  the  obvious 
consequences  of  these  measures,  she  recommended 
to  Philip  both  to  assemble  the  states-general  and 
to  remodel  the  council  of  state  ;^ — and  this  to  a 
monarch  more  jealous  of  his  authority  than  any 
other  prince  in  Europe  ! 

«  "Quant k la moyenne noblesse  where  he  sums  up  his  remarks  on 

des  Pays-Bas,  les  Seigneurs  I'auront  the  matter  by  saj-ing:    "In  fine, 

tantost  h.  leur  cordelle.**     Chanton-  th^y   would   entirely  change   the 

nay  to  Granvelle,  October  6, 1565,  form  of  government,  so  that  there 

Archives  de  la  Maison  d'Orange-  would  be  little  remaining  for  the 

Nassau,  torn.  I.  p.  426.  regent  to  do,  as  the  representative 

27  That  Granvelle  understood  of  your  majesty,  or  for  your  mar 
well  these  consequences  of  con-  jesty  yourself  to  do,  since  they 
vening  tlie  states-general  is  evi-  would  have  completely  put  you  un- 
dent ironi  the  manner  in  which  he  der  guardianship."  Papiers  d'Etat 
repeatedly  speaks  of  this  event  in  de  Granvelle,  torn.  VII.  p.  186. 
his  correspondence  with  the  king.  28  Correspondance  de  Philippe 
See,  in  particular,  a  letter  to  Philip,  II.,  tonu  L  p.  329. 
dated  as  early  as  August  20,  1563, 

VOL.  L  ?4 


i 


570     CHANGES  DEMANDED  BY  THE  LORDS.  [Book  H 

To  add  to  the  existing  troubles,  orders  were 
received  from  the  court  of  Madrid  to  publish  the 
decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent  throughout  the 
Netherlands.  That  celebrated  council  had  termi- 
nated its  long  session  in  1563,  with  the  results 
that  might  have  been  expected,  —  those  of  widen- 
ing  the  breach  between  Protestant  and  Catholic, 
and  of  enlarging,  or  at  least  more  firmly  estab- 
lishing, the  authority  of  the  pope.  One  good 
result  may  be  mentioned,  that  of  providing  for  a 
more  strict  supervision  of  the  morals  and  discipline 
of  the  clergy  ;  —  a  cucumstance  which  caused  the 
decrees  to  be  in  extremely  bad  odor  with  that  body. 

It  was  hoped  that  Philip  would  imitate  the  ex- 
ample of  France,  and  reject  decrees  which  thus 
exalted  the  power  of  the  pope.  Men  were  led  to 
expect  this  the  more,  from  the  mortification  which 
the  king  had  lately  experienced  from  a  decision  of 
the  pontiff  on  a  question  of  precedence  between 
the  Castilian  and  French  ambassadors  at  his  court. 
This  delicate  matter,  long  pending,  had  been  finally 
determined  in  favor  of  France  by  Pius  the  Fifth, 
who  may  have  thought  it  more  politic  to  secure  a 
fickle  ally  than  to  reward  a  firm  one.  The  decision 
touched  Philip  to  the  quick.  He  at  once  withdrew 
his  ambassador  from  Rome,  and  refused  to  receive 
an  envoy  from  his  holiness.^^  It  seemed  that  a 
serious  rupture  was  likely  to  take  place  between 
the  parties.    But  it  was  not  in  the  nature  of  Philip 

»  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  VI.  cap.  14, 16.  —  Strada,  De  Bello 
Belgico,  torn.  I.  p.  1 76. 


Ch.  vin.] 


EGMONT  SENT  TO   SPAIN. 


571 


to  be  long  at  feud  with  the  court  of  Rome.  In  a 
letter  to  the  duchess  of  Parma,  dated  August  6, 
1564,  he  plainly  intimated  that  in  matters  of  faith 
he  was  willing  at  all  times  to  sacrifice  his  private 
feelings  to  the  public  weal.^  He  subsequentl) 
commanded  the  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent 
to  be  received  as  law  throughout  his  dominions, 
sajing  that  he  could  make  no  exception  for  th«^ 
Netherlands,  when  he  made  none  for  Spain.^^ 

The  promulgation  of  the  decrees  was  received, 
as  had  been  anticipated,  with  general  discontent. 
The  clergy  complained  of  the  interference  with 
their  immunities.  The  men  of  Brabant  stood 
stoutly  on  the  chartered  rights  secured  to  them  by 
the  '''Joyeuse  Entree''  And  the  people  generally 
resisted  the  decrees,  from  a  vague  idea  of  their 
connection  with  the  Inquisition ;  while,  as  usual 
when  mischief  was  on  foot,  they  loudly  declaimed 
against  Granvelle  as  being  at  the  bottom  of  it. 

In  this  unhappy  condition  of  affaii^,  it  was  de- 
teimined  by  the  council  of  state  to  send  some  one 
to  Madrid  to  lay  the  grievances  of  the  nation  before 
the  king,  and  to  submit  to  him  what  in  their  opin- 
ion would  be  the  most  effectual  remedy.  They 
were  the  more  induced  to  this  by  the  unsatisfactory 
nature  of  the  royal  correspondence.     Philip,  to  the 


30  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  torn,  il  allait  y  opposer  des  reserves  auz 
I.  p.  179.  Pays-Bas,  cela  produirait  un  flf 

31  "  Si,  aprfes  avoir  accepts  le  cheux  eflfet,"    Correspondance  de 
eoncile  sans  limitations  dans  tons  Philippe  II.,  torn.  I.  p.  328. 

ges  autres  royaumes  et  seigneuries, 


i 


P 


572  CHANGES  DEMANDED  BY  THE  LORDS.    [Book  U. 

great  discontent  of  the  lords,  had  scarcely  conde- 
scended  to  notice  thek  letters.^^  Even  to  Mar- 
garets ample  communications  he  rarely  responded, 
and  wh6n  he  did,  it  was  in  vague  and  general 
terms,  conveying  little  more  than  the  necessity  of 
executing  justice   and  watching   over  the  purity 

of  the  Faith. 

The  person  selected  for  the  unenviable  mission 
to  Madrid  was  Egmont,  whose  sentiments  of  loy- 
alty, and  of  devotion  to  the  Catholic  faith,  it  was 
thought,  would  recommend  him  to  the  king; 
while  his  brilliant  reputation,  his  rank,  and  his 
popular  manners  would  find  favor  with  the  court 
and  the  people.  Egmont  himself  was  the  less 
averse  to  the  mission,  that  he  had  some  private 
suits  of  his  own  to  urge  with  the  monarch. 

This  nomination  was  warmly  supported  by  Wil- 
liam, between  whom  and  the  count  a  perfectly 
good  understanding  seems  to  have  subsisted,  in 
spite  of  the  efforts  of  the  Cardinalists  to  revive 
their  ancient  feelings  of  jealousy.     Yet  these  feel- 


ch.  vm.] 


EGMONT  SENT  TO  SPAIN. 


573 


»  Yet  wliatever   sligbt    Philip 
may  have  put  upon  the  lords  in 
this  respect,  he  showed  William, 
in  particular,  a  singular  proof  of 
confidence.     The  prince's  cuvnne, 
as  I  have  elsewhere  stated,  was 
renowned  over  the  Continent;  and 
Philip  requested  of  him  his  chef, 
to  take  the  place  of  his  own,  lately 
deceased.     But  the  king  seems  to 
lay  less  stress  on  the  skill  of  this 
"unctionary  than  on  his  trustwor- 


thiness, —  a  point  of  greater  mo- 
ment with  a  monarch.  This  wa« 
a  compliment  —  in  that  suspicious 
age  —  to  William,  which,  we  un- 
a<nne,  he  would  have  been  slow  to 
return  by  placing  his  life  in  the 
hands  of  a  cook  from  the  royal 
kitchens  of  Madrid.  See  Philip'i 
letter  in  the  Correspondance  de 
Guillaume  le  Tacitume,  tom.  II 
p.  89. 


ings  still  glowed  in  the  bosoms  of  the  wives  of  the 
two  nobles,  as  was  evident  from  the  warmth  with 
which  they  disputed  the  question  of  precedence 
with  each  other.  Both  were  of  the  highest  rank, 
and,  as  there  was  no  umpire  to  settle  the  delicate 
question,  it  was  finally  arranged  by  the  two  ladies 
appearing  in  public  always  arm  in  arm,  —  an 
equality  which  the  haughty  dames  were  careful 
to  maintain,  in  spite  of  the  ridiculous  embarrass- 
ments  to  which  they  were  occasionally  exposed  by 
narrow  passages  and  doorways.^  If  the  question 
of  precedence  had  related  to  character,  it  would 
have  been  easily  settled.  The  troubles  from  the 
misconduct  of  Anne  of  Saxony  bore  as  heavily  on 
the  prince,  her  husband,  at  this  very  time,  as  the 
troubles  of  the  state.^ 


^  I^Iargaret  would  fain  have  set- 
tled the  dispute  by  giving  the 
countess  of  Egmont  precedence 
at  table  over  her  fair  rival.  (Ar- 
chives de  la  Maison  d' Orange-Nas- 
sau, tom.  I.  p.  445.)  But  both 
Anne  of  Saxony  and  her  house- 
hold stoutly  demurred  to  this  de- 
cision,—  perhaps  to  the  right  of 
the  regent  to  make  it  "  Les 
femmes  ne  se  cedent  en  rien  et  se 
tiegnent  par  le  bras,  ingredientes 
pari  passuy  et  si  Ton  rencontre  une 
porte  trop  estroicte,  Ton  se  serre 
I'ung  sur  I'aultre  pour  passer  ^gale- 
ment  par  ensamble,  affin  que  il  n'y 
ayt  du  devant  ou  derrifere.**  Ar- 
chives de  la  Maison  d'Orange-Nas- 
9au,  Supplement,  p.  22. 

»*  There  is  a  curious  epistle,  in 


Groen'g  collection,  from  William 
to  his  wife's  uncle,  the  elector  of 
Saxony,  containing  sundry  charges 
against  his  niece.  The  termagant 
lady  was  in  the  habit,  it  seems,  of 
rating  her  husband  roundly  before 
company.  William,  with  §ome 
naivete^  declares  he  could  have 
borne  her  ill-humor  to  a  reason- 
able extent  in  private,  but  in  pub- 
lic it  was  intolerable.  Unhappily, 
Anne  gave  more  serious  cause  of 
disturbance  to  her  lord  than  that 
which  arose  from  her  temper,  and 
which  afterwards  led  to  their  sep- 
aration. On  the  present  occasion, 
it  may  be  added,  the  letter  was 
not  sent,  —  as  the  lady,  who  had 
learned  the  nature  of  it,  promised 
amendment    Ibid.,  tom.  II.  p.  31. 


h 


574  CHANGES  DEMANDED  BY  THE  LOEDS..  [Book  11 

Before  Egmont's  departure,  a  meeting  of  the 
council  of  state  was  called,  to  furnish  him  with 
the  proper  instructions.      The  president,  Viglius, 
gave  it  as  his  opinion,  that  the  mission  was  super- 
fluous ;   and  that  the  great  nobles  had  only  to 
reform  their  own  way  of  living  to  bring  about  the 
necessary  reforms  in  the  country.     Egmont  was  m- 
structed  by  the  regent  to  represent  to  the  king  the 
deplorable  condition  of  the  land,  the  prostration  of 
public  credit,  the  decay  of  religion,  and  the  symp- 
toms of  discontent  and  disloyalty  in  the  people. 
As  the  most  effectual  remedy  for  these  evils,  he 
was  to  urge  the  king  to  come  in  person,  and  that 
speedily,  to  Flanders.     » If  his  majesty  does  not 
approve  of  this,"  said  Margaret,  "impress  upon 
him  the  necessity  of  making  further  remittances, 
and  of  giving  me  precise  instructions  as  to  the 
course  I  am  to  pursue." 

The  prince  of  Orange  took  part  in  the  discus- 
sion with  a  warmth  he  had  rarely  shown.  It  was 
time,  he  said,  that  the  king  should  be  disabused 
of  the  errors  under  which  he  labored  in  respect  to 
the  Netherlands.  The  edicts  must  be  mitigated. 
It  was  not  possible,  in  the  present  state  of  feeling, 
either  to  execute  the  edicts  or  to  maintain  the 
Inquisition."    The  Council  of  Trent  was  almost 


!'V, 


35  ti  An  cas  que  le  Roi  s'en  ex- 
cuse, il  doit  demander  que  S.  :M. 
donne  k  la  ducbesse  des  instruc- 
tions praises  sur  la  conduite  qu'elle 
a  h  tenir."  Correspondance  de 
Philippe  H.,  torn.  1.  p.  337. 


The  original  instructions  pre- 
pared by  Viglius  were  subsequently 
modified  by  bis  friend  Hopper, 
at  the  suggestion  of  the  prince  of 
Orange.     Sec  Vita  Viglii,  p.  41. 

»  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


Ch.  VIII.] 


EGMONT   SENT  TO   SPAIN, 


575 


equally  odious ;  nor  could  they  enforce  its  decrees 
in  the  Netherlands  while  the  countries  on  the  bor- 
ders rejected  them.  The  people  would  no  longer 
endure  the  perversion  of  justice,  and  the  miserable 
wrangling  of  the  councils.  —  This  last  blow  was 
aimed  at  the  president.  —  The  only  remedy  was  to 
enlarge  the  council  of  state,  and  to  strengthen  its 
authority.  For  his  own  part,  he  concluded,  he 
could  not  understand  how  any  prince  could  claim 
the  right  of  interfering  with  the  consciences  of  his 
subjects  in  matters  of  religion.^ — The  impassioned 
tone  of  his  eloquence,  so  contrary  to  the  usually 
calm  manner  of  William  the  Silent,  and  the  boldness 
with  which  he  avowed  his  opinions,  caused  a  great 
sensation  in  the  assembly.^  That  night  was  passed 
by  Viglius,  who  gives  his  own  account  of  the  mat- 
ter, in  tossing  on  his  bed,  painfully  ruminating  on 
his  forlorn  position  in  the  council,  with  scarcely 
one  to  support  him  in  the  contest  which  he  was 
compelled  to  wage,  not  merely  with  the  nobles,  but 
with  the  regent  herself  The  next  morning,  while 
dressing,  he  was  attacked  by  a  fit  of  apoplexy, 
which  partially  deprived  him  of  the  use  of  both 


57  "  Non  posse  ei  placere,  velle 
Principes  animis  hominum  impe- 
rare,  libertatemque  Fidei  et  Re- 
ligionis  ipsis  adimere.**     Ibid.,  p. 

42. 

38  Burgundius  puts  into  the 
mouth  of  William  on  this  occasion 
a  fine  piece  of  declamation,  in  wbich 
he  reviews  the  history  of  heresy 
from  the  time  of  Constantine  the 


Great  downwards.  This  display 
of  school-boy  erudition,  so  unlike 
the  masculine  simplicity  of  the 
prince  of  Orange,  may  be  set 
down  among  those  fine  things,  the 
credit  of  which  may  be  fairly  given 
to  the  historian  rather  than  to  the 
hero.  —  Burgundius,  Hist.  Belgica, 
(Ingolst,  1633,)  pp.  126  -  181. 


I 

•I 

i 


Hi  ■ 


I 


1 

I 


576  CHANGES  DEMANDED  BY  THE  LORDS.    [Book  n. 

his  speech  and  his  limbs.«^  It  was  some  time  be- 
fore  he  could  resume  his  place  at  the  board.  This 
new  misfortune  furnished  him  with  a  substantial 
argument  for  soliciting  the  king's  permission  to 
retire  from  office. "  In  this  he  was  warmly  seconded 
by  Margaret,  who,  while  she  urged  the  president's 
incapacity,  nothing  touched  by  his  situation,  eager- 
ly pressed  her  brother  to  call  him  to  account  for 
his  delinquencies,  and  especially  his  embezzlement 
of  the  church  property.*^ 

Philip,  who  seems  to  have  shunned  any  direct 

intercourse  with  his  Flemish  subjects,  had  been 

averse  to  have  Egmont,  or  any  other  envoy,  sent 

to  Madrid.     On  learning  that  the  mission  was  at 

length  settled,  he  wrote  to  Margaret  that  he  had 

made  up  his  mind  to  receive  the  count  graciously, 

and  to  show  no  discontent  with  the  conduct  ot 

the  lords.      That  the  journey,  however,  was  not 

without  its  perils,  may  be  inferred  from  a  singular 

document  that  has  been  preserved  to  us.      It  is 

signed  by  a  number  of  Egmont's  personal  friends, 

ea^ch  of  whom  traced  his   signature  in  his  awn 

blood.      In   this  paper   the   parties   pledge   their 

faith,  as  true  knights  and  gentlemen,  that,  if  any 

harm  be  done  to  Count  Egmont  during  his  absence, 


39  "Itaque  mane  de  lecto  sur- 
gens,  inter  vestiendum  apoplexia 
attactus  est,  ut  occurrentes  domes- 
dci  amicique  in  summo  eum  disco- 
mine  versari  judicarent"  Vita 
VigUi,  p.  42. 

iO  "Elle  consellle  an  Roi  d'or- 


donner  k  Viglius  de  rendre  ses 
comptes,  et  de  restituer  les  meu- 
bles  des  neuf  maisons  de  sa  pr^ 
votd  de  Saint-Bavon,  qu'il  a  d^ 
pouill^es."  Correspondancc  de 
Philippe  II.,  torn.  I.  p.  350. 


On.  vm.] 


EGMONT  SENT  TO  SPAIN. 


577 


they  will  take  ample  vengeance  on  Cardinal  Gran- 
velle,  or  whoever  might  be  the  author  of  it.*^ 
The  cardinal  seems  to  have  been  the  personifica- 
tion of  evil  with  the  Flemings  of  every  degree. 
This  instrument,  which  was  deposited  with  the 
Countess  Egmont,  was  subscribed  with  the  names 
of  seven  nobles,  most  of  them  afterwards  con- 
spicuous in  the  troubles  of  the  country.  One 
might  imagine  that  such  a  document  was  more 
likely  to  alarm  than  to  reassure  the  wife  to  whom 
it  was  addressed.*^ 

In  the  beginning  of  January,  Egmont  set  out 
on  his  journey.  He  was  accompanied  for  some 
distance  by  a  party  of  his  friends,  who  at  Cam- 
bray  gave  him  a  splendid  entertainment.  Among 
those  present  was  the  archbishop  of  Cambray,  a 
prelate  who  had  made  himself  unpopular  by  the 
zeal  he  had  sho^vn  in  the  persecution  of  the  Re- 
formers. As  the  wine-cup  passed  freely  round, 
some  of  the  younger  guests  amused  themselves 
with  frequently  pledging  the  prelate,  and  en- 
deavoring to  draw  him  into  a  greater  degree  of 
conviviality  than  was  altogether  becoming  his  sta- 
tion.    As  he  at  length  declined  their  pledges,  they 


*l  "  Lui  promettons,  en  foy  de 
gentilhomme  et  chevalier  d'honeur, 
si  durant  son  aller  et  retour  lui 
adviene  quelque  notable  inconve- 
nient, que  nous  en  prendrons  la 
vengeance  sur  le  Cardinal  de 
Granvelle  ou  seux  qui  en  seront 
participans  ou  penseront  de  Testre, 
et  non  sur  autre.**    Archives  de 

VOL.  I.  73 


la  Maison  d*Orange-Nassau,  torn. 
I.  p.  345. 

*2  This  curious  docnment,  pub- 
lished by  Amoldi,  (Hist.  Denkw., 
p.  282,)  has  been  transferred  by 
Groen  to  the  pages  of  his  collec- 
tion. See  Archives  de  la  AiaisoD 
d' Orange-Nassau,  ubi  supra. 


'I 


ilii 


ll*'; 


)  ■  > 


\ 


i 


578  CHASGES  DEMANBED  BY  THE  LORDS.    IBook  H 

began  openly  to  taunt  him ;  and  one  of  the  rev 
eUers,  irritated  by  the  archbishop's  reply,  would 
have  thrown  a  large  silver  dish  at  his  head,  had 
not  his  arm  been  arrested  by  Egmont.      Another 
of  the  company,  however,  succeeded  in  knocking 
off  the  prelate's   cap;**   and   a   scene  of  tumult 
ensued,  from  which  the  archbishop  was  extricat- 
ed, not  mthout  difficulty,  by  the  more  sober  and 
considerate  part  of  the  company.     The  whole  af- 
fair —  mortifj-ing  in  the  extreme  to  Egmont  — is 
characteristic  of  the  country  at  this  period ;  when 
business  of  the  greatest  importance  was  settled  at 
the  banquet,  as  we  often  find  in  the  earlier  history 
of  the  revolution. 

Egmont's  reception  at  Madrid  was  of  the  most 
flattering    kind.     Philip's  demeanor  towards  his 
great  vassal  was   marked  by  unusual  benignity ; 
and  the   courtiers,  readily  takmg   their  cue  from 
their  sovereign,  vied  with   one  another  in   atten- 
tions  to  the   man  whose  prowess   might  be  said 
to  have   won   for    Spain    the    great  victories    of 
Gravelines   and   St.    Quentin.     In   fine,   Egmont, 
whose  brilliant  exterior  and  noble  bearing   gave 
additional  lustre  to  his  reputation,  was  the  object 
of  general  admiration  during  his  residence  of  several 
weeks  at  Madrid.     It  seemed  as  if  the   court  of 


«  **Ibi  turn  offensus  conviva, 
trreptam  argenteam  pelvim  (quas 
manibus  abluendis  mensam  fuerat 
imposita)  injicere  Archiepiscopo  in 
caput  conatur :  retinet  pelvim  Eg- 


mondanos:  quod  dum  facit,  en 
alter  conviva  pugno  in  frontem 
Archiepiscopo  eliso,  pileum  de  ca- 
pite  deturbat.**  Vander  Haer,  De 
Initiis  Tumult,  p.  190. 


Ch.  vm.] 


EGMONT  SENT  TO   SPAIN. 


579 


Castile  was  prepared  to  change  its  policy,  from 
the  flattering  attentions  it  thus  paid  to  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  Netherlands. 

During  his  stay,  Egmont  was  admitted  to 
several  audiences,  in  which  he  exposed  to  the 
monarch  the  evils  that  beset  the  country,  and 
the  measures  proposed  for  relieving  them.  As 
the  two  most  eflectual,  he  pressed  him  to  miti- 
gate the  edicts,  and  to  reorganize  the  council  of 
state.'**  Philip  listened  with  much  benignity  to 
these  suggestions  of  the  Flemish  noble;  and  if 
he  did  not  acquiesce,  he  gave  no  intimation  to 
the  contrary,  except  by  assuring  the  count  of 
his  determination  to  maintain  the  integrity  of  the 
Catholic  faith.  To  Egmont  personally  he  showed 
the  greatest  indulgence,  and  the  coimt's  private 
suits  sped  as  favorably  as  he  could  have  expected. 
But  a  remarkable  anecdote  proves  that  Philip, 
at  this  very  time,  with  all  this  gracious  demeanor, 
had  not  receded  one  step  from  the  ground  he  had 
always  occupied. 

Not  long  after  Egmont's  arrival,  Philip  privately 
called  a  meeting  of  the  most  eminent  theologians 
in  the  capital.  To  this  conclave  he  communicated 
briefly  the  state  of  the  Low  Countries,  and  their 
demand  to  enjoy  freedom  of  conscience  in  matters 


**  If  we  are  to  trust  Morillon's 
report  to  Granvelle,  Egmont  de- 
nied, to  some  one  who  charged 
him  with  it,  having  recommended 
to  Philip  to  soilen  the  edicts. 
(Archives  de  la  Maison  d'Orange- 
Nassau,  Supplement,  p.  374.)    But 


Morillon  was  too  much  of  a  gossip 
to  be  the  best  authority;  and,  as 
this  was  understood  to  be  one  of 
the  objects  of  the  count's  mission, 
it  will  be  but  justice  to  him  to  take 
the  common  opinion  that  he  ex- 
ecuted it 


I 


580     CHANGES  DEMANDED  BY  THE  LORDS.  [Book  U 

of  religion.     He  concluded  by  inquiring  the  opin- 
ion of  his  auditors  on  the  subject.     The  reverend 
body,   doubtless   supposing    that    the    king    only 
wanted   their   sanction   to  extricate  himself  from 
the    difficulties    of    his    position,    made    answer, 
"that,  considering  the  critical  situation  of  Flan- 
ders, and  the  imminent  danger,  if  thwarted,  of  its 
disloyalty  to  the  crown  and  total   defection  from 
the   Church,   he   might   be  justified   in   allowing 
the  people  freedom  of  worshipping  in  their  own 
way."     To   this   Philip  sternly  replied,  "  He  had 
not  called  them  to  learn  whether  he  might  grant 
this  to  the  Flemings,  but  whether  he  must  do  so."  ^ 
The  flexible  conclave,  finding  they  had  mistaken 
their  cue,  promptly  answered  in  the  negative ;  on 
which   Philip,  prostrating  himself  on  the  ground 
before  a  crucifix,  exclaimed,  "I  implore  thy  di- 
vine  majesty.  Ruler  of  all  things,  that  thou  keep 
me  in  the  mind  that  I  am  in,  never  to  allow  my- 
self either  to  become  or  to  be   called  the  lord  of 
those  who  reject  thee   for   their   Lord."  *^  — The 
story  was  told  to  the  historian  who  records  it  by 
a  member  of  the  assembly,  filled  with  admiration 
at  the  pious  zeal  of  the  monarch !     From  that  mo- 
ment the  doom  of  the  Netherlands  was  sealed. 


tt  "Negavit  accitos  k  se  illos 
fuiase,  ut  docerent  an  permittere 
id  posset,  sed  an  sibi  necessa- 
ri6  permittendum  praescriberent.** 
Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  torn.  I. 
p.  185. 

^  "  Turn  Rex  in  eorum  con- 
vpcctii,  humi  positus  ante  Christi 


Domini  simulacrum,  *  Ego  ver\ 
inquit,  Divinam  Majestatem  tuam 
oro,  quaesoque,  Rex  omnium  Deus, 
banc  ut  mibi  mentem  perpetuam 
velis,  ne  illorum,  qui  te  Dominum 
respuerint,  uspiam  esse  me  aut 
dici  Dominum  acquiescai'ti.*  '*  Ibid, 
ubi  supra. 


CJh.  VIII.] 


EGMONT  SENT  TO  SPAIN. 


581 


Yet  Egmont  had  so  little  knowledge  of  the 
true  state  of  things,  that  he  indulged  in  the 
most  cheerful  prognostications  for  the  future. 
His  frank  and  cordial  nature  readily  responded 
to  the  friendly  demonstrations  he  received,  and 
his  vanity  was  gratified  by  the  homage  univer- 
sally paid  to  him.  On  leaving  the  country,  he 
made  a  visit  to  the  royal  residences  of  Segovia 
and  of  the  Escorial,  —  the  magnificent  pile  already 
begun  by  Philip,  and  which  continued  to  occupy 
more  or  less  of  his  time  during  the  remainder 
of  his  reign.  Egmont,  in  a  letter  addressed  to 
the  king,  declares  himself  highly  delighted  with 
what  he  has  seen  at  both  these  places,  and  as- 
sures his  sovereign  that  he  returns  to  Flanders 
the  most  contented  man  in  the  world.*^ 

When  arrived  there,  early  in  April,  1565,  the 
count  was  loud  in  his  profession  of  the  amiable 
dispositions  of  the  Castilian  court  towards  the 
Netherlands.  Egmont's  countrymen  —  William  of 
Orange  and  a  few  persons  of  cooler  judgment  alone 
excepted  —  readily  indulged  in  the  same  dream 
of  sanguine  expectation,  flattering  themselves  with 
the  belief  that  a  new  policy  was  to  prevail  at  Ma- 
drid, and  that  their  country  was  henceforth  to 
thrive  under  the  blessings  of  religious  toleration. — 
It  was  a  pleasing  illusion,  destined  to  be  of  no 
long  duration. 

<7  an    retourne    en    Flandre,     Coirespondance   de  Plulippe  lU 
rhomme  le  plus  satisfait  du  monde."    torn.  I.  p.  349. 


Ch.  IX.] 


HIS  DUPLICITY. 


583 


CHAPTER    IX. 

PHILIP'S  INFLEXIBILITY. 

PhiUp's  DupUcity.  — His  Procrastination.  —  Despatches  from  Segovia 
—  Effect  on  the  Country.  —  The    Compromise.  —  Orange    and 


Egmont. 


1565,  1566. 


Shortly  after  Egmont's  return  to  Brussels,  Mar- 
garet caUed  a  meeting  of  the  council  of  state,  at 
which  the  sealed  instructions  brought  by  the  envoy 
from  Madrid  were  opened  and  read.     They  began 
by  noticing  the  count's  demeanor  in  terms  so  flat- 
tering  as  showed  the  mission  had  proved  acceptable 
to  the  king.     Then  foUowed  a  declaration,  strong- 
ly expressed  and  sufficiently  startling.      "  I  would 
rather  lose  a  hundred  thousand  lives,  if  I  had  so 
many,"    said  the  monarch,  "than  allow  a  single 
change  m  matters  of  religion."^      He,  however, 
recommended  that  a  commission  be  appointed,  con- 
sisting  of  three  bishops  with  a  number  of  jurists, 
who  should  advise  with  the  members  of  the  councU 

1  "  En  ce  qui  touche  la  religion,  cent  miUe  vies,  s'il  les  avait*    Cor- 

il  d&lare  qull  ne  peut  consentir  k  respondance  de  Phihppe  H.,  torn 

ce  qu*il  y  soit  fait  quehjue  change-  I.  p.  847. 
Bient ;  qu'il  aimerait  mieux  perdre 


as  to  the  best  mode  of  instructing  the  people,  espe- 
cially in  their  spiritual  concerns.  It  might  be 
well,  moreover,  to  substitute  some  secret  methods 
for  the  public  forms  of  execution,  which  now 
enabled  the  heretic  to  assume  to  himself  the  glory 
of  martyrdom,  and  thereby  produce  a  mischievous 
impression  on  the  people.^  No  other  allusion  was 
made  to  the  pressing  grievances  of  the  nation, 
though,  in  a  letter  addressed  at  the  same  time  to 
the  duchess,  Philip  said  that  he  had  come  to  no 
decision  as  to  the  council  of  state,  where  the  pro- 
posed change  seemed  likely  to  be  attended  with 
inconvenience.* 

This,  then,  was  the  result  of  Egmont's  mission 
to  Madrid !  This  the  change  so  much  vaunted  in 
the  policy  of  Philip !  "  The  count  has  been  the 
dupe  of  Spanish  cunning,"  exclaimed  the  prince  of 
Orange.  It  was  too  true;  and  Egmont  felt  it 
keenly,  as  he  perceived  the  ridicule  to  which  he 
was  exposed  by  the  confident  tone  in  which  he  had 
talked  of  the  amiable  dispositions  of  the  Castilian 
court,  and  by  the  credit  he  had  taken  to  himself 
for  promoting  them.* 

A  greater  sensation  was  produced  among  the 
people ;  for  their  expectations  had  been  far  more 
sanguine  than  those  entertained  by  WiUiam,  and 
the  few  who,  like  him,  understood  the  character 

«  Ibid.,  ubi  supra.— Strada,De        ^  Vandervynckt,   Troubles  dei 
Bello  Belgico,  torn.  L  p.  187.  Pays-Bas,  tom.  H.  p.  92. 

3  Correspondance  de   Philippe 
U.,  tom.  1.  p.  347. 


I 
I 


1  J 

►( 


I  J 


584 


PHITIFS  INFLEXIBILITY. 


[Book  II 


of  Philip  toj  well  to  place  great  confidence  in 
the  promises  of  Egmont.  They  loudly  declaimed 
against  the  king's  insincerity,  and  accused  their 
envoy  of  having  shown  more  concern  for  his  pri 
vate  interests  than  for  those  of  the  public.  This 
taunt  touched  the  honor  of  that  nobleman,  who 
bitterly  complained  that  it  was  an  artifice  of  Philip 
to  destroy  his  credit  with  his  countrymen ;  and 
the  better  to  prove  his  good  faith,  he  avowed  his 
purpose  of  throwing  up  at  once  all  the  offices  he 
held  under  government.^ 

The  spirit  of  persecution,  after  a  temporary  lull, 
now  again  awakened.  But  everywhere  the  in- 
quisitors were  exposed  to  insult,  and  met  with 
the  same  resistance  as  before ;  while  their  vic- 
tims were  cheered  with  expressions  of  sympathy 
from  those  who  saw  them  led  to  execution.  To 
avoid  the  contagion  of  example,  the  executions 
were  now  conducted  secretly  in  the  prisons.®  But 
the  mystery  thus  thrown  around  the  fate  of  the 
unhappy  sufferer  only  invested  it  with  an  addi- 
tional horror.  Complaints  were  made  every  day 
to  the  government  by  the  states,  the  magistrates, 


*  Correspondance  de  Philippe 
n.,  torn.  L  p.  364. 

*  "  And  everywhere  great  en- 
deavors were  used  to  deliver  the 
imprisoned,  as  soon  as  it  was 
known  how  they  were  privately 
made  away  in  the  prisons :  for  the 
inquisitors  not  daring  any  longer 
to  carry  them  to  a  public  execu- 
tion, this  new  method  of  despatch- 


ing them,  wluch  the  king  himself 
had  ordered,  was  now  put  in  prac- 
tice, and  it  was  conjmonly  per- 
formed thus  :^They  bound  the  con- 
demned person  neck  and  heels, 
then  threw  him  into  a  tub  of 
water,  where  he  lay  till  he  wai 
quite  suffocated.'*  Brand",  Refor- 
mation in  the  Low  Coun.  ries,  vol 
I.  p.  155. 


Ch.  IX.] 


mS  PROCRASTINATION. 


585 


and  the  people,  denouncing  the  persecutions  to 
which  they  were  exposed.  Spies,  they  said,  were 
in  every  house,  watching  looks,  words,  gestures. 
No  man  was  secure,  either  in  person  or  property. 
The  public  groaned  under  an  intolerable  slavery.^ 
Meanwhile,  the  Huguenot  emissaries  were  busy 
as  ever  in  propagating  their  doctrines ;  and  with 
the  work  of  reform  was  mingled  the  seed  of  revo- 
lution. 

The  regent  felt  the  danger  of  this  state  of  things, 
and  her  impotence  to  relieve  it.  She  did  all  she 
could  in  freely  exposing  it  to  Philip,  informing 
him  at  the  same  time  of  Egmont's  disgust,  and  the 
general  discontent  of  the  nation,  at  the  instructions 
from  Spain.  She  ended,  as  usual,  by  beseeching 
her  brother  to  come  himself,  if  he  would  preserve 
his  authority  in  the  Netherlands.®  To  these  com- 
munications the  royal  answers  came  but  rarely ; 
and,  when  they  did  come,  were  for  the  most  part 
vague  and  unsatisfactorJ^ 

"  Everything  goes  on  with  Philip,"  writes  Chan- 
tonnay,  formerly  minister  to  France,  to  his  brother 
Granvelle,  —  "  Everything  goes  on  from  to-mor- 
row to  to-morrow;  the  only  resolution  is,  to  re- 
main irresolute.*  The  king  will  allow  matters  to 
become  so  entangled  in  the  Low  Countries,  that. 


7  Ibid.,  tom.  L  p.  154.  telles  choses  est  de  demeurer  pei^ 

*  Correspondance    de  Philippe  p^tuellement  irr^solu.**     Archiyet 

n.,  tom.  I.  p.  361  et  alibi.  delaMaisond'Orange-NassaUytook 

»  "  Tout  vat  de  demain  k  de-  I.  p.  426. 
anain,  et  la  principale  resolution  en 

VOL.  I.  74 


586 


PHILIP'S  INFLEXIBILITY. 


[Book  IL 


if  he  ever  should  visit  them,  he  will  find  it  easier 
to  conform  to  the  state  of  things  than  to  mend 
it.  The  lords  there  are  more  of  kings  than  the 
kmg  himself.^^  They  have  all  the  smaller  nobles 
in  leading-strings.  It  is  impossible  that  Philip 
should  conduct  himself  like  a  man."  His  only 
object  is  to  cajole  the  Flemish  nobles,  so  that  he 
may  be  spared  the  necessity  of  coming  to  Flan- 
ders." 

« It  is  a  pity,"  writes  the  secretary  Perez,  "  that 
the  king  will  manage  affairs  as  he  does,  now  tak- 
ing counsel  of  this  man,  and  now  of  that ;  con- 
cealing some  matters  from  those  he  consults,  and 
trusting  them  with  others,  —  showing  full  confi- 
dence  in  no  one.  With  this  way  of  proceeding,  it 
is  no  wonder  that  despatches  should  be  contradic- 
tory in  their  tenor."  ^ 

It  is  doubtless  true,  that  procrastination  and 
distrust  were  the  besetting  sins  of  Philip,  and 
were  followed  by  their  natural  consequences.  He 
had,  moreover,  as  we  have  seen,  a  sluggishness  of 
nature,  which  kept  him  in  Madrid  when  he  should 
have  been  in  Brussels,  —  where  his  father,  in  simi- 
lar circumstances,  would  long  since  have  been, 
seeing  with  his  own  eyes  what  Philip  saw  only 
with  the  eyes  of  others.  But  stiU  his  policy,  in 
the   present  instance,  may  be   referred   quite   as 

10  *«  n  ^    en  a   qui  sont   plus    k  se  montrer  homme."    Ibid.,  uW 

Roys    que    le  Roy."     Ibid.,  ubi    supra. 

^pra.  »^  Correspondance  de  Philippt 

U  "  Le  Roi  aura  bien  de  la  peine    II.,  torn.  I.  p.  358. 


Ch.  IX.] 


HIS  PROCRASTINATION. 


587 


much  to  deliberate  calculation  as  to  his  natural 
temper.  He  had  early  settled  it  as  a  fixed  prin- 
ciple never  to  concede  religious  toleration  to  his 
subjects.  He  had  intimated  this  pretty  clearly  in 
his  different  communications  to  the  government  of 
Flanders.  That  he  did  not  annoimce  it  in  a  more 
absolute  and  unequivocal  form  may  well  have 
arisen  from  the  apprehension,  that,  in  the  present 
irritable  state  of  the  people,  this  might  rouse  their 
passions  into  a  flame.  At  least,  it  might  be 
reserved  for  a  last  resort.  Meanwhile,  he  hoped 
to  weary  them  out  by  maintaining  an  attitude  of 
cold  reserve ;  until,  convinced  of  the  hopelessness 
of  resistance,  they  would  cease  altogether  to  resist. 
In  short,  he  seemed  to  deal  with  the  Netherlands 
like  a  patient  angler,  who  allows  the  trout  to  ex- 
haust himself  by  his  own  efforts,  rather  than  by  a 
violent  movement  risk  the  loss  of  him  altogether. 
It  is  clear  PhUip  did  not  understand  the  character 
of  the  Netherlander, — as  dogged  and  determined  as 
his  own. 

Considering  the  natural  bent  of  the  king's  dispo- 
sition, there  seems  no  reason  to  charge  Granvelle, 
as  was  commonly  done  in  the  Low  Countries,  with 
having  given  a  direction  to  his  policy.  It  is, 
however,  certain,  that,  on  all  great  questions,  the 
minister's  judgment  seems  to  have  perfectly  coin- 
cided with  that  of  his  master.  "  If  your  majesty 
mitigates  the  edicts,"  writes  the  cardinal,  "  affairs 
will  become  worse  in  Flanders  than  they  are  in 


1 


1 

\ 


588 


PHILIP'S  INFLEXIBILITY. 


[Book  II 


France."^  No  change  should  be  allowed  in  the 
council  of  state.^*  A  meeting  of  the  states-general 
would  inflict  an  injury  which  the  king  would  feel 
for  thirty  years  to  come  !  ^^  Granvelle  maintained  a 
busy  correspondence  mth  his  partisans  in  the  Low 
Countries,  and  sent  the  results  of  it — frequently 
the  original  letters  themselves  —  to  Madrid.  Thus 
Philip,  by  means  of  the  reports  of  the  great  nobles 
on  the  one  hand,  and  of  the  Cardinalists  on  the 
other,  was  enabled  to  observe  the  movements  in 
Flanders  from  the  most  opposite  points  of  view. 

The  king's  replies  to  the  letters  of  the  minister 
were  somewhat  scanty,  to  judge  from  the  complaints 
which  Granvelle  made  of  his  neglect.  With  all 
this,  the  cardinal  professes  to  be  well  pleased  that 
he  is  rid  of  so  burdensome  an  office  as  that  of  gov- 
erning the  Netherlands.  "  Here,"  he  writes  to  his 
friend  Viglius,  "  I  make  good  cheer,  busying  myself 
with  my  own  affairs,  and  preparing  my  despatches 
in  quiet,  seldom  leaving  the  house,  except  to  take 
a  walk,  to  attend  church,  or  to  visit  my  moth- 
er." ^'  In  this  simple  way  of  life,  the  philosophic 
statesman  seems  to  have  passed  his  time  to  his 


M  «Le  Roi  peut  fttre  certeun 
que,  8*il  accorde  que  les  ^dits  ne 
f?exdcutent  pas,  jamais  dIus  le 
peuple  ne  souffrira  qu*on  ch&tie 
les  h^r^tiques ;  et  les  choses  iront 
ainsi  aux  Pays-Bas  beaucoup  plus 
mal  qu*en  France."  Correspon- 
dance  de  Philippe  II.,  torn.  I.  p. 
128. 

'*  Ibid.,  torn  L  p.  871. 


W  Archives  de  la  Maison  d*0- 
range-Nassau,  torn.  I.  p.  246. 

W  "  Entendant  seuUement  k  mez 
affaires,  ne  bougeant  de  ma  cham- 
bre  synon  pour  proumener,  k  faire 
ejfercice  k  Teglise,  et  vers  Madame, 
et  faisant  mes  ddpesches  oil  je 
doibtz  correspondre,  sans  bruyct-** 
Papiers  d'litat  de  Granvelle,  toift 
IX.  p.  639. 


Ch.  IX.] 


HIS  PROCRASTINATION. 


589 


own  satisfaction,  though  it  is  e\ident,  notwithstand 
ing  his  professions,  that  he  cast  many  a  longing 
look  back  to  the  Netherlands,  the  seat  of  his  brief 
authority.  "The  hatred  the  people  of  Flanders 
bear  me,"  he  writes  to  Philip,  "  afflicts  me  sorely ; 
but  I  console  myself  that  it  is  for  the  service  of 
God  and  my  king."  "  The  cardinal,  amid  his  com- 
plaints of  the  king's  neglect,  affected  the  most  entire 
submission  to  his  will.  "  I  would  go  anywhere," 
he  writes,  —  "to  the  Indies,  anywhere  in  the  world, 
—  would  even  throw  myself  into  the  fire,  did  you 
desire  it."^®  Philip,  not  long  after,  put  these  pro- 
fessions to  the  test.  In  October,  1565,  he  yielded 
to  the  regent's  importunities,  and  commanded 
Granvelle  to  transfer  his  residence  to  Rome.  The 
cardinal  would  not  move.  "  Anywhere,"  he  wrote 
to  his  master,  "  but  to  Rome.  That  is  a  place  of 
ceremonies  and  empty  show,  for  which  I  am  no- 
wise qualified.  Besides,  it  would  look  too  much 
like  a  submission  on  your  part.  My  diocese  of 
Mechlin  has  need  of  me ;  now,  if  I  should  go  to 
Spain,  it  would  look  as  if  I  went  to  procure  the 
aid  which  it  so  much  requires."  ^^  But  the  cabinet 
of  Madrid  were  far  from  desiring  the  presence  of 
so  cunning  a  statesman  to  direct  the  royal  counsels. 
The  orders  were  reiterated,  to  go  to  Rome.  To 
Rome,  accordingly,  the  reluctant  minister  went; 

^f  Correspondance  de  Philippe  suffira  pour  aller  aux  Indes,  ou  en 

II.,  torn.  I.  p.  326.  quelque  autre  lieu  que  ce  soit,  et 

W  "  n  lui  suffit,  pour  se  conten-  meme  pour  se  jeter  dans  le  fen.* 

fer  d'Stre  ou  il  es^,,  de  savoir  que  Ibid.,  p.  301. 
c'est  la  volont^  du  Roi,  et  cela  lui        i^  Ibid.,  p.  380. 


8 


i\ 


I  ■ 

i  ■ 


590 


PHILIP'S  INFLEXIBILITY. 


[Book  II. 


and  we  have  a  letter  from  him  to  the  king,  dated 
from  that  capital,  the  first  of  February,  1566,  in 
which  he  counsels  his  master  by  no  means  to  think 
of  introducing  the  Spanish  Inquisition  into  the 
Netherlands.^  It  might  seem  as  if,  contrary  to 
the  proverb,  change  of  climate  had  wrought  some 
change  in  the  disposition  of  the  cardinal.  —  From 
this  period,  Granvelle,  so  long  the  terror  of  the 
Low  Countries,  disappears  from  the  management 
of  their  affairs.  He  does  not,  however,  disappear 
from  the  political  theatre.  We  shall  again  meet 
with  the  able  and  ambitious  prelate,  first  as  vice- 
roy  of  Naples,  and  afterwards  at  Madrid  occupying 
the  highest  station  in  the  councils  of  his  sovereign. 

Early  in  July,  1565,  the  commission  of  reform 
appointed  by  Philip  transmitted  its  report  to  Spam. 
It  recommended  no  change  in  the  present  laws, 
except  so  far  as  to  authorize  the  judges  to  take 
into  consideration  the  age  and  sex  of  the  accused, 
and  in  case  of  penitence  to  commute  the  capital 
punishment  of  the  convicted  heretic  for  banist 
ment.  Philip  approved  of  the  report  in  all  par- 
ticulars, —  except  the  only  particular  that  involved 
a  change,  that  of  mercy  to  the  penitent  heretic.^ 

At  length,  the  king  resolved  on  such  an  absolute 
declaration  of  his  will  as  should  put  all  doubts  on 
the  matter  at  rest,  and  relieve  him  from  further  im- 
portimity.  On  the  seventeenth  of  October,  1565, 
he   addressed  that  memorable  letter  to  his  sister 

«  Correspondance  de  Philippe  «  n)id.,  p.  372.  -  Hopper,  lU. 
n.,  torn.  I.  p.  396.  cueU  et  Memorial,  p.  57. 


Ch.  IX.] 


DESPATCHES  FROM  SEGOVIA. 


591 


from  the  Wood  of  Segovia,  which  may  be  said 
to  have  determined  the  fate  of  the  Netherlands. 
Philip,  in  this,  intimates  his  surprise  that  his 
letters  should  appear  to  Egmont  inconsistent  with 
what  he  had  heard  from  his  lips  at  Madrid. 
His  desire  was  not  for  novelty  in  anything. 
He  would  have  the  Inquisition  conducted  by  the 
inquisitors,  as  it  had  hitherto  been,  and  as  by 
right,  divine  and  human,  belonged  to  them.^ 
For  the  edicts,  it  was  no  time  in  the  present  state 
of  religion  to  make  any  change ;  both  his  own  and 
those  of  his  father  must  be  executed.  The  Ana- 
baptists—  a  sect  for  which,  as  the  especial  butt 
of  persecution,  much  intercession  had  been  made 
—  must  be  dealt  with  according  to  the  rigor 
of  the  law.  Philip  concluded  by  conjuring  the 
regent  and  the  lords  in  the  council  faithfully  to 
obey  his  commands,  as  in  so  doing  they  would 
render  the  greatest  service  to  the  cause  of  re- 
ligion and  of  their  country,  —  which  last,  he  adds, 
without  the  execution  of  these  ordinances,  would 
be  of  little  worth.^® 

In  a  private  letter  to  the  regent  of  nearly  the 
same  date  with  these  public  despatches,  Philip 
speaks  of  the  proposed  changes  in  the  council 
of  state  as  a  subject  on  which  he  had  not  made 


23  «  Car,  quant  k  rinquisition,  divins  et  humains."     Correspon- 
mon  intention  est  qu*elle  se  face  dance  de  Philippe  II.,  torn.  I.,  •*  Rap- 
par  les  inquisiteurs,  comm'elle  s*est  port,**  p.  cxxix,  note, 
faicte   jusques    k   maintenant,  et  23  Ibid.,  ubi  supra, 
eomm'il  leur  appertient  par  droitz 


592 


PHILIP'S  INFLEXIBILITY. 


[Book  II 


up  his  mmd«    He    notices    also    the    proposed 
convocation  of  the   states-general   as  a  thing,  in 
the  present   disorders   of  the   country,  altogether 
inexpedient.^^  —  Thus   the   king's   despatches  cov- 
ered  nearly  all   the  debatable   ground  on  which 
the   contest  had  been  so  long  going  on  between 
the   crown  and  the  country.     There  could  be  no 
longer  any  complaint  of  ambiguity  or  reserve  in 
the  expression  of  the  royal  will.     "  God  knows," 
writes  Viglius,  "what  wry  faces  were  made  in 
the  councH  on  learning  the  absolute  will   of  his 
majesty ! "  ^     There  was  not  one  of  its  members, 
not  even   the   president   or   Barlaimont,  who  did 
not  feel  the  necessity  of  bending  to  the  tempest 
so  far    as   to    suspend,    if    not    to   mitigate,   the 
rigor  of  the  law.     They  looked  to  the  future  with 
gloomy  apprehension.     Viglius  strongly  urged,  that 
the  despatches  should  not  be  made  public  till  some 
further  communication  should  be  had  with  Philip 
to  warn  him  of  the  consequences.     In  this  he  was 
opposed  by  the  prince  of  Orange.     "  It  was  too 
late,"  he  said,  "  to  talk  of  what  was  expedient  to 


««  This  letter  was  dated  the 
twentieth  of  October.  All  hes- 
itation seems  to  have  vanished  in 
a  letter  addressed  to  Granvelle 
only  two  days  after,  in  which 
Philip  says,  "  As  to  the  proposed 
changes  in  the  government,  there 
is  not  a  question  about  them." 
"  Quant  aux  changements  qu'on 
lui  a  ^crit  devoir  se  fadre  dans  le 
aouvemement,  il  n*en  eat  pas  ques- 


tion."  Correspondance  de  Philippe 

IL,  torn.  I.  p.  375. 

25  Documentoslndditos,  tom.  IV. 

p.  333. 

26  "  Dieu  S9ait  qu4  visaiges  ilf 
ont  monstrez,  et  que  mescontente- 
ment  ils  ont,  voyans  I'absolute  vo- 
luntd  du  Roy."  Archives  de  la 
Maison  d'Orange-Nassau,  tom.  I 
p.  442. 


Ch.  IX.] 


EFFECT  ON  THE  COUNTRl 


593 


be  done.  Since  the  will  of  his  majesty  was  so 
unequivocally  expressed,  all  that  remained  for  the 
government  was  to  execute  it.*'^  In  vain  did 
Viglius  offer  to  take  the  whole  responsibility  of 
the  delaj  on  himself  William's  opinion,  sup- 
])orted  by  Egmont  and  Hoorne,  prevailed  with  the 
regent,  too  timid,  by  such  an  act  of  disobedience, 
to  hazard  the  displeasure  of  her  brother.  As,  late 
in  the  evening,  the  council  broke  up,  Williant 
was  heard  to  exclaim,  "  Now  we  shall  see  the 
beginning  of  a  fine  tragedy ! "  ^ 

In  the  month  of  December,  the  regent  caused 
copies  of  the  despatches,  with  extracts  from  the 
letters  to  herself,  to  be  sent  to  the  governors  and 
the  councils  of  the  several  provinces,  with  orders 
that  they  should  see  to  their  faithful  execution. 
Officers,  moreover,  were  to  be  appointed,  whose 
duty  it  was  to  ascertain  the  manner  in  which 
these  orders  were  fulfilled,  and  to  report  thereon 
to  the  government. 

The  result  was  what  had  been  foreseen.  The 
publication  of  the  despatches  —  to  borrow  the 
words  of  a  Flemish  \^iter  —  created  a  sensation 
throughout  the  country  little  short  of  what 
would  have  been  caused  by  a  declaration  of 
war.^      Under    every    discouragement,    men    had 


I  1. 


S7  Hopper,  Recueil  et  Memori- 
al, p.  59. 

28  "  Qua  conclusione  accepts, 
Princeps  Auriacencis  cuidam  in 
aurem  dixit  (qui  p6st  id  retulit) 
quasi  Isetus  gloriabundusque :  visu- 

VOL.  I.  75 


ros    nos    brevi  egregiae  tragedia 
initium."     Vita  Viglii,  p.  45. 

29  "  Une  declaration  de  guerre 
n'aurait  pas  fait  plus  d'impression 
sur  les  esprits,  que  ces  depdches, 
quand    la    connaissance    en   par* 


594 


PHILIP'S  INFLEXIBILITT. 


[Book  IL 


Ch.  1X1 


EFFECT  ON  THE  COUNTRY. 


595 


flattered  themselves,  up  to  this  period,  with  the 
expectation  of  some  change  for  the  better.     Ihe 
constantly  increasing  number   of  the  Reformers, 
the  persevering  resistance  to  the  Inquisition,  the 
reiterated   remonstrances  to  the  government,  the 
creneral   persuasion   that   the   great    nobles,   even 
the  regent,  were  on  their  side,  had  all  combined 
to  foster   the  hope   that  toleration,  to  some  ex^ 
tent,   would  eventually  be   conceded  by  Phihp. 
This  hope  was   now   crushed.     Whatever  doubts 
had  been  entertained  were  dispelled  by  these  last 
despatches,  which  came  like  a  hunicane,  sweepmg 
away  the  mists  that  had  so  long  blinded  the  eyes 
of  men,  and  laying  open  the  poUcy  of  the  crown, 
clear   as  day,  to  the   dullest   apprehension.     The 
people  passed  to  the  extremity  of  despair.     The 
Spanish  Inquisition,   with    its    train    of  horrors, 
seemed  to  be  already  in  the  midst  of  them.     They 
called  to  mind  all  the  tales  of  woe  they  had  heard 
of  it.     They  recounted   the  atrocities  perpetrated 


vint  an  public."    Vandervynckt, 
Troubles  des  Pays-Baa,  torn.  II. 

p.  94. 

30  «  Se  comienza  4  dar  espe- 
ranza  al  pueblo  de  la  libertad  de 
coroienria,  de  las  mudanzas  del 
gobierno.''  Kenom  de  Francia, 
Alborotos  de  Flandes,  MS. 

"  Some  demand  a  mitigation  of 
the  edicts;  others,"  as  VigUus  peev- 
ishly complains  to  Granvelle,  "say 
that  they  want  at  least  as  much 
toleration  as  is  vouchsafed  to  Chris- 
tians by  the  Turks,  who  do  not 


persecute  the  enemies  of  their  faith 
astwe  persecute  brethren  of  our 
own  faith,  for  a  mere  difference 
in    the    interpretation    of    Scrip 
ture!**     (Archives  de  la  Maison 
d'Orange-Nassau,  tom.  I.  p.  287.) 
Viglius  was  doubtless  of  the  opin- 
ion'^of  M.  Gerlache,  that  for  Philip 
to  have  granted  toleration  would 
have  proved  the  signal  for  a  gen- 
eral    massacre.      Vide    Hist,    du 
Royaume  des    Pays-Bas,  torn.  L 
p.  83. 


by  the  Spaniards  in  the  New  World,  which,  how- 
ever erroneously,  they  charged  on  the  Holy  Offica 
"  Do  they  expect,"  they  cried,  "  that  we  shall 
tamely  wait  here,  like  the  wretched  Indians,  to 
be  slaughtered  by  millions?"^  Men  were  seen 
gathering  into  knots,  in  the  streets  and  public 
squares,  discussing  the  conduct  of  the  government, 
and  gloomily  talking  of  secret  associations  and 
foreign  alliances.  Meetings  were  stealthily  held 
in  the  woods,  and  in  the  suburbs  of  the  great 
towns,  where  the  audience  listened  to  fanatical 
preachers,  who,  while  discussing  the  doctrines 
of  religious  reform,  darkly  hinted  at  resistance. 
Tracts  were  printed,  and  widely  circulated,  in 
which  the  reciprocal  obligations  of  lord  and  vas- 
sal were  treated,  and  the  right  of  resistance  was 
maintained;  and,  in  some  instances,  these  diffi- 
cult questions  were  handled  Avith  decided  abil- 
ity. A  more  common  form  was  that  of  satire  and 
scurrilous  lampoon,  —  a  favorite  weapon  with  the 
early  Reformers.  Their  satu'ical  sallies  were  lev- 
elled indifferently  at  the  throne  and  the  Church 
The  bishops  were  an  obvious  mark.  No  one  was 
spared.  Comedies  were  written  to  ridicule  the 
clergy.  Never  since  the  discovery  of  the  art  of 
prmting — more  than  a  century  before  —  had  the 
press  been  turned  into  an  engine  of  such  political 

31  *«  On  defiait  les  Espagnols  de  par  millions,  quand  on  avait  tb 

trouver  aux  Pays-Bas  ces  stupides  qu'ils  ne  savaient  pas  se  d^fendre.* 

Americains  et  ces  miserables  habi-  Vandervynckt,  Troubles  des  Payt 

tans  du  Perou,  qu'on  avait  dgorg^  Bas,  tom.  I.  p.  97. 


if 


596  PHILIP'S  INFLEXIBILITY.  [Book  11 

importance  as  in   the   earlier  stages  of  the  revo- 
lution    in   the   Netherlands.      Thousands    of  the 
seditious   pamphlets   thus   thrown   off  were   rap- 
Idly    circulated    among   a   people,    the   humblest 
of  whom  possessed  what  many  a  noble  in  other 
lands,   at   that  day,   was  little   skilled   in,  — the 
art  of  reading.     Placards  were  nailed  to  the  doors 
of  the   magistrates,   in   some   of  the   cities,   pro- 
claiming  that  Rome  stood  in  need  of  her  Brutus. 
Others  were  attached  to  the  gates  of  Orange  and 
Egmont,  calling  on  them  to  come  forth  and  save 

their  countrj.® 

Margaret  was  filled  with  alarm  at  these  signs 
of  disaffection  throughout  the  land.      She  felt  the 
crround  trembling  beneath  her.     She  wrote  agam 
Ld  again  to  Philip,  giving  full  particulars  of  the 
state  of  the  public   sentiment,  and   the  seditious 
spirit  which  seemed  on  the  verge  of  insurrection. 
She  intimated    her  wish   to   resign    the    govern- 
ment.^     She  besought  him  to   allow  the   states- 
general   to  be   summoned,  and,  at  aU  events,  to 
come   in    person    and    take    the    reins   from   her 
hands,  too   weak   to   hold   them.  — Philip  coolly 
replied,  that  "he  was  sorry  the  despatches  from 
Segovil  had  given  such  offence.     They  had  been 
designed  only  for  the  service  of  God  and  the  good 
of  the  country."  " 

«  See  a  letter  of  Morillon  to  »  Correspondance  de  Philippe 

(Wanvelle,  January  27,  1566,  Ar-  H.,  torn.  I  p.  390. 

chives   de   la   Maison    d'Orange-  34  «I1  a  appns  avec  peine  que 

Nassau,  Supplement,  p.  22.  le  contenu  de  sa  lettre,  dat^e  du 


Ch.  IX  I 


EFFECT  ON  THE  COUNTRY. 


59' 


In  this  general  fermentation,  a  new  class  of 
men  came  on  the  stage,  important  by  their  num- 
bers, though  they  had  taken  no  part  as  yet  in 
political  affairs.  These  were  the  lower  nobility 
of  the  country ;  men  of  honorable  descent,  and 
many  of  them  allied  by  blood  or  marriage  with 
the  highest  nobles  of  the  land.  They  were  too 
often  men  of  dilapidated  fortunes,  fallen  into  decay 
through  their  own  prodigality,  or  that  of  their 
progenitors.  Many  had  received  their  education 
abroad,  some  in  Geneva,  the  home  of  Calvin,  where 
they  naturally  imbibed  the  doctrines  of  the  great 
Reformer.  In  needy  circumstances,  with  no  better 
possession  than  the  inheritance  of  honorable  tradi- 
tions or  the  memory  of  better  days,  they  were 
urged  by  a  craving,  impatient  spirit,  which  natu- 
rally made  them  prefer  any  change  to  the  existing 
order  of  things.  They  were,  for  the  most  part, 
bred  to  arms ;  and,  in  the  days  of  Charles  the 
Fifth,  had  found  an  ample  career  opened  to  their 
ambition  under  the  imperial  banners.  But  Philip, 
with  less  policy  than  his  father,  had  neglected  to 
court  this  class  of  his  subjects,  who,  without  fixed 
principles  or  settled  motives  of  action,  seemed  .to 
float  on  the  surface  of  events,  prepared  to  throw 
their  weight,  at  any  moment,  into  the  scale  of 
revolution. 

Some  twenty  of  these   cavaliers,  for   the  most 

bois  de  S^govie,  a  4t6  mal  accueiUi  au  bien  de  ces  !l£tats,  comme  Vamour 
aux  Pays-Bas,  ses  intentions  ne  qu'il  leur  porte  Yy  oblige.**  Ibid, 
tendant  qu*au  service  de  Dieu  et    p.  400. 


598 


PHILIP'S  INFLEXIBILITY. 


[Book  II 


Ch.  IX .] 


THE  COMPROMISE. 


599 


part  young  men,  met  together  in  the  month  of 
November,  in  Brussels,  at  the  house  of  Count  Cu- 
lemborg,  a  nobleman  attached  to  the  Protestant 
opinions.     Their  avowed  purpose  was  to  listen  to 
the  teachings  of  a  Flemish  divine,  named  Junius, 
a  man  of  parts  and  learning,  who  had  been  edu- 
cated  in  the  school  of  Calvin,  and  who,  having 
returned  to  the  Netherlands,  exercised,  under  the 
very  eye  of  the  regent,  the  dangerous  calling  of 
the  missionary.     At  this  meeting  of  the  discon- 
tented  nobles,  the  talk  naturally   turned  on  the 
evils  of  the  land  and  the  best  means  of  remedy- 
ing them.      The  result   of    the   conferences   was 
the  foimation  of  a  league,  the  principal  objects  of 
which  are  elaborately  set  forth  in  a  paper  known 
as  the  "  Compromise."  ^ 

This  celebrated  document  declares  that  the  king 
had  been  induced  by  evil  counseUors,  —  for  the 
most  part  foreigners,  —  in  violation  of  his  oath,  to 
establish  the  Inquisition  in  the  country ;  a  tribunal 
opposed  to  all  law,  divine  and  human,  sp^^^ss. 
mg  in  barbarity  anything  ever  yet  practised  by 
tyrants,«^  tending  to  bring  the  land  to  utter  ruin, 


35  Historians  have   usually  re- 
ferred the  origin  of  the  "  Union  " 
to  a  meeting  of  nine  nobles  at 
Breda,  as  reported  by  Strada.    (De 
Bello  Belgico,   torn.   L    p.  208.) 
But  we  have  the  testunony  of  Ju- 
nius himself  to  the  fact,  as  stated 
in  the  text ;  and  this  testimony  is 
accepted  by   Groen,   who  treads 
with  a  caution  that  secures  him  a 


good  footing  even  in  the  slippery 

places  of  history.     (See  Archives 

de  la  Maison  d*Orange-Nassau,  tom. 

IL  p.  2.)     Brandt  also  adopts  the 

report  of  Junius.    (Reformation  in 

the  Low  Countries,  tom.  I  p.  162.) 

36  "  Inique  et  contraire  k  toutes 

loix  divines  et  humaines,  surpa* 

sant  la  plus  grande  barbarie  que 

oncques  fut  practiqu^e  entre  lei 


and  the  inhabitants  to  a  state  of  miserable  bondage. 
The  confederates,  therefore,  in  order  not  to  become 
the  prey  of  those  who,  under  the  name  of  religion, 
seek  only  to  enrich  themselves  at  the  expense  of  life 
and  property,*^  bind  themselves  by  a  solemn  oath 
to  resist  the  establishment  of  the  Inquisition,  under 
whatever  form  it  may  be  introduced,  and  to  protect 
each  other  against  it  with  their  lives  and  fortunes. 
In  doing  this,  they  protest  that,  so  far  from  intend- 
ing anything  to  the  dishonor  of  the  king,  their 
only  intent  is  to  maintain  the  king  in  his  estate, 
and  to  preserve  the  tranquillity  of  the  realm. 
They  conclude  with  solemnly  invoking  the  bless- 
ing of  the  Almighty  on  this  their  lawful  and  holy 
confederation. 

Such  are  some  of  the  principal  points  urged  m 
this  remarkable  instrument,  in  which  little  men- 
tion is  made  of  the  edicts,  every  other  grievance 
beino-  swallowed  up  in  that  of  the  detested  Inqui- 
sition. Indeed,  the  translations  of  the  "  Compro- 
mise," which  soon  appeared,  m  various  languages, 
usually  bore  the  title  of  "  League  of  the  Noblee 
of  Flanders  against  the  Spanish  Inquisition."  ® 


tirans."     Archives  de  la  IMmson 
d'Orange-Nassau,  tom.  II.  p.  3. 

One  might  imagine  that  the 
confederates  intended  in  the  first 
part  of  this  sentence  to  throw  the 
words  of  Philip  back  upon  him- 
self, —  "  Comme  il  leur  appertient 
par  droitz  divins  et  humains." 
Depeche  du  Bois  de  Segovie,  Oc- 
tober 17,  1565. 


37  «  Affin  de  n'estre  expos^z  en 
proye  k  ceulx  qui,  soubs  ombre  de 
reli«non,  voudroient  s'enrichir  aux 
despens  de  nostre  sang  et  de 
nos  biens.**  Archives  de  la  Mai- 
son   d  Orange-Nassau,     tom.    IL 

p.  4. 

38  Vandervynckt,  Troubles  det 
Pays-Bas,  tom.  II.  p.  134. 


r>oo 


pfllLIPS  I^TLEXIBILITY. 


[Boott  11 


Cn.  IXl 


THE  COMTROMISE. 


601 


It  will  hardly  be  denied  that  those  who  signed 
this  instrument  had  already  made  a  decided  move 
in  the  game  of  rebellion.      They  openly  arrayed 
themselves  against  the  execution  of  the  law  and 
the   authority  of  the  crown.     They  charged   the 
king  with  having  violated  his  oath,  and  they  ac- 
cused him  of  abetting  a  persecution  which,  under 
the  pretext  of  religion,  had  no  other  object  than 
the   spoil   of  its    victims.     It   was    of  little    mo- 
ment  that   all   this   was   done   under  professions 
of  loyalty.     Such  professions  are  the  decent  cover 
with  which  the  first  approaches  are  always  made 
in  a  revolution.  —  The  copies  of  the  instrument 
differ  somewhat  from  each  other.     One  of  these, 
before  me,  as  if  to  give  the  edge  of  personal  in- 
sult  to   their  remonstrance,   classes  in  the   same 
category  "  the  vagabond,  the  priest,  and  the  Span- 

iardr^ 

Among  the  small  company  who  first  subscribed 
the  document  we  find  names  that  rose  to  eminence 
in  the  stormy  scenes  of  the  revolution.  There  was 
Count  Louis  of  Nassau,  a  younger  brother  of  the 
prince  of  Orange,  the  "  bon  chevalier^'  as  William 
used  to  call  him,  —  a  title  well  earned  by  his  gen- 
erous  spirit  and  many  noble  and  humane  qualities. 
Louis  was  bred  a  Lutheran,  and  was  zealously 
devoted  to  the  cause  of  reform,  when  his  brother 
took  but  a  comparatively  languid  interest  in  it 

»  "  De  sorte  que  si  tin  Prestre,  autruy,  par  le  moyen  de  rinquin- 
nn  Espajrnol,  ou  quelque  mauvais  tion,  il  pourra  I'accuser,  faire  ap- 
5arnemcnt  veut  mal,  ou  nuyre  h.    prehender,  voire  falre  mourir,  soit 


His  ardent,  precipitate  temper  was  often  kept  in 
check,  and  more  wisely  directed,  by  the  prudent 
counsels  of  William ;  while  he  amply  repaid  his 
brotlier  by  his  devoted  attachment,  and  by  the 
zeal  and  intrepidity  with  which  he  carried  out  his 
plans.  Louis,  indeed,  might  be  called  the  right 
hand  of  William. 

Another  of  the  party  was  Philip  de  Marnix, 
lord  of  St.  Aldegonde.  He  was  the  intimate  friend 
of  William  of  Orange.  In  the  words  of  a  Belgian 
writer,  he  was  one  of  the  beautiful  characters  of 
the  time;*^  distinguished  alike  as  a  soldier,  a 
statesman,  and  a  scholar.  It  is  to  his  pen  that 
the  composition  of  the  "Compromise"  has  gen- 
erally been  assigned.  Some  critics  have  found  its 
tone  inconsistent  with  the  sedate  and  tranquil 
character  of  his  mind.  Yet  St.  Aldegonde's  de- 
vice, ^'Repos  ailleurs^''^^  would  seem  to  indicate 
a  fervid  imagination  and  an  impatient  spirit  of 
activity. 

But  the  man  who  seems  to  have  entered  most 
heartily  into  these  first  movements  of  the  revo- 
lution was  Henry,  viscount  of  Brederode.  He 
sprung  from  an  ancient  line,  boasting  his  descent 
from  the  counts  of  Holland.  The  only  pos- 
session that  remained  to  him,  the  lordship  of 
Viana,  he  still  claimed  to  hold  as  independent 
of  the  king  of  Spain,  or  any  other  potentate.     His 

k  droit,  soit  k  tort"     Supplement  de  ce  temps."    Borguet,  Philippe 

I  Strada,  tom.  II.  p.  300.  II.  et  la  Belgique,  p.  43. 

^  "  L'un  des  beaux  caract^res        *i  Ibid.,  ubi  suprau 

VOL.  1.  T6 


602 


PHILIP'S  INFLEXIBILITY. 


[Book  IL 


patrimony  had  been  wasted  in  a  course  of  careless 
indulgence,  and  little  else  was  left  than  barren 
titles,  and  pretensions,  —  which,  it  must  be  owned, 
he  was  not  diffident  in  vaunting.  He  was  fond  of 
convivial  pleasures,  and  had  a  free,  reckless  humor, 
that  took  with  the  people,  to  whom  he  was  still 
more  endeared  by  his  sturdy  hatred  of  oppression. 
Brederode  was,  in  short,  one  of  those  busy,  vapor- 
ing characters,  who  make  themselves  felt  at  the 
outset  of  a  revolution,  but  are  soon  lost  in  the 
course  of  it ;  like  those  ominous  bkds  which  with 
their  cries  and  screams  herald  in  the  tempest  that 
goon  sweeps  them  out  of  sight  for  ever. 

Copies  of  the  "Compromise,"  with  the  names 
attached  to  it,  were  soon  distributed  through  all 
parts  of  the  coimtry,  and  eagerly  signed  by  great 
numbers,  not  merely  of  the  petty  nobility  and 
gentry,  but  of  substantial  burghers  and  wealthy 
merchants,  men  who  had  large  interests  at  stake 
in  the  commimity.  Hames,  king-at-arms  of  the 
Golden  Fleece,  who  was  a  zealous  confederate, 
boasted  that  the  names  of  two  thousand  such 
persons  were  on  his  paper.*^  Among  them  were 
many  Roman  Catholics ;  and  we  are  again  called 
to  notice,  that  in  the  outset  this  Protestant  revolu- 
tion received  important  support  from  the  Catholics 
themselves,  who  forgot  all  religious  differences  in 
a  common  hatred  of  arbitrary  power. 

Few,  if  any,  of  the  great  nobles  seem  to  have 

«  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  torn.  L  p.  209. 


Ch.  IX.] 


THE  COMPROlvnSE. 


603 


been  among  the  number  of  those  who  signed  the 
"  Compromise,"  —  certainly  none  of  the  council  of 
state.  It  would  hardly  have  done  to  invite  one 
of  the  royal  councillors  —  in  other  words,  one  of 
the  government  —  to  join  the  confederacy,  when 
thej  would  have  been  bound  by  the  obligations  of 
their  office  to  discfcse  it  to  the  regent.  But  if  the 
great  lords  did  not  become  actual  parties  to  the 
league,  they  showed  their  sympathy  with  the 
object  of  it,  by  declining  to  enforce  the  execution 
of  the  laws  against  which  it  was  du-ected.  On  the 
twenty-fourth  of  January,  1566,  the  prince  of 
Orange  addressed,  from  Breda,  a  letter  to  the 
regent,  on  the  occasion  of  her  sending  him  the 
despatches  from  Segovia,  for  the  rule  of  his  gov- 
ernment in  the  provinces.  In  this  remarkable 
letter,  William  exposes,  with  greater  freedom  than 
he  was  wont,  his  reasons  for  refusing  to  comply 
with  the  royal  orders.  "  I  express  myself  freely 
and  frankly,"  he  says,  "  on  a  topic  on  which  I  have 
not  been  consulted ;  but  I  do  so,  lest  by  my  silence 
I  may  incur  the  responsibility  of  the  mischief  that 
must  ensue."  He  then  briefly,  and  in  a  decided 
tone,  touches  on  the  evils  of  the  Inquisition, — 
introduced,  as  he  says,  contrary  to  the  repeated 
pledges  of  the  king,  —  and  on  the  edicts.  Great 
indulgence  had  been  of  late  shown  in  the  interpre- 
tation of  these  latter;  and  to  revive  them  on  a 
sudden,  so  as  to  execute  them  with  their  ancient 
rigor,  would  be  most  disastrous.  There  could  not 
be  a  worse  time  than  the  present,  when  the  people 


604 


PHnJP'S  INFLEXIBILITY. 


[Book  II 


were  sorely  pressed  by  scarcity  of  food,  and  in  a 
critical  state  from  the  religious  agitations  on  their 
borders.  It  might  cost  the  king  his  empire  in  the 
Netherlands,  and  throw  it  into  the  hands  of  his 

neighbors.*^ 

"  For  my  own  part,''  he  concludes,  "  if  his  ma- 
jesty insists  on  the  execution  t)f  these  measures, 
rather  than  incur  the  stain  w^hich  must  rest  on 
me  and  my  house  by  attempting  it,  I  will  re- 
sign my  office  into  the  hands  of  some  one  better 
acquainted  with  the  humors  of  the  people,  and 
who  will  be  better  able  to  maintain  order  in  the 

country."** 

In  the  same  tone  several  of  the  other  provincial 
governors  replied  to  Margaret,  declaring  that  they 
could  never  coolly  stand  by  and  see  fifty  or  sixty 
thousand  of  their  countrjTnen  burned  to  death 
for  errors  of  religion.*^  The  regent  was  sorely 
perplexed  by  this  desertion  of  the  men  on  whom 
she  most  relied.  She  wrote  to  them  in  a  strain 
of  expostulation,  and  besought  the  prince,  in 
particular,  not  to  add  to  the  troubles  of  the  time, 


*5  "Mettant  le  tout  en  liazard 
de  venir  bs  mains  de  nos  voisins.** 
Correspondance  de  Guillaume  le 
Taciturne,  torn.  II.  p.  109. 

<*  "J'aimerois  mieulx,  en  cas 
que  Sadicte  Majestd  nc  le  veuille 
dilaier  jusques  k  la,  et  des  k  pre- 
sent persiste  sur  cette  inquisition 
et  ex^ution,  qu'elle  commisse  quel- 
que  autre  en  ma  place,  mieulx  en- 
tendant  les  humeurs  du  peuple,  et 


plus  habile  que  moi  k  les  msuntenir 
en  paix  et  repos,  plustost  que 
d*encourir  la  note  dont  moi  et  les 
miens  porrions  estre  souilles,  si 
quelque  inconvenient  advint  au 
pays  de  mon  gouvernement,  et 
durant  ma  charge."  Ibid.,  ubi 
supra. 

^  "  Addidere  aliqui,  nolle  se  in 
id  operam  conferre,  ut  quinqua- 
ginta  aut  sexaginta  hominun  mil- 


Ch.  IX.] 


ALARM  OF  THE  COUNTRY. 


605 


by  abandoning  his  post,  where  the  attachment  of 
the  people  gave  him  such  unbounded  influence.** 

The  agitations  of  the  country,  in  the  mean  time, 
continued  to  increase.  There  was  a  scarcity  of 
bread,  —  so  often  the  forerunner  of  revolution,  — 
and  this  article  had  risen  to  an  enormous  price. 
The  people  were  menaced  with  famine,  which 
might  have  led  to  serious  consequences,  but  for  a 
temporary  relief  from  Spain.*^ 

Eumors  now  began  to  be  widely  circulated  of 
the  speedy  coming  of  Philip,  with  a  large  army, 
to  chastise  his  vassals;  and  the  rumors  gained 
easy  credit  with  those  who  felt  they  were  already 
within  the  pale  of  rebellion.  Duke  Eric  of  Bruns- 
wick was  making  numerous  levies  on  the  German 
borders,  and  it  w^as  generally  believed  that  their 
destination  was  Flanders.  It  was  in  vain  that 
Margaret,  who  ascertained  the  falsehood  of  the 
report,  endeavored  to  imdeceive  the  people.*^ 

A  short  time  previously,  in  the  month  of  June, 
an  interview  had  taken  place,  at  Bayonne,  be- 
tween the  queen-mother,  Catherine  de  Medicis, 
and  her  daughter,  Isabella  of  Spain.  Instead  of 
her  husband,  Isabella  was  accompanied  at  this 
interview  by  the  counsellor  in  whom  he  most 
trusted,   the    duke    of   Alva.      The    two    queens 


lia,  se  Provincias  administrantibus,        ^  Correspondance  de  Philippe 

igni  concrementur."      Strada,  De  II.,  torn.  I.  p.  378. 

Bello  Belgico,  tom.  I.  p.  203.  48  Archives  de  la  Maison  d*0. 

«  Correspondance  de  Guillaume  range-Nassau,  tom.  II.  p.  33. 
le  Taciturne,  tom.  II.  p.  112. 


606 


PHILIP'S  INFLEXIBILITY. 


[Book  II. 


"Were  each  attended  by  a  splendid  retinue  of 
nobles.  The  meeting  was  prolonged  for  several 
days,  amidst  a  succession  of  balls,  tourneys,  and 
magnificent  banquets,  at  which  the  costly  dress 
and  equipage  of  the  French  nobility  contrasted 
strangely  enough  with  the  no  less  ostentatious 
simplicity  of  the  Spaniards.  This  simplicity,  so 
contrary  to  the  usual  pomp  of  the  Castilian,  was 
in  obedience  to  the  orders  of  Philip,  who,  fore- 
seeing the  national  emulation,  forbade  the  indul- 
gence of  it  at  a  foolish  cost,  which  in  the  end 
was  severely  felt  by  the  shattered  finances  of 
France. 

Amid  the  brilliant  pageants  which  occupied  the 
public  eye,  secret  conferences  were  daily  carried  on 
between  Catherine  and  the  duke  of  Alva.  The 
results  were  never  published,  but  enough  found 
its  way  into  the  light  to  show  that  the  principal 
object  was  the  extermination  of  heresy  in  France 
and  the  Netherlands.  The  queen-mother  was  for 
milder  measures,  —  though  slower  not  less  sure. 
But  the  iron-hearted  duke  insisted  that  to  grant 
liberty  of  conscience  was  to  grant  unbounded 
license.  The  only  way  to  exterminate  the  evil 
was  by  fire  and  sword !  It  was  on  this  oc- 
casion that,  when  Catherine  suggested  that  it 
was  easier  to  deal  with  the  refractory  commons 
than  with  the  nobles,  Alva  replied,  "True,  but 
ten  thousand  frogs  are  not  worth  the  head  of  a 
single  salmon,"  **  —  an  ominous  simile,  which  was 

*  "  A  ce  propos  le  due  d'Albe  repondit  que  dix  mille  grenouHlet 


Ch.  IX.] 


ALARM  OF   THE   COUNTRY. 


607 


o 


1^ 


afterwards  remembered   against   its   author,  when 
he  ruled  over  the  Netherlands.^ 

The  report  of  these  dark  conferences  had  reached 
the  Low  Countries,  where  it  was  universally  be- 
lieved that  the  object  of  them  was  to  secure  the 
cooperation  of  France  in  crushing  the  liberties 
of  Flanders." 


ne  valoient  pas  la  tete  d'un  sau- 
mon."  Sismondi,  Hist,  des  Fran- 
9ais,  torn.  XVIII.  p.  447. 

Davila,  in  telling  the  same  story, 
reporte  the  saying  of  the  duke  in 
somewhat  different  words :  —  "  Di- 

^eva  ehe besognava  peseare 

i  pesei  grossi,  e  non  si  curare  di 
prendere  le  ranocehie.**  Guerre 
Civili  di  Fraucia,  (Miiano,  1807,) 
tom.  1.  p.  341. 

50  Henry  the  Fourth,  when  a 
boy  of  eleven  years  of  age,  was  in 
the  train  of  Catherine,  and  was 
present  at  one  of  her  interviews 
with  Alva.    It  is  said  that  he  over- 
heard the  words  of  the  duke  quoted 
in  the  text,  and  that  they  sunk 
deep  into  the  mind  of  the  future 
champion  of  Protestantism.     Hen- 
ry reported  them  to  his  mother, 
Jeanne  d'Albret,  by  whom  they 
were  soon  made  public.    Sismondi, 
Hist,  des  Fran9ais,  tom.  XVIII.  p. 
44  7. — For  the  preceding  paragraph 
see  also  De  Thou,  Hist.  Universelle, 
tom.  V.  p.  34  et  seq.  —  Cabrera, 
Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  VI.  cap.  23. — 
Brantome,  (Euvres,  tom.  V.  p.  58 
et  seq. 

51  It  is  a  common  opinion  that, 
at  the  meeting  at  Bayonne,  it  was 
arranged  between  the  queen-moth- 


er and  Alva  to  revive  the  tragedy 
of  the    Sicilian   Vespers    in    the 
horrid  massacre  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew.   I  find,  however,   no  war- 
rant for  such  an  opinion  in  the  let* 
ters  of  either  the  duke  or  Don 
Juan  Manrique  de  Lara,  major- 
domo  to  Queen  Isabella,  the  origi- 
nals of  which  are  still  preserved 
in  the  Royal    Library  at    Pans. 
In  my  copy  of  these  MSS.  the 
letters  of  Alva  to  Philip  the  Sec- 
ond cover  much  the  larger  space. 
They  are  very  minute  in  their  ac- 
count of  his  conversation  with  the 
queen-mother.     His  great  object 
seems  to  have  been,  to  persuade 
her  to  abandon  her  temporizing 
policy,  and,  instead  of  endeavoring 
to  hold  the  balance  between  the 
contending  parties,   to  assert,  in 
the  most  uncompromising  manner, 
the  supremacy  of  the  Roman  Cath- 
olics.   He  endeavored  to  fortify  her 
in  this  course  by  the  example  of 
his  own  master,  the  king  of  Spain, 
repeating  Philip's  declaration,  so 
often  quoted,  under  various  forms, 
that  "  he  would  surrender  his  king- 
dom, nay  life  itself,  rather  than 
reign  over  heretics." 

While  the  duke   earnestly  en- 
deavored to  overcome  the  ar<ni- 


( 


608 


PHILIP'S  INFLEXIBILITY. 


IBooK  n 


In  the  panic  thus  spread  throughout  the  coun- 
try, the  more  timid  or  prudent,  especially  of  those 
who  dwelt  in  the  seaports,  began  to  take  meas- 
ures for  avoiding  these  evils  by  emigration. 
They  sought  refuge  in  Protestant  states,  and 
especially  in  England,  where  no  less  than  thirty 
thousand,  we  are  told  by  a  contemporary,  took 
shelter  under  the  sceptre  of  Elizabeth.^  They 
swarmed  in  the  cities  of  London  and  Sandwich, 
and  the  politic  queen  assigned  them  also  the  sea- 
port of  Norwich  as  their  residence.  Thus  Flem- 
ish industry  was  transferred  to  English  soil.  The 
course  of  trade  between  the  two  nations  now 
underwent  a  change.  The  silk  and  woollen  stuffs, 
which  had  formerly  been  sent  from  Flanders  to 
England,  became  the  staple  of  a  large  export- 
trade  from  England  to  Flanders.  "The  Low 
Countries,"  writes  the  correspondent  of  Granvelle, 
"  are  the  Indies  of  the  English,  who  make  war 
on  our  purses,  as  the  French,  some  years  since, 
made  war  on  our  towns."  ^ 


ments  of  Catherine  de  Medicis  in 
favor  of  a  milder,  more  rational, 
and,  it  may  be  added,  more  politic 
course  in  reference  to  the  Hugue- 
nots, he  cannot  justly  be  charged 
with  having  directly  recommended 
those  atrocious  measures  which 
have  branded  her  name  with  in- 
famy. Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  this  bloody 
catastrophe  was  a  legitimate  result 
of  the  policy  which  he  advised. 

58  "  On  V  nt  joumellement  gens 
itt  ce  pays   aller  en   Angleterre, 


avec  leurs  families  et  leurs  instr^j- 
ments ;  et  jk  Ijondres,  Zandvich  et 
le  pays  allenviron  est  si  plain,  que 
Ton  dit  que  le  nombre  surpasse 
30,000  testes."  Assonleville  to 
Granvelle,  January  15,  1565,  Cor- 
respondance  de  Philippe  II.,  torn. 
I.  p.  892. 

^  "  H  y  a  longtemps  que  ces 
Pais-Bas  sont  les  Indes  d* Angle- 
terre, et,  tant  qu'ilz  les  auront,  ill 
n'en  ont  besoing  d'aultres.**  Ibid., 
p.  382. 


f 


Cu.  IX.) 


ALARM  OF  THE   COUNTRY. 


GOD 


Some    of    the    Flemish    provinces,   instead    of 
giving  way  to   despondency,  appealed  sturdily  to 
their  charters,  to  rescue  them   from  the  arbitrary 
measures  of  the  crown.     The  principal  towns  of 
Brabant,  with  Antwerp  at  their  head,  intrenched 
themselves  behind  then-  Joyeuse  Entree,     The  ques- 
tion  was   brought  before   the   council;    a  decree 
was  given  in  favor  of  the  applicants,  and  ratified 
by  the  regent ;   and  the  free  soil  of  Brabant  was  no 
longer  polluted  by  the  presence  of  the  Inquisition.** 
The    gloom    now    became    deeper    round    the 
throne   of   the    regent.     Of   all    in    the    Nether- 
lands  the  person  least  to  be  envied  was  the  one 
who  ruled  over  them.     AVeaned  from  her  attach- 
ment to  Granvelle  by  the  influence  of  the  lords, 
Margaret  now  found  herself  compelled  to  resume 
the  arbitraiy  policy  which  she  disapproved,  and  to 
forfeit  the  support  of  the  very  party  to  which  of 
late  she  had  given  all  her  confidence.     The  lords 
in  the  council  withdrew  from  her,  the  magistrates 
in  the  provinces  thwarted  her,  and  large  masses 
of  the  population  were  arrayed  in  actual  resistance 
against  the  government.     It  may  seem  strange  that 
it  was  not  till  the  spring  of  1566  that  she  received 
positive    tidings    of  the   existence  of  the  league, 
when   she   was   informed   of  it   by  Egr  .ont,  and 
some  others  of  the  council  of  state.^     As  usual, 

M  Meteren,  Hist  des  Pays-Bas,        S5  Supplement  k   Strada,  torn, 
tf  m.  I.  fol.  39,  40.  —  Correspon-     II.  p.  293. 
dance  de  Marguerite  d'Autriche, 
p.  1 7. 

VOL.  I.  77 


j 


GIO 


PHILIP'S  INFLEXIBILITY. 


[Book  U 


Cb  IX.] 


ALARM  OF  THE  COL^'TRY. 


611 


the  rumor  went  beyond  the  truth.  Twenty  or 
thirty  thousand  men  were  said  to  be  in  arms, 
and  half  that  number  to  be  prepared  to  march 
on  Brussels,  and  seize  the  person  of  the  regent, 
unless  she  complied  with  their  demands.^ 

For  a  moment  Margaret  thought  of  taking  refuge 
in  the  citadel.  But  she  soon  rallied,  and  showed 
the  spirit  to  have  been  expected  in  the  daughter 
of  Charles  the  Fifth.  She  ordered  the  garrisons 
to  be  strengthened  in  the  fortresses  throughout 
the  country.  She  summoned  the  companies  of 
ardonnance  to  the  capital,  and  caused  them  to 
renew  their  oaths  of  fidelity  to  the  king.  She 
wrote  to  the  Spanish  ministers  at  the  neighbor- 
ing courts,  informed  them  of  the  league,  and 
warned  them  to  allow  no  aid  to  be  sent  to  it 
from  the  countries  where  they  resided.  Finally, 
she  called  a  meeting  of  the  knights  of  the  Golden 
Fleece  and  the  council  of  state,  for  the  twenty- 
seventh  of  March,  to  deliberate  on  the  perilous 
situation  of  the  country.  Having  completed  these 
arrangements,  the  duchess  wrote  to  her  brother,  in- 
fonning  him  exactly  of  the  condition  of  things, 
and  suggesting  what  seemed  to  her  counsellors 
the  most  effectual  remedy.  She  wrote  the  more 
freely,  as  her  love  of  power  had  yielded  to  a 
Bincere  desire  to  extricate  herself  from  the  trials 
and  troubles  which  attended  it.^^ 

»  n)id.,  ubi  supra.— Strada,De  Bello  Belgico,  torn.  L  p.  212.— 

Hello  Belgico,  torn.  I.  p.  212.  Correspondance  de  Guillaume  le 

57  Correspondance  de  Philippe  Tacitumi?,  torn.  II.  p.  132. 
U.,  torn.  L  p.  402.  — Strada,  De 


There  were  but  two  courses,  she  said,  force  or 
concession.'*®  The  former,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
ruin  it  would  bring  on  the  land,  was  rendered 
difficult  by  want  of  money  to  pay  the  troops, 
and  by  the  want  of  trustworthy  officers  to  com- 
mand them.  Concessions  must  consist  in  abol- 
ishing the  Inquisition,  —  a  useless  tribunal  where 
sectaries  swarmed  openly  in  the  cities,  —  in  mod- 
ifying the  edicts,  and  in  granting  a  free  pardon 
to  aU  who  had  signed  the  Compromise,  pro- 
vided they  would  return  to  then*  duty.^  On 
these  terms,  the  lords  of  the  council  were  will- 
ing to  guaranty  the  obedience  of  the  people. 
At  all  events,  they  promised  Margaret  their  sup- 
port in  enforcing  it.  She  would  not  express 
her  own  preference  for  either  of  the  alternatives 
presented  to  Philip ;  but  would  faithfully  execute 
his  commands,  whatever  they  might  be,  to  the 
best  of  her  ability.  —  Without  directly  express- 
ing her  preference,  it  was  pretty  clear  on  which 
side  it  lay.  Margaret  concluded  by  earnestly 
beseeching  her  brother  to  return  an  immediate 
answer  to  her  despatches  by  the  courier  who  bore 
them. 

The  person  who  seems  to  have  enjoyed  the 
largest   share    of   Margaret's    confidence,   at    this 

58  Supplement  k  Strada,  torn.  II.  rant  quant  et  quant  la  ngeur  des 

p.  294.  Place-arts publiant  aussy  quant 

^  "  Ostant  rinquisition,  qui  en  et  quant  pardon  general  pour  ceulx 

ce  temps  est  tant  odieuse et  qui    se    sont    meslez    de    laditte 

oe  sert  quasi  de  riens,  pour  estre  Ligue.**     Ibid.,  p.  295. 
les  Sectaires  assi^z  cognuz;  mode- 


612 


PHILIP'S  INFLEXIBILITY. 


[Book  IL 


Ch.  IX.] 


ORANGE  AND  EGMONT. 


Gl:i 


time,  was  Egmont.  He  remained  at  Brussels,  and 
still  kept  his  seat  in  council  after  William  had 
withdrawn  to  his  estates  in  Breda.  Yet  the 
prince,  although  he  had  left  Brussels  in  disgust, 
had  not  taken  part  with  the  confederates;  much 
less  —  as  was  falsely  rumored,  and  to  his  great 
annoyance  —  put  himself  at  their  head.®^  His 
brother,  it  is  true,  and  some  of  his  particular 
friends,  had  joined  the  league.  But  Louis  de- 
ciares  that  he  did  so  without   the   knowledge   of 

D 

William.  When  the  latter,  a  fortnight  afterwards, 
learned  the  existence  of  the  league,  he  expressed 
his  entire  disapprobation  of  it.^^  He  even  used  his 
authority,  we  are  told,  to  prevent  the  confederates 
from  resorting  to  some  violent  measures,  among 
others  the  seizure  of  Antwerp,  promising  that 
he  would  aid  them  to  accomplish  their  ends  in 
a  more  orderly  way.®^     What  he   dcsiied  was,  to 


^  "Le  Prince  d'Oranges  et  le 
Comte  de  Homes  disoyent  en  plain 
conseil  qu'ils  estoyent  d'intention 
de  se  voulloir  retirer  en  leurs  mai- 

sons, se  deuillans  mesmes  le 

dit  Prince,  que  Ton  le  tenoit  pour 
susj)ect  et  pour  chief  de  ccste  Con- 
federation.** Extract  from  the 
Proces  d'Egmont,  in  the  Archives 
de  la  Maison  d'Orange-Nassau,  torn. 
II.  p.  42. 

8*  "  De  laquelte  estant  advertis 
quelques  quinze  jours  apres,  de- 
vant  que  les  confedercs  se  trou- 
vassent  en  court,  nous  declarames 
ouvertement  et  iwidement  qu'elle 
De  nous  plai:ioit  |>as,  et  (|ue  ce  ne 


nous  samblolt  estre  le  vray  inoyen 
pour  maintenir  le  repos  et  tran- 
quillite  publique."  Extract  from 
the  "  Justification  "  of  William, 
(1567,)  in  the  Archives  de  la  Mai- 
son d'Orange-Nassau,  tom.  II.  p.  11. 
62  This  fact  rests  on  the  author- 
ity of  a  MS.  ascribed  to  Junius. 
(Brandt,  Reformation  in  the  Low 
Countries,  vol.  I.  p.  162.)  Groen, 
however,  distrusts  the  authenticity 
of  this  MS.  (Archives  <le  la  liai- 
son d'Orangc-Nassau,  tom.  II.  p. 
1 2.)  Yet,  whatever  may  be  thought 
of  the  expedition  against  Ant- 
werp, it  appears  from  William'i 
own  statement  that  the  confeder- 


i 


have  the  states-general  called  together  by  the 
king.  But  he  would  not  assume  a  hostile  atti- 
tude,  like  that  of  the  confederates,  to  force  him 
into  this  unpalatable  measure.^  When  convened, 
he  would  have  had  the  legislature,  without  tran- 
scending its  constitutional  limits,  remonstrate, 
and  lay  the  grievances  of  the  nation  before  the 
throne. 

This  temperate  mode  of  proceeding  did  not  suit 
the  hot  blood  of  the  younger  confederates.  "  Your 
brother,"  writes  Hames  to  Louis,  "  is  too  slow  and 
lukewarm.  He  would  have  us  employ  only  re- 
monstrance against  these  hungry  wolves ;  against 
enemies  who  do  nothing  in  return  but  behead,  and 
banish,  and  burn  us.  We  are  to  do  the  talking, 
and  they  the  acting.  We  must  fight  with  the 
pen,  while  they  fight  with  the  sword."" 

The  truth  was,  that  William  was  not  possessed 
of  the  fiery  zeal  Avhich  animated  most  of  the  Re- 
formers.    In  his  early  years,  as  we  have  seen,  he 


ates  did  meditate  some  dannrerous 
enterprise,  from  which  he  dissuaded 
them.  See  his  "  Apology,'*  in 
Dumont,  Corps  Diplomatique,  tom. 
Y.  p.  392. 

^  "  Les  estatz-generaulx  ayans 
pleine  puissance,  est  le  seul  remede 
a  nos  maulx ;  nous  avons  le  moyen 
en  nostre  povoir  sans  aucune  doubte 
de  les  faire  assembler,  mais  on  ne 
veult  estre  gudri.**  Archives  de 
la  Maison  d'Orange-Nassau,  tom. 
II  p.  87. 

M  "  lis  veuUent  que  k  Tobsti na- 


tion et  endurcissement  de  ces  loupa 
affamez    nous    opposions    remon- 
strances, requestes  et  en  fin  pa- 
rolles,  \k  oil  de  leur  coste  ils  ne 
cessent  de  brusler,  coupper  testes, 
bannir  et  exercer   leur  rage  en 
toutes    fa9ons.      Nous    avons    le 
moyen  de  les  refrener  sans  trouble, 
sans    difficult^,    sans    effusion  de 
sang,  sans  guerre,  et  on  ne  le  veult, 
Soit  donques,  prenons  la  plume  et 
eux  Tespee,  nous  les  paroUes,  eui 
le  faict"    Ibid.,  p.  36. 


514 


PHILIP'S  INFLEXIBILITY. 


[Boob.  II. 


had  been  subjected  to  the  influence  of  the  Protes- 
tant  religion   at  one   period,  and  of  the  Roman 
Catholic   at  another.     If  the   result   of  this  had 
been   to   beget  in  him   something  like   a  philo- 
sophical  indifi"erence   to   the   great    questions    in 
dispute,    it   had    proved    eminently   favorable    to 
a  spirit  of  toleration.     He  shrunk  from  that  sys- 
tern    of   persecution   which    proscribed    men    for 
their  religious   opinions.     Soon   after   the  arrival 
of  the  despatches  from  Segovia,  William  wrote 
to  a  friend :    «  The  king  orders,  not  only  obstinate 
heretics,  but  even  the  penitent,  to  be  put  to  death. 
I  know  not  how  I  can  endure  this.     It  does  not 
seem  to  me  to  be  acting  in  a  Christian  man- 
ner." *     In  another  letter  he  says :  "  I  greatly  fear 
these  despatches  will  drive  men  into  rebellion.     I 
should  be  glad,  if  I  could,  to   save  my  country 
from   ruin,  and   so  many  innocent   persons  from 
slaughter.     But    when    I    say   anything    in    the 
council,  I   am   sure  to  be  misinterpreted.     So  I 
am   greatly  perplexed;    since  speech  and  silence 

arc  eqvially  bad.'"® 

Acting  with  his  habitual  caution,  therefore,  he 
spoke  little,  and  seldom  expressed  his  sentiments 
in  writing.  "  The  less  one  puts  in  writing,"  he 
said  to  his  less   prudent  brother,  "  the  better."  " 

6i  ..  Ire  Ma>-  gar  emstlich  bevelt  gefiilt,  dan  bei  mir  nit  finden  kan 

das  n«n  nltt  allain  die  sicb  in  an-  das  tristlich   noch    tUunlich    ist. 

dere  leren  so bcgeben,  sol  verbren-  Ibid.,  torn.  I.  p.  440. 
nen,  sonder  auch  die  sich  widder-        «  Ibid.,  torn.  IT.  p.  30 
mnb  bckeren,  sol  koppen  lasen ;        «'  Ibid.,  ton..  I.  p.  432. 
welgcs  ich  wahrlich  im  hertzen  hab 


I 


1' 


! 


I 


Ch.  VL 


ORANGE  AND  EGMONT. 


615 


Yet,  when  the  occasion  demanded  it,  he  did  not 
shrink  from  a  plain  avowal  of  his  sentiments, 
both  in  speaking  and  writing.  Such  was  the 
speech  he  delivered  in  council  before  Egmont's 
journey  to  Spain;  and  in  the  same  key  was  the 
letter  which  he  addressed  to  the  regent  on  re- 
ceiving the  despatches  from  Segovia.  But,  what- 
ever might  be  his  reserve,  his  real  opinions  were 
not  misunderstood.  He  showed  them  too  plainly 
by  his  actions.  When  Philip's  final  instructions 
were  made  known  to  him  by  Margaret,  the  prince, 
as  he  had  before  done  under  Granvelle,  ceased  to 
attend  the  meetings  of  the  council,  and  withdrew 
from  Brussels.^  He  met  in  Breda,  and  afterwards 
in  Hoogstraten,  in  the  spring  of  1566,  a  number 
of  the  principal  nobles,  under  cover,  as  usual,  of 
a  banquet.  Discussions  took  place  on  the  state 
of  the  country,  and  some  of  the  confederates  who 
were  present  at  the  former  place  were  for  more 
violent  measures  than  William  approved.  As  he 
could  not  bring  them  over  to  his  own  temperate 
policy,  he  acquiesced  in  the  draft  of  a  petition, 
which,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  ensuing  chapter, 
was  presented  to  the  regent.^  On  the  whole, 
up  to  the  period  at  which  we  are  arrived,  the 
conduct  of  the  prince  of  Orange  must  be  allowed 

^  Hopper,  Recueil  et  Memori-  voye  estoit  la  plus  douce  et  vray- 

•1»  p  67  ment  juridique,  je  eonfesse  n'avoir 

69  •'  Tant    r  a    que    craignant  trouve  mauyais  que  la  Request* 

qu'il  n*en  suivir  une  tres  dange-  fut  presente'e."    Apology,  in  Dii. 

reuse  iss  le  et  cstimant  que  eette  mont,  torn.  V.  p.  392. 


616 


PHILIP'S  INFLEXIBILITY 


Bv>.')K  XL 


to  have  been  wise  and  consistent.  In  some  re- 
spects it  forms  a  contrast  to  that  of  ni3  more 
brilliant  rival,  Count  Egmont. 

This  nobleman  was  sincerely  devoted  lo  the 
Roman  Catholic  faith.  He  was  stanch  in  his 
loyalty  to  the  king.  At  the  same  time  he  was 
ardently  attached  to  his  country,  and  felt  a  gen- 
erous indignation  at  the  wrongs  she  suffered  from 
her  rulers.  Thus  Egmont  was  acted  on  by  oppo- 
site feelings ;  and,  as  he  was  a  man  of  impulse, 
his  conduct,  as  he  yielded  sometimes  lo  the  one 
and  sometimes  to  the  other  of  these  influences, 
might  be  charged  with  inconsistency.  None 
charged   him   with   insincerity. 

There  was  that  in  Egmont's  character  which 
early  led  the  penetrating  Granvelle  to  point  him 
out  to  Philip  as  a  man  who  by  politic  treatment 
might  be  secured  to  the  royal  cause.'^  Philip 
and  his  sister,  the  regent,  both  acted  on  this  hint 
They  would  hardly  have  attempted  as  much  with 
William.  Egmont's  personal  vanity  made  him 
more  accessible  to  their  approaches.  It  was  this, 
perhaps,  quite  as  much  as  any  feeling  ot  loy- 
alty, which,  notwithstanding  the  affron::  put  on 
him,  as  he  conceived,  by  the  king,  induced  him 


^  "He  escripto  diversas  vezes 
que  era  bien  ganar  d  M.  d* Aigmont ; 
<1  es  de  quien  S.  M.  puede  hechar 
mano  y  confiar  mas  que  de  todos 
lo6  otros,  y  es  amigo  de  humo,  y 
luuddndolc  alguv  favor  extraordi- 


nario  scnalado  que  no  se  ha»a  i 
otros,  demas  que  ser^  ganarle  mu- 
cho,  pondrJl  zelog  d  io?  otros.* 
Granvelle  to  Gonzaio  Perez,  June 
27,  1563,  Papiers  d'etat  d©  Gi 
velle,  torn.  VII.  p  115. 


Cm.  rS.] 


ORANGE  AND  EGMONT. 


617 


to  remain  at  Brussels,  and  supply  the  place  in 
the  counsels  of  the  regent  which  William  had 
left  vacant.  Yet  we  find  one  of  Granvelle's  corre- 
spondents speaking  of  Egmont  as  too  closely 
united  with  the  lords  to  be  detached  from  them. 
"  To  say  truth,"  says  the  writer,  "  he  even  falters 
in  his  religion;  and  whatever  he  may  say  to-day 
on  this  point,  he  will  be  sure  to  say  the  contrary 
to-morrow."^  Such  a  man,  who  could  not  be 
true  to  himself,  could  hardly  become  the  leader 
of  others. 

"  They  put  Egmont  forward,"  writes  the  regent's 
secretary,  "  as  the  boldest,  to  say  what  other  men 
dare  not  say."^^  This  was  after  the  despatches 
had  been  received.  "  He  complains  bitterly,"  con- 
tinues the  writer,  "  of  the  king  s  insincerity.  The 
prince  has  more  Jinesse,  He  has  also  more  credit 
with  the  nation.  If  you  could  gain  him,  you  will 
secure  all."  '^  Yet  Philip  did  not  try  to  gain  him. 
With  all  his  wealth,  he  was  not  rich  enough  to 
do  it.  He  knew  this,  and  he  hated  William  with 
the   hatred  which  a   despotic   monarch   naturally 


71  "  II  est  tant  ly^  av«c  ies 
Seigneurs,  qu'il  n'y  a  molen  de  le 
retirer  et  pour  dire  vray,  nufat  in 
relifft&ne  et  ce  qu^il  dira  en  c« 
aujourd'huy,  il  dira  tout  le  con- 
traire  lendemain.**  Archives  de 
la  Maison  d'Oraoge-Nassau,  Sup- 
plement, p.  25. 

7*  "  Ce  seigneur  est  il  present 
celui  qui  parle  le  plus,  et  que  Ies 
autres  njet^ent  en  avaot,  pour  dire 

VOL.  I.  78 


Ies  c5K>se6  quills  n'oseraient  dire 
eux-mcmes.**  Correspondance  de 
Philippe  II.,  tofld.  I.  p.  891. 

73  "  I^e  prince  d'Orange  pro- 
cede  avec  plus  de  finesse  que  M. 
d'Egmont :  il  a  plus  de  credit  en 
general  et  en  particulier,  et,  si 
Ton  pouvait  le  gagner,  on  s*assu- 
rerait  de  tout  Je  reste.**  Ibid.,  ubi 
supra. 


618 


PHILIP'S  INFLEXIBILITr. 


Book  U 


bears  to  a  vassal  of  such  a  temper.  He  perfectly 
understood  the  character  of  William.  The  nation 
understood  it  too ;  and,  with  all  their  admiration 
for  the  generous  qualities  of  Egmont,  it  was  to 
his  greater  rival  that  they  looked  to  guide  them 
iu  the  coming  struggle  of  the  revolution. 


MMt>   OF   THE    FIBST   TOLUM*. 


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HISTORY 


OF 


THE   REIGN   OF 


PHILIP   THE   SECOND, 


KING  OF  SPAIN. 


BT 


WILLIAM    H.    PRESCOTT, 

OOSSJESPONDUfO    MEMBER    OF   THE    INSTITUTE    OF    FRANCE,    OF    THE    BOTitf 
ACADEMY    OF    HI8TORT    AT    MADRID.    ETC.,    ETC 


VOLUME    II. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

J.   B.   L  I  P  P  I  N  C  0  T  T    &    CO. 

1863. 


Entered  tccordiog  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1866,  by 

WILLIAM    H.    PRESCOTT, 

in  the  Oerk't  Offlce  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Maasarhuj^ettt 


P  Q   7    \  \ 


^*      1. 


CONTENTS 


OF 


VOLUME   SECOND. 


BOOK    II. 

CHAPTER    X- 

The  Confederates 

Different  Classes  of  Malecontents                           .                 ,  i 

Petition  prepared 2 

Discussion  as  to  receiving  it 3 

Speech  of  Orange .  4 

Confederates  enter  Brussels 5 

Present  the  Petition g 

Its  Purport J 

Answer  of  Margaret g 

Banquet  at  Culemborg  House ^  12 

The  Gueux •« 

Symbols  and  Devices             ••....  15 

.    The  People  emboldened jg 

CHAPTER    XL 

Freedom  of  Worship «• 

Brederode  at  Antwerp     . •- 

Mission  of  Bergen  and  Montigny ig 

The  **  Moderation  ••          .        .        .        .".'.*.'.  19 

Singular  Fraud •- 

Sects  of  the  Reformers ^2 

Field-Preaching j- 

VOL.  IL  b 


IV 


CONTENTS. 


Attended  by  Great  Multitudes 26 

Alarm  at  Antwerp 28 

Orange  sent  there 29 

He  restores  Quiet SO 

Activity  of  the  Regent          .....••  SI 

Her  Anxiety 82 

Dilatory  Course  of  Philip 83 

His  Dissimulation 84 

Meeting  at  St.  Trond 84 

Moderate  Party  disgusted 85 

Deputation  to  Brussels 86 

Boldness  of  the  Confederates 87 

Military  Preparations 88 

Boyal  Council  at  Madrid 40 

It  advises  Concessions 41 

Philip  consents 42 

His  Insincerity 44 

Character  of  Pius  V. 45 

He  urges  an  Extermination  of  Heretics  .        •        .        .47 

PhiUp's  Perfidy 49 

His  Concessions  distrusted     . 50 

CHAPTER   XII. 

The  Iconoclasts ,       .  52 

Progress  of  the  Reformers 62 

Violence  of  the  Preachers 53 

Outbreak  of  the  Iconoclasts 54 

Scandalous  Proceedings  at  Antwerp 56 

The  Cathedral  sacked 57 

Timidity  of  the  Citizens             aq 

Outrages  throughout  the  Land 61 

Extent  of  the  Devastation          •••.••  63 

Consternation  at  Brussels 55 

The  Capital  in  Peril %% 

Demand  for  Freedom  of  Worship €7 

Margaret  refuses  to  grant  it (7 

She  prepares  to  quit  Brussels 93 

Is  compelled  to  remain §9 

Terms  made  with  the  Confederates 70 

The  Disorders  suppressed 71 


CONTENTS. 

Compact  with  the  Refonners 
The  Confederates  lose  their  Influence 
Margaret  changes  her  Course         •        . 
Seeks  the  Advice  of  Viglius 
Denounces  her  late  Advisers 
Indifference  of  Orange  and  Hoorne    • 
Different  Feelings  of  Egmont 
Philip  informed  of  the  Disturbances 
View  taken  in  the  Royal  Council 
Secret  Intelliijence  of  Oranoje    . 
Intercepted  Letter  of  Alava 
Conference  at  Dendermonde        .        . 
Egmont  prevents  a  Decision 
Charges  the  Regent  with  Perfidy 
Rumors  of  Philip's  Designs 
Preparations  for  Resistance 
Appeal  to  the  German  Protestants 
Orange  a  Lutheran  at  Heart      .        • 


Paff* 
72 
75 
7« 
77 
78 
79 
80 
80 
82 
84 
85 
86 
87 
88 
89 
90 
90 
98 


CHAPTER   XIIL 

The  Regent's  Authoritt  reestablished         ...  94 

The  Party  of  Reform  divided 94 

Margaret  profits  by  their  Dissensions 95 

Publishes  a  New  Edict 96 

Levies  Troops       .        •        .        .        .        .        .        .        .97 

Resistance  of  Valenciennes         ......  98 

New  Petition  of  the  Confederates 99 

Margaret's  Haughty  Reply 100 

The  Confederates  take  up  Arms 101 

Troops  sent  against  them             103 

The  Insurgents  defeated 104 

Tumult  in  Antwerp   ........  105 

Appeased  by  Orange 107 

Siege  of  Valenciennes 109 

It  refuses  to  capitulate Ill 

Its  Bombardment 112 

Preparations  for  Assault .113 

Unconditional  Surrender 114 

The  Insurrection  quelled .115 


n 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

Paft 

Tkanqliluty  restored          117 

Oath  of  Implicit  Obedience 117 

Orange  requested  to  subscribe H^ 

He  refuses •        .  120 

His  Hazardous  Position      .        .         .         .         .        •        •  121 

Attempt  to  persuade  him 122 

Interview  ydth  Egmont 123 

Difference  of  their  Characters 124 

Their  Affection  for  each  other    .        .        .         .        .        .  125 

William  quits  the  Netherlands 126 

Resides  at  Dillemburg 12" 

Joined  by  many  of  the  Nobles 128 

Hoome  takes  the  Oath .  128 

Egmont's  Loyalty          .        .        • 12i> 

Submission  of  Antwerp      .        .        .        .        .        •        •  130 

Margaret  visits  it 131 

Cruel  Edict  published 132 

Revoked  by  the  King             133 

Embassy  from  the  German  Princes 184 

Death  of  Brederode 135 

His  Adherents  scattered 136 

Resistance  subdued  in  Holland .137 

Severity  of  the  Government       ......  138 

Alarm  caused  by  Alva's  Appointment 140 

Mariraret  disgusted 141 

Apparent  Order  in  the  Countr}' 142 

Dangerous  Elements  at  Work 143 


BOOK    HI. 


CHAPTER    I. 


kLYA  SENT  TO  THE  NETHERLANDS 

The  King's  Intended  Visit 
His  Sincerity  distrusted 


144 

144 
Ui 


CONTENTS.  A 11 

PAgt 

Discussion  in  the  Royal  Council 147 

Two  Courses  proposed 147 

.  The  King  resolves  to  send  Alva 149 

Proclaims  his  Purpose  to  follow 15C 

Alva  receives  his  Instructions      .         .         .         .         .         .  163 

Sails  for  Italy 153 

Composition  of  his  Army 154 

Order  of  March 156 

Passage  of  the  Alps 157 

Perilous  Route 159 

Admirable  Discipline 160 

Arrival  at  Thionville 162 

Entry  into  Brussels    .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  163 

Interview  with  the  Regent     .         .        .        .         .         .         .164 

Alva's  Commission      .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  165 

•  Extent  of  his  Powers 166 

Mortification  of  IMargaret 167 

Her  Remonstrances  fruitless 169 

Alva's  Reputation 172 

Apprehensions  of  the  People 1 74 

Gloom  of  Brussels 1 76 

Snare  prepared  for  the  Nobles 177 

Egmont  and  Hoome  aiTested 179 

Sent  to  the  Castle  of  Ghent 181 

Sensation  in  the  Countrv 182 

Margaret  determines  to  retire 188 

Satisfaction  at  Madrid 185 

Remark  of  Granvelle    .         .         .         .         .      *  .         .         .185 

CHAPTER    II. 

Cruel  Policy  of  Alva 186 

Order  in  the  Netherlands 186 

Emigration  prohibited         .         .         .         .         ,         ,         .  187 

The  Council  of  Blood 188 

Its  Members      .........  189 

Method  of  Proceeding 192 

Enormous  Powers 194 

Illegal  Character 195 

Alva  in  Need  of  Money 197 

Financial  Expedients 198 


K 


nu 


CONTENTS. 


Summons  sent  to  Orange   ....                 •        •  200 

His  Son  removed  to  Spain 201 

Civil  War  in  France 208 

Catherine  de  Medicis     .        •        .        •        #                 •        •  204 

Advice  of  Philip  and  Alva          .     ' 205 

The  Hus:uenots  defeated 206 

Humiliating  Position  of  Margaret 207 

Her  Kesignation  accepted 208 

Last  Request  to  Philip 209 

She  takes  Leave  of  the  People 210 

Their  Regret 211 

She  retires  to  Italy 212 

Her  Political  Career 218 

Difficulties  of  her  Position 214 

CHAPTER    IIL 

Reign  of  Terror 218 

Decree  of  the  Inquisition  .        .        •        .        •        .        .218 

Enlarged  Powers  of  Alva 220 

Pursuit  of  Suspected  Parties 221 

Numerous  Arrests .  222 

Alva's  Merciless  Spirit .228 

Unrelenting  Persecution     .         •         •        .        •        •  ,224 

Fortitude  of  the  Victims 225 

Universal  Terror 227 

Banishment  and  Confiscation          •        .        •     *   •        .        .  228 

Greneral  Distress 229 

Vargas  and  Hessels 231 

The "  Wild  Gueux " 238 

Remonstrances  of  Maximilian 284 

Philip's  Stern  Reply 285 

The  People  appeal  to  Orange        .        .        .        i        .        .  286 

He  Kuses  Troops 287 

Publishes  a  "Justification" 288 

Plan  of  Invasion •  239 

Pecuniary  Difficulties 240 

Defeat  of  Hoogstraten  and  Cocqueville        .        .        .        .  241 

Count  Louis  at  Heyligerlee 242 

Attacked  by  Aremberg 248 

The  Patriots  victorious 244 


CONTENTS.  ix 

Indignation  of  Alva 246 

He  prepares  to  take  the  Field 247 

Displays  his  Vindictive  Feelings 248 

Tragic  Scenes  at  Brussels 250 

CHAPTER    IV. 

Trials  of  Egmont  axd  Hoorne 253 

The  Prisoners  at  Ghent 253 

Sequestration  of  their  Property 253 

Their  Examination 254 

Efforts  in  their  Behalf 255 

The  Statutes  of  the  Toison  d'Or 256 

Intercession  of  Granvelle     .        .        .        •        •        •        •  257 

Articles  of  Accusation 259 

Egmont's  Defence 261 

Manly  Language  of  Hoorne 268 

Elaborate  Defence  by  Counsel 264 

Piteous  Appeal  of  the  Countess  Egmont  ....  265 

Further  Delay  forbidden 267 

The  Prisoners  sentenced 268 

The  Piights  of  the  Toison 270 

Mockery  of  Justice  .        .        .        .        .        •        •        •  272 

CHAPTER    V. 

Execution  of  Egmont  and  Hoorne   .   .   .   .  276 

The  Counts  removed  to  Brussels      .        .        .        .        .        •  276 

Lodged  in  the  Maison  du  Roi 277 

Sentence  communicated  to  Egmont 278 

His  Emotions 279 

His  Preparations  for  Death 280 

Affecting  Letter  to  the  King 281 

Final  Arrangements 282 

The  Place  of  Execution 288 

Mournful  Air  of  the  City 284 

Egmont*s  Noble  Bearing 285 

The  Fatal  Stroke 286 

Horror  of  the  Spectators  i86 

Hoorne  conducted  to  the  Scaffold  .        .        .        •        •  J87 

His  Execution •        •  SS8 


CONTENTS. 


CONTENTS. 


XI 


Remoral  of  the  Bodies 289 

Egmont's  Character 291 

Want  of  Fixed  Principles 291 

The  Idol  of  his  Countrymen       ......  294 

Supposed  Enmity  of  Alva 294 

Stem  Policy  of  the  Duke 296 

His  Narrow,  Inflexible  Mind  .  .        .        .        .297 

Ilia  Compassion  for  Egmont's  Widow            .        .        .        .  298 

Her  Pitiable  Condition 300 

She  solicits  Aid  from  the  King 802 

Receives  a  Meagre  Pension ,  804 

Results  of  Egmont's  Execution 805 

Not  foreseen  by  Alva .  806 

CHAPTER   VI. 

Secret  Execution  of  Montigny 808 

Bergen  and  Montigny             808 

Conjectures  as  to  their  Fate 809 

Purpose  of  their  Embassy      ,        .         .        •        .        .        .810 

Their  Reluctance  to  undertake  it 812 

Anxiety  to  return 813 

A  Perplexing  Dilemma 314 

Bergen's  Death 316 

Montigny  confined  at  Segovia 317 

Attempt  to  escape 317 

The  Plot  detected 818 

Supplications  of  his  Wife 819 

Process  instituted  against  him 820 

The  Sentence  kept  secret .821 

Prisoner  removed  to  Simancas 824 

Illusive  Hopes '  326 

Pretence  for  Stricter  Confinement 827 

Instructions  to  Arellano         .        .        .        .        .        •        .328 

Montigny  unprepared  for  his  Fate 829 

Receives  the  Consolations  of  Religion      .....  830 

His  I.Ast  Wishes 882 

His  Execution 833 

False  Reports  disseminated  .......  834 

Popular  Suspicions •  886 

Philip's  Magnanimity 887 


Montigny's  Estates  confiscated 
Atrocity  of  the  Proceedings 
Groen  and  Gachard    . 


338 
338 
840 


BOOK    IV. 


CHAPTER    I. 

The  Ottoman  Empire 343 

Method  pursued  in  this  Work 843 

Ottoman  Power  in  the  Sixteenth  Century     .        •.        .        .  345 

Grovernment  of  Turkey 345 

Conscription  of  Christian  Children 847 

The  Janizaries S48 

Conquests  of  the  Turks 350 

Their  Naval  Power 351 

The  African  Corsairs 352 

Terror  of  the  Spanish  Coasts 353 

Perpetual  War  on  the  Mediterranean 854 

The  Captives  in  Barbary 355 

Dragut 356 

Fleet  sent  against  Tripoli          . 357 

Refits  at  Malta 358 

Spaniards  occupy  Gelves 359 

Victory  of  the  Turkish  Fleet       .        .        .        .        .        .  360 

Attack  on  Gelves 361 

Extremity  of  the  Garrison 363 

Desperate  Sally 364 

Slaughter  of  the  Christians 365 

Spanish  Possessions  in  Africa 367 

Calamitous  Shipwreck 868 

Expedition  from  Algiers 869 

Siege  of  O ran  and  Mazarquivir 871 

Assault  on  Fort  St  Michael 872 

Invincible  Courage  of  the  Spaniards     .        .        .        .        .  873 

Storming  of  Mazarquivir 876 

Martin  de  Cordova .        .  87? 

Famine  among  the  Christians .  37S 

VOL.  u.  c 


; 


^ii  CONTENTS. 

879 
Succors  from  Spain 

The  Siege  raised •       •  '®^ 

Conquest  of  PeiiondeVelez ^®2 

CHAPTER    IL 

The  Knights  Hospitallers  of  St.  John  .       .       .385 

The  Knights  of  St  John       .......  88^ 

Conflicts  with  the  Moslems 386 

Wealth  of.  the  Order •        •        •  387 

Its  Statutes  and  Government 387 

Fidelity  to  its  Principles 389 

The  Knights  driven  from  Rhodes     ......  390 

Cession  of  Malta  by  Charles  V 890 

Change  in  its  Condition 391 

The  Maltese  Navy 393 

Sweeps  the  Turkish  Seas •  394 

Sol}'man  prepares  to  take  Vengeance  ....  895 

Parisot  de  la  Valette 395 

Preparations  for  Defence 396 

Sicilian  Viceroy  promises  Aid 897 

Muster  of  the  Knights 898 

CHAPTER   III. 

Siege  of  Malta 400 

Description  of  Malta 400 

Its  Harbors  and  Defences 401 

Force  under  La  Valette 403 

Castle  of  St  Elmo 404 

The  Turkish  Armament «        •  405 

Troops  disembarked 407 

Skirmishes 408 

Turks  lay  Siege  to  St.  Elmo 409 

Garrison  reinforced 410 

The  Outworks  taken .  411 

Fierce  Struggle  in  the  Ditch 413 

New  Batteries  raised 415 

Effect  of  the  Fire  on  St  Elmo 416 

Garrison  propose  to  abandon  it        .        .        .        .        .        ,417 

Commissioners  inspect  it 419 


CONTENTS.  xiii 

Report  it  tenable 420 

The  Garrison  humbled 421 

Permitted  to  remain         .....•••  422 

Assault  by  the  Turks •        •        •  423 

Strugfrle  at  the  Breach 424 

Attempted  Escalade 425 

The  Turks  driven  back 428 

Reinforcement  from  II  Borgo        ......  429 

Communications  cut  off 430 

Mournful  Celebration 432 

Fresh  Assault 433 

Last  Triumph  of  the  Garrison 434 

Their  Desperate  Condition 435 

Their  Heroic  Constancy 486 

Incredible  Resistance 438 

St  Elmo  taken 488 

Brutal  Conduct  of»Mustapha 440 

Death  of  Dragut 441 

CHAPTER   IV. 

Siege  of  Malta 444 

H  Borgo  and  La.  Sangle 444 

Reinforcement  from  Sicily 446 

Mustapha  offers  Terms 448 

The  Fortresses  invested 449 

Preparations  for  the  Assault 451 

Advance  of  the  Turkish  Boats  ....        .        .452 

Attack  on  the  "Spur"          .        .        .        ...        .  454 

Courageous  Defence         .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .  455 

Turkish  Barges  sunk 457 

Merciless  Slaughter 458 

Hassem's  Attack  repulsed 459 

Renewed  Cannonade        .        .        .        .        •        .        .        .462 

Efforts  of  the  Besieged 463 

Timid  Policy  of  the  Viceroy 465 

Exhortations  of  La  Valette 466 

Successive  Assaults 468 

Perilous  Moment 470 

Night  Attack 472 

Losses  of  the  Christians 478 


XIV 


CONTENTS 


CONTENTS. 


Their  Critical  Condition  . 
Resolute  Spirit  of  La  Valette 


476 


CHAPTER    V. 

Siege  of  Malta 478 

State  of  the  Turkish  Army 4  78 

Fruitless  Expedients  .        .  .        .        .479 

The  Troops  dispirited  .                .        .                ...  480 

Arrival  of  the  Sicilian  Fleet 481 

Joy  of  the  Garrison 485 

Mustapha  prepares  to  give  Battle 484 

Ardor  of  the  Spaniards        ...                 .        ,        •  485 

The  Turks  overpowered 486 

Driven  to  the  Ships •      ,        .  487 

Departure  of  the  Fleet 487 

Arrival  of  the  Viceroy 488 

Hospitality  of  the  Knights 489 

Fury  of  the  Sultan .  490 

Losses  sustained  in  the  Siege 401 

The  Operations  reviewed 492 

Errors  of  the  Turks 492 

Spirit  of  the  Defenders •      .  494 

Character  of  La  Valette 495 

Conduct  of  the  Viceroy 495 

Honors  paid  to  La  Valette 493 

He  builds  a  New  Capital 499 

His  Death 5Q2 

Subsequent  History  of  the  Order 504 

CHAPTER    VI. 
Don  Carlos '       ^  5^7 

Fate  of  Carlos  and  Isabella 507 

Theme  of  Romantic  Fiction 503 

Eariy  Life  of  Carios 509 

Charles  V/s  Opinion  of  him \  .510 

Mode  of  spending  the  Day jjj 

Distaste  for  Study  and  Manly  Exercises         .        .        .  ,512 

Character  in  the  Venetian  Reports 513 

Enfeebled  Constitution '    ^  5, . 


Recognition  as  Heii  , 
Removal  to  Alcala         ,        , 
Dangerous  Illness 
IMiraculous  Cure    . 
Extravagant  Behavior 
Anecdotes  of  Carlos 
I'iepolo's  Account  of  him    , 
Strong  Attachment  of  his  Friends 
Disliked  by  his  Father 
Alliances  proposed  for  him     . 
His  Connection  with  the  Flemings 
N'^'  'onfirmed  by  Documents 
Outrage  on  Alva 

Project  of  Flight  .         ,         .         , 
Indications  of  Insanity 
Flight  prevented  .         .        .         , 
Quarrel  with  Don  John 
Carlos  deprived  of  Liberty     . 
Strictly  guarded 


Process  against  him 


CHAPTER    VI 


Death  of  Don  Caulos    . 

0 

Sensation  throughout  Spain  . 
Philip's  Explanations 
Letter  to  the  Queen  of  Portugal 
Insanity  intimated  as  the  Ground 
Difficulties  of  this  View 
Important  Documents  missing     . 
Communications  to  the  Nuncio 
Suspicions  of  Heresy 
Sympathy  with  the  Flemings 
Parricidal  Designs 
Philip's  Aversion  to  his  Son  . 
No  Intercourse  with  the  World 
Attendants  and  Guards 
Fruitless  Efforts  in  his  Behalf     , 
The  Subject  buried  in  Silence 
Papei-s  of  Carlos 
Philip's  Apprehensions 


XV 

raft 

515 
5li 
617 
518 
5-21 
622 
624 
525 
627 
528 
529 
530 
531 
532 
533 
536 
637 
538 
640 
641 


642 

542 

543 

644 

645 

646 

547 

649 

550 

651 

652 

653 

654 

665 

666 

668 

569 

66a 


XVI 


CONTENTS. 


Pa«t 


Desperation  of  Carlos ^^^ 


Disreuard  of  Admonitions  . 
His  Excesses        .... 
Hb  Health  destroyed 
Change  in  his  Deportment     . 
Philip's  Benediction  .         .         .         . 
Death  of  Carlos    .... 
Authority  for  this  Account 
Llorente*s  Account 
Unsubstantiated  by  Proof 
Rumors  current  at  the  Time 
Discrepancies  of  the  various  Accounts 
Insufficiency  of  the  Evidence 
Suspicious  Circumstances 
Motives  for  getting  rid  of  Carlos    . 
Unscrupulous  Character  of  Philip 
Quarrel  in  the  Palace   . 
Obsequies  of  Carlos  .        .        .        . 
Public  Sorrow       .... 
Philip's  Feelings        .        .        .        . 
His  Responsibility 


CHAPTER    VIII 


Death  of  Isabella 

Amours  of  Carlos  and  Isabella 
Horrible  Tale  of  Revenge 
No  Authority  but  Rumor 
Means  of  establishing  the  Truth 
The  Queen's  Sympathy  for  Carlos 
His  Feeling  towards  her     . 
No  Vulgar  Passion 
Philip's  Kindness  to  his  Wife 
Her  Popularity  in  Spain 
Desire  to  reclaim  Carlos     .        . 
Pity  for  his  Fate  .        .        .        , 
Her  Illness        .... 
Her  Last  Hours    .        .        .        . 
Final  Interview  with  Philip 
Message  to  her  Family  . 

Her  Death        .... 


562 

563 

564 

565 

566 

567 

567 

569 

571 

578 

575 

576 

577 

578 

579 

581 

582 

583 

585 

587 


588 

588 

588 

590 

591 

592 

593 

594 

595 

596 

697 

598 

599 

600 

601 

602 

603 


CONTKNTS. 


xvu 


Funeral  Honors     . 
Mission  of  Cardinal  Guise 
No  Mystery  in  the  Narrative 
Philip  not  jealous  of  Isabella 
Her  Influence  over  lum 
Brantdme's  Portrjut  of  her 


•        « 


•        • 


Pag« 
604 
605 
607 
608 
60» 
110 


( 


HISTORY 


ow 


PHILIP   THE   SECOND. 


BOOK  II. 


CHAPTER   X. 


THE  CONFEDERATES. 

Designs  of  the  Confederates.— They  enter  Bnusels. — He  PetitHit 
—The  Guenz. 

1566. 

The  party  of  the  malecontents  in  the  Netherlands 
comprehended  persons  of  very  different  opinions, 
who  were  by  no  means  uniformly  satisfied  with 
the  reasonable  objects  proposed  by  the  Compro- 
mise. Some  demanded  entire  liberty  of  conscience. 
Others  would  not  have  stopped  short  of  a  revo- 
lution  that  would  enable  the  coxmtry  to  shake  off 
the  Spamsh  yoke.  And  another  class  of  men  with- 
out piinciple  of  any  kind  —  such  as  are  too  often 
thrown  up  in  strong  political  fermentations  — 
looked  to  these  intestine  troubles  as  offering  the 
means  of  repairing  their  own  fortunes  out  of  the 
wreck  of  their  country's.     Yet,  with   the   excep- 

VOL.  II.  1 


THE  CONFEDERATES. 


[Book  II 


tion  of  the  last,  there  were  few  who  would  not 
have  been  content  to  accept  the  Compromise  as 
the  basis  of  their  demands. 

The  winter  had  passed  away,  however,  and  the 
confederacy  had  wrought  no  change  in  the  con- 
duct of  the  government.  Indeed,  the  existence 
of  the  confederacy  would  not  appear  to  have  been 
known  to  the  regent  till  the  latter  part  of  Feb- 
ruary,  1566.  It  was  not  till  the  close  of  the  fol- 
lowing month  that  it  was  foimally  disclosed  to 
her  by  some  of  the  great-  lords.*  If  it  was  known 
to  her  before,  Margaret  must  have  thought  it  pru- 
dent to  affect  ignorance,  till  some  overt  action  on 
the  part  of  the  league  called  for  her  notice. 

It  became  then  a  question  with  the  members 
of  the  league  what  was  next  to  be  done.  It  was 
finally  resolved  to  present  a  petition  in  the  name 
of  the  whole  body  to  the  regent,  a  measure  which, 
as  already  intimated,  received  the  assent,  if  not 
the  approbation,  of  the  prince  of  Omnge.  The 
paper  was  prepared,  as  it  would  seem,  in  William's 
own  house  at  Brussels,  by  his  brother  Louis ;  and 
was  submitted,  we  are  told,  to  the  revision  of  the 
prince,  who  thus  had  it  in  his  power  to  miti- 
gate, in  more  than  one  instance,  the  vehemence, 
or  rather  violence,  of  the  expressions.* 


'  Corrospondancc  de  Philippe 
II.,  torn.  1.  pp.  399,  401. 

*  "  Libello  ab  Orangio  c«tc- 
risque  in  Icnius  verborum  genus 
crtnrautato.*'  Vander  Hacr,  De 
Inxtiis  Tumultuum,  p.  207. 


Alonzo  del  Canto,  the  royal  con- 
tador^  takes  a  different,  and  by  no 
means  so  probable  a  view  of  Wil- 
liam's amendments.  "  Quand  les 
seigneurs  tenaient  leurs  assemblies 
seci-etes  k  Bruxelles,  c'c'tait  en  Li 


Ch.  X.] 


THEIK  DESIGNS. 


To  give  greater  effect  to  the  petition,  it  was 
determined  that  a  large  deputation  from  the  league 
should  accompany  its  presentation  to  the  regent 
Notice  was  given  to  four  hundred  of  the  con- 
federates to  assemble  at  the  beginning  of  April. 
They  were  to  come  well  mounted  and  armed,  pre- 
pared at  once  to  proceed  to  Brussels.  Among  the 
number  thus  enrolled,  we  find  three  gentlemen  of 
Margaret's  own  household,  as  well  as  some  mem- 
bers of  the  companies  of  ordonnance  commanded 
by  the  prince,  and  by  the  Counts  Egmont,  Hoome, 
and  other  great  lords.' 

The  duchess,  informed  of  these  proceedings, 
called  a  meeting  of  the  council  of  state  and  the 
knights  of  the  Golden  Fleece,  to  determine  on 
the  course  to  be  pursued.  The  discussion  was 
animated,  as  there  was  much  difference  of  opinion. 
Some  agreed  with  Count  Barlaimont  in  regarding 
the  measure  in  the  light  of  a  menace.  Such  a 
military  array  could  have  no  other  object  than  to 
overawe  the  government,  and  was  an  insult  to  the 
regent.  In  the  present  excited  state  of  the  people, 
it  would  be  attended  with  the  greatest  danger  to 
allow  their  entrance  into  the  capital.* 

The  prince  of  Orange,  who  had  yielded  to  Mar- 
garet's earnest  entreaties  that  he  would  attend  this 

maison  du  prince  d*Orange,  ou  ils  3  Archives  de  la  Alaison  d'O- 

entraient  de  nuit  par  la  porte  de  range-Nassau,  torn.  11.  p.   59  et 

dcrrifere :  ce  fut  Ik  que  la  requete  seq. 

les  confdderes  fut  modifiee  et  ren-  4  Strada,  De  Bello  Bel^co,  torn. 

due    pire.**      Correspondance    de  I.  p.  218. 

Philippe  II.,  tom.  I.  p.  411. 


THB  CONFEDERATES. 


[Book  n 


meeting,  took  a  different  view  of  the  matter.  The 
number  of  the  delegates,  he  said,  only  proved  the 
interest  taken  in  the  petition.  They  were  men 
of  rank,  some  of  them  kinsmen  or  personal  friends 
of  those  present.  Their  characters  and  position 
in  the  country  were  sufficient  sureties  that  they 
meditated  no  violence  to  the  state.  They  were 
the  representatives  of  an  ancient  order  of  no- 
bility; and  it  would  be  strange  indeed,  if  they 
were  to  be  excluded  from  the  right  of  petition, 
enjoyed  by  the  humblest  individual.  -  In  the 
course  of  the  debate,  William  made  some  per- 
sonal allusions  to  his  own  situation,  delivering 
himself  with  great  warmth.  His  enemies,  he  said, 
had  the  royal  ear,  and  would  persuade  the  king 
to  kill  him  and  confiscate  his  property.^  He  was 
even  looked  upon  as  the  head  of  the  confederacy. 
It  was  of  no  use  for  him  to  give  his  opinion  in 
the  council,  where  it  was  sure  to  be  misinterpreted. 
All  that  remained  for  him  was  to  ask  leave  to 
resign  his  offices,  and  withdraw  to  his  estates.* 
Count  Hoome  followed  in  much  the  same  key,  in- 
veighing bitterly  against  the  ingratitude  of  Philip. 
The  two  nobles  yielded,  at  length,  so  far  to  Mar- 
garet's remonstrances,  as  to  give  their  opinions  on 
the  course  to  be  pursued.  But  when  she  endeav- 
ored to  recall  them  to  their  duty  by  reminding 


*  "  Homines  genti  Naasaviae  in-  215.    See  also  Correspondance  de 

fensisaimos  de  neee  ipsius,  deque  Philippe  II.,  torn.  I.  p.  403. 

fortunarum  omnium  publicatione  6  Correspondance    de  Philipp* 

agitavisse  cum  Rege.**     Ibid.,  p.  II.,  tom.  II.  p.  404. 


Ch.  X.] 


THEY  ENTER  BRUSSELS. 


them  of  their  oaths  to  the  king,  they  boldly  re> 
plied,  they  would  willingly  lay  down  their  lives  for 
their  country,  but  would  never  draw  sword  for  the 
edicts  or  the  Inquisition.^  —  William's  views  in 
regard  to  the  admission  of  the  confederates  into 
Brussels  were  supported  by  much  the  greater  part  of 
the  assembly,  and  finally  prevailed  with  the  regent. 
On  the  third  of  April,  1566,  two  hundred  of 
the  confederates  entered  the  gates  of  Brussels. 
They  were  on  horseback,  and  each  man  was  fur- 
nished with  a  brace  of  pistols  in  his  holsters, 
wearing  in  other  respects  only  the  usual  arms  of 
a  private  gentleman.  The  Viscount  Brederode  and 
Louis  of  Nassau  rode  at  their  head.®  They  pru- 
dently conformed  to  William's  advice,  not  to  bring 
any  foreigners  in  their  train,  and  to  enter  the  city 
quietly,  without  attempting  to  stir  the  populace 
by  any  military  display,  or  the  report  of  fire-arms.^ 
Their  coming  was  welcomed  with  general  joy 
by  the  inhabitants,  who  greeted  them  as  a  band 
of  patriots  ready  to  do  battle  for  the  liberties  of 
the  country.  They  easily  found  quarters  in  the 
houses  of  the  principal  citizens;  and  Louis  and 
Brederode  were  lodged  in  the  mansion  of  the 
prince  of  Orange.*® 


'  "  Us  rdpondirent  qu'ils  ne  vou- 
laient  pas  se  battre  pour  le  main- 
tien  de  I'inquisition  et  des  placards, 
mais  qu'ils  le  feraient  pour  la  con- 
lervation  du  pays.**  Ibid.,  ubi 
supra. 

*  "  Eo  ipso  die  sub  vesperam  con- 
jurati  Bruxellas  advenere.  Erant 
illi  in  equis  omnino  ducenti,  forensi 


veste  omati,  gestabantque  singuli 
bina  ante  ephippium  selopeta,  praei^ 
bat  ductor  Brederodius,  juxtk|ue 
Ludovicus  Nassavius."  Strada, 
De  Bello  Belgico,  tom.  I.  p.  221. 

9  Archives  de  la  Maison  d*0- 
range-Nassau,  tom.  II.  pp.  74,  75. 

i«  Strada,  De  BeUo  Belgico, 
touL  I.  p.  221 


THE  CONFEDERATES. 


[Book  U 


On  the  following  day  a  meeting  of  the  confed- 
erates was  held  at  the  hotel  of  Count  Culemborg, 
where  they  listened  to  a  letter  which  Brederode 
had  just  received  from  Spain,  informing  him  of 
the  death  of  Morone,  a  Flemish  nobleman  well 
known  to  them  all,  who  had  perished  in  the  flames 
of  the  Inquisition.^^  With  feelings  exasperated 
by  this  gloomy  recital,  they  renewed,  in  the  most 
solemn  manner,  their  oaths  of  fidelity  to  the 
league.  An  application  was  then  made  to  Mar- 
garet for  leave  to  lay  their  petition  before  her. 
The  day  foUowing  was  assigned  for  the  act;  aaid 
at  noon,  on  the  fifth  of  April,  the  whole  com- 
pany walked  in  solemn  procession  through  the 
streets  of  Brussels  to  the  palace  of  the  regent. 
She  received  them,  surrounded  by  the  lords,  in 
the  great  hall  adjoining  the  council-chamber.  As 
they  defiled  before  her,  the  confederates  ranged 
themselves  along  the  sides  of  the  apartment.  Mar- 
garet seems  to  have  been  somewhat  disconcerted 
by  the  presence  of  so  martial  an  array  within  the 
walls  of  her  palace.  But  she  soon  recovered  her- 
self, and  received  them  graciously." 

Brederode  was  selected  to  present  the  petition, 
and  he  prefaced  it  by  a  short  address.  Thej 
had  come  in  such  numbers,  he  said,  the  better 
to  show  their  respect  to  the  regent,  and  the  deep 
interest  they  took  in  the   cause.     They  had  betn 


W  Ibid.,  ubi  supra.  torn.  11.  p.  138.  — Meteren,  Hist 

M  n)id.,  pp.  222,  226.  —  Van-    des  PajTs-Bas,  fol.  40. 
dervynckt,  Troubles  des  Pajs-Bas, 


Ch.  X.] 


THE  PETITION. 


accused  of  opening  a  correspondence  with  foreign 
princes,  which  he  affirmed  to  be  a  malicious  slan 
der,  and  boldly  demanded  to  be  confronted  with 
the  authors  of  it.^^  —  Notwithstanding  this  stout 
denial,  it  is  very  possible  the  audience  did  not 
place  implicit  confidence  in  the  assertions  of  the 
speaker.  He  then  presented  the  petition  to  the 
regent,  expressing  the  hope  that  she  would  ap- 
prove of  it,  as  dictated  only  by  their  desire  to 
promote  the  glory  of  the  king  and  the  good  of 
the  country.  If  this  was  its  object,  Margaret 
replied,  she  doubted  not  she  should  be  content 
with  it.^*  The  following  day  was  named  for  them 
again  to  wait  on  her,  and  receive  her  answer. 

The  instrument  began  with  a  general  statement 
of  the  distresses  of  the  land,  much  like  that  in  the 
Compromise,  but  couched  in  more  respectful  lan- 
guage. The  petitioners  had  hoped  that  the  action 
of  the  great  lords,  or  of  the  states-general,  would 
have  led  to  some  reform.  But  finding  these  had  not 
moved  in  the  matter,  while  the  evil  went  on  in 
creasing  from  day  to  day,  until  ruin  was  at  the 
gate,  they  had  come  to  beseech  her  highness  to  lay 
the  subject  herself  before  the  king,  and  implore 
his  majesty  to  save  the  country  from  perdition  by 
the  instant  abolition  of  both  the  Inquisition   and 


>3  «  Nobiles  enixi  earn  rogare,  ut  l<  "  Quando  nonnisi  Regis  digni- 

proferat  nomina  eorum  qui  hoc  de-  tatem,  patriseque  salutem  specta- 

tulere:  cogatque  illosaccusationem  bant,  baud  dubi^  postulatis  satis* 

legitime  ac  palhm  adomare.**    Stra-  facturam.**     Ibid,  ubi  supra, 
da,  De  Bello  Belgico,  torn.  I.  p.  222. 


THE  COOTEDERATES. 


[Boos  IL 


Ch.  X.] 


THE  PETITION. 


the   edicts.      Far  from  wishing  to  dictate  laws 
to  their  sovereign,  they  humbly  besought  her  to 
urge  on  him  the  necessity  of  convoking  the  states- 
general,   and  devising  with   them   some  effectual 
remedy  for  the  existing  evils.     Meanwhile   they 
begged   of  her  to  suspend  the  further  execution 
of  the  laws  in  regard  to  religion  until  his  majesty's 
pleasure  could  be  known.     If  their  prayer  were 
not  granted,  they  at  least  were  absolved  from  all 
responsibility  as  to   the  consequences,   now  that 
they  had  done  their  duty  as  true  and  loyal  sub- 
jects.^^  —  The  business-like  character  of  this  docu- 
ment foims  a  contrast  to  the  declamatory  style  ol 
the  Compromise ;    and  in  its  temperate  tone,  par- 
ticularly, we  may  fancy  we  recognize  the  touches 
of  the  more  prudent  hand  of  the  prince  of  Orange. 
On  the  sixth,  the  confederates  again  assembled 
in  the  palace  of  the  regent,  to  receive  her  answer. 
They  were  in   greater  force  than   before,  having 
been  joined  by  a  hundred  and  fifty  of  their  breth- 
ren, who  had  entered  the  city  the  night  previous, 
under  the  command  of  Counts   Culemborg   and 
Berg.     They  were  received   by  Margaret  in  the 
same  courteous  manner  as  on  the  precedmg  day, 
and   her  answer  was   made   to   them   in  writing, 
being  indorsed  on  their  own  petition. 

She   announced   in  it  her  purpose  of  using  all 
her  influence  with  her  royal  brother  to  persuade 

^ »  ITie  copy  of  this  document    Archives  de  la  Maison  d'Orango. 
pven  by  Grocn  is  from  the  pa-    Nassau,  torn.  H.  pp.  80-84. 
pers  of  Count  Louis  of  Nassau. 


him  to  accede  to  their  wishes.  They  might  rely  on 
his  doing  all  that  was  conformable  to  his  natural 
and  accustomed  henignittf}^  She  had  herself,  with 
the  advice  of  her  council  and  the  knights  of  the 
Golden  Fleece,  prepared  a  scheme  for  moderating 
the  edicts,  to  be  laid  before  his  majesty,  which 
she  trusted  would  satisfy  the  nation.  They  must, 
however,  be  aware,  that  she  herself  had  no  power 
to  suspend  the  execution  of  the  laws.  But  she 
would  send  instructions  to  the  inquisitors  to  pro- 
ceed with  all  discretion  in  the  exercise  of  their 
functions,  until  they  should  learn  the  king's  pleas- 
ure.^^  She  trusted  that  the  confederates  would  so 
demean  themselves  as  not  to  make  it  necessary  to 
give  different  orders.  All  this  she  had  done  with 
the  greater  readiness,  from  her  conviction  that  they 
had  no  design  to  make  any  innovation  in  the  es- 
tablished religion  of  the  country,  but  deshed  rather 
to  uphold  it  in  all  its  vigor. 

To  this  reply,  as  gracious  in  its  expressions,  and 
as  favorable  in  its  import,  as  the  league  could  pos- 
sibly have  expected,  they  made  a  formal  answer  in 
writing,  which  they  presented  in  a  body  to  the 
duchess,  on  the  eighth  of  the  month.  They  hum- 
bly thanked  her  for  the  prompt  attention  she  had 


^8  "  Lesquels  ne  doibvent  esp^- 
rer,  sinon  toute  chose  digne  et 
conforme  k  sa  Mnignite  naifue  et 
accoustumhy    Ibid.,  p.  84. 

The  ])hrase  must  have  sounded 
oddly  enough  in  the  ears  of  the 
confederates. 

VOL.  II.  2 


17  "  Pendant  que  s*attend  sa  re- 
sponce,  Son  Alteze  donnera  ordrc, 
que  tant  par  les  inquisiteurs,  oil  il 
y  en  a  eu  jusques  ores,  que  pai 
les  officiers  respectivement,  soil 
proc^d^  discr^tement  et  modesto* 
ment"    Ibid.,  p.  85. 


10 


THE  CONFEDERATES. 


[Book  II 


giyen  to  their  petition,  but  would  have  been  still 
more  contented  if  her  answer  had  been  more  full 
and  explicit.  They  knew  the  embarrassments 
under  which  she  labored,  and  they  thanked  her 
for  the  assurance  she  had  given,  —  which,  it  may 
be  remarked,  she  never  did  give,  —  that  all  pro- 
ceedings connected  with  the  Inquisition  and  the 
edicts  should  be  stayed  until  his  majesty's  pleas- 
ure should  be  ascertained.  They  were  most 
anxious  to  conform  to  whatever  the  king,  with 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  states-general^  duly 
assembled,  should  determine  in  matters  of  re- 
ligion ;  ^^  and  they  m  ould  show  their  obedience 
by  taking  such  order  for  their  own  conduct  as 
should  give  entire  satisfaction  to  her  highness. 

To  this  the  duchess  briefly  replied,  that,  if 
there  were  any  cause  for  offence  hereafter,  it  would 
be  chargeable,  not  on  her,  but  on  them.  She 
prayed  the  confederates  henceforth  to  desist  from 
their  secret  practices,  and  to  invite  no  new  mem- 
ber to  join  their  body.^® 

This  brief  and  admonitory  reply  seems  not  to 
have  been  to  the  taste  of  the  petitioners,  who 
would  willingly  have  drawn  from  Margaret  some 
expression  that  might  be  construed  into  a  sanction 
of  their  proceedings.     After   a   short   deliberation 

W«Ncdesironssinond*en8uyvre  '9  "Vou8  piians  dc  ne  passer 

tout  ce  que  par  Sa  Ma^*    avecq  plus  avant  par  petites  practicquea 

Tadvis  et  consentement  des  ^stats-  secrfetea  et  de  n'attirer  plus  per- 

j^ndraulx  assarablez  serat  ordonnd  sonne."    Ibid.,  p.  88. 
pour   le    maintenement    de   Tan- 
cbienne  religion."    Ibid.,  p.  86. 


Cb.  X] 


THE  PETITION. 


u 


I 

I 


among  themselves,  they  again  addressed  her  by 
the  mouth  of  one  of  their  own  number,  the  lord 
of  Kerdes.  The  speaker,  after  agam  humbly 
thanking  the  regent  for  her  favorable  answer,  said 
that  it  would  have  given  still  greater  satisfaction 
to  his  associates,  if  she  would  but  have  declared, 
in  the  presence  of  the  great  lords  assembled,  that 
she  took  the  union  of  the  confederates  in  good 
part  and  for  the  service  of  the  king;^  and  he  con- 
cluded with  promising  that  they  would  henceforth 
do  all  in  their  power  to  give  contentment  to  her 

highness. 

To  all  this  the  duchess  simply  replied,  she  had 
no  doubt  of  it.  When  again  pressed  by  the  per- 
severing deputy  to  express  her  opinion  of  this 
•  assembly,  she  bluntly  answered,  she  could  form  no 
judgment  in  the  matter. ^^  —  She  gave  pretty  clear 
evidence,  however,  of  her  real  opinion,  soon  after, 
by  dismissing  the  three  gentlemen  of  her  house- 
hold whom  we  have  mentioned  as  ha^l-^s  joined 
the  league.^ 


*>  "  De  bonne  part  et  pour  le 
•ervice  du  Roy.**    Ibid.,  p.  89. 

s^  ^^  Et  comme  ma  dite  dame 
respondit  qu*elle  le  croyt  ainsy, 
n*affermant  nullement  en  quelle 
part  elle  recevoit  nostre  assemblee, 
luy  fut  replicqud  par  le  dit  S'-  de 
Kerdes :  Madame,  il  plairast  k  V. 
A.  en  dire  ce  qu'elle  en  sent,  k 
quoy  elle  respondit  qu'elle  ne  pou- 
voit  juger.**  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. — 
See  also  Strada,  (De  Bello  Bel- 
gico,  tom.  I.  p.  225,)  who,  however, 


despatches  this  interview  with  the 
Seigneur  de  Kerdes  in  a  couple  of 
sentences. 

33  Count  Louis  drew  up  a  peti- 
tion to  the  duchess,  or  rather  a  re- 
monstrance, requesting  her  to  state 
the  motives  of  this  act,  that  people 
might  Tjot  interpret  it  into  a  con- 
demnation of  their  proceedings. 
To  this  Margaret  replied,  with 
some  spirit,  that  it  was  her  own 
private  affair,  and  she  claimed  the 
right  that  belonged  to  every  other 


12 


THE  CONFEDERATES. 


[Book  n 


As  Margaret  found  that  the  confederates  were 
not  altogether  satisfied  with  her  response  to  their 
petition,  she  allowed  Count  Hoogstraten,  one  of 
her  councillors,  to  inform  some  of  them,  privately, 
that  she  had  already  written  to  the  provinces  to 
have  all  processes  in  afiairs  of  religion  stayed 
until  Philip's  decision  should  be  known.  To  leave 
no  room  for  distrust,  the  count  was  allowed  to 
show  them  copies  of  the  letters.^ 

The  week  spent  by  the  league  in  Brussels  was 
a  season  of  general  jubilee.    At  one  of  the  ban- 
quets given  at  Culemborg  House,  where  three  hun- 
dred confederates  were  present,  Brederode  presided. 
During  the  repast  he  related  to  some  of  the  com- 
pany, who  had  arrived  on  the  day  after  the  peti- 
tion was  delivered,  the  manner  in  which  it  had 
been  received  by  the  duchess.     She  seemed  at  first 
disconcerted,  he  said,  by  the  number  of  the  con- 
federates,  but  was  reassured  by  Barlaimont,  who 
told  her  "  they  were  nothing  but  a  crowd  of  beg- 
gars." 24    This  greatly  incensed  some  of  the  com- 
pany,  — with  whom,   probably,    it   was   too   true 
for  a  jest      But  Breder6de,  taking  it  more  good- 
humoredly,  said  that  he  and  his  friends  had  no 


individual,  of  managing  her  own 
household  in  her  own  way.  —  One 
will  readily  believe  that  Louis  did 
not  act  by  the  advice  of  his  brother 
in  this  matter.  See  the  corre- 
spondence as  collected  by  the  dil- 
igent Groen,  Archives  de  la  Mai- 
«on  d'Orange-Nassau,  torn.  II  pp. 
100-105. 


«3  Meteren,  Hist,  des  Pays-Ba», 
fol.  41. 

^*  "  Blum  quidem,  ut  Gubema- 
tricis  animum  firmaret,  ita  locutum, 
quasi  nihil  ei  k  mendicis  ac  ne- 
bulonibus  pertimescendum  esset** 
Strada,  De  BeUo  Belgico,  torn.  I 
p.  226. 


Ca.  X.] 


THE  GUEUX. 


13 


objection  to  the  name,  since  they  were  ready  at 
any  time  to  become  beggars  for  the  service  of  their 
kmg  and  country.^  This  sally  was  received  with 
great  applause  by  the  guests,  who,  as  they  drank 
to  one  another,  shouted  forth,  «  Vivent  les  Gueux ! " 
—  "Long  live  the  beggars!" 

Brederode,  finding  the  jest  took  so  well,  —  an 
event,  indeed,  for  which  he  seems  to  have  been 
prepared,  —  left  the  room,  and  soon  returned  with 
a  beggar's  wallet,  and  a  wooden  bowl,  such  as 
was  used  by  the  mendicant  fraternity  in  the  Neth- 
erlands. Then,  pledging  the  company  in  a  bum- 
per,  he  swore  to  devote  his  life  and  fortime  to  the 
cause.  The  wallet  and  the  bowl  went  round  the 
table;  and,  as  each  of  the  merry  guests  drank 
in  turn  to  his  confederates,  the  shout  arose  of 
"  Vivent  les  Gueux ! "  until  the  hall  rang  vrith  the 
mirth  of  the  revellers.^ 

It  happened  that  at  the  time  the  prince  of 
Orange  and  the  Counts  Egmont  and  Hoome  were 
passing  by  on  their  way  to  the  council.  Their 
attention  was  attracted  by  the  noise,  and  they 
paused  a  moment,  when  William,  who  knew  well 
the  temper  of  the  jovial  company,  proposed  that 
they  should  go  in,  and  endeavor  to  break  up  their 


25  "  Se  ver6  libenter  appellatlo- 
nem  illam,  quae  ea  cumque  esset, 
accipere,  ac  Regis  patriseque  caus§ 
Gheusios  se  mendicosque  re  ipsS 
futuros.**    Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 

36  Ibid.,  ubi  supra.  —  Vander 
llacr,  De  Initiis  Tumultuum,  p. 


211.  —  CJorrespondance  de  Piu- 
lippe  n.,  tom.  I.  p.  149.— Vander- 
vynckt,  Troubles  des  Pays-Bas, 
tom.  n.  p.  142  et  seq.  — This  last 
author  tells  the  story  with  uncooi" 
mon  animation. 


14 


THE  CONFEDERATES. 


[Book  II 


revels.  "  We  may  have  some  business  of  the 
council  to  transact  with  these  men  this  evening," 
he  said,  "  and  at  this  rate  they  will  hardly  be  in 
a  condition  for  it."  The  appearance  of  the  three 
nobles  gave  a  fresh  impulse  to  the  boisterous  mer- 
riment of  the  company;  and  as  the  new-comers 
pledged  their  friends  in  the  wine-cup,  it  was  re- 
ceived with  the  same  thundering  acclamations  of 
"  Vtvent  les  Gueux ! "  ^  This  incident,  of  so  little 
importance  in  itself,  was  afterwards  made  of  con- 
sequence by  the  turn  that  was  given  to  it  in  the 
prosecution  of  the  two  unfortunate  noblemen  who 
accompanied  the  prince  of  Orange. 

Every  one  knows  the  importance  of  a  popular 
name  to  a  faction,  —  a  nom  de  guerre,  under  which 
its  members  may  rally  and  make  head  together  as 
an  independent  party.  Such  the  name  of  "  Gueux  " 
now  became  to  the  confederates.  It  soon  was  un- 
derstood to  signify  those  who  were  opposed  to  the 
government,  and,  in  a  wider  sense,  to  the  Koman 
Catholic  religion.  In  every  language  in  which 
the  history  of  these  acts  has  been  recorded,  —  the 
Latin,  German,  Spanish,  or  English,  —  the  French 
term  Gueux  is  ever  employed  to  designate  this 
party  of  malecontents  in  the  Netherlands.^^ 


^  So  says  Strada.  (De  Bello 
Belgico,  torn.  II.  p.  227.)  But  the 
duchess,  in  a  letter  written  in 
cipher  to  the  king,  tells  him  that 
the  three  lords  pledged  the  com- 
pany in  the  same  toast  of  "  Vtvent 
ks  Gueux,**  that  had  been  going  the 
rounds  of  the  table.    «  Le  prince 


d'Oranges  et  les  comtes  d'Egmont 
et  de  Homes  vinrent  ^  la  maison 
de  Culembourg  apres  le  diner ;  ils 
burent  avec  les  confeder^s,  et  cri- 
irent  aussi  vivent  les  gueux  !  '*  Cor- 
respondance  de  Philippe  IL,  tom. 
I.  p.  409. 

«  Strada,   De    Bello    Belgico, 


wll.     '''^'J 


THE  GUEUX. 


15 


It  now  became  common  to  follow  out  the  origi- 
nal idea  by  imitations  of  the  different  articles 
used  by  mendicants.  Staffs  were  procured,  after 
the  fashion  of  those  in  the  hands  of  the  pilgrims, 
but  more  elaborately  carved.  Wooden  bowls, 
spoons,  and  knives  became  in  great  request,  though 
richly  inlaid  with  silver,  according  to  the  fancy  or 
wealth  of  the  possessor.  Medals  resembling  those 
stuck  by  the  beggars  in  their  bonnets  were  worn 
as  a  badge ;  and  the  "  Gueux  penny,"  as  it  was 
called,  —  a  gold  or  silver  coin,  —  was  hung  from 
the  neck,  bearing  on  one  side  the  effigy  of  Philip, 
with  the  inscription,  "  Fideles  au  roi " ;  and  on 
the  other,  two  hands  grasping  a  beggar's  wallet, 
with  the  further  legend,  ^'jusques  a  porter  la  be- 
sace  "  ;  —  "  Faithful  to  the  king,  even  to  carrying 
the  wallet."^  Even  the  garments  of  the  mendi- 
cant were  affected  by  the  confederates,  who  used 
them  as  a  substitute  for  their  family  liveries  ;  and 
troops  of  their  retainers,  clad  in  the  ash-gray  ha- 
biliments of  the  begging  friars,  might  be  seen  in 


torn.  I.  p.  227.  —  Vandervynckt, 
Troubles  des  Fays-Bas,  torn.  II.  p. 
143. 

The  word  guetix  is  derived  by 
Vander  Haer  from  Goth^  in  the 
old  German  form,  Geute.  "  Ean- 
dem  esse  earn  vocem  gallicam  qu« 
esset  Teutonum  vox,  Geuten,  quam 
maiores  vel  Gothis  genti  Barbaras 
tribuissent,  vel  odio  Gothici  no- 
minis  convicium  fecissent"  De 
Initiis  Tumultuum,  p.  212. 

*  Vander  Haer,  De  Initiis  Tu- 


multuum, loo.  cit.  —  Strada,  De 
Bello  Belgico,  tom.  I.  p.  228. 

Arend,  in  his  Algemeene  Ge- 
schiedenis  des  Vaderlands,  has  giv- 
en engravings  of  these  medals,  on 
which  the  devices  and  inscriptions 
were  not  always  precisely  the 
same.  Some  of  these  mendicant 
paraphernalia  are  still  to  be  found 
in  ancient  cabinets  in  the  Low 
Countries,  or  were  in  the  time  of 
Vandervynckt.  See  his  Troubles 
des  Pays-Bas,  tom.  II.  p.  143. 


I 


16 


THE  CONFEDERATES. 


[Book  II. 


the  streets  of  Brussels  and  the  other  cities  of  the 

Netherlands.* 

On  the  tenth  of  April,  the  confederates  quitted 
Brussels,  in  the  orderly  manner  in  which  they 
had  entered  it;  except  that,  on  issuing  from  the 
gate,  they  announced  their  departure  by  firing  a 
salute  in  honor  of  the  city  which  had  given  them 
so  hospitable  a  welcome.^  Their  visit  to  Brussels 
had  not  only  created  a  great  sensation  in  the  cap- 
ital itself,  but  throughout  the  country.  Hitherto 
the  league  had  worked  in  darkness,  as  it  were, 
like  a  band  of  secret  conspirators.  But  they  had 
now  come  forward  into  the  light  of  day,  boldly 
presenting  themselves  before  the  regent,  and  de- 
manding redress  of  the  wrongs  under  which  the 
nation  was  groaning.  The  people  took  heart,  as 
they  saw  this  broad  segis  extended  over  them  to 
ward  off  the  assaults  of  arbitrary  power.  Their 
hopes  grew  stronger,  as  they  became  assured  of 
the  interposition  of  the  regent  and  the  great  lords 
in  their  favor ;  and  they  could  hardly  doubt  that 
the  voice  of  the  coimtry,  backed  as  it  was  by  that 
of  the  government,  would  make  itself  heard  at 
Madrid,  and  that  Philip  would  at  length  be  com- 
pelled to  abandon  a  policy  which  menaced  him  with 
the  loss  of  the  fairest  of  his  provinces. — They  had 
yet  to  learn  the  character  of  their  sovereign. 


^  Strada,  De  Belle  Bel^co,  torn,  la  villef  ils  ont  fait  une  grande 

I.  p.  228.  —  Vander  Haer,  De  Ini-  ddcharge  de  leurs  pistolets."     Cor- 

tiis  Tumultuum,  p.  212.  respondance  de  Philippe  II.,  torn. 

31  "  En  sortant  de  la  porte  de  I.  p.  408. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

FREEDOM  OF  WORSHIP. 

The  Edicts  suspended.— The  Sectaries.— The  Public  Preachings.— 
Attempt  to  suppress  them.  —  Meeting  at  St.  Trond.  —  Philip's 
Concessions. 

1566. 

On  quitting  Brussels,  the  confederates  left  there 
four  of  their  number  as  a  sort  of  committee 
to  watch  over  the  interests  of  the  league.  The 
greater  part  of  the  remainder,  with  Brederode  at 
their  head,  took  the  road  to  Antwerp.  They 
were  hardly  established  in  their  quarters  in  that 
city,  when  the  building  was  surrounded  by  thou- 
sands of  the  inhabitants,  eager  to  give  their  visit- 
ors a  tumultuous  welcome.  Brederode  came  out 
on  the  balcony,  and,  addressing  the  crowd,  told 
them  that  he  had  come  there,  at  the  hazard  of 
his  life,  to  rescue  them  from  the  miseries  of  the 
Inquisition.  He  called  on  his  audience  to  take 
him  as  their  leader  in  this  glorious  work ;  and  as 
the  doughty  champion  pledged  them  in  a  goblet 
of  wine  which  he  had  brought  with  him  from 
the  table,  the  mob  answered  by  such  a  general 
shout  as  was  heard  in  the  furthest  comers  of  the 

VOL.  II.  $ 


18 


FREEDOM  OF  WORSHIP. 


[Book  II. 


city.'  Thus  a  relation  was  openly  established  be- 
tween the  confederates  and  the  people,  ^ho  were 
to  move  forward  together  in  the  great  march  of 
the  revolution. 

Soon  after  the  departure  of  the  confederates 
from  Brussels,  the  regent  despatched  an  embassy 
to  Madrid  to  acquaint  the  king  with  the  recent 
proceedings,  and  to  urge  his  acquiescence  in  the  re- 
forms solicited  by  the  league.  The  envoys  chosen 
were  the  baron  de  Montigny  —  who  had  taken 
charge,  it  may  be  remembered,  of  a  similar  mis- 
sion before  —  and  the  marquis  of  Bergen,  a  noble- 
man of  liberal  principles,  but  who  stood  high  in 
the  regard  of  the  regent.^  Neither  of  the  parties 
showed  any  alacrity  to  undertake  a  commission 
which  was  to  bring  them  so  closely  in  contact 
with  the  di'ead  monarch  in  his  capital.  Bergen 
found  an  apology  for  some  time  in  a  wound  from 
a  tennis-ball,  which  disabled  his  leg ;  an  ominous 
accident,  interpreted  by  the  chroniclers  of  the  time 
into  an  intimation  from  Heaven  of  the  disastrous 
issue  of  the  mission.*     Montigny  reached   Madrid 


1  "  Vos  si  mecum  in  boc  pre- 
claro  opere  consentitis,  agite,  et 
qui  vestrum  salTam  Ubertatem,  me 
duce  volent,  propinatum  hoc  sibi 
poculum,  benevolentiaB  meae  signi- 
fieationem  geniaKter  accipiant,  id- 
qne  man  us  indicio  contestentur." 
Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  tom.  I. 
p.  281. 

»  "Estans  mesBies  persontiages 
si  prudes,  discrets  et  tant  imbus  de 
lout  ce  que  convient  remonstrer  a 


V.  M.,  outre  raflfection  que  j*ay 
toujours  trouve  en  eux,  tant  adon- 
nez  au  service  dIceHe."  Corre- 
spondance  de  Marguerite  d*Au- 
triche,  p.  24. 

3  "  Crederes  id  ab  illius  accidisse 
genio,  qui  non  contentus  admonen- 
do  aurem  ei  vellicasse,  nunc  quasi 
compedibus  injcctis,  ne  infaustum 
iter  ingrederetur,  attineret  pedes." 
Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  tom.  I. 
p.  285. 


Ch.  XI.] 


THE  EDICTS  SUSPENDED. 


19 


some  time  before  his  companion,  on  the  seven- 
teenth of  June,  and  met  with  a  gmcious  recep- 
tion from  Philip,  who  listened  with  a  benignant 
air  to  the  recital  of  the  measures  suggested  for  the 
relief  of  the  country,  terminating,  as  usual,  with  an 
application  for  a  summons  of  the  states-general,  as 
the  most  effectual  remedy  for  the  disorders.  But 
although  the  envoy  was  admitted  to  more  than  one 
audience,  he  obtained  no  more  comfortable  assur- 
ance, than  that  the  subject  should  receive  the 
most  serious  consideration  of  his  majesty.* 

Meanwhile  the  regent  was  busy  in  digesting  the 
plan  of  compromise  to  which  she  had  alluded  in 
her  reply  to  the  confederates.  When  concluded,  it 
was  sent  to  the  governors  of  the  several  prov- 
inces, to  be  laid  before  their  respective  legisla- 
tures. Their  sanction,  it  was  hoped,  would  recom- 
mend its  adoption  to  the  people  at  large.  It 
was  first  submitted  to  some  of  the  smaller  states, 
as  Aitois,  Namur,  and  Luxemburg,  as  most 
likely  to  prove  subservient  to  the  wishes  of  the 
government.  It  was  then  laid  before  several  of 
the  larger  states,  as  Brabant  and  Flanders,  whose 
determination  might  be  influenced  by  the  exam- 
ple of  the  others.  Holland,  Zealand,  Utrecht, 
and  one  or  two  other  provinces,  where  the  spirit 
of  independence  was  highest,  were  not  consulted 
at  all.     Yet  this  politic  management  did  not  en- 


^  **  Les  seules  r^ponses  qnll  ait  grande  importance,  etc."  CorrOi 
obtennes  de  8.  M.,  sont  qu*elle  y  spondance  de  Philippe  11.,  tom.  I 
pensera,  que  ces  affaires  sont  de    p.  426. 


20 


FREEDOM  OF  WORSHIP. 


[Book  H 


tirely  succeed;  and  although  some  few  gave  an 
unconditional  assent,  most  of  the  provinces  coupled 
their  acquiescence  with  limitations  that  rendered 
it  of  little  worth.*^ 

This  was  not  extraordinary.  The  scheme  was 
one  which,  however  large  the  concessions  it  in- 
volved on  the  part  of  the  government,  fell  far 
short  of  those  demanded  by  the  people.  It  de- 
nounced the  penalty  of  death  on  all  ministers 
and  teachers  of  the  reformed  religion,  and  all 
who  harbored  them;  and  while  it  greatly  miti- 
gated the  punishment  of  other  offenders,  its  few 
sanguinary  features  led  the  people  sneeringly  to 
call  it,  instead  of  "  moderation,"  the  act  of  "  murder* 
atimtr^  It  fared,  indeed,  with  this  compromise  of 
the  regent,  as  with  most  other  half-way  measiures. 
It  satisfied  neither  of  the  parties  concerned  in  it. 
The  king  thought  it  as  much  too  lenient  as  the 
people  thought  it  too  severe.  It  never  received 
the  royal  sanction,  and  of  course  never  became 
a  law.  It  would  therefore  hardly  have  deserved 
the  time  I  have  bestowed  on  it,  except  as  evidence 
of  the  conciliatory  spirit  of  the  regent's  adminis- 
tration. 

In  the  same  spirit  Margaret  was  careful  to  urge 
the  royal  officers  to  give  a  liberal  interpretation  to 
the  existing  edicts,  and  to  show  the  utmost  discre- 


*  Meteren,  Hist  des  Pays-Bas,  •  «  Ceste   moderation,    que   le 

fol.  41.  —  Hopper,  Recueil  et  Me-  cdmun  peuple  apelloit  meurdera- 

morial,  p.  78.— -Vander  Haer,  De  tion.*'    Meteren,  Hist  dea  Pay* 

Initiis  Tumultuum,  p.  216.  Bas,  fol.  41. 


Ch.  XI.J 


THE  EDICTS  SUSPENDED. 


21 


tion  in  their  execution.  These  functionaries  were 
not  slow  in  obeying  commands,  which  released 
them  from  so  much  of  the  odium  that  attached 
to  their  ungrateful  office.  The  amiable  temper  of 
the  government  received  support  from  a  singular 
fraud  which  took  place  at  this  time.  An  instru- 
ment was  prepared  purporting  to  have  come  from 
the  knights  of  the  Golden  Fleece,  in  which  this 
body  guarantied  to  the  confederates  that  no  one 
in  the  Low  Countries  should  be  molested  on 
account  of  his  religion  until  otherwise  determined 
by  the  king  and  the  states-general.  This  docu- 
ment, which  carried  its  spurious  origin  on  its 
face,  was  nevertheless  eagerly  caught  up  and 
circulated  among  the  people,  ready  to  believe 
what  they  most  desired.  In  vain  the  regent,  as 
soon  as  she  heard  of  it,  endeavored  to  expose 
the  fraud.  It  was  too  late;  and  the  influence 
of  this  imposture  combined  with  the  tolerant 
measures  of  the  government  to  inspire  a  con- 
fidence in  the  community  which  was  soon  visible 
in  its  results.  Some  who  had  gone  into  exile  re 
turned  to  their  country.  Many,  who  had  cher- 
ished the  new  doctrines  in  secret,  openly  avowed 
them ;  while  others  who  were  wavering,  now  that 
they  were  relieved  from  all  fear  of  consequences, 
became  fixed  in  their  opinions.  In  short,  the  Ref- 
ormation, in  some  form  or  other,  was  making  rapid 
advances  over  the  country.^ 

"^  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  torn.     Reformation  in  the  Low  Countries, 
L  pp.   233,   234,   239.  —  Brandt,     vol.  I.  p.  1 70.  —  See  the  forged 


22 


FREEDOM  OF  TVORSHIP. 


[Book  H 


Of  the  three  great  sects  who  embraced  it,  the 
Lutherans,  the  least  numerous,  were  the  most 
eminent  for  their  rank.  The  Anabaptists,  far 
exceeding  them  in  number,  were  drawn  almost 
wholly  from  the  humbler  classes  of  the  people. 
It  is  singular  that  this  sect,  the  most  quiet  and 
inoffensive  of  all,  should  have  been  uniformly 
dealt  with  by  the  law  with  peculiar  rigor.  It 
may,  perhaps,  be  attributed  to  the  bad  name  which 
attached  to  them  from  the  excesses  committed  by 
their  brethren,  the  famous  Anabaptists  of  Miinster. 
The  third  denomination,  the  Calvinists,  far  out- 
numbered both  of  the  other  two.  They  were  also 
the  most  active  in  the  spirit  of  proselytism.  They 
were  stimulated  by  missionaries  trained  in  the 
schools  of  Geneva ;  and  as  their  doctrines  spread 
silently  over  the  land,  not  only  men  of  piety  and 
learning,  but  persons  of  the  highest  social  posi- 
tion, were  occasionally  drawn  within  the  folds  of 

the  sect. 

The  head-quarters  of  the  Calvinists  were  in 
Flanders,  Hainault,  Artois,  and  the  provinces  con- 
tiguous to  France.  The  border  land  became  the 
residence  of  French  Huguenots,  and  of  banished 
Flemings,  who  on  this  outpost  diligently  labored 
in  the  cause  of  the  Reformation.  The  press 
teemed  with  publications,  —  vindications  of  the 
faith,  polemical  tracts,  treatises,  and  satires  against 
the  Church  of  Rome  and  its  errors,  —  those  spir- 

lioeumcnt  mentioned  in  the  text  in  the  Supplement  k  Strada,  torn.  II 
p.  330. 


Ch.  XL] 


THE  PUBLIC  PREACHINGS. 


23 


itual  missiles,  in  short,  which  form  the  usual 
magazine  for  controversial  warfare.  These  were 
distributed  by  means  of  peddlers  and  travellmg 
tinkers,  who  carried  them,  in  their  distant  wan- 
dermgs,  to  the  humblest  firesides  throughout  the 
country.  There  they  were  left  to  do  their  work ; 
and  the  ground  was  thus  prepared  for  the  labor- 
ers whose  advent  forms  an  epoch  in  the  history 
of  the  Reformation.' 

These  were  the  ministers  or  missionaries,  whose 
public  preaching  soon   caused   a  great   sensation 
throughout  the  land.    They  first  made  their  appear- 
ance in  Western  Flanders,  before  small  audiences 
gathered  together  stealthily  in  the  gloom  of  the 
forest  and  in  the  silence  of  night.     They  gradually 
emerged  into  the  open  plains,  thence  proceeding 
to  the  villages,  until,  growing  bolder  with  impu- 
nity, they   showed  themselves   in  the  suburbs  of 
the  great  towns  and  cities.      On  these  occasions, 
thousands  of  the  inhabitants,  men,   women,   and 
cliildren,   in  too   great   force  for  the  magistrates 
to  resist  them,  poured  out  of  the  gates  to  hear 
the   preacher.      In   the   centre   of  the   ground   a 
rude  staging  was  erected,  with  an  awning  to  pro- 
tect him  from  the  weather.      Immediately  round 
this   rude    pulpit  was    gathered  the   more  help- 
less part   of   the   congregation,   the   women  and 
children.     Behind  them   stood   the  men,  —  those 

8  Vandervynckt,  Troubles   des    I.  pp.  239,  240.  —  Correspondancf 
Pays-Bas,  torn.  II.  p.  150  et  seq.    de  Marguerite  d'Autriche,  p.  127. 
—  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  torn. 


H 


FREEDOM  OF  WORSHIP. 


[Book  II 


in  the  outer  circle  usually  furnished  with  arms, 
—  swords,  pikes,  muskets,  —  any  weapon  they 
could  pick  up  for  the  occasion.  A  patrol  of  horse 
occupied  the  ground  beyond,  to  protect  the  as- 
sembly and  prevent  interruption.  A  barricade  of 
wagons  and  other  vehicles  was  thrown  across  the 
avenues  that  led  to  the  place,  to  defend  it  against 
the  assaults  of  the  magistrates  or  the  military. 
Persons  stationed  along  the  high  roads  distributed 
religious  tracts,  and  invited  the  passengers  to  take 
part  in  the  services.* 

The  preacher  was  frequently  some  converted 
priest  or  friar,  accustomed  to  speak  m  public,  who, 
having  passed  the  greater  part  of  his  life  in  bat- 
tling for  the  Church,  now  showed  equal  zeal  in 
overturning  it.  It  might  be,  however,  that  the 
orator  was  a  layman ;  some  peasant  or  artisan, 
who,  gifted  with  more  wit,  or  possibly  more 
effrontery,  than  his  neighbors,  felt  himself  called 
on  to  assume  the  perilous  vocation  of  a  preacher. 
The  discourse  was  in  French  or  Flemish,  which- 
ever might  be  the  language  spoken  in  the  neigh- 
borhood. It  was  generally  of  the  homely  texture 
suited  both  to  the  speaker  and  his  audience.  Yet 
sometimes  he  descanted  on  the  woes  of  the  land 
with  a  pathos  which  drew  tears  from  every  eye ; 
and  at  others  gave  vent  to  a  torrent  of  fiery  elo- 


»  Languet,  Epist.  seer.,  quoted  torn.  I.  p.  241.— Brandt,  Refonna- 

by  Groen,  Archives  de  la  Maison  tion  in  the  Low  Countries,  torn.  L 

d'OrHnge-Nassau,tom.  II.  p.  180. —  p.  1 72. 
See  also  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico, 


Ch.  XI.] 


THE  PUBLIC  PREACHINGS. 


25 


quence,  that  kindled  the  spirit  of  the  ancient  mar- 
tyr in  the  bosoms  of  his  hearers. 

These  lofty  flights  were  too  often  degraded  by 
coarse  and  scurrilous  invectives  against  the  pope, 
the  clergy,  and  the  Inquisition,  —  themes  peculi- 
arly grateful  to  his  audience,  who  testified  their 
applause  by  as   noisy  demonstrations   as  if  they 
had  been  spectators  in  a  theatre.     The  service  was 
followed  by  singing  some  portion  of  the  Psalms 
.in  the  French  version  of  Marot,  or  in  a  Dutch 
translation  which  had  recently  appeared  in  Hol- 
land,^^    and    which,    although     sufficiently    rude, 
passed  with  the   simple   people  for  a  wonderful 
composition.     After  this,  it  was  common  for  those 
who  attended  to  present  their  infants  for  baptism ; 
and   many   couples    profited   by   the  ^occasion   to 
have  the  marriage  ceremony  performed  with  the 
Calvinistic  rites.     The   exercises   were   concluded 
by  a  collection  for  the  poor  of  their  own  denom- 
ination.    In  fine,  these  meetings,  notwithstanding 
the  occasional  license   of  the   preacher,  seem   to 
have  been  conducted  with  a  seriousness  and  de- 
corum  which  hardly  merit  the  obloquy  thrown  on 
them  by  some  of  the  Catholic  writers. 

The  congregation,  it  is  true,  was  made  up  of 
rather  motley  materials.  Some  went  out  merely 
to  learn  what  manner  of  doctrine  it  was  that  was 
taught;  others,  to  hear  the  singing,  Avhere  thou- 
sands of  voices  blended  together  in  rude  harmony 


w  Brandt,  Reformation  in  the  Low  Countries,  ubi  supra. 

VOL.  II.  i 


raEEDOM  OF  WORSHIP. 


[Book  II 


under  the  canopy  of  heaven;  others,  again,  with 
no  better  motive  than  amusement,  to  laugh  at  the 
oddity  —  perhaps  the  buffoonery — of  the  preach- 
er. But  far  the  larger  portion  of  the  audience 
went  with  the  purpose  of  joining  in  the  religious 
exercises,  and  worshipping  God  in  their  own  way." 
We  may  imagine  what  an  influence  must  have 
been  exercised  by  these  meetings,  where  so  many 
were  gathered  together,  under  a  sense  of  common 
danger,  to  listen  to  the  words  of  the  teacher,  who  . 
taught  them  to  hold  all  human  law  as  light  in 
comparison  with  the  higher  law  of  conscience 
seated  in  their  own  bosoms.  Even  of  those  who 
came  to  scoff,  few  there  were,  probably,  who  did 
not  go  away  with  some  food  for  meditation,  or,  it 
may  be,  the  seeds  of  future  conversion  implanted 
in  their  breasts. 

The  first  of  these  pubUc  preachings  —  which 
began  as  early  as  May  —  took  place  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Ghent.  Between  six  and  seven  thou- 
sand persons  were  assembled.  A  magistrate  of 
the  city,  with  more  valor  than  discretion,  mounted 
his  horse,  and,  armed  with  sword  and  pistol,  rode 
in  among  the  multitude,  and  undertook  to  arrest 
the  minister.  But  the  people  hastened  to  his 
rescue,  and  dealt  so  roughly  with  the  unfortunate 
officer,  that  he  barely  escaped  with  life  from  their 
hands.^ 

From  Ghent  the  preachings  extended  to  Ypres, 


U  Md.,  p.  178. 


W  Ibid.,  p.  171. 


Ch.  XI] 


THE  PUBLIC  PREACHINGS. 


27 


Bruges,  and  other  great  towns  of  Flanders,  —  al- 
ways in  the  suburbs,  — to  Valenciennes,  and  to 
Tournay,  in  the  province  of  Hainault,  where  the 
Reformers  were  strong  enough  to  demand  a  place 
of  worship  within  the  walls.     Holland  was  ready 
for  the  Word.     Ministers  of  the  new  religion,  as 
it  was  called,  were  sent  both  to  that  quarter  and 
to  Zealand.     Gatherings  of  great  multitudes  were 
held  in  the  environs  of  Amsterdam,  the  Hague, 
Harlem,    and    other  large   towns,   at  which  the 
magistrates  were  sometimes  to  be  found  miugled 
with  the  rest  of  the  burghers. 

But  the  place  where  these  meetings  were  con- 
ducted on  the  greatest  scale  was  Antwerp,  a  city 
containing   then  more  than  a  hundred  thousand 
inhabitants,  and  the  most  important  mart  for  com- 
merce in  the  Netherlands.     It  was  the  great  resort 
of  foreigners.    Many  of  these  were  Huguenots,  who, 
under  the  pretext  of  trade,  were  much  more  busy 
with  the  concerns  of  their  religion.     At  the  meet- 
ings without  the  walls,  it  was  not  uncommon  for 
thirteen  or  fourteen  thousand  persons  to  assemble.^ 
Resistance   on   the   part  of  the   magistrates   was 
ineffectual.     The  mob  got  possession  of  the  keys 
of  the  city ;  and,  as  most  of  the  Calvinists  were 
armed,  they  constituted  a  formidable  force.     Con- 
scious of  their  strength,  they  openly  escorted  their 

« 

13  «  Se  y  sont  le  dimanche  der-  assembles  de  13  k  14  mille  per- 

nier  encoires  faict  deux  presches,  sonnes.**     Correspondance  de  Mar. 

i'une  en  fran9oi8, 1'autre  en  flamand,  guerite  d*Autnche,  p.  65. 
en  plein  jour,  et  estoi^nt  ces  deux 


28 


FREEDOM  OF  WORSHIP. 


[Book  II. 


ministei-s  back  to  town,  and  loudly  demanded  that 
Bome  place  of  worship  should  be  appropriated  to 
them  within  the  walls  of  Antwerp.  The  quiet 
burghers  became  alarmed.  As  it  was  known  that 
in  the  camp  of  the  Reformers  were  many  reckless 
and  disorderly  persons,  they  feared  the  town  might 
be  given  over  to  pillage.  All  trade  ceased.  Many 
of  the  merchants  secreted  their  effects,  and  some 
pi-epared  to  make  their  escape  as  speedily  as 
possible.^* 

The  magistrates,  in  great  confusion,  applied  to 
the  regent,  and  besought  her  to  transfer  her  resi- 
dence to  Antwerp,  where  her  presence  might  over- 
awe the  spirit  of  sedition.  But  Margaret's  council 
objected  to  her  placing  herself  in  the  hands  of 
so  factious  a  population;  and  she  answered  the 
magistrates  by  inquiring  what  guaranty  they 
could  give  her  for  her  personal  safety.  They 
then  requested  that  the  prince  of  Orange,  who 
held  the  office  of  hurgrave  of  Antwerp,  and 
whose  influence  with  the  people  was  unbounded, 
might  be  sent  to  them.  Margaret  hesitated  as  to 
this ;  for  she  had  now  learned  to  regard  William 


"  Ibid.,  pp.  80-88.  — Strada, 
De  Belle  Belgico,  torn.  I.  p.  243. 
—  Meteren,  Hist,  des  Pays-Bas, 
fol.  42.  —  Correspondance  de  Phi- 
lippe H.,  torn.  I.  p.  433. 

A  Confession  of  Faith,  which 
appeared  in  1563,  was  revised  by 
a  Calvinistic  synod,  and  reprinted 
in  Antwerp,  in  May  of  the  present 
year,  1566.     The  prefatory  letter 


addressed  to  King  Philip,  in  which 
the  Reformers  appealed  to  their 
creed  and  to  their  general  conduct 
ae  affording  the  best  refutation  of 
the  calumnies  of  their  enemies, 
boldly  asserted  that  their  number 
in  the  Netherlands  at  thai  time 
was  at  least  a  hundred  thousand. 
Brandt,  Reformation  in  tlie  Lou 
Countries,  vol.  I.  p.  158. 


Ch.  XI.] 


THE  PUBLIC  PREACHINGS. 


39 


with  distrust,  as  assuming  more  and  more  an 
unfriendly  attitude  towards  her  brother.^  But 
she  had  no  alternative,  and  she  requested  him 
to  transfer  his  residence  to  the  disorderly  cap- 
ital,  and  endeavor  to  restore  it  to  tranquillity.  . 
The  prince,  on  the  other  hand,  disgusted  with 
the  course  of  public  affairs,  had  long  wished  to 
withdraw  from  any  share  in  their  management. 
It  was  Avith  reluctance  he  accepted  the  com- 
mission. 

As  he  drew  near  to  Antwerp,  the  people  flocked 
out  by  thousands  to  welcome  him.  It  would  seem 
as  if  they  hailed  him  as  their  deliverer ;  and  every 
windouv,  verandah,  and  roof  was  crowded  with 
spectators,  as  he  rode  through  the  gates  of 
the  capital.^^  The  people  ran  up  and  down  the 
streets,  singing  psalms,  or  shouting,  "  Vivent  les 
Gueux  1 "  while  they  thronged  round  the  prince's 
horse  in  so  dense  a  mass  that  it  was  scarcely 
possible  for  him  to  force  a  passage."  Yet  these 
demonstrations  of  his  popularity  were  not  altogeth- 
er satisfactory;  and  he  felt  no  pleasure  at  being 
thus  welcomed  as  a  chief  of  the  league,  which,  as 
we  have  seen,  he  was  far  from  regarding  with  ap- 


is "  La  Duquesa,  ya  demasiado 
informada  de  las  platicas  inclina- 
ciones  y  disimulaciones  de  este 
Principe,  defirid  i  resolverse  en 
ello.**  Renom  de  Francia,  Alboro- 
tos  de  Flandes,  cap.  15,  MS. 

w  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico, 
torn.  I.  p.  244. 


17  A  mob  of  no  less  than  thirty 
thousand  men,  according  to  Wil- 
liam's own  statement  "  A  men 
semblant,  trouvis,  tant  hors  que 
dedans  la  ville,  plus  de  trente  mil 
hommes."  Correspondance  de 
Guillaume  le  Tacitume,  tom.  II 
p.  136. 


m 


FREEDOM  OF  WORSHIP. 


[Book  II 


r 


probation.  Waving  his  hand  repeatedly  to  those 
around  him,  he  called  on  them  to  disperse,  im- 
patiently exclaiming,  "  Take  heed  what  you  do, 
or,  by  Heaven,  you  will  have  reason  to  rue  it" " 
He  rode  straight  to  the  hall  where  the  magis- 
trates were  sitting,  and  took  counsel  with  them 
as  to  the  best  means  of  allaying  the  popular  ex- 
citement, and  of  preventing  the  wealthy  burghers 
from  quitting  the  city.  During  the  few  weeks 
he  remained  there,  the  prince  conducted  affairs  so 
discreetly,  as  to  bring  about  a  better  understanding 
between  the  authorities  and  the  citizens.  He  even 
prevailed  on  the  Calvinists  to  lay  aside  their  arms. 
He  found  more  difficulty  in  persuading  them  to 
relinquish  the  design  of  appropriating  to  them- 
selves some  place  of  worship  within  the  walls 
It  was  not  till  William  called  in  the  aid  of  the 
military  to  support  him,  that  he  compelled  them 
to  yield.^* 

Thus  the  spirit  of  reform  was  rapidly  advancing 
in  every  part  of  the  country,  —  even  in  presence  of 
the  court,  under  the  very  eye  of  the  regent.  In 
Brussels  the  people  went  through  the  streets  by 
night,  singing  psalms,  and   shouting   the  war-cry 


M  ««Vider«nt,  per  Deum,  quid 
i^erent :  ne,  en  pergerent,  eos  ali- 
qiiando  poeniteret."  SCradat  De 
Belle  Belgico,  torn.  L  p.  244. 

w  For  the  account  of  the  pro- 
teedings  at  Antwerp,  see  Corre- 
ipondance  de  GuiHamne  le  Tact- 
turne,  torn.  II.  pp.  186,  138,  140 


etseq.  —  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgi- 
00,  torn.  I.  pp.  244  -  248.  —  Mete- 
ren,  Hist,  dea  Pays-Bas,  fol.  42. — 
Hopper,  Becueil  et  Memorial,  pp. 
90,  91.  —  Brandt,  Reformation  in 
the  Low  Countries,  vol.  I.  pp.  1 78 
-  1 76.  —  Renom  de  Francia,  AV- 
borotofi  de  Flandes,  MS. 


Ch.  XI.l  ATTEMPT  TO  SUPPRESS  THE  PREACHINGS   31 

of  Vivent  les  Guetix  !  The  merchants  and  wealthy  * 
burghers  were  to  be  seen  with  the  insignia  of 
the  confederates  on  their  dress.^  Preparations 
were  made  for  a  public  preaching  without  the 
walls;  but  the  duchess  at  once  declared,  that  in 
that  event  she  would  make  one  of  the  company 
at  the  head  of  her  guard,  seize  the  preacher, 
and  hang  him  up  at  the  gates  of  the  city!^ 
This  menace  had  the  desired  effect. 

During  these  troublous   times,  Margaret,  how- 
ever little  she  may  have  accomplished,  could  not 
be  accused  of  sleeping  on  her  post.     She  caused 
fasts   to  be   observed,  and  pmyers  to  be  offered 
in  all  the  churches,  to  avert  the  wrath  of  Heav- 
en   from    the    land.      She    did   not   confine  her 
self  to  these  spiritual  weapons,  but  called  on  the 
magistrates   of  the   towns   to   do  their  duty,  and 
on  all  good  citizens  to  support  them.     She  com- 
manded foreigners  to  leave  Antwerp,  except  those 
only  who  were  there  for  traffic.     She  caused  plar 
cards   to   be   everywhere  posted  up,  reciting   the 
terrible    penalties    of    the   law   against    heretical 
teachers   and   those  who   abetted  them;    and  she 
offered  a  reward  of  six  hundred  florins   to  who- 
ever should  bring  any  such  offender  to  punish- 
ment.22     gi^^   strengthened  the  gai'risoned  towns, 


90  « Insitmia  etiam  k  mercatori- 
bus  usurpari  coepta."  Strada,  De 
Bello  Belgico,  tom.  I.  p.  238. 

21  "  lis  auraient  prdchd  hors  dc 
Bruxelles,  si  Madame  n*y  avait 
pourvu,  allant  jusqu*k  dire  qu'avec 


sa  perscmne,  sa  maison  et  sa  garde, 
elle  s'y  opposerait,  et  ferait  pendre 
en  sa  presence  les  ministres.**  Cor- 
respondance  de  Philippe  II.,  tom. 
I.  p.  447. 
98  "  So  pena  de  pro<J^er  con- 


32 


FREEDOM  OF  WORSHIP. 


[Book  II 


and  would  have  levied  a  force  to  overawe  the 
refractory ;  but  she  had  not  the  funds  to  pay  for 
it.  She  endeavored  to  provide  these  by  means  of 
loans  from  the  great  clergy  and  the  principal 
towns ;  but  with  indifferent  success.  Most  of  them 
were  already  creditors  of  the  government,  and 
they  liked  the  security  too  little  to  make  further 
advances.  In  her  extremity,  Margaret  had  no 
resource  but  the  one  so  often  tried,  —  that  of 
invoking  the  aid  of  her  Brother.  "I  have  no 
refuge,"  she  wrote,  "but  in  God  and  your  ma- 
jesty. It  is  with  anguish  and  dismay  I  must 
admit  that  my  efforts  have  wholly  failed  to  pre- 
vent the  public  preaching,  which  has  spread  over 
every  quarter  of  the  country."^  She  bitterly 
complains,  in  another  letter,  that,  after  "  so 
many  pressing  applications,  she  should  be  thus 
left,  without  aid  and  without  instructions,  to 
grope  her  way  at  random."^  She  again  be- 
seeches PhUip  to  make  the  concessions  demanded, 
in  which  event  the  great  lords  assure  her  of 
their  support  in  restoring  order. 


Cn.  XI.]  ATTEMPT  TO  SUPPRESS  THE  PREACHINGS.   33 

It  was  the  policy  of  the  cabinet  of  Madrid 
not  to  commit  itself  The  royal  answers  were 
brief,  vague,  never  indicatiag  a  new  measure,  gen- 
erally intimatiDg  satisfaction  with  the  conduct  of 
the  regent,  and  throwing  as  far  as  possible  all 
responsibility  on  her  shoulders. 

But  besides  his  sister's  letters,  the  king  was 
careful  to  provide  hunself  with  other  sources  of 
information  respecting  the  state  of  the  Nether- 
lands. From  some  of  these  the  accounts  he  re- 
ceived of  the  conduct  of  the  great  lords  were  even 
less  favorable  than  hers.  A  letter  from  the  sec- 
retary, Armenteros,  speaks  of  the  difficulty  he 
finds  in  fathoming  the  designs  of  the  prince  of 
Orange,  —  a  circumstance  which  he  attributes  to 
his  probable  change  of  religion.  "He  relies 
much,"  says  the  writer,  "on  the  support  he  re- 
ceives in  Germany,  on  his  numerous  friends  at 
home,  and  on  the  general  distrust  entertained  of 
the  king.  The  prince  is  making  preparations  in 
good  season,"  he  concludes,  "  for  defending  himself 
against  your  majesty."^ 


tra  los  Predicadores  ministros  y 
semejantes  con  el  ultimo  suplicio  y 
confiscacioD  de  hacienda  por  apli- 
carlo  al  proveclio  de  los  que  havian 
la  aprehension  de  ellos  y  por  falta 
de  hacienda,  su  magestad  mandarti 
librar  del  suyo  seiscientos  florines.** 
Renom  de  Francia,  Alborotos  de 
Flandes,  MS. 

23  "  Je  suis  forcee  avecq  douleur 
tt  angoisse  d'esprit  lui  dire  de  re- 


chief  que  nonobstant  tous  les  deb- 
voirs  que   je  fais  joumellement, 

je  ne  puis  remddier  ny  em- 

pescher  les  assemblies  des  pi-esches 
publicques."  Correspondance  de 
Marguerite  d'Autriche,  p.  72. 

24  "  Sans  aide  et  sans  ordres,  de 
manifere  que,  dans  tout  ce  qu*elle 
fait,  elle  doit  aller  en  tatonnant  et 
au  hasard.**  Correspondance  de 
Philippe  II.,  torn.  I.  p.  428. 


25  "Le  prince  se  prepare  de 
longue  main  k  la  defense  qu*il  sera 
forc^  de  faire  contre  le  Roi.*'  Ibid., 
p.  481. 

It  was  natural  that  the  relations 
of  William  with  the  party  of  reform 
should  have  led  to  the  persuasion 
that  he  had  returned  to  the  opin- 
ions in  which  he  had  been  early 
educated.  These  were  Lutheran. 
TTiere  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that 

VOL.   II.  5 


at  the  present  time  he  had  espoused 
the  doctrines  of  Calvin.  The  in- 
timation of  Armenteros  respecting 
the  prince's  change  of  religion 
seems  to  have  made  a  strong  im- 
pression on  Philip.  On  the  mar- 
gin of  the  letter  he  wrote  against 
the  passage.  "  No  one  has  said 
this  so  unequivocally  before  ** ;  — 
"  No  lo  ha  escrito  nadie  asi  claro.* 


\ 


31 


FKEEDOM  OF  WORSHIP. 


fBooK  II. 


Yet  Philip  did  not  betray  any  consciousness  of 
this  unfriendly  temper  in  the  nobles.  To  the 
prince  of  Orange,  in  particular,  he  wrote :  "  You 
err  in  imagining  that  I  have  not  entire  confidence 
in  you.  Should  any  one  seek  to  do  you  an  ill 
office  with  me,  I  should  not  be  so  light  as  to  give 
ear  to  him,  having  had  so  large  experience  of  your 
loyalty  and  your  services."*  "This  is  not  the 
time,"  he  adds,  "for  men  like  you  to  withdraw 
from  public  affairs."  But  William  was  the  last 
man  to  be.  duped  by  these  fair  words.  When 
others  inveighed  against  the  conduct  of  the  re- 
gent, William  excused  her  by  throwing  the  blame 
on  Philip.  "Resolved  to  deceive  all,"  he  said, 
"he  begins  by  deceiving  his  sister."*^ 

It  was  about  the  middle  of  July  that  an  event 
occurred  which  caused  still  greater  confusion  in 
the  affairs  of  the  Netherlands.  This  was  a  meet^ 
ing  of  the  confederates  at  St.  Trond,  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Liege.  They  assembled,  two  thousand 
in  number,  with  Count  Louis  and  Brederode  at 
their  head.  Their  great  object  was  to  devise 
some  means  for  their  personal  security.  They 
were  aware  that  they  were  held  responsible,  to 


*  "  Vos  OS  enganariades  macho 
en  pensar  que  yo  no  tubiese  toda 
confianza  de  vos,  y  quando  hubiese 
alguno  querido  hazer  oficio  con 
migo  en  contrario  i  esto,  no  soy 
tan  liviano  que  hubiese  dado  cre- 
dit© a  ello,  teniendo  yo  tanta  espe- 
riencia  de  vuestra    lealtad  y  de 


vuestros  servicios."  Correspon- 
dance  de  Guillaume  le  Tacitume, 
torn.  II.  p.  171. 

27  "  Que  le  roi,  r^solu  de  lea 
tromper  tous,  commen9ait  par 
tromper  sa  soeur.**  Vandervynckt, 
Troubles  des  Pays-Bas,  torn.  II.  p 
148. 


Ch.  XI.] 


MEETING  AT  ST.  TROND. 


35 


some  extent,  for  the  late  religious  movements 
among  the  people.^  They  were  discontented  with 
the  prolonged  silence  of  the  king,  and  they  were 
alarmed  by  rumors  of  military  preparations,  said 
to  be  designed  against  them.  The  discussions  of 
the  assembly,  long  and  animated,  showed  some 
difference  of  opmion.  All  agreed  to  demand 
some  guaranty  from  the  government  for  their 
security.  But  the  greater  part  of  the  body,  no 
longer  halting  at  the  original  limits  of  their  peti- 
tion, were  now  for  demanding  absolute  toleration 
in  matters  of  religion.  Some  few  of  the  number, 
stanch  Catholics  at  heart,  who  for  the  first  tune 
seem  to  have  had  their  eyes  opened  to  the  results 
to  which  they  were  inevitably  tending,  now,  greatly 
disgusted,  withdrew  from  the  league.  Among 
these  was  the  younger  Count  Mansfeldt,  —  a  name 
destined  to  become  famous  in  the  annals  of  the 
revolution. 

Margaret,  much  alarmed  by  these  new  demon- 
strations, sent  Orange  and  Egmont  to  confer  with 
the  confederates,  and  demand  why  they  were  thus 
met  in  an  unfriendly  attitude  towards  the  govern- 
ment which  they  had  so  lately  pledged  themselves 
to  support  iu  maintaining  order.     The  confederates 


*  This  responsibility  is  bluntly 
charged  on  them  by  Renom  de 
Francia.  "  El  dia  de  las  predica- 
ciones  oraciones  y  cantos  estando 
concertado,  se  acordd  con  las  prin- 
cipales  villas  que  fuese  el  San  Juan 
liguiente  y  de  continuar  en  adelan- 


te,  primero  en  los  Bosques  y  monta- 
nas,  despues  en  los  arrabales  y  Alde- 
as  y  pues  en  las  villas,  por  medida 
que  el  numero,  la  andacia  y  sufri- 
miento  creciese."  Alborotos  de 
Flandes,  MS. 


36 


FREEDOM  OF  WORSHIP. 


[Book  II. 


replied  by  sending  a  deputation  of  their  body  .to 
submit  their  grievances  anew  to  the  regent. 

The  deputies,  twelve  in  number,  and  profanely 
nicknamed  at  Brussels  "the  twelve  apostles,"® 
presented  themselves,  with  Count  Louis  at  their 
head,  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  July,  at  the  capital. 
Margaret,  who  with  difficulty  consented  to  receive 
them  in  person,  gave  unequivocal  signs  of  her 
displeasure.  In  the  plain  language  of  Louis,  "  the 
regent  was  ready  to  burst  with  anger."**  The 
memorial,  or  rather  remonstrance,  presented  to 
her  was  not  calculated  to  allay  it. 

Without  going  into  details,  it  is  only  neces- 
sary to  say,  that  the  confederates,  after  stating 
their  grounds  for  apprehension,  requested  that  an 
assurance  should  be  given  by  the  government  that 
no  harm  was  intended  them.  As  to  pardon  for 
the  past,  they  disclaimed  all  desire  for  it.  What 
they  had  done  called  for  applause,  not  condem- 
nation. They  only  trusted  that  his  majesty  would 
be  pleased  to  grant  a  convocation  of  the  states- 
general,  to  settle  the  affairs  of  the  country.  In 
the  mean  time,  they  besought  him  to  allow  the 
concerns  of  the  confederates  to  be  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  prince  of  Orange,  and  the  Counts 
Egmont  and  Hoome,  to  act  as  their  mediators  with 
the  crown,  promising  in  all  things  to  be  guided 


*>  "  Qui  vulgari  joco  duodecim  centre  nous,  qu*elle  a  pens^  cre- 

Apostoli  dicebantur."     Strada,  De  ver."     Archives  de  la  Maison  d'O 

Belle  Belgico,  torn.  I.  p.  248.  range-Nassau,  torn.  II.  p.  178. 

*  "  S'est  mise  en  une  telle  colere 


Ch.  XI.] 


MEETING  AT  ST.  TROND. 


37 


by  their  counsel.  Thus  would  tranquillity  be  re- 
stored. But  without  some  guaranty  for  their 
safety,  they  should  be  obliged  to  protect  them- 
selves by  foreign  aid.^ 

The  haughty  tone  of  this  memorial  forms  a 
striking  contrast  with  that  of  the  petition  present- 
ed by  the  same  body  not  four  months  before,  and 
shows  with  what  rapid  strides  the  revolution  had 
advanced.  The  religious  agitations  had  revealed 
the  amount  of  discontent  in  the  country,  and  to 
what  extent,  therefore,  the  confederates  might 
rely  on  the  sympathy  of  the  people.  This  was 
most  unequivocally  proved  during  the  meeting  at 
St.  Trond,  where  memorials  were  presented  by 
the  merchants,  and  by  persons  of  the  Reformed 
religion,  praying  the  protection  of  the  league  to 
secure  them  freedom  of  worship,  till  otherwise 
determined  by  the  states-general.  This  extraor- 
dinary request  was  granted.^  Thus  the  two  great 
parties  leaned  on  each  other  for  support,  and  gave 
mutual  confidence  to  their  respective  movements. 
The  confederates,  discarding  the  idea  of  grace, 
which  they  had  once  solicited,  now  darkly  inti- 
mated a  possible  appeal  to  arms.  The  Reformers, 
on  their  side,  instead  of  the  mitigation  of  penal- 
ties, now  talked  of  nothing  less  than  absolute  tol- 
eration.     Thus  political  Revolution  and  religious 


31   "  Alioqui    externa   remedia  39  The  memorials  are  given  at 

quamvis  invitos  postrem6  quaBsitu-  length  by  Groen,  Archives  de  la 

ros.**      Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  Maison  d'Orange-Nassau,  torn.  II. 

om.  I.  p.  248.                .  pp.  159  -  167. 


/ 


I 

I 

I 


38 


FBEEDOM  OF  WORSHIP. 


[Book  H 


Reform  went  hand  in  hand  together.  The  nobles 
and  the  commons,  the  two  most  opposite  ele- 
ments of  the-  body  politic,  were  united  closely 
by  a  common  interest;  and  a  formidable  opposi- 
tion was  organized  to  the  designs  of  the  monarch, 
which  might  have  made  any  monarch  tremble  on 

his  throne. 

An  important  fact  shows  that  the  confederates 
coolly  looked  forward,  even  at  this  time,  to  a  con- 
flict with  Spain.  Louis  of  Nassau  had  a  large 
correspondence  with  the  leaders  of  the  Huguenots 
in  France,  and  of  the  Lutherans  in  Germany. 
By  the  former  he  had  been  offered  substantial  aid 
in  the  way  of  troops.  But  the  national  jealousy 
entertained  of  the  French  would  have  made  it  im- 
politic to  accept  it.  He  turned  therefore  to  Germa- 
ny, where  he  had  numerous  connections,  and  where 
he  subsidized  a  force  consisting  of  four  thousand 
horse  and  forty  companies  of  foot,  to  be  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  league.  This  negotiation  was  conduct- 
ed under  the  eye,  and,  as  it  seems,  partly  through 
the  agency,  of  his  brother  William.^  From  this 
moment,  therefore,  if  not  before,  the  prince  of 
Orange  may  be  identified  with  the  party  who 
were  prepared  to  maintain  their  rights  by  an  ap- 
peal to  arms. 

These  movements  of  the  league  could  not  be 
kept  so  close  but  that  they  came  to  the  knowledge 
of  Margaret     Lideed,  she  had  her  secret  agents 

33  See  the  letter  of  Louis  to  his  brother  dated  July  26,  1566,  Ib\^ 
p.  178. 


Cn.  XI.) 


MEETING  AT  ST.  TROND. 


39 


at  St.  Trond,  who  put  her  in  possession  of  what 
ever  was  done,  or  even  designed,  by  the  con- 
federates.^ This  was  fully  exhibited  in  her  cor- 
respondence  with  Philip,  while  she  again  called 
liis  attention  to  the  forlorn  condition  of  the  gov- 
ernment, without  men,  or  money,  or  the  means 
to  raise  it.^  "  The  sectaries  go  armed,"  she  writes, 
"and  axe  organizing  their  forces.  The  league  is 
Avith  them.  There  remains  nothing  but  that  they 
should  band  together,  and  sack  the  towns,  vil- 
lages, and  churches,  of  which  I  am  in  marvellous 
crreat  fear."  ^  —  Her  fears  had  gifted  her  mth  the 
spirit  of  prophecy.  She  implores  her  brother,  if  he 
will  not  come  himself  to  Flanders,  to  convoke  the 
states-general,  quoting  the  words  of  Egmont,  that, 
imless  summoned  by  the  king,  they  would  assem- 
ble of  themselves,  to  devise  some  remedy  for  the 
miseries  of  the  land,  and  prevent  its  otherwise 
inevitable  ruin.^  At  length  came  back  the  royal 
answer  to  Margaret's  reiterated  appeals.     It  had 


34  The  person  who  seems  to  have 
principally  served  her  in  this  re- 
spectable office  was  a  "  doctor  of 
law,"  one  of  the  chief  counsellors 
of  the  confederates.  Count  Me- 
gen,  her  agent  on  the  occasion, 
bribed  the  doctor  by  the  promise 
of  a  spat  in  the  council  of  Bra- 
bant. Correspondance  de  Philippe 
II.,  torn.  I.  p.  435. 

•*5  "  Le  tout  est  en  telle  desordre,** 
she  says  in  one  of  her  letters,  "  que, 
en  la  pluspart  du  pais.  Ton  est  sans 
by,    foy,    pi    roy.*      Correspon- 


dance de  Marguerite  d'Autriche, 

p.  91. 

Anarchy  could  not  be  better  de- 
scribed in  so  few  words. 

36  "  II  ne  reste  plus  sinon  qulb 
s'assemblent  et  que,  joincts  ensem- 
ble, ils  se  livrent  k  faire  quelque 
sac  d*eglises,  villes,  bourgs,  ou  pais, 
de  quoy  je  suis  en  merveilleuse- 
ment  grande  crainte."  Correspon- 
dance de  Marguerite  d'Autriche, 

p.  121. 

37  Correspondance  de  Philippe 

II.,  torn.  I.  p.  432. 


I 

I 


40 


FREEDOM  OF  WORSHIP. 


[Book  H. 


at  least  one  merit,   that  of  being  perfectly  ex- 
plicit. 

Montigny,  on  reaching  Madrid,  as  we  have 
seen,  had  ready  access  to  Philip.  Both  he  and 
his  companion,  the  marquis  of  Bergen,  were  al- 
lowed to  witness,  it  would  seem,  the  delibera- 
tions of  the  council  of  state,  when  the  subject 
of  their  mission  was  discussed.  Among  the  mem- 
bers  of  that  body,  at  this  time,  may  be  noticed 
the  duke  of  Alva;  Ruy  Gomez  de  Silva,  prince 
of  Eboli,  who  divided  with  Alva  the  royal  fa- 
vor ;  Figueroa,  count  of  Feria,  a  man  of  an  acute 
and  penetrating  intellect,  formerly  ambassador  to 
England,  in  Queen  Mary's  time ;  and  Luis  de 
Quixada,  the  major-domo  of  Charles  the  Fifth. 
Besides  these  there  were  two  or  three  councillors 
from  the  Netherlands,  among  whose  names  we  meet 
with  that  of  Hopper,  the  near  friend  and  associ- 
ate of  Viglius.  There  was  great  unanimity  in  the 
opinions  of  this  loyal  body,  where  none,  it  will 
be  readily  believed,  was  disposed  to  lift  his  voice 
in  favor  of  reform.  The  coui-se  of  events  in 
the  Netherlands,  they  agreed,  plainly  showed  a 
deliberate  and  well-concerted  scheme  of  the  great 
nobles  to  secure  to  themselves  the  whole  powei 
of  the  country.  The  first  step  was  the  removal 
of  Granvelle,  a  formidable  obstacle  in  their  path. 
Then  came  the  attempt  to  concentrate  the  man- 
agement of  affairs  in  the  hands  of  the  council  of 
state.  This  was  followed  by  assaults  on  the  Inqui- 
sition and  the  edicts,  as  the  things  most  obnoxious 


Ck.  XI.] 


PHILIP'S  CONCESSIONS. 


41 


to  the  people ;  by  the  cry  in  favor  of  the  states- 
general;  by  the  league,  the  Compromise,  the  pe- 
titions, the  religious  assemblies ;  and,  finally,  by 
the  present  mission  to  Spain.  All  was  devised 
by  the  great  nobles,  as  part  of  a  regular  system 
of  hostility  to  the  crown,  the  real  object  of  which 
was  to  overturn  existing  institutions,  and  to  build 
up  their  own  authority  on  the  ruins.  While  the 
council  regarded  these  proceedings  with  the  deep- 
est indignation,  they  admitted  the  necessity  of 
bending  to  the  storm,  and  under  present  circum- 
stances judged  it  prudent  for  the  monarch  to  make 
certain  specified  concessions  to  the  people  of  the 
Netherlands.  Above  all,  they  earnestly  besought 
Philip,  if  he  would  still  remain  master  of  this 
portion  of  his  empire,  to  defer  no  longer  his  visit 
to  the  country.^ 

The  discussions  occupied  many  and  long-pro- 
tracted sittings  of  the  council ;  and  Philip  deeply 
pondered,  in  his  own  closet,  on  the  results,  after 
the  discussions  were  concluded.  Even  those  most 
familiar  with  his  habits  were  amazed  at  the  long 
delay  of  his  decision  in  the  present  critical  cir 
cumstances.^  The  haughty  mind  of  the  monarch 
found  it  difficult  to  bend  to  the  required  con- 
cessions.    At  length  his  answer  came. 


38  The  fullest  account  of  the  do-  ^tonn^  du  d^lal  que  le  Roi  met  i 
ings  of  the  council  is  given  by  r^popdre.'*   Montigny  to  Margaret, 
Hopper,  one  of  its  members.    Re-  July  21,  Correspondance  de  Phi 
cueil  et  Mdmorial,  pp.  81  -  87.  lippe  II.,  torn.  I.  p.  434. 

39  "  Ceux  du  conseil  d'Etat  sont 
VOL.  II.  6 


|>  J 


43 


FREEDOM  OF  WORSHIP. 


[Book  H 


Ch.  XL] 


PHILIP'S  CONCESSIONS. 


43 


The  letter  containing  it  was  addressed  to  his  sis- 
ter, and  was  dated  on  the  thirty-first  of  July,  1566, 
at  the  Wood  of  Segovia,  —  the  same  place  from 
which  he  had  dictated  his  memorable  despatches 
the  year  preceding.  Philip  began,  as  usual,  with 
expressing  his  surprise  at  the  continued  troubles 
of  the  coimtry.  He  was  not  aware  that  any 
rigorous  procedure  could  be  charged  on  the  tri- 
bunals, or  that  any  change  had  been  made  in 
the  laws  since  the  days  of  Charles  the  Fifth. 
Still,  as  it  was  much  more  agreeable  to  his 
nature  to  proceed  with  clemency  and  love  than 
with  severity ,*°  he  would  conform  as  far  as  pos- 
sible to  the  desires  of  his  vassals. 

He  was  content  that  the  Inquisition  should  be 
abolished  in  the  Netherlands,  and  in  its  place  be 
substituted  the  inquisitorial  powers  vested  in  the 
bishops.  As  to  the  edicts,  he  was  not  pleased 
with  the  plan  of  Moderation  devised  by  Margaret ; 
nor  did  he  believe  that  any  plan  would  satisfy 
the  people  short  of  perfect  toleration.  Still,  he 
would  have  his  sister  prepare  another  scheme, 
having  due  reference  to  the  maintenance  of  the 
Catholic  faith  and  his  own  authority.  This  must 
be  submitted  to  him,  and  he  would  do  all  that  he 
possibly  could  in  the  matter.*^     Lastly,  in  respect 


^  "  Pour  rmclination  naturelle  accommodd  k  tout  ce  que  m*a  est^ 

que  j*ay  toujours  eu  de  traicter  possible."   Correspondance  de  Map- 

ines  vassaulx  et  subjects  plus  par  guerite  d'Autriche,  p.  100. 

TO/e  d*amour  et  clemence,  que  de  ^^  "  Ay  treuve  convenir  ct  n^- 

crainte  et  de  rigeur,  je  me  suis  cessaire  que  Ton  con9oive  cer^aine 


I 


to  a  general  pardon,  as  he  abhorred  rigor  where 
any  other  course  would  answer  the  end,*^  he  was 
content  that  it  should  be  extended  to  whomever 
Margaret  thought  deserving  of  it,  —  always  ex- 
cepting those  already  condemned,  and  under  a 
solemn  pledge,  moreover,  that  the  nobles  would 
abandon  the  league,  and  henceforth  give*  their 
hearty  support  to  the  government. 

Four  days  after  the  date  of  these  despatches, 
on  the  second  of  August,  Philip  again  wrote  to 
his  sister,  touching  the  summoning  of  the  states- 
general,  which  she  had  so  much  pressed.  He 
had  given  the  subject,  he  said,  a  most  patient 
consideration,  and  was  satisfied  that  she  had  done 
right  in  refusing  to  call  them  together.  She 
must  not  consent  to  it.  He  never  would  con- 
sent to  it.*^  He  knew  too  well  to  what  it  must 
inevitably  lead.  Yet  he  would  not  have  her  re- 
port his  decision  in  the  absolute  and  peremptory 
terms  in  which  he  had  given  it  to  her,  but  as  in- 
tended merely  for  the  present  occasion;  so  that 
the  people  might  believe  she  was  still  looking  for 
something  of  a  diff'erent  tenor,  and  cherish  the  hope 
of  obtaining  their  object  at  some  future  day !  ^* 


aultre  forme  de  moderation  de 
placcart  par  delk,  ayant  dgard  que 
la  saincte  foy  catholique  et  mon 

authorite  soyent  garddes et 

y  feray  tout  ce  que  possible  sera.** 
Ibid.,  p.  108. 

43  "  N'abhorrissant  riens  tant  que 
la  voye  de  rigeur.'*  Ibid.,  ubi  su- 
pra. 


43  «  y  assf  YDS  no  lo  consentais, 
ni  yo  lo  consentir^  tan  poco.**  Cor- 
respondance de  Philippe  11.,  tom. 
I.  p.  439. 

44  «  Pero  no  conviene  que  esto 
se  entienda  alld,  ni  que  vos  teneis 
esta  drden  mia,  sino  es  para  lo  de 
agora,  pero  que  la  esperais  para 
adelante,    no   desesperando   elloi 


14 


FREEDOM  OF  WORSHIP. 


[Book  H 


The  king  also  wrote,  that  he  should  remit  a 
sufficient  sum  to  Margaret  to  enable  her  to  take 
into  her  pay  a  body  of  ten  thousand  German 
foot  and  three  thousand  horse,  on  which  she 
could  rely  in  case  of  extremity.  He  further 
wrote  letters  with  his  own  hand  to  the  governors 
of  the  provinces  and  the  principal  cities,  calling 
on  them  to  support  the  regent  in  her  efforts  to 
enforce  the  laws  and  maintain  order  throughout 
the  country.^ 

Such  were  the  concessions  granted  by  Philip, 
at  the  eleventh  hour,  to  his  subjects  of  the  Neth- 
erlands!—  concessions  wrung  from  him  by  hard 
necessity;  doled  out,  as  it  were,  like  the  scanty 
charity  of  the  miser,  —  too  scanty  and  too  late 
to  serve  the  object  for  which  it  is  intended. 
But  slight  as  these  concessions  were,  and  crip- 
pled by  conditions  which  rendered  them  nearly 
nugatory,  it  will  hardly  be  believed  that  he  was  not 
even  sincere  in  making  them!  This  is  proved 
by  a  revelation  lately  made  of  a  curious  document 
in  the  Archives  of  Simancas. 

While  the  ink  was  scarcely  dry  on  the  de- 
spatches to  Margaret,  Philip  summoned  a  notary 
into  his  presence,  and  before  the  duke  of  Alva 
and  two  other  persons,  jurists,  solenmly  protested 
that  the  authority  he  had  given  to  the  regent 
m  respect  to  a  general  pardon  was  not  of  his 
own  free  will.     "He  therefore  did  not  feel  bound 

para  entonces  deUo."     BmA,  ubi        «  Correspondance  de  Margue- 
■"P^  rite  d'Autriche,  pp.  106,  114. 


Ch.  XI.J 


PHILIP'S  CONCESSIONS. 


49 


by  it,  but  reserved  to  himself  the  right  to  punish 
the  guilty,  and  especially  the  authors  and  abet- 
tors of  sedition  in  the  Low  Coimtries."^  —  We 
feel  ourselves  at  once  transported  into  the  depths 
of  the  Middle  Ages.  This  feeling  will  not  be 
changed  when  we  learn  the  rest  of  the  story  of 
this  admirable  piece  of  kingcraft. 

The  chair  of  St.  Peter,  at  this  time,  was  occu- 
pied by  Pius  the  Fifth,  a  pope  who  had  assumed 
the  same  name  as  his  predecessor,  and  who  dis- 
played a  spirit  of  fierce,  indeed  frantic  intoler- 
ance, surpassing  even  that  of  Paul  the  Fourth. 
At  the  accession  of  the  new  pope  there  were 
three  Italian  scholars,  inhabitants  of  Milan,  Ven- 
ice, and  Tuscany,  eminent  for  their  piety,  who 
had  done  great  service  to  the  cause  of  letters 
in  Italy,  but  who  were  suspected  of  too  liberal 
opinions  in  matters  of  faith.  Pius  the  Fifth  de- 
manded that  these  scholars  should  all  be  delivered 
into  his  hands.  The  three  states  had  the  mean- 
ness to  comply.  The  unfortunate  men  were 
delivered  up  to  the  Holy  Office,  condemned, 
and  burned  at  the  stake.  This  was  one  of  the 
first  acts  of  the  new  pontificate.  It  proclaimed 
to   Christendom  that  Pius  the  Fifth  was  the  un- 


*8  "  Comme  il  ne  I'a  pas  fait 
librempnt,  ni  spontan^ment,  il  n*en- 
teiid  etre  li^  par  cette  autorisation, 
mais  au  contraire  il  se  reserve  de 
punir  les  coupables,  et  principale- 
ment  ceux  qui  ont  6t6  les  auteurs 
et  fauteurs  dcs  s^iitions."    Corre- 


spondance de  Philippe  IT.,  torn.  I 
p.  443. 

One  would  have  been  glad  to 
see  the  original  text  of  this  pro- 
test, which  is  in  Latin,  instead  ol 
M.  Gachard's  abstract 


111 


16 


FREEDOM  OF  WOKSHIP. 


[Book  IL 


compromising  foe  of  heresy,  the  pope  of  the 
Inquisition.  Every  subsequent  act  of  his  reign 
served  to  confirm  his  claim  to  this  distinction. 

Yet,  as  far  as  the  interests  of  Catholicism  were 
concerned,  a  character  like  that  of  Pius  the 
Fifth  must  be  allowed  to  have  suited  the  times. 
During  the  latter  part  of  the  fifteenth  century  and 
the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth,  the  throne  had 
been  filled  by  a  succession  of  pontiffs  notorious  for 
their  religious  indifference,  and  their  carelessness, 
too  often  profligacy,  of  life.  This,  as  is  well  known, 
was  one  of  the  prominent  causes  of  the  Reforma- 
tion. A  reaction  followed.  It  was  necessary  to 
save  the  Church.  A  race  of  men  succeeded,  of 
ascetic  temper,  remarkable  for  their  austere  vir- 
tues, but  without  a  touch  of  sympathy  for  the  joys 
or  sorrows  of  their  species,  and  wholly  devoted  to 
the  great  work  of  regenerating  the  fallen  Church. 
As  the  influence  of  the  former  popes  had  opened 
a  career  to  the  Refonnation,  the  influence  of  these 
latter  popes  tended  materially  to  check  it;  and 
long  before  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century 
the  boundary  line  was  defined,  which  it  has  never 
since  been  allowed  to  pass. 

Pius,  as  may  be  imagined,  beheld  with  deep 
anxiety  the  spread  of  the  new  religion  in  the 
Low  Countries.  He  wrote  to  the  duchess  of 
Parma,  exhorting  her  to  resist  to  the  utmost, 
and  professing  his  readiness  to  supply  her,  if 
need  were,  with  both  men  and  money.  To  Phil- 
ip he  also  wrote,  conjuring  him  not  to  falter  in 


Ch.  xi-l 


PHILIP'S  CONCESSIONS. 


47 


the  good  cause,  and  to  allow  no  harm  to  the 
Catholic  faith,  but  to  march  against  his  rebellious 
vassals  at  the  head  of  his  axmy,  and  wash  out  the 
stain  of  heresy  in  the  blood  of  the  heretic.*^ 


47  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  torn. 

I.  p.  236. 

Among  those   who    urged    the 
king  to  violent  measures,  no  one 
was  so  importunate  as  Fray  Lo- 
renzo de  Villacancio,  an  Augustin 
monk,  who  distinguished  himself 
by  the  zeal  and  intrepidity  with 
which  he  ventured  into  the  strong- 
holds of  the  Reformers,  and  openly 
denounced  their  doctrines.    Philip, 
acquainted  with  the  uncompromis- 
ing temper  of  the  man,  and  his 
devotion  to  the  Catholic  Church, 
employed  him  both  as  an  agent 
and  an  adviser  in  regard  to  the  af- 
fairs of  the  Low  Countries,  where 
Fray  Lorenzo  was  staying  in  the 
earlier    period    of    the    troubles. 
Many  of  the  friar's  letters  to  the 
king  are  still  preserved  in  Siman- 
cas,  and  astonish  one  by  the  bold- 
ness of  their  criticisms  on  the  con- 
duct of  the  ministers,  and  even  of 
the  monarch  himself,   whom  Lo- 
renzo openly  accuses  of  a  timid 
policy  towards  the  Reformers. 

In  a  memorial  on  the  state  of 
the  country,  prepared,  at  Philip's 
suggestion,  in  the  beginning  of 
1566,  Fray  Lorenzo  urges  the  ne- 
cessity of  the  most  rigorous  meas- 
ures towards  the  Protestants  in  the 
Netherlands.  "  Since  your  majesty 
holds  the  sword  which  Grod  has 
given  to  you,  with  the  divine  pow- 
er over  our  lives,  let  it  be  drawn 


from  the  scabbard,  and  plunged  in 
the  blood  of  the  heretics,  if  you  do 
not  wish  that  the  blood  of  Jesua 
Christ,  shed  by  these  barbarians, 
and  the  blood  of  the  innocent 
Catholics  whom  they  have  op- 
pressed, should  cry  aloud  to  Heav- 
en for  vengeance  on  the  sacred 

head  of  your  majesty  I The 

holy  King  David  showed  no  pity 
for  the  enemies  of  God.     He  slew 
them,  sparing    neither    man   nor 
woman.     Moses  and  his  brother, 
in  a  single  day,   destroyed  three 
thousand  of  the  children  of  Israel. 
An  angel,  in  one  night,  put  to 
death  more  than   sixty  thousand 
enemies  of  the  Lord.    Your  ma- 
jesty is  a  king,  like  David;  like 
Moses,  a  captain  of  the  people  of 
Jehovah;  an  angel  of  the  Lord, — 
for  so  the  Scriptures  style  the  kings 
and  captains  of  his  people ;  —  and 
these  heretics  are  the  enemies  of 
the  living   God!"      And  in  the 
same  strain  of  fiery  and  fanatical 
eloquence  he  continues  to  invoke 
the  vengeance  of  Philip   on  the 
heads  of  his  unfortunate  subjects 
in  the  Netherlands. 

That  the  ravings  of  this  hard- 
hearted bigot  were  not  distasteful 
to  Philip  may  be  inferred  from  the 
fact  that  he  ordered  a  copy  of  his 
memorial  to  be  placed  in  the  haiida 
of  Alva,  on  his  departure  for  the 
Low  Countries.     It  appears  thai 


48 


FREEDOM  OF  WORSHIP. 


[Book  H 


The  king  now  felt  it  incumbent   on  him   to 
explain  to  the  holy  father  his  late  proceedings. 
This  he  did  through  Requesens,  his   ambassador 
at  the  papal  court     The  minister  was  to  inform 
his  holiness  that  Philip  would  not  have  moved  in 
this  matter  without  his   advice,  had   there  been 
time  for  it.     But  perhaps  it  was  better  as  it  was ; 
for  the  abolition  of  the  Inquisition  in  the  Low 
Countries  could  not  take  effect,  after  all,   unless 
sanctioned  by  the  pope,   by   whose   authority  it 
had  been   established.     This,  however,  was  to  be 
said  in  confidence.^    As  to  the  edicts,  Pius  might 
be  assured  that  his  majesty  would  never  approve 
of  any  scheme  which  favored  the  guilty  by  dimin- 
ishing in  any  degree  the  penalties  of  their  crimes. 
This  also  was  to  be  considered  as  secret^^    Lastly, 
his  holiness  need  not  be  scandalized  by  the  grant 
of  a  general  pardon,  since  it  referred  only  to  what 
concerned   the  king  personally,  where  he  had  a 
right  to  grant  it.     Li  fine,  the  pope  might  rest 


be  had  some  thoughts  of  sendlnsr 
Fray  Lorenzo  to  join  the  duke 
there, — a  project  which  received 
little  encouragement  from  the  lat- 
ter, who  probably  did  not  care  to 
have  80  meddlesome  a  person  as 
this  frantic  friar  to  watch  his  pro- 
ceedings. 

An  interesting  notice  of  this  re- 
markable man  is  to  be  found  in 
Gachard,  Correspondance  de  Phi- 
lippe II.,  tom.  II.,  Rapport,  pp. 
xvi-1. 

^  "  Y  por  la  priesa  que  dieron 
•n  esto,  no  ubo  tiempo  de  consul- 


tarlo  &  Su  Santidad,  como  fuera 
justo,  y  quiza  avra  sido  asf  mejor, 
pues  no  vale  nada,  sino  quitandola 
Su  Santidad  que  es  que  la  pone ; 
pero  en  esto  conviene  que  aya  el 
secreto  que  puede  considerar.** 
Correspondance  de  Philippe  II., 
tom.  I.  p.  445. 

^^  "  Y  en  esto  conviene  el  mis- 
mo  secreto  que  en  lo  de  arriba." 
Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 

These  injunctions  of  secrecy  are 
interpolations  in  the  handwriting 
of  the  "prudent"  monarch  him* 
self. 


Ch.  XI.] 


PHILIP'S  CONCESSIONS. 


49 


assured  that  the  king  would  consent  to  nothing 
that  could  prejudice  the  service  of  God  or  the 
interests  of  religion.  He  deprecated  force,  as 
that  would  involve  the  ruin  of  the  country.  Still, 
he  would  march  in  person,  without  regard  to  his 
own  peril,  and  employ  force,  though  it  should 
cost  the  ruin  of  the  provinces,  but  he  would 
biing  his  vassals  to  submission.  For  he  would 
sooner  lose  a  himdred  lives,  and  every  rood  of 
empire,  than  reign  a  lord  over  heretics.^ 

Thus  all  the  concessions  of  Philip,  not  merely 
his  promises  of  grace,  but  those  of  abolishing 
the  Inquisition  and  mitigating  the  edicts,  were  to 
go  for  nothing,  —  mere  words,  to  amuse  the  peo- 
ple until  some  effectual  means  could  be  decided 
on.  The  king  must  be  allowed,  for  once  at  least, 
to  have  spoken  with  candor.  There  are  few 
persons  who  would  not  have  shrunk  from  ac- 
knowledging to  their  own  hearts  that  they  were 
acting  on  so  deliberate  a  system  of  perfidy  as 
Philip  thus  confided  in  his  correspondence  with 
another.  Indeed,  he  seems  to  have  regarded  the 
pope  in  the  light  of  his  confessor,  to  whom  he 
was  to  unburden  his  bosom  as  frankly  as  if  he 
had  been  in  the  confessional.  The  shrift  wae 
not  likely  to  bring  down  a  hea\7  penance  from 
one  who  doubtless  held  to  the  orthodox  maxim 
of  "  No  faith  to  be  kept  with  heretics." 

The  result  of  these  royal  concessions  was  what 

^  "Perderd  todos  mis  estados,     yo  no  pienso  ni  quiero  ser  senor 
Y  cien  vidas  que  tuviesse,  porque    de  hereges."     Ibid.,  p.  446. 
VOL.  II.  7 


50 


FREEDOM  OF  WORSHIP. 


[Book  It 


Ch.  XL] 


PHILIP'S  CONCESSIONS. 


51 


might  have  been  expected.  Crippled  as  they  were 
by  conditions,  they  were  regarded  in  the  Low 
Countries  with  distrust,  not  to  say  contempt.  In 
fact,  the  point  at  which  Philip  had  so  slowly 
and  painfully  arrived  had  been  long  since  passed 
in  the  onward  march  of  the  revolution.  The  men 
of  the  Netherlands  now  talked  much  more  of 
recompense  than  of  pardon.  By  a  curious  coin- 
cidence, the  thirty-first  of  July,  the  day  on  which 
the  king  wrote  his  last  despatches  from  Segovia, 
was  precisely  the  date  of  those  which  Margaret 
sent  to  him  from  Brussels,  giving  the  particulars 
of  the  recent  troubles,  of  the  meeting  at  St.  Trond, 
the  demand  for  a  guaranty,  and  for  an  immediate 
summons  of  the  legislature. 

But  the  fountain  of  royal  grace  had  been  com- 
pletely drained  by  the  late  efforts.  Philip^s  reply 
at  this  time  was  prompt  and  to  the  point.  As  to 
the  guaranty,  that  was  superfluous  when  he  had 
granted  a  general  pardon.  For  the  states-general, 
there  was  no  need  to  alter  his  decision  now,  since 
he  was  so  soon  to  be  present  in  the  country." 

This  visit  of  the  king  to  the  Low  Countries, 
respecting  which  so  much  was  said  and  so  little 
was  done,  seems  to  have  furnished  some  amuse- 
ment to  the  wits  of  the  court.     The  prince  of 


Asturias,  Don  Carlos,  scribbled  one  day  on  the 
cover  of  a  blank  book,  as  its  title,  "  The  Great  and 
Admirable  Voyages  of  King  Philip  " ;  and  within, 
for  the  contents,  he  wrote,  "  From  Madrid  to  the 
Pardo,  from  the  Pardo  to  the  Escorial,  from  the 
Escorial  to  Aranjuez,"  &c.,  &c.^  This  jest  of  the 
graceless  son  had  an  edge  to  it.  We  are  not  told 
how  far  it  was  relished  by  his  royal  father. 

SB  Brantdme,  CEuvres,  torn.  m.  p.  821. 


5*  "  Et,  au  regard  de  la  covo-  viengne    aulcunement   qu*elle    se 

cation  desdicte  Estats  gcndraulx,  face    en    mon    absence,    mesmes 

oomme  je  vous  ay  escript  mon  in-  comme  je  suis  si  prest  de  mon 

tention,  je  ne  treuve  qu'il  y  a  ma-  partement.**     Correspondance  de 

tifere  pour  la  changer  ne  qu'il  con-  Marguerite  d'Autriche,  p.  165. 


CHAPTER   XII. 


THE  ICONOCLASTS. 


Catbedi-al  of  Antwerp  sacked.  —  Sacrilegious  Outrages.  —  Alarm  at 
Brussels.  —  Churches  granted  to  Refonners.  —  Margaret  repents 
her  Concessions. —  Feeling  at  Madrid. —  Sagacity  of  Orange.— 
His  Religious  Opinions. 

1566. 

While  Philip  was  thus  tardily  coming  to  con- 
cessions which  even  then  were  not  sincere,  an 
important  crisis  had  arrived  in  the  affairs  of  the 
Netherlands.  In  the  earlier  stages  of  the  troubles, 
all  orders,  the  nobles,  the  commons,  even  the 
regent,  had  united  in  the  desire  to  obtain  the  re- 
moval of  certain  abuses,  especially  the  Inquisition 
and  the  edicts.  But  this  movement,  in  which  the 
Catholic  joined  with  the  Protestant,  had  far  less 
reference  to  the  interests  of  religion  than  to  the 
personal  rights  of  the  individual.  Under  the  pro- 
tection thus  afforded,  however,  the  Reformation 
struck  deep  root  in  the  soil.  It  flourished  still 
more  under  the  favor  shown  to  it  by  the  confed- 
erates, who,  as  we  have  seen,  did  not  scruple  to 
guaranty  security  of  religious  worship  to  some  of 
the  sectaries  who  demanded  it. 


Ch.  XIL] 


PUBLIC  PREACHINGS. 


53 


But  the  element  which  contributed  most  to  the 
success  of  the  new  religion  was  the  public  preach- 
ings. These  in  the  Netherlands  were  what  the 
Jacobin  clubs  were  in  France,  or  the  secret  soci- 
eties in  Germany  and  Italy,  —  an  obvious  means 
for  biinging  together  such  as  were  pledged  to  a 
common  hostility  to  existing  institutions,  and  thus 
affording  them  an  opportunity  for  consulting  on 
their  grievances,  and  for  concertmg  the  best  means 
of  redress.  The  direct  object  of  these  meetings, 
it  is  true,  was  to  listen  to  the  teachings  of  the 
minister.  But  that  functionary,  far  from  confin- 
ing himself  to  spiritual  exercises,  usually  wan- 
dered to  more  exciting  themes,  as  the  corruptions 
of  the  Church  and  the  condition  of  the  land. 
He  rarelv  failed  to  descant  on  the  forlorn  circum- 
stances  of  himself  and  his  flock,  condemned  thus 
stealthily  to  herd  together  like  a  band  of  outlaws, 
with  ropes,  as  it  were,  about  their  necks,  and  to 
seek  out  some  solitary  spot  in  which  to  glorify  the 
Lord,  whUe  their  enemies,  in  all  the  pride  of  a 
dominant  religion,  could  offer  up  their  devotions 
openly  and  without  fear,  in  magnificent  temples. 
The  preacher  inveighed  bitterly  against  the  richly 
beneficed  clergy  of  the  rival  Church,  whose  lives 
of  pampered  ease  too  often  furnished  an  indiffer- 
ent commentary  on  the  doctrines  they  inculcated. 
His  wrath  was  kindled  by  the  pompous  ceremo- 
nial of  the  Church  of  Rome,  so  dazzling  and  at- 
tractive to  its  votaries,  but  which  the  Reformer 
sourly  contrasted  with  the  naked  simplicity  of  tho 


54 


THE  ICONOCLASTS. 


[Book  II 


11 


Protestant  service.  Of  all  abominations,  however, 
the  greatest  in  his*  eyes  was  the  worship  of  images, 
which  he  compared  to  the  idolatry  that  in  ancient 
times  had  so  often  brought  down  the  vengeance 
of  Jehovah  on  the  nations  of  Palestine ;  and  he 
called  on  his  hearers,  not  merely  to  remove  idolatry 
from  their  hearts,  but  the  idols  from  their  sight. 
It  was  not  wonderful  that,  thus  stimulated  by 
their  spiritual  leaders,  the  people  should  be  pre- 
pared for  scenes  similar  to  those  enacted  by  the 
Reformers  in  France  and  in  Scotland ;  or  that  Mar- 
garet, aware  of  the  popular  feeling,  should  have 
predicted  such  an  outbreak.  At  length  it  came, 
and  on  a  scale  and  with  a  degree  of  violence  not 
surpassed  either  by  the  Huguenots  or  the  disci- 
ples of  Knox. 

On  the  fourteenth  of  August,  the  day  before 
the  festival  of  the  Assumption  of  the  Virgin,  a 
mob  some  three  hundred  in  number,  aimed  with 
clubs,  axes,  and  other  implements  of  destruction, 
broke  into  the  churches  around  St.  Omer,  in  the 
province  of  Flanders,  overturned  the  images,  de- 
faced the  ornaments,  and  in  a  short  time  demol- 
ished whatever  had  any  value  or  beauty  in  the 
buildings.  Growing  bolder  from  the  impunity 
which  attended  their  movements,  they  next  pro- 
ceeded to  Ypres,  and  had  the  audacity  to  break 
into  the  cathedral,  and  deal  with  it  in  the  same 

I  «  Accendunt  animos  Minis-  pari  tantam  summi  Dei  contume- 
tn,  fugienda  non  ammo  mod6,  sed  Ham  opportere  affirmant.'*  Vander 
et  eorpore  idola:  eradicari,  extir-    Haer,  De  Initiis  Tumultuum,  p.  236. 


Ch.  XIL]      cathedral  of  ANTWERP  SACKED.  55 

ruthless  manner.  Strengthened  by  the  accession  of 
other  miscreants  from  the  various  towns,  they  pro- 
ceeded along  the  banks  of  the  Lys,  and  fell  upon 
the  churches  of  Menin,  Comines,  and  other  places 
on  its  borders.  The  excitement  now  spread  over 
the  country.  Everywhere  the  populace  was  in 
arms.  Churches,  chapels,  and  convents  were  in- 
volved  in  indiscriminate  ruin.  The  storm,  after 
sweeping  over  Flanders,  and  desolating  the  flour- 
ishing cities  of  Valenciennes  and  Toumay,  de- 
scended on  Brabant.  Antwerp,  the  great  com- 
mercial   capital    of    the    country,    was    its    first 

mark.^ 

The  usual  population  of  the  town  happened 
to  be  swelled  at  this  time  by  an  influx  of  stran- 
gers from  the  neighboring  country,  who  had  come 
up  to  celebrate  the  great  festival  of  the  Assump- 
tion of  the  Virgin.  Fortunately,  the  prince  of 
Orange  was  in  the  place,  and  by  his  presence  pre- 
vented any  molestation  to  the  procession,  except 
what  arose  from  the  occasional  groans  and  hisses 
of  the  more  zealous  spectators  among  the  Protes- 
tants. The  priests,  however,  on  their  return,  had 
the  discretion  to  deposit  the  image  in  the  chapel, 
instead  of  the  conspicuous  station  usually  assigned 
to  it  in  the  cathedral,  to  receive  there  during  the 
coming  week  the  adoration  of  the  faithful. 

»  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  torn,  rial,  p.  96.  —  Correspondance  de 

I.  pp.  250-252.  —  Vander  Haer,  Marguerite  d'Autriche,    pp.    183, 

De  Initiis  Tumultuum,  p.  232  et  185. 
IC5<J.  —  Hopper,  Recueil  et  Memo- 


56 


THE  ICONOCLASTS. 


[Book  II 


t 


On  the  following  day  unluckily,  the  prince  was 
recalled  to  Brussels.  In  the  evening  some  boys, 
who  had  found  their  way  into  the  church,  called 
out  to  the  Virgin,  demanding  "why  little  Mai-y 
had  gone  so  early  to  her  nest,  and  whether  she 
were  afmid  to  show  her  face  in  public."*  This 
was  followed  by  one  of  the  party  mounting  into 
the  pulpit,  and  there  mimicking  the  tones  and 
i^estures  of  the  Catholic  preacher.  An  honest 
waterman  who  was  present,  a  zealous  son  of  the 
Church,  scandalized  by  this  insult  to  his  religion, 
sprang  into  the  pulpit,  and  endeavored  to  dis- 
lodge the  usurper.  The  lad  resisted.  His  com- 
rades came  to  his  rescue ;  and  a  struggle  ensued, 
which  ended  in  both  the  parties  being  expelled 
from  the  building  by  the  officers.*  This  scan- 
dalous proceeding,  it  may  be  thought,  should  have 
put  the  magistrates  of  the  city  on  their  guard, 
and  warned  them  to  take  some  measures  of  de- 
fence for  the  cathedral.  But  the  admonition  was 
not  heeded. 

On  the  following  day  a  considerable  number  of 
the  reformed  party  entered  the  building,  and  were 
allowed  to  continue  there  after  vespers,  when  the 
rest  of  the  congregation  had  withdrawn.  Left  in 
possession,  their  first  act  was  to  break  forth  into 
one  of  the  Psalms  of  David.  The  sound  of  their 
own  voices  seemed  to  rouse  them  to  fury.      Be- 

3^SiMariett€avaitpeur,qu'elle    Taciturne,  torn.  II.,    Preface,   p 

!"2    retirat    sitot    en    son     nid"    lii. 
Corresponclanee  dc  Guillaume  le        *  Ibid.,  ubi  sup  .a. 


Ch.  Xn.]      CATHEDRAL  OF  ANTWERP  SACKED..  5^ 

fore  the  chant  had  died  away,  they  rushed  forward 
as  by  a  common  impulse,  broke  open  the  doors 
of  the  chapel,  and  dragged  forth  the  image  of  the 
Virgin.  Some  called  on  her  to  cry,  "  Vivent  les 
Gueux!''  while  others  tore  off  her  embroidered 
robes,  and  rolled  the  dumb  idol  in  the  dust,  amidst 
the  shouts  of  the  spectators. 

This  was  the  signal  for  havoc.  The  rioters  dis- 
persed  in  all  directions  on  the  work  of  destruction. 
Nothing  escaped  their  rage.  High  >above  the  great 
altar  was  an  image  of  the  Saviour,  curiously  carved 
in  wood,  and  placed  between  the  effigies  of  the 
two  thieves  crucified  with  him.  The  mob  con- 
trived  to  get  a  rope  round  the  neck  of  the 
statue  of  Christ,  and  dragged  it  to  the  ground. 
They  then  fell  upon  it  with  hatchets  and  ham- 
mers, and  it  was  soon  broken  into  a  hundred 
fragments.  The  two  thieves,  it  was  remarked, 
were  spared,   as  if  to   preside   over  the  work  of 

rapine  below. 

Their  fury  now  turned  against  the  other  statues, 
which  were  quickly  overthrown  from  their  pedes- 
tals. The  paintings  that  lined  the  walls  of  the 
cathedral  were  cut  into  shreds.  Many  of  these 
were  the  choicest  specimens  of  Flemish  art,  even 
then,  in  its  dawn,  giving  promise  of  the  glorious 
day  which  was  to  shed  a  lustre  over  the  land. 

But  the  pride  of  the  cathedral,  and  of  Antwerp, 
was  the  great  organ,  renovmed  throughout  the 
Netherlands,  not  more  for  its  dimensions  than  its 
perfect  workmanship.     With  their  ladders  the  ri- 


VOL.   II. 


8 


58 


THE  ICONOCLASTS. 


[Book  II. 


V 


oters  scaled  the  lofty  fabric,  and  with  their  imple- 
ments soon  converted  it,  like  all  else  they  laid 
their  hands  on,  into  a  heap  of  rubbish. 

The  ruin  was  now  universal.  Nothing  beauti- 
ful, nothing  holy,  was  spared.  The  altars  —  and 
there  were  no  less  than  seventy  in  the  vast  edifice 
— were  overthrown  one  after  another ;  their  richly 
embroidered  coverings  rudely  rent  away ;  their 
gold  and  silver  vessels  appropriated  by  the  plun- 
derers. The  sacramental  bread  was  trodden  under 
foot ;  the  wine  was  quaffed  by  the  miscreants,  in 
golden  chalices,  to  the  health  of  one  another,  or 
of  the  Gueux ;  and  the  holy  oil  was  profanely  used 
to  anoint  their  shoes  and  sandals.  The  sculptured 
ti-aceiy  on  the  walls,  the  costly  offerings  that  en- 
riched the  shrines,  the  screens  of  gilded  bronze, 
the  delicately  carved  wood-work  of  the  pulpit, 
the  marble  and  alabaster  ornaments,  all  went 
down  under  the  fierce  blows  of  the  iconoclasts. 
The  pavement  was  strewed  with  the  ruined  splen- 
dors of  a  church,  which  in  size  and  magnificence 
was  perhaps  second  only  to  St.  Peter's  among  the 
churches  of  Christendom. 

As  the  light  of  day  faded,  the  assailants  sup- 
plied its  place  with  such  light  as  they  could  ob- 
tain from  the  candles  which  they  snatched  from 
the  altars.  It  was  midnight  before  the  work  of 
^  destruction  was  completed.  Thus  toiling  in  dark- 
•  ness,  feebly  dispelled  by  tapers  the  rays  of  which 
could  scarcely  penetrate  the  vaulted  distances  of 
the   cathedi-al,  it  is  a  curious   circumstance  —  if 


H.  XII.]  SACRILEGIOUS  OUTRAGES.  59 

tPue  — that  no  one  was  injured  by  the  heavy 
masses  of  timber,  stone,  and  metal  that  were 
everywhere  faUing  around  them.^  The  whole 
number  engaged  in  this  work  is  said  not  to  have 
exceeded  a  hundred  men,  women,  and  boys, — 
women  of  the  lowest  description,  dressed  in  men's 

attire. 

When  their  task  was  completed,  they  sallied 
forth  in  a  body  from  the  doors  of  the  cathedral, 
some  singing  the  Psalms  of  David,  others  roaring 
out  the  fanatical  war-cry  of  "  Vivent  les  Gueux ! " 
Flushed  with  success,  and  joined  on  the  way  by 
stragglers  like  themselves,  they  burst  open  the 
doors  of  one  church  after  another;  and  by  the 
time  morning  broke,  the  principal  temples  in  the 
city  had  been  dealt  with  in  the  same  ruthless 
manner  as  the  cathedral.^ 

No  attempt  all  this  time  was  made  to  stop  these 
proceedings,  on  the  part  of  magistrates  or  cit- 
izens. As  they  beheld  from  their  windows  the 
bodies  of  armed  men  hurrying  to  and  fro  by  the 
gleam  of  their  torches,  and  listened  to  the  sounds 
of  violence  in  the  distance,   they   seem   to   have 


5  "Kullus  ex  eo  numero  aut 
casu  afflictus,  aut  ruina  oppressus 
decidentium  ac  transvolantium  frag- 
mentorum,  aut  occursu  collisuque 
festinantiura  cum  fabrilibus  armis 
levissimfe  sauciatus  sit."  Strada, 
De  Bello  Belgico,  torn.  I.  p.  257. 

"  No  light  argument,"  adds  the 
historian,  "that  with  God*s  per- 
mission the  work  was  done  under 


the  immediate  direction  of  the  de 
mons  of  Hell ! " 

6  n)id.,  pp.  255-258.— Van- 
der  Haer,  De  Initiis  Tumultuum, 
p.  237  et  seq.  —  Brandt,  Reforma- 
tion in  the  Low  Countries,  vol.  I. 
p.  193. — Correspondance  de  Gui« 
llaume  le  Tacitui  ne,  tom.  II.,  Pre- 
face, pp.  liii,  liv. 


!  1 


•  » 


il 


I  I! 


'I 


60 


THE  ICONOCLASTS. 


[Book  II 


been  stmck  with  a  panic.  The  Catholics  remained 
within  doors,  feai-ing  a  general  rising  of  the  Prot- 
estants.  The  Protestants  feared  to  move  abroad, 
lest  they  shoidd  be  confounded  with  the  rioters. 
Some  imagined  their  own  turn  might  come  next, 
and  appeared  in  arms  at  the  entrances  of  their 
houses,    prepared    to    defend    them    against    the 

enemy. 

When  gorged  with  the  plunder  of  the  city,  the 
insurgents  poured  out  at  the  gates,  and  fell  with 
the  same  violence  on  the  churches,  convents,  and 
other  religious  edifices  in  the  suburbs.  For  three 
days  these  dismal  scenes  continued,  without  resist- 
ance on  the  part  of  the  inhabitants.  Amidst  the 
ruin  in  the  cathedral,  the  mob  had  alone  spared 
the  royal  anns  and  the  escutcheons  of  the  knights 
of  the  Golden  Fleece,  emblazoned  on  the  walls. 
Calling  this  to  mind,  they  now  returned  into  the 
city  to  complete  the  work.  But  some  of  the 
knights,  who  were  at  Antwerp,  collected  a  hand- 
ful of  their  followers,  and,  with  a  few  of  the  citi- 
zens, forced  their  way  into  the  cathedral,  arrested 
ten  or  twelve  of  the  rioters,  and  easily  dispersed 
the  remainder ;  while  a  gallows  erected  on  an  emi- 
nence admonished  the  offenders  of  the  fate  that 
awaited  them.  The  facility  with  which  the  dis- 
orders were  repressed  by  a  few  resolute  men  nat- 
urally suggests  the  inference,  that  many  of  the 
citizens  had  too  much  sympathy  with  the  authors 
of  the  outrages  to  care  to  check  them,  still  less 
to  bring  the  culprits  to  punishment.     An  orthodox 


Ch.  XIL]  SACRILEGIOUS  OUTRAGES.  61 

chronicler  of  the  time  vents  his  indignation  against 
a  people  who  were  so  much  more  ready  to  stand 
by  their  hearths  than  by  their  altars.^ 

The  fate  of  Antwerp  had  its  effect  on  the  coun- 
tr)\     The  flames  of  fanaticism,  burning  fiercer  than 
ever,  quickly  spread   over  the  northern,  as  they 
had  done  over  the   western   provinces.     In  Hoi- 
land,  Utrecht,  Friesland,  —  everywhere,  in  short, 
with  a  few  exceptions  on  the  southern  borders,  — 
mobs  rose  against  the  churches.     In  some  places, 
as  Rotterdam,  Dort,  Haarlem,  the  magistrates  were 
wary  enough  to  avert  the  storm  by  deUveiing  up 
the  images,   or  at  least  by  removing  them  from 
the  buildings.^     It  was  rare  that  any  attempt  was 
made  at  resistance.     Yet  on  one  or  two  occasions 
this   so  far   succeeded  that   a   handful   of  troops 
sufficed  to  rout  the  iconoclasts.     At  Anchyn,  four 
hundred  of  the  rabble  were  left  dead  on  the  field. 
But  the  soldiers  had  no  relish  for  their  duty,  and 
on  other  occasions,  when  called  on  to  perform  it, 
refused  to  bear  arms  against   their   countrymen.* 


^  "  Pro  focis  pugnatur  interdum 
acrius  quJim  pro  aris.**  Strada,  De 
Bello  Bel/ico,  torn.  I.  p.  260. 

8  Brandt,  Refoiination  in  the 
Ix)w  Countries,  vol.  I.  p.  201. 

9  But.  the  AhTiighty,  to  quote  the 
words  of  a  contemporary,  jealous  of 
his  own  honor,  t'ook  signal  vengeance 
afterwards  on  all  those  towns  and 
villages  whose  inhabitants  had  stood 
tamely  by,  and  seen  the  profana- 
tion of  his  temples.  —  "  Dios  que 
es  justo  y  zelador  de  su  honra  por 


caminos  y  formas  incomprehensi- 

bles,  lo  ha  vengado  despues  cruel- 

mente,  por  que  todos  esos  lugares 

donde  esas  cosas  han  acontecido 

han  sido  tornados,  saqueados,  de- 

spojados  y  arruinados  por  guerra, 

pillage,  peste  y  incomodidades,  en 

que,  asi  los  males  y  culpados,  como 

los  buenos  por  su  sufrimiento  y 

connivencia,  han  conoeido  y  con- 

fesado  que  Dios  ha  sido  corrido 

contra  ellos."    Renom  de  Francia, 

All)orotos  de  Flandcs,  MS. 


t 


t! 


n 


62 


THE  ICONOCLASTS. 


[Book  II 


The  leaven  of  heresy  was  too  widely  spread  among 
the  people. 

Thus  the  work  of  plunder  and  devastation  went 
on  vigorously  throughout  the  land.  Cathedral 
and  chapel,  monastery  and  nunnery,  religious 
houses  of  every  description,  even  hospitals,  were 
delivered  up  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  Reform- 
ers. The  monks  fled,  leaving  behind  them  treas- 
ures of  manuscripts  and  well-stored  cellars,  which 
latter  the  invaders  soon  emptied  of  their  contents, 
while  they  consigned  the  former  to  the  flames. 
The  terrified  nuns,  escaping  half  naked,  at  dead 
of  night,  from  their  convents,  were  too  happy  to 
find  a  retreat  among  their  friends  and  kinsmen  in 
the  city.^^  Neither  monk  nor  nun  ventured  to  go 
abroad  in  the  conventual  garb.  Priests  might  be 
sometimes  seen  hurrying  away  with  some  relic  or 
sacred  treasure  under  their  robes,  which  they  were 
eager  to  save  from  the  spoilers.  In  the  general 
sack  not  even  the  abode  of  the  dead  was  re- 
spected ;  and  the  sepulchres  of  the  counts  of  Flan- 
ders were  violated,  and  laid  open  to  the  public 


gaze ! " 

The  deeds  of  violence  perpetrated  by  the  icono- 
clasts were  accompanied  by  such  indignities  as 
might  express  their  contempt  for  the  ancient  faith. 
They  snatched  the  wafer,  says  an  eyewitness,  from 

w  Strada,DeBelloBelgico,tom.  tures  des  comtea  et  comtesses  de 

I.  p.  259.  Flandres  ct  aultres."     Correspon- 

IJ  "  En  tous  ces  monastbrcs  et  dance  de  Marguerite  d'Autriche, 

cloistres,  ils  abattent  touttos  sepul-  p.  183. 


ch.  xn.i 


SACRILEGIOUS  OUTRAGES. 


63 


the  altar,  and  put  it  into  the  mouth  of  a  parrot. 
Some  huddled  the  images  of  the  saints  together, 
and  set  them  on  fire,  or  covered  them  with  bits 
of  araior,  and,  shouting  ''Vivent  les  Gueuxr'  tilted 
rudely  against  them.  Some  put  on  the  vestments 
stolen  from  the  churches,  and  ran  about  the  streets 
with  them  in  mockery.  Some  basted  the  books 
with  butter,  that  they  might  bum  the  more  brisk- 
XjP  By  the  scholar,  this  last  enormity  will  not 
be  held  light  among  their  transgressions.  It  an- 
swered their  pui'pose,  to  judge  by  the  number  of 
volumes  that  were  consumed.  Among  the  rest, 
the  great  library  of  Vicogne,  one  of  the  noblest 
collections  in  the  Netherlands,  perished  in  the 
flames  kindled  by  these  fanatics.^^ 

The  amount  of  injury  inflicted  during  this  dis- 
mal period  it  is  not  possible  to  estimate.  Four 
hundred  churches  were  sacked  by  the  insurgents 
in  Flanders  alone.^*  The  damage  to  the  cathe- 
dral of  Antwerp,  including  its  precious  contents, 
was  said  to  amount  to  not  less  than  four  hun- 
dred thousand  ducats  !^^  The  loss  occasioned  by 
the   plunder  of  gold   and   silver  plate   might  be 


IS  "  Hie  psittaco  sacrosanctum 
Domini  corpus  porrigerent:  Hie 
ex  online  collocatis  imaginibus  ig- 
nera  subijcerent,  cadentibus  insul- 
tarent:  Hie  statuis  arma  induerent, 
in  armatos  depugnarent,  deiectos, 
Viuant  Geusij  clamare  imperarent, 
ut  ad  scopum  sic  ad  Christi  imagi- 
nem  iaculaturi  collimarent,  libros 
bibliotbecarum  butiro  inunctos  in 


ignem  conijcerent,  sacris  vestibus 
summo  ludibrio  per  vicos  palkm 
vterentur."  Vander  Haer,  De 
Initiis  Tumultuum,  p.  238. 

13  Hopper,  Recueil  et  Memorial, 
p.  98. 

14  Correspondance  de  Margue- 
rite d*Autncbe,  p.  182. 

15  Strada,  De  Bollo  Belgico,  toia 
I.  p.  260. 


( 


04 


THE  ICONOCLASTS. 


[Book  II 


Ch.  xn.i 


ALARM  AT  BRUSSELS. 


65 


IH 


computed.    The  structures  so  crueUy  defaced  might 
be  repaired  by  the  skiU  of  the  architect.     But 
who  can  estimate  the  irreparable  loss  occasioned 
by  the  destruction  of  manuscripts,  statuary,  and 
paintings  ]    It  is  a  melancholy  fact,  that  the  ear- 
liest efforts  of   the   Reformers  were   everywhere 
directed  agamst  those  monuments  of  genius  which 
had  been  created  and  cherished  by  the  generous 
patronage  of  Catholicism.     But  if  the  first   step 
of  the  Reformation  was  on  the  ruins  of  art,  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  a  compensation  has  been 
found  in  the  good  which  it  has  done  by  breaking 
the  fetters  of  the  intellect,   and   opening  a  free 
range  in  those  domains  of  science  to  which  all 
access  had  been  hitherto  denied. 

The  wide  extent  of  the   devastation  was  not 
more  remarkable  than  the  time  in  which  it  was 
accomplished.      The    whole  work    occupied   less 
than  a  fortnight.     It  seemed  as  if  the  destroying 
angel  had  passed   over   the  land,  and  at  a  blow 
had  consigned  its  noblest  edifices  to   ruin!     The 
method  and  discipline,   if  I  may  so   say,  in  the 
movements  of  the  iconoclasts,  were  as  extraordi- 
nary as  their  celerity.     They  would  seem  to  have 
been   directed  by   some   other  hands   than  those 
•  which  met  the  vulgar  eye.     The  quantity  of  gold 
and   silver  plate    purloined    from    the    churches 
and   convents   was   immense.     Though    doubtless 
sometimes   appropriated  by  individuals,  it   seems 
not    unfrequently   to   have  been    gathered    in    a 
heap,  and  delivered  to  the  minister,  who,  either  of 


himself,  or  by  direction  of  the  consistory,  caused 
it  to  be  melted  down,  and  distributed  among 
the  most  needy  of  the  sectaries.^«  We  may 
sympathize  with  the  indignation  of  a  Catho- 
lic writer  of  the  time,  who  exclaims,  that  in 
this  way  the  poor  churchmen  were  made  to  pay 
for    the    scourges    with    which    they    had    been 

beaten." 

The  tidings  of  the  outbreak  fell  heavily  on  the 
cars   of  the  court  of  Brussels,  where  the  regent, 
notwithstanding  her  prediction  of  the  event,  was 
not  any  the  better  prepared  for  it.     She  at  once 
called  her  counsellors  together  and  demanded  their 
aid  in  defending  the  religion  of  the  country  against 
its  enemies.     But  the  prince  of  Orange   and  his 
friends  discouraged  a  resort  to  violent  measures, 
as   little  likely  to   prevail  in  the  present  temper 
of  the    people.     "  First,"   said   Egmont,   "  let  us 
provide  for  the  security  of  the  state.     It  wUl  be 
time   enough  then  to  think  of  religion."     "  No," 
said  Margaret  warmly;  "the  service  of  God  de- 
mands   our   first  care;    for   the   ruin   of  religion 
would   be   a   greater    evil   than   the   loss   of   the 
•  country."  ^^     "  Those  who   have  anything  to   lose 


16  "  y  de  lo  que  venia  del  saco 
de  la  plateria  y  cosas  sagradas  de 
la  yglesia  (que  algunos  ministros  y 
los  del  consistorio  juntavan  en  una) 
distribuyendo  i.  los  fieles  reforma- 
dos  algunos  frutos  de  su  reforma- 
cion,  para  contentar  d  los  hambri- 
entos."  Renorn  de  Francia,  Albo- 
rotos  de  Flandes,  MS. 

VOL.  II.  ^ 


n  "  Haclendoles  pagar  el  precio 
de  Ids  azotes  con  que  fueron  azo- 
tados."    Ibid. 

18  »t  II  r^pondit  que  la  premiere 
chose  a  faire  etait  de  conserver 
I'Etat ;  que,  ensuite  on  s'occuperait 
des  choses  de  la  religion.  EUe 
repliqua,  non  sans  humeur,  qu'il 
lui  paraissait  plus   n^cessaire    do 


66 


THE  ICONOCLASTa 


[Book  II 


in  it,"  replied  the  count  somewhat   coolly,  "will 


»»19 


an  answer 


probably  be  of  a  different  opinion,' 
that  greatly  displeased  the  duchess. 

Rumors  now  came  thick  on  one  another  of  the 
outrages  committed  by  the  image-breakers.  Fears 
were  entertained  that  their  next  move  would  be  on 
the  capital  itself  Hitherto  the  presence  of  the 
regent  had  preserved  Brussels,  notwithstanding 
some  transient  demonstrations  among  the  people, 
from  the  spirit  of  reform  which  had  convulsed 
the  rest  of  the  country.  No  public  meetings  had 
been  held  either  in  the  city  or  the  suburbs ;  for 
Margaret  had  declared  she  would  hang  up,  not 
only  the  preacher,  but  all  those  who  attended 
him.^  The  menace  had  its  effect.  Thus  keep- 
ing aloof  from  the  general  movement  of  the  time, 
the  capital  was  looked  on  with  an  evil  eye  by  the 
surrounding  country;  and  reports  were  rife,  that 
the  iconoclasts  were  preparing  to  march  in  such 
force  on  the  place,  as  should  enable  them  to  deal 
with  it  as  they  had  done  with  Antwerp  and  the 
other  cities  of  Brabant. 

The  question  now  arose  as  to  the  course  to  be 
pursued  in  the  present  exigency.     The  prince  of  ' 
Orange    and    his    friends   earnestly   advised   that 
Margaret   should   secure  the  aid  of  the  confeder- 

pourvoir  d'ahord  k  ce  qu*exigeait  19  "  H  repardt  que  tous   cenx 

le  service  de  Dieu,  parce  que  la  qui  avaient  quelque  chose  k  perdre, 

mine  de  la  religion  serait  un  plus  ne  I'entendaient  pas  de  cette  ma* 

grand  mal,  que  la  perte  du  pays/*  niere/'    Ibid.,  p.  450. 

Correspondance  de  Philippe  II.,  «>  vide  ante,  p.  31. 
torn.  I.  p.  449. 


Ch.  xn.] 


ALAEM  AT  BRUSSELS. 


61 


ates  by  the  concessions  they  had  so  strenuously 
demanded;    in   the   next   place,  that   she   should 
conciliate  the  Protestants  by  consenting   to   their 
religious   meetings.     To  the  former  she  made  no 
objection.     But  the  latter  she  peremptorily  refused. 
'■'  It  would  be  the  ruin  of  our  holy  religion,"  she 
3aid.     It  was  in  vain  they  urged,  that  two  hundred 
thousand  sectaries  were  in  arms ;    that  they  were 
already  in  possession  of  the  churches ;  that,  if  she 
^rsisted   in   her  refusal,  they  would  soon  be  in 
Brussels,   and  massacre   every  priest  and  Roman 
Catholic  before  her  eyes !  ^^     Notwithstanding  this 
glowing   picture   of  the  horrors  in  store  for  her, 
Margaret  remained  inflexible.     But  her  agitation 
was  excessive ;    she  felt  herself  alone  in   her   ex- 
tremity.    The  party  of  Gmnvelle   she   had  long 
since   abandoned.     The   party  of  Orange   seemed 
now    ready    to    abandon    her.      "I    am    pressed 
by  enemies  within   and   without,"  she   wrote   to 
Philip;    "there  is   no   one   on  whom  I  can   rely 
for  counsel  or  for   aid."*^     Distrust  and   anxiety 
brought   on   a  fever,   and  for   several    days   and 
nights   she   lay   tossing    about,   suflfering  equally 
from  distress  of  body  and  anguish  of  spirit.^ 


^^  "  Et    me  disoient que 

lea  sectaires  vouUoient  venir  tuer, 
en  ma  presence,  tous  les  prestres, 
gens  d'eglise  et  catholicques."  Cor- 
respondance de  Marguerite  d'Au- 
riche,  p.  188. 

**  "  La  duchesse  se  trouve  sans 
conseil  ni  assistance,  press^e  par 
''ennemi  au  dedans  et  au  dehors." 


Correspondance  de   Philippe  II., 
torn.  I.  p.  455. 

^  "  Nonobstant  touttes  ces  rai- 
sons  et  remonstrances,  par  plusieurs 
et  divers  jours,  je  n*y  ay  voullu 
entendre,  donnant  par  plusieurs 
fois  soupirs  et  signe  de  douleur  et 
angoisse  de  coeur,  jusques  k  \k  que, 
par  aulcuns  jours,  la  fiebvre  m*a 


68 


THE  ICONOCLASTS. 


[Book  H 


Ch.  XII.] 


t 


Thus  sorely  perplexed,  Margaret  felt  also  the 
most  serious  apprehensions  for  her  personal  safety 
With  the  slight  means  of  defence  at  her  com- 
mand, Brussels  seemed  no  longer  a  safe  residence, 
and  she  finally  came  to  the  resolution  to  extricate 
herself  from  the  danger  and  difficulties  of  her 
situation  by  a  precipitate  flight.  After  a  brief 
consultation  with  Barlaimont,  Arschot,  and  others 
of  the  party  opposed  to  the  prince  of  Orange,  and 
hitherto  little  in  her  confidence,  she  determined  to 
abandon  the  capital,  and  seek  a  refuge  in  Mons, 
—  a  strong  town  in  Hainault,  belonging  to  the 
duke  of  Arschot,  which,  from  its  sturdy  attach- 
ment to  the  Romish  faith,  had  little  to  fear 
from  the  fanatics. 

Having  completed  her  preparations  with  the 
greatest  secrecy,  on  the  day  fixed  for  her  flight 
Margaret  called  her  council  together  to  com- 
municate her  design.  It  met  with  the  most 
decided  opposition,  not  merely  from  the  lords 
with  whom  she  had  hitherto  acted,  but  from 
the  President  Viglius.  They  all  united  in  en- 
deavoring to  turn  her  from  a  measure  which 
would  plainly  intimate  such  a  want  of  confidence 
on  the  part  of  the  duchess  as  must  dishonor 
them  in  the  eyes  of  the  world.  The  preparations 
for  Margaret's  flight  had  not  been  conducted  so 
secretly  but  that  some  rumor  of  them  had  taken 
wind ;  and  the  magistrates  of  the  city  now  waited 

ildtenue,    et    ay    passe    plusieurs    dance  de  Marguerite  d'Autriche 
nuicts    sans    repos."     Correspon-    p.  194. 


ALARM  AT  BRUSSELS. 


69 


on  her  in  a  body,  and  besought  her  not  to  leave 
them,  defenceless  as  they  were,  to  the  mercy  of 
their  enemies. 

The  prince  was  heard  to  say,  that,  if  the  regent 
thus  abandoned  the  government,  it  would  be  neces- 
sary  to  caU  the  states-general  together  at  once,  to 
take  measures  for  the  protection  of  the  country.^* 
And  Egmont  declared  that,  if  she  fled  to  Mons,  he 
would   muster  forty  thousand   men,   and   besiege 
Mons  in  person.^^     The  threat  was  not  a  vain  one, 
for  no  man  in  the  country  could   have   gathered 
such  a  force   under   his  banner  more  easily  than 
Egmont.     The  question  seems  to  have  been  finally 
settled  by  the  magistrates  causing  the  gates  of  the 
town  to  be  secured,  and  a  strong  guard  placed  ovei- 
them,  with  orders  to  allow  no  passage  either  to  the 
duchess  or  her  followers.  —  Thus  a  prisoner  in  her 
own  capital,  Margaret  conformed  to  necessity,  and, 
with  the  best  grace   she   could,   consented  to   re-' 
linquish  her  scheme  of  departure.^^ 

The  question  now  recurred  as  to  the  course  to 
be  pursued ;  and  the  more  she  pondered  on  the 
embarrassments  of  her  position,  the  more  she 
became  satisfied  that  no  means  of  extricating  her- 
self remained  but   that  proposed  by  the   nobles 


U   tn^T  T.l''"'^  ^'  ^^'^'^^        *  Correspondance  de  Maip^e- 

n.M.  p.  454.  rite  d'Autriche,  p.  196.  -  St,^, 

%T.ont  a  tenu  le    meme  De  Bello  Belgieo,  torn.  I.  p.  266 

O^^fi:'"'-^'"''"'^"'""^^^''^'*  -^^^  V^?^»'  P-  48. -Hopper' 

W  hommes,  pour  aller  assieger  Recueil  et  Memorial,  p.  99.    ^^ 
oious.      Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


70 


THE  ICONOCLASTS. 


[Book  n. 


Yet,  in  thus  yielding  to  necessity,  she  did  so  pro- 
testing that  she  was  acting  under  compulsion.^ 
On  the  twenty-third  of  August,  Margaret  executed 
an  instrument,  by  which  she  engaged  that  no  harm 
should  come  to  the  members  of  the  league  for  any- 
thing hitherto  done  by  them.  She  further  author- 
ized the  lords  to  announce  to  the  confederates  her 
consent  to  the  religious  meetings  of  the  Reformed, 
in  places  where  they  had  been  hitherto  held,  until 
his  majesty  and  the  states-general  should  otherwise 
determine.  It  was  on  the  condition,  however,  that 
they  should  go  there  imarmed,  and  nowhere  offer 
disturbance  to  the  Catholics. 

On  the  twenty-fifth  of  the  month  the  confederate 
nobles  signed  an  agreement  on  their  part,  and  sol- 
emnly swore  that  they  would  aid  the  regent  to  the 
utmost  in  suppressing  the  disorders  of  the  country, 
and  in  bringing  their  authors  to  justice ;  agreeing, 
moreover,  that,  so  long  as  the  regent  should  be  true 
to  the  compact,  the  league  should  be  considered  as 
null  and  void.^ 

The  feelings  of  Margaret,  in  making  the  con- 
cessions required  of  her,  may  be  gathered  from 


"  At  Margaret's  command,  a 
detailed  account  of  the.  circum- 
stances under  which  these  conces- 
sions were  extorted  from  her  was 
drawn  up  by  the  secretary  Berty. 
Thb  document  is  given  by  Ga- 
chard,  Correspondance  de  Phi- 
lippe II.,  tom.  11,  Appendix,  p. 
588. 


■  The  particulars  of  the  agree- 
ment are  given  by  Meteren,  Hist, 
des  Pays-Bas,  fol.  45.  See  also 
Brandt,  Reformation  in  the  Low 
Countries,  vol.  I.  p.  204. —  Corre- 
spondance de  Guillaume  le  Taci* 
tume,  tom.  11.  pp.  455,  459.— 
Correspondance  de  Philippe  II, 
tom.  I.  p.  cxliv. 


Ch  Xn.]  CHURCHES  GRANTED  TO  REFORMERS.      71 

the  perusal  of  her  private  correspondence  with 
her  brother.  No  act  in  her  public  life  ever  caused 
her  so  deep  a  mortification ;  and  she  never  forgave 
the  authors  of  it.  "  It  was  forced  upon  me,"  she 
writes  to  PhUip ;  « but,  happily,  you  wiU  not  be 
bound  by  it."  And  she  beseeches  him  to  come 
at  once,  in  such  strength  as  would  enable  him 
to  conquer  the  country  for  himself,  or  to  give 
her  the  means  of  doing  so.^^  —  Margaret,  in  early 
life,  had  been  placed  in  the  hands  of  Ignatius 
Loyola.  More  than  one  passage  in  her  history 
proves  that  the  lessons  of  the  Jesuit  had  not 
been  thrown  away. 

During   these  discussions   the   panic  had  been 
such,  that  it  was  thought  advisable  to  strengthen 
the  garrison  under  command  of  Count  Mansfeldt, 
and  keep  the  greater  part  of  the  citizens  under 
anns  day  and  night.     When  this  arrangement  was 
concluded,  the  great  lords  dispersed  on  their  mis- 
sion  to  restore  order  in  their  several  governments. 
The  prince  went  first  to  Antwerp,  where,  as  we 
have  seen,  he   held   the   office  of  burgrave.     He 
made  strict  investigation   into   the   causes  of  the 
late  tumult,  hung  three  of  the  ringleaders,   and 
banished  three  others.     He  found  it,  however,  no 
easy  matter  to  come  to  teims  with  the  sectaries, 
who    had    possession   of  all   the   churches,   from 


»  "  Elle  le  supplie   d'y   venir    respondance  de  PhiUppe  H.,  tom 
promptement,  h  main  armee,  afin     I.  p.  453. 
de  le  conqudrir  de  nouveau."   Cor- 


II 


72 


THE  ICONOCLASTS. 


[Book  U 


Ch.  XII.]    CUURCHES  GRANTED  TO  SEFORMERS. 


7;t 


which  they  had  diiven  the  Catholics.  After  long 
negotiation,  it  was  arranged  that  they  should  be 
allowed  to  hold  six,  and  should  resign  the  rest  to 
the  ancient  possessors.  The  arrangement  gave 
general  satisfaction,  and  the  principal  citizens  and 
merchants  congratulated  William  on  having  res- 
cued  them  from  the  evils  of  anarchy. 

Not  so  the  regent.  She  knew  well  that  the 
example  of  Antwerp  would  become  a  precedent 
for  the  rest  of  the  country.  She  denounced  the 
compact,  as  compromising  the  interests  of  Cathol- 
icism, and  openly  accused  the  prince  of  having 
transcended  his  powers,  and  betrayed  the  trust 
reposed  in  him.  Finally,  she  wrote,  commanding 
him  at  once  to  revoke  his  concessions. 

William,  in  answer,  explained  to  her  the  grounds 
on  which  they  had  been  made,  and  their  absolute 
necepsity,  in  order  to  save  the  city  from  anarchy. 
It  is  a  strong  argument  in  his  favor,  that  the  Prot- 
estants, who  already  claimed  the  prince  as  one  of 
their  own  sect,  accused  him,  in  this  instance,  of  sac- 
rificing their  cause  to  that  of  their  enemies ;  and 
caricatures  of  him  were  made,  representing  him 
with  open  hands  and  a  double  face.^^  William, 
while  thus  explaining  his  conduct,  did  not  con- 
ceal his  indignation  at  the  charges  brought  against 
him  by  the  regent,  and  renewed  his  request  for 
leave  to  resign  his  offices,  since  he  no  longer  en- 
joyed  her  confidence.     But  whatever  disgust  she 

»  Raumer,  Sixteenth  and  Seventeenth  Centuries,  vol.  I.  p.  177 


may  have  felt  at  his  present  conduct,  William's 
services  were  too  important  to  Margaret  in  this 
crisis  to  allow  her  to  dispense  with  them ;  and 
she  made  haste  to  write  to  him  in  a  conciliatory 
tone,  explaining  away  as  far  as  possible  what  had 
been  offensive  in  her  former  letters.  Yet  from 
this  hour  the  consciousness  of  mutual  distrust 
raised  a  barrier  between  the  paities  never  to  be 
overcome.^ 

William  next  proceeded  to  his  governments  of 
Utrecht  and  Holland,  which,  by  a  similar  course 
of  measures  to  that  pursued  at  Antwerp,  he  soon 
restored  to  order.  While  in  Utrecht,  he  presented 
to  the  states  of  the  province  a  memorial,  in  which 
he  briefly  reviewed  the  condition  of  the  country. 
He  urged  the  necessity  of  religious  toleration,  as 
demanded  by  the  spirit  of  the  age,  and  as  partic- 
ularly necessary  in  a  country  like  that,  the  resort 
of  so  many  foreigners,  and  inhabited  by  sects  of 
such  various  denominations.  He  concluded  by 
recommending  them  to  lay  a  petition  to  that  effect 
before  the  throne,  —  not,  probably,  from  any  be- 
lief that  such  a  petition  would  be  heeded  by  the 
monarch,  but  from  the  effect  it  would  have  in 
strengthening  the  principles  of  religious  freedom 
in  his  countrymen.  William's  memorial  is  alto- 
gether a  remarkable  paper  for  the  time,  and  in  the 
wise  and  liberal  tenor  of  its  arguments  strikingly 


31  Correspondance      de      Gui-     220,  223,  231,  233 ;  Preface,  pp. 
llaume  le  Taciturne,  torn.  II.  pp.    Ixii.-Ixiv. 


VOL.  II. 


10 


t 


I 


THE  ICONOCLASTS. 


[Book  H 


Ch.  Xn.]    CHURCHES  GRANTED  TO  REFORMERS. 


75 


^ 
i 


t 


contrasts  with  the  intolerant  spirit  of  the  court 
of  Madrid.® 

The  regent  proved  correct  in  her  prediction  that 
the  example  of  Antwerp  would  be  made  a  pre- 
cedent for  the  country.  William's  friends,  the 
Counts  Hoome  and  Hoogstraten,  employed  the 
same  means  for  conciliating  the  sectaries  in  their 
own  governments.  It  was  otherwise  with  Egmont. 
He  was  too  stanch  a  Catholic  at  heart  to  approve 
of  such  concessions.  He  carried  matters,  there- 
fore, with  a  high  hand  in  his  provinces  of  Flan- 
ders and  Artois,  where  his  personal  authority  was 
unbounded.  He  made  a  severe  scrutiny  into  the 
causes  of  the  late  tumult,  and  dealt  with  its  au- 
thors so  sternly,  as  to  provoke  a  general  complaint 
among  the  reformed  party,  some  of  whom,  indeed, 
became  so  far  alarmed  for  their  own  safety,  that 
they  left  the  provinces  and  went  beyond  sea. 

Order  now  seemed  to  be  reestablished  in  the 
land,  through  the  efforts  of  the  nobles,  aided  by 
the  confederates,  who  seem  to  have  faithfully  exe- 
cuted their  part  of  the  compact  with  the  regent. 
The  Protestants  took  possession  of  the  churches 
assigned  to  them,  or  busied  themselves  with  rais- 
ing others  on  the  ground  before  reserved  for  theii 
meetings.  All  joined  in  the  good  work  ;  the  men 
laboring  at  the  building,  the  women  giving  their 
jewels  and  ornaments  to  defray  the  cost  of  the 
materials.     A  calm  succeeded,  —  a  temporary  lull 


**  The  document  is  given  entii-e    d'Orange-Nassau,  torn.  11.  p.  429 
bv  Groen,  Archives  de  la  Maison    et  seq. 


after  the  hurricane ;  and  Lutheran  and  Calvinist 
again  indulged  in  the  pleasing  illusion,  that,  how- 
ever distasteful  it  might  be  to  the  government, 
they  were  at  length  secure  of  the  blessings  of  re- 
ligious toleration. 

During  the  occurrence  of  these  events  a  great 
change  had  taken  place  in  the  relations  of  parties. 
The  Catholic  members  of  the  league,  who  had 
proposed  nothing  beyond  the  reform  of  certam 
glaring  abuses,  and,  least  of  all,  anything  preju- 
dicial to  their  own  religion,  were  startled  as  they 
saw  the  inevitable  result  of  the  course  they  were 
pursuing.  Several  of  them,  as  we  have  seen,  had 
left  the  league  before  the  outbreak  of  the  icono- 
clasts ;  and  after  that  event,  but  very  few  re- 
mained in  it.  The  confederates,  on  the  other 
hand,  lost  ground  with  the  people,  who  looked 
with  distrust  on  their  late  arrangement  with  the 
regent,  in  which  they  had  so  well  provided  for 
their  own  security.  The  confidence  of  the  people 
was  not  restored  by  the  ready  aid  which  their  old 
allies  seemed  willing  to  afford  the  great  nobles  in 
bringing  to  justice  the  authors  of  the  recent  dis- 
orders.^    Thus  deserted  by  many  of  its  own  mem- 


33  Tiepolo,  the  Venetian  minis- 
ter at  the  court  of  Castile  at  this 
time,  in  his  report  made  on  his  re- 
turn, expressly  acquits  the  Flemish 
nobles  of  what  had  been  often  im- 
puted to  them,  having  a  hand  in 
these  troubles.  Their  desire  for 
reform  only  extended  to  certain 
•jrying  abuses;  but,  in  the  words 


of  his  metaphor,  the  stream  which 
they  would  have  turned  to  the  ini- 
gation  of  the  ground  soon  swelled 
to  a  terrible  inundation.  —  "Con- 
tra r  opinion  de*  principali  della 
lega,  che  volevano  indur  timore  et 

non  tanto  danno Dico  che 

questo  fu  perche  essi  non  hebbero 
mai  intentione  di  ribellarsi  dal  suo 


76 


THE  ICONOCLAST& 


[Book  II. 


Th.  XII.]    MARGARET  REPENTS  HER  CONCESSIONS.        7T 


bers,  distrusted  by  the  Refoiiners,  and  detested 
by  the  regent,  the  league  ceased  from  that  period 
to  exert  any  considerable  influence  on  the  affairs 
of  the  country. 

A  change  equally  important  had  taken  place  in 
the  politics  of  the  court.  The  main  object  with 
Margaret,  from  the  first,  had  been  to  secure  the 
public  tranquillity.  To  effect  this  she  had  more 
than  once  so  far  deferred  to  the  judgment  of  AVil- 
liam  and  his  friends,  as  to  pursue  a  policy  not  the 
most  welcome  to  herself  But  it  had  never  been 
her  thought  to  extend  that  policy  to  the  pouit  of 
religious  toleration.  So  far  from  it,  she  declared 
that,  even  though  the  king  should  admit  two  re- 
ligions in  the  state,  she  would  rather  be  torn  in 
pieces  than  consent  to  it.^  It  was  not  till  the 
coalition  of  the  nobles,  that  her  eyes  were  opened 
to  the  path  she  was  treading.  The  subsequent 
outrages  of  the  iconoclasts  made  her  comprehend 
she  was  on  the  verge  of  a  precipice.  The  con- 
cessions wrung  from  her,  at  that  time,  by  Orange 
and  his  friends,  filled  up  the  measure  of  her  indig- 
nation. A  great  gulf  now  opened  between  her 
and  the  party  by  whom  she  had  been  so  long  di- 
rected.    Yet  where  could  she  turn  for  support? 


Mg"  mk  solamente  con  questi  mezz! 
di  timore  impedir  che  non  si  intro- 
dueesse  in  quei  stati  il  tribunal 
deir  Inquisitione.**  Relatione  di 
M.  A  Tiepolo,  1567,  MS. 

^  "En   supposant  que  le  Roi 
roolut  admettn  deux  religions  (ce 


qu'elle  ne  pouvait  croire),  elle  ne 
voulait  pas,  elle,  §tre  rexecutrice 
d'une  semblable  determination  ; 
qu'elle  se  laisserait  plutdt  mettre 
en  pieces.**  Correspondance  de 
Philippe  n.,  torn.  I.  p.  453. 


One  course  only  remained ;  and  it  was  with  a 
bitter  feeling  that  she  felt  constrained  to  throw 
herself  into  the  arms  of  the  very  party  which  she 
had  almost  estranged  from  her  counsels.  In  her 
extremity  she  sent  for  the  President  Viglius,  on 
whose  head  she  had  poured  out  so  many  anath- 
emas in  her  correspondence  with  Philip,  —  whom 
she  had  not  hesitated  to  charge  with  the  grossest 
peculation. 

Margaret  sent  for  the  old  councillor,  and,  with 
tears  in  her  eyes,  demanded  his  advice  in  the 
present  exigency.  The  president  naturally  ex- 
pressed his  surprise  at  this  mark  of  confidence 
from  one  who  had  so  carefully  excluded  him  from 
her  counsels  for  the  last  two  years.  Margaret,  after 
some  acknowledgment  of  her  mistake,  intimated 
a  hope  that  this  would  be  no  impediment  to  his 
giving  her  the  counsel  she  now  so  much  needed. 
Viglius  answered  by  inquu'ing  whether  she  were 
prepared  faithfully  to  carry  out  what  she  knew  to 
1)0  the  wUl  of  the  king.  On  Margaret's  replying 
in  the  affirmative,  he  recommended  that  she  should 
put  the  same  question  to  each  member  of  her  cab- 
inet. "  Their  answers,"  said  the  ^old  statesman, 
"  will  show  you  whom  you  are  to  trust."  The  ques- 
tion —  the  touchstone  of  loyalty  —  was  accordingly 
put;  and  the  minister,  who  relates  the  anecdote 
himself,  tells  us  that  three  only,  Mansfeldt,  Bar- 
laimont,  and  Arschot,  were  prepared  to  stand 
by  the  regent  in  carrying  out  the  policy  of  the 
crown.      From  that  hour  the  regent's  confidence 


78 


THE  ICONOCXASTS. 


[Book  IL 


1 


i 


was  transferred  from   the   party  with  which  she 
had  hitherto  acted,  to  their  rivals.* 

It  is  amusing  to  trace  the  change  of  Margaret's 
sentiments  in  her  correspondence  of  this  period 
with  her  brother.  "Orange  and  Hoome  prove 
themselves,  by  word  and  by  deed,  enemies  of  God 
and  the  king."  ^  Of  Egmont  she  speaks  no  better. 
"  With  all  his  protestations  of  loyalty,"  she  fears 
he  is  only  plotting  mischief  to  the  state.  "  He 
has  openly  joined  the  Gueux^  and  his  eldest  daugh- 
ter is  reported  to  be  a  Huguenot."^  Her  great 
concern  is  for  the  safety  of  Viglius,  "  almost  par- 
alyzed by  his  fears,  as  the  people  actually  threaten 
to  tear  him  in  pieces."®  The  factious  lords  con- 
duct affairs  according  to  their  ovm  pleasure  in  the 
council ;  and  it  is  understood  they  are  negotiating 
at  the  present  moment  to  bring  about  a  coalition 
between  the  Protestants  of  Germany,  France,  and 
England,  hoping  in  the  end  to  drive  the  house  of 
Austria  from  the  throne,  to  shake  off  the  yoke 
of  Spain  from  the  Netherlands,  and  divide  the 
provinces  among  themselves  and   their   friends!® 


»  The  report  of  this  curious 
dialogue,  somewhat  more  extended 
than  in  these  pages,  is  to  be  found 
ji  the  Vita  Viglii,  p.  47. 

*  "  En  paroles  et  en  faits,  ils  se 
sont  d^clar^s  centre  Dieu  et  con- 
tre  le  Roi."  Correspondance  de 
Philippe  IL,  torn.  I.  p.  453. 

37  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 

»  «  Le  president,  qu*on  menace 
de  tons  c6t^  d'assommcr  et  de 


mettre  en  pieces,  est  devenu  d*une 
timidity  incroyable.'*    Ibid.,  p.  460. 

Viglius,  in  his  "  Life,**  confirms 
this  account  of  the  dangers  with 
which  he  was  threatened  bv  the 
people,  but  takes  much  more  credit 
to  himself  for  presence  of  mind 
than  the  duchess  seems  willing  to 
allow.    Vita  Viglii,  p.  48. 

39  Correspondance  de  Philippe 
IL,  torn.  I.  pp.  255,  260. 


Ch.  Xn.]    MARGARET  REPENTS  HER  CONCESSIONS.        79 

Margaret's  credulity  seems  to  have  been  in  pro- 
portion to  her  hatred,  and  her  hatred  in  propor- 
tion to  her  former  friendship.  So  it  w^as  in  hei 
quarrel  with  Granvelle,  and  she  now  dealt  the 
same  measure  to  the  men  who  had  succeeded  that 
minister  in  her  confidence. 

The  prince  of  Orange  cared  little  for  the  regent's 
estrangement.  He  had  long  felt  that  his  own  path 
lay  wide  asunder  from  that  of  the  government, 
and,  as  we  have  seen,  had  more  than  once  asked 
leave  to  resign  his  offices,  and  withdraw  into  pri- 
vate life.  Hoome  viewed  the  matter  with  equal 
indifference.  He  had  also  asked  leave  to  retire, 
complaining  that  his  services  had  been  poorly  re- 
quited by  the  government.  He  was  a  man  of  a 
bold,  impatient  temper.  In  a  letter  to  Philip  he 
told  him  that  it  was  not  the  regent,  but  his 
majesty,  of  whom  he  complained,  for  compelling 
him  to  undergo  the  annoyance  of  dancing  attend- 
ance at  the  court  of  Brussels !  ^^  He  further  added, 
that  he  had  not  discussed  his  conduct  with  the 
duchess,  as  it  was  not  his  way  to  treat  of  affairs 
of  honor  with  ladies !  *^  There  was  certainly  no 
want  of  plain-dealing  in  this  communication  with 
majesty. 

Count  Egmont  took  the  coolness  of  the  regent 

^  "  Disant  n'avoir  aulcun  d*elle,  tant  de  facherics.**    Supplement  ll 

mais  bien  de  Vostre  Majesty,  la-  Strada,  tom.  11.  p.  505. 

quelle  n*avoit  estd  content  me  lais-  ^^   "  Ne  me  samblant  debvoir 

Ber  en  ma  maison,  mais  m*avoit  traicter  affaires  de  lionneur  avecq 

command^  me  trouver  k  Bruxelles  Dames.**    Ibid.,  ubi  supra 
vers  Son  Altesse,  ou  avoie  receu 


1 


80 


THE  ICONOCLASTS. 


[Book  IX 


Ch.  XH] 


THE  FEELING  AT  MADRID. 


81 


in  a  very  different  manner.  It  touched  his  honor, 
perhaps  his  vanity,  to  be  thus  excluded  from  her 
confidence.  He  felt  it  the  more  keenly,  as  he 
was  so  loyal  at  heart,  and  strongly  attached  to 
the  Romish  faith.  On  the  other  hand,  his  gen- 
erous nature  was  deeply  sensible  to  the  wrongs 
of  his  countrymen.  Thus  drawn  in  opposite 
directions,  he  took  the  middle  coui'se,  —  by  no 
means  the  safest  in  politics.  Under  these  op- 
posite  influences  he  remained  in  a  state  of  dan- 
gerous  irresolution.  His  sympathy  with  the  cause 
of  the  confederates  lost  him  the  confidence  of  the 
government.  His  loyalty  to  the  government  ex- 
cluded him  from  the  councils  of  the  confederates. 
And  thus,  though  perhaps  the  most  popular  man 
in  the  Netherlands,  there  was  no  one  who  pos- 
sessed less  real  influence  in  public  affairs.*^ 

The  tidings  of  the  tumults  in  the  Netherlands, 
which  travelled  with  the  usual  expedition  of  evil 
news,  caused  as  great  consternation  at  the  court 
of  Castile  as  it  had  done  at  that  of  Brussels. 
Philip,  on  receiving  his  despatches,  burst  forth, 
it  is  said,  into  the  most  violent  fit  of  anger,  and, 
tearing  his  beard,  he  exclaimed,  "It  shall  cost 
them  dear ;   by  the  soul  of  my  father  I  swear  it. 


«  «  They  tell  me,"  writes  Mo- 
rillon  to  Granvelle,  "  it  is  quite 
incredible  how  old  and  gray  Eg- 
mont  has  become.  He  does  not 
venture  to  sleep  at  night  without 
his  sword  and  pistols  by  his  bed- 
lide!**    (Archives  de  la  Maison 


d'Orange-Nassau,  Supplement,  p. 
36.)  But  there  was  no  pretence 
that  at  this  time  Egmont's  life  was 
in  danger.  Morillon,  in  his  eager- 
ness to  cater  for  the  cardinal's  ap- 
petite for  gossip,  did  not  alwayi 
stick  at  the  improbable. 


it  shall  cost  them  dear!"*«  The  anecdote,  often 
repeated,  rests  on  the  authority  of  Granvelle's  cor- 
respondent, Morillon.  If  it  be  true,  it  afibrds  a 
solitary  exception  to  the  habitual  self-command 
—  displayed  in  circumstances  quite  as  trying  — 
of  the  "prudent"  monarch.  The  account  given 
by  Hopper,  who  was  with  the  court  at  the  time, 
is  the  more  probable  of  the  two.  According  to 
that  minister,  the  king,  when  he  received  the 
tidings,  lay  ill  of  a  tertian  fever  at  Segovia.  As 
letter  after  letter  came  to  him  with  particulars  of 
the  tumult,  he  maintained  his  usual  serenity,  ex- 
hibiting no  sign  of  passion  or  vexation.  Though 
enfeebled  by  his  malady,  he  allowed  himself  no 
repose,  but  gave  unremitting  attention  to  busi- 
ness.** He  read  all  the  despatches ;  made  careful 
notes  of  theu'  contents,  sending  such  information 
as  he  deemed  best  to  his  council,  for  their  consid- 
eration; and,  as  his  health  mended,  occasionally 
attended  in  person  the  discussions  of  that  body. 
One  can  feel  but  little  doubt  as  to  the  light  in 
.  which  the  proceedings  in  the  Netherlands  were  re- 
garded by  the  royal  council  of  Castile.     Yet  it  did 


^  "n  lenr  en  cofltera  cher 
(s'ecria-t-il  en  se  tirant  la  barbe), 
li  leur  en  coutera  cher ;  j'en  jure 
I)ar  rame  de  mon  pere.**  Gachard, 
Analectes  Belgiques,  p.  254. 

**  "  De  tout  cela  (disje)  ne  se 
perdit  un  seul  moment  en  ce  temps, 
non  obstant  la  dicte  maladie  de  Sa 
Maj'",  la  quelle  se  monstra  sembla- 
blement  selon  son  bon  naturel,  en 

VOL.   11.  11 


tons  ces  negoces  et  actions  tousjours 
tant  modeste,  et  temperee  et  con- 
stante  en  iceulx  affaires,  quelques 
extremes  qu'ilz  fussent,  que  jamais 
Ton  n'a  veu  en  icelle  signal,  ou  de 
passion  contre  les  personnes  d*une 
part,  ou  de  relasche  en  ses  negocea 
de  I'aultre.*'  Hopper,  Recueil  et 
Memorial,  p.  104. 


if  1» 


82 


THE  ICONOCLASTS. 


[Book  11 


Cb.  xn.] 


THE  FEELING  AT  MADRID. 


83 


not  throw  the  whole,  or  even   the  chief  blame, 
on  the  iconoclasts.     They  were  regarded  as  mere 
tools  in  the  hands  of  the  sectaries.     The  sectaries, 
on  their  part,  were,  it  was  said,  moved  by  the 
confederates,  on  whom  they  leaned  for  protection. 
The   confederates,   in   their  turn,   made    common 
cause  with   the   great   lords,   to   whom   many  of 
them  were  bound  by  the  closest  ties  of  friendship 
and  of  blood.     By  this  ingenious  chain  of  reason- 
ing,  all  were  made  responsible  for  the  acts  of  vio- 
lence ;  but  the  chief  responsibility  lay  on  the  heads 
of  the  great  nobles,  on  whom  all  in  the  last  resort 
depended.      It  was  against  them  that  the  public 
indignation  should  be   directed,   not   against  the 
meaner  offenders,  over  whom  alone  the  sword  of 
justice  had  been   hitherto   suspended.      But   the 
king  should  dissemble  his  sentiments  until  he  w^as 
in  condition  to  call  these  great  vassals  to  account 
for  their  misdeeds.     All  joined  in  beseeching  Phil- 
ip to  defer  no  longer  his  visit  to  Flanders;   and 
most  of  them  recommended  that  he  should  go  in 
such  force  as  to  look  down  opposition,  and  crush 
the  rebellion  in  its  bkth. 

Such  was  the  counsel"  of  Alva,  in  confoimity 
with  that  which  he  had  always  given  on  the 
subject.  But  although  all  concurred  in  urging 
the  king  to  expedite  his  departure,  some  of  the 
councillors  followed  the  prince  of  Eboli  in  ad- 
vising Philip  that,  instead  of  this  warlike  pano- 
ply, he  should  go  in  peaceable  guise,  accompanied 
only  by  such  a  retinue  as  befitted  the^  royal  dignity. 


Each  of  the  great  rivals  recommended  the  measures 
most  congenial  with  his  own  temper,  the  direction 
of  which  would  no  doubt  be  intrusted  to  the  man 
who  recommended  them.  It  is  not  strange  that 
the  more  violent  course  should  have  found  favor 
with  the  majority.^ 

Philip's  own  decision  he  kept,  as  usual,  locked 
in  his  own  bosom.  He  wrote  indeed  to  his  sis- 
ter, warning  her  not  to  allow  the  meeting  of  the 
legislature,  and  announcing  his  speedy  coming,  — 
all  as  usual;  and  he  added,  that,  in  repressing 
the  disorders  of  the  country,  he  should  use  no 
other  means  than  those  of  gentleness  and  kindness, 
under  the  sanction  of  the  states.*^  These  gentle 
professions   weighed   little   with   those   who,  like 


*5  At  this  period  stops  the  "  Re- 
cueil  et  Memorial  des  Troubles 
des  Pays-Bas  "  of  Joachim  Hopper, 
which  covers  a  hundred  quarto 
pages  of  the  second  volume  (part 
second)  of  Hoynck  van  Papen- 
drecht's  "  Analecta  Belgica."  Hop- 
per was  a  jurist,  a  man  of  learn- 
ing and  integrity.  In  1566  he 
was  called  to  Madrid,  raised  to 
the  post  of  keeper  of  the  seals 
for  the  affairs  of  the  Netherlands, 
and  made  a  member  of  the  council 
of  state.  He  never  seems  to  have 
enjoyed  the  confidence  of  Philip 
in  anything  like  the  degree  which 
Granvelle  and  some  other  minis- 
ters could  boast ;  for  Hopper  was 
a  Fleming.  Yet  his  situation  in 
the  cabinet  made  him  acquainted 
with  the  tone  cf  sentiment  as  well 


as  the  general  policy  of  the  court ; 
while,  as  a  native  of  Flanders,  he 
could  comprehend,  better  than  a 
Spaniard,  the  bearing  this  policy 
would  have  on  his  countrymen. 
His  work,  therefore,  is  of  great 
importance  as  far  as  it  goes.  It  is 
difficult  to  say  why  it  should  have 
stopped  in  mediis^  for  Hopper  re- 
mained still  in  office,  and  died  at 
Madrid  ten  years  after  the  period 
to  which  he  brings  his  narrative. 
He  may  have  been  discouraged  by 
the  remarks  of  Viglius,  who  inti- 
mates, in  a  letter  to  his  friend,  that 
the  chronicler  should  wait  to  allow 
Time  to  disclose  the  secret  springs 
of  action.  See  the  Epistolae  ad 
Hopperum,  p.  419. 

^6  Correspondance  de  Margue- 
rite d'Autriche,  p.  206. 


84 


THE  ICONOCLASTS. 


[Book  IL 


the  prince  of  Orange,  had  surer  means  of  arriving 
at  the  king's  intent  than  what  were  aflForded  by 
the  royal  correspondence.      Montigny,  the  Flem- 
ish envoy,  was  still  in  Madrid,  held  there,  sorely 
against  his  will,  in  a  sort  of  honorable  captivity 
by  Philip.     In  a  letter    to    his    brother,   Count 
Hoorne,  he  wrote:   "Nothing   can  be   in  worse 
odor   than    our    affairs   at   the   court   of  Castile. 
The  great  lords,  in  particular,  are   considered   as 
the  source  of  all  the  mischief.     Violent   counsels 
are   altogether  in  the   ascendant,  and   the   storm 
may  burst  on  you  sooner  than  you  think.     Noth- 
incr  remains  but  to  fly  from  it  like  a  prudent  man, 

O  IT 

or  to  face  it  like  a  brave  one ! "  ^^ 

William  had  other  sources  of  intelligence,  the 
secret  agents  whom  he  kept  in  pay  at  Madrid. 
From  them  he  learned,  not  only  what  was  pass- 
ing at  the  court,  but  in  the  very  cabinet  of  the 
monarch;  and  extracts,  sometimes  full  copies,  of 
the  correspondence  of  Philip  and  Margaret,  were 
transmitted  to  the  prince.  Thus  the  secrets  which 
the  most  jealous  prince  in  Europe  supposed  to 
be  locked  in  his  own  breast  were  often  in  pos- 
session of  his  enemies  ;  and  William,  as  we 
are  told,  declared  that  there  was  no  word  of 
Philip's,  public  or  private,  but  was  reported  to 
his  ears!^ 

^  "  Questo  h  il  nuvolo  che  mi-  trepidezza  1*  incontri,  o  con  awe- 

naccia  era  i  nostri  paesi ;  e  n*  uscirti  dimento  la  sfugga.**    Bentivoglio, 

la  tempesta  forse  prima  che  non  si  Guerra  di  Fiandra,  p.  118. 

|»en8a.    Chi  la  prevcde  ne  dk  V  av-  ^  "  Nullum  prodire  fe  Regis  ore 

I  iso ;  e  chi  n'  i  avvisato,  o  con  in-  verbum  seu  private   seu  public^ 


:?B.  xu] 


SAGACITY  OF  ORANGE. 


85 


This  secret  intelligence,  on  which  the  prince 
expended  large  sums  of  money,  was  not  confined 
to  Madrid.  He  maintained  a  similar  system  of 
espionage  in  Paris,  where  the  court  of  Castile 
was  busy  with  its  intrigues  for  the  extermination 
of  heresy.  Those  who  look  on  these  trickish 
proceedings  as  unworthy  of  the  character  of  the 
prince  of  Orange  and  the  position  which  he  held 
should  consider  that  it  was  in  accordance  with 
the  spirit  of  the  age.  It  was  but  turning  Philip's 
own  arts  against  himself,  and  using  the  only 
means  by  which  William  could  hope  to  penetrate 
the  dark  and  unscrupulous  policy  of  a  cabinet 
whose  chief  aim,  as  he  thought,  was  to  subvert 
the  liberties  of  his  country. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  his  agents  in  France 
intercepted  a  letter  from  Alava,  the  Spanish  min- 
ister at  the  French  court.  It  was  addressed  to 
the  duchess  of  Parma.  Among  other  things, 
the  writer  says  it  is  well  understood  at  Madrid, 
that  the  great  nobles  are  at  the  bottom  of  the 
troubles  of  Flanders.  The  king  is  levying  a 
strong  force,  with  which  he  will  soon  visit  the 
country,  and  call  the  three  lords  to  a  heavy 
reckoning.  In  the  mean  time  the  duchess  must 
be  on  her  guard  not  by  any  change  in  her  deport- 
ment to  betray  her  consciousness  of  this  intent.^^ 
Thus   admonished    from   various   quarters,    the 

quin  ad  ejus  aures  in  Belgium  ^9  An  abstract  of  the  letter  is 
fideliter  afferatur,"  Strada,  De  given  by  Gachard,  Correspondanta 
Bello  Bclgico,  torn.  I.  p.  281.  de  Philippe  II.,  torn.  I.  p.  48.'* 


86 


THE  ICONOCLASTS. 


[Book  IX 


prince  felt  that  it  was  no  longer  safe  for  him  to 
remain  in  his  present  position;  and  that,  in  the 
words  of  Montigny,  he  must  be  prepared  to  fight 
or  to  fly.  He  resolved  to  take  coimsel  with  some 
of  those  friends  who  were  similarly  situated  with 
himself  In  a  communication  made  to  Egmont  in 
order  to  persuade  him  to  a  conference,  William 
speaks  of  Philip's  military  preparations  as  equally 
to  be  dreaded  by  Catholic  and  Protestant ;  for  un- 
der the  pretext  of  religion,  Philip  had  no  other 
object  in  view  than  to  enslave  the  nation.  "  This 
has  been  always  feared  by  us, "  he  adds ;  ^  "  and  I 
cannot  stay  to  witness  the  ruin  of  my  country." 

The  parties  met  at  Dendermonde  on  the  thu'd 
of  October.  Besides  the  two  friends  and  Count 
Hoome,  there  were  William's  brother,  Louis,  and 
a  few  other  persons  of  consideration.  Little  is 
actually  known  of  the  proceedings  at  this  con- 
ference, notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  more  than 
one  officious  chronicler  to  enlighten  us.  Their 
contradictory  accounts,  like  so  many  cross  lights 
on  his  path,  serve  only  to  perplex  the  eye  of  the 
student.  It  seems  probable,  however,  that  the 
nobles  generally,  including  the  prince,  considered 
the  time  had  arrived  for  active  measures  ;  and  that 
any  armed  intrusion  on  the  part  of  Philip  into  the 

50  "  Sa  Ma^*  et  ceulx  du  Con-  tude  qu'on  n'auroit  jamais  veu,  et 

seil  seront  bien  aise  que  sur  le  come  on  ast  tousjours  craint  cela 

pretext  de  la  religion  ils  pourront  plus  que  chose  que  soit.**    Archivea 

parvenir  k  leur  pretendu,  de  mes-  de  laMjuson  d' Orange-Nassau,  torn 

tre  le  pais,  nous  aultres,  et  nous  II.  p.  324. 
enfans  en  la  plus  miserable  servi- 


Ch.  XII] 


SAGACITY  OF  ORANGE, 


8t 


Netherlands  should  be  resisted  by  force.  But 
Egmont,  with  all  his  causes  of  discontent,  was  too 
loyal  at  heart  not  to  shrink  from  the  attitude  of 
rebellion.  He  had  a  larger  stake  than  most  of 
the  company,  in  a  numerous  family  of  children, 
who,  in  case  of  a  disastrous  revolution,  would  be 
thrown  helpless  on  the  world.  The  benignity  with 
which  he  had  been  received  by  Philip  on  his  mis- 
sion to  Spain,  and  which  subsequent  slights  had 
not  effaced  from  his  memory,  made  him  confide, 
most  unhappily,  in  •  the  favorable  dispositions 
of  the  monarch.  From  whatever  motives,  the 
count  refused  to  become  a  party  to  any  scheme 
of  resistance;  and  as  his  popularity  with  the 
troops  made  his  cooperation  of  the  last  impor- 
tance, the  conference  broke  up  without  comins: 
to  a  determination.^^ 

Egmont  at  once  repaired  to  Brussels,  whither 
he  had  been  summoned  by  the  regent  to  attend 
the  council  of  state.  Oranc^e  and  Hoorne  re- 
ceived, each,  a  similar  summons,  to  wnicn  neiilier 
of  them  paid  any  regaid.     Before  taking  his  S'^at 


5^  Egmont*s  deposition  at  his 
trial  confirms  the  account  given  in 
the  text,  —  that  propositions  for 
resistance,  though  made  at  the 
meeting,  were  rejected.  Hoorne,  in 
liis  "  Justification,"  refers  the  failure 
to  Egmont.  Neither  one  nor  the 
other  throws  light  on  the  course  of 
discussion.  Bentivoglio,  in  his  ac- 
count of  the  interview,  shows  no 
such  reserve ;  and  he  gives  two 


long  and  elaborate  speeches  from 
Orange  and  Egmont,  in  as  good 
set  phrase  as  if  they  had  been  ex- 
pressly reported  by  the  parties 
themselves  for  publication.  The 
Italian  historian  afiects  a  decree  of 
familiarity  with  the  proceedings  of 
this  secret  conclave  by  no  meani 
calculated  to  secure  our  confidence. 
Guerra  di  Fiandra,  pp.  123  -128. 


88 


THE  ICONOCLASTS. 


[Book  li 


at  the  board,  Egmont  showed  the  duchess  Ala- 
va's  letter,  upbraiding  her,  at  the  same  time,  with 
her  perfidious  conduct  towards  the  nobles.  Mar- 
garet, who  seems  to  have  given  way  to  temper 
or  to  tears,  as  the  exigency  demanded,  broke  forth 
in  a.  rage,  declaring  it  "an  impudent  forgery 
and  the  greatest  piece  of  villany  in  the  world !  " " 
The  same  sentiment  she  repeats  in  a  letter  ad- 
dressed soon  after  to  her  brother,  in  which  she 
asserts  her  belief  that  no  such  letter  as  that  im- 
puted to  Alava  had  ever  been  written  by  him. 
How  far  the  duchess  was  honest  in  her  declara- 
tion it  is  impossible  at  this  day  to  determme. 
Egmont,  after  passing  to  other  matters,  concludes 
with  a  remark  which  shows,  plainly  enough,  his 
own  opinion  of  her  sincerity.  "  In  fine,  she  is  a 
woman  educated  in  Rome.  There  is  no  faith  to 
be  given  to  her."^ 


«  "  Siesse  qu*elle  jure  que  s*et 
la  plus  grande  vilagnerie  du  monde 

et  que  s'et  ung  vray  pasquil 

fameulx  et  qui  doit  ettre  forgd 
panlecb^,  et  beaueoup  de  chozes 
!»emblables.'*  Archives  de  la  Mai- 
ion  d'Orange-Nassau,  torn.  11. 
p.  400. 

53  "  En  fin  s*ct  une  femme  nourie 
en  Rome,  il  n*y  at  que  ajouter 
toy."    Ibid.,  p.  401. 

Yet  Egmont,  on  his  trial,  affirmed 
that  he  reganled  the  letter  as  spu- 
rious !  (Correspondance  de  Mar- 
Ijuerite  d'Autriche,  p.  327.)  One 
who  finds  it  impossible  that  the 


prince  of  Orange  could  lend  him- 
self to  such  a  piece  of  duplicity, 
may  periiaps  be  staggered  when 
he  calls  to  mind  his  curious  corre- 
spondence with  the  elector  and 
with  King  Philip  in  relation  to 
Anne  of  Saxonv,  before  his  mar- 
riage  with  that  princess.  Yet 
Margaret,  as  Egmont  hints,  was  of 
the  Italian  school ;  and  Strada,  her 
historian,  dismisses  the  question 
with  a  doubt,  —  "  in  medio  ego 
quidem  relinquo."  A  doubt  from 
Strada  is  a  decision  against  Mar* 
garet 


Ch.  XII.1 


SAGACITY  OF  ORANGE. 


89 


In  her  communication  above  noticed  Margaret 
took  occasion  to  complain  to  Philip  of  his  careless- 
ness  in  regard  to  her  letters.  The  contents  of  them, 
she  said,  were  known  in  Flanders  almost  as  soon 
as  at  Madrid ;  and  not  only  copies,  but  the  origi- 
nal  autographs,  were  circulating  in  Brussels.  She 
concludes  by  begging  her  brother,  if  he  cannot 
keep  her  letters  safe,  to  bum  them.^* 

The  king,  in  answer,  expresses  his  surprise  at 
her  complaints,  assuring  Margaret  that  it  is  im- 
possible any  one  can  have  seen  her  letters,  which 
are  safely  locked  up,  with  the  key  in  his  o^vii 
pocket.^  It  is  amusing  to  see  Philip^s  incredulity 
in  regard  to  the  practice  of  those  arts  on  him- 
self which  he  had  so  often  practised  on  others. 
His  sister,  however,  seems  to  have  relied  henceforth 
more  on  her  own  precautions  than  on  his,  as  we 
find  her  communications  from  this  time  frequently 
shrouded  in  cipher. 

Rumors  of  Philip's  warlike  preparations  were 
now  rife  in  the  Netherlands ;  and  the  Protestants 
began  to  take  counsel  as  to  the  best  means  of  pro- 
viding for  their  own  defence.  One  plan  suggested 
was  to  send  thirty  thousand  Calvinistic  tracts  to 
Seville  for  distribution  among  the  Spaniards.^^ 
This  would  raise  a  good  crop  of  heresy,  and  give 
the  king  work  to  do  in  his  own  dominions.  It 
would,    in   short,   be   carrying   the  war   into   ths 

5*  Correspondance  de  Philippe        M  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  torn. 
IT.,  torn.  I.  p.  474.  I.  p.  282. 

»  Ibid.,  p.  491. 
VOL.  II.  12 


90 


THE  ICONOCLASTS. 


[Book  IL 


Ch.  XU.J         WILLIAM'S  RELIGIOUS  OPINIONS. 


91 


enemy's  countiy.    The  plan,  it  must  be   owned, 
had  the  merit  of  novelty. 

In  Holland   the  nobles  and  merchants   mutu- 
ally bound   themselves   to   stand  by  one   another 
in  asserting  the  right  of  freedom  of  conscience.^^ 
Levies  went  forward   briskly  in  Geimany,  under 
the  direction  of  Count  Louis  of  Nassau.     It  was 
attempted,   moreover,   to   interest   the    Protestant 
princes  of  that  country  so  far  in  the  fate  of  their 
brethren   in   the  Netherlands  as  to   induce   them 
to  use  their  good  offices  with  Philip  to  dissuade 
him  from   violent  measures.     The    emperor   had 
already   offered   privately  his   own   mediation    to 
the   king,   to  bring  about,   if  possible,   a   better 
understanding  with  his  Flemish  subjects.^     The 
offer  made  in  so  friendly  a  spirit,  though  warmly 
commended  by  some  of  the  council,  seems  to  have 
found  no  favor  in  the  eyes  of  their  master.'^^ 

The  princes  of  Germany  who  had  embraced  the 
Reformation  were  Lutherans.  They  had  tdmost 
as  little  sympathy  with  the  Calvinists  as  with  the 
Catholics.  Men  of  liberal  mmds  in  the  Nether- 
lands, like  William  and  his  brother,  would  gladly 
have  seen  the  two  great  Protestant  parties  which 
divided  their  country  united  on  some  common 
basis.  They  would  have  had  them,  in  short, 
in  a  true  Christian  spirit,  seek  out  the  points  on 
which  they  could  agree  rather  than  those  on  which 
they  differed,  —  points  of  difference  which,  in  Wil- 


liam's estimation,  were  after  all  of  minor  impor- 
tance. He  was  desirous  that  the  Calvinists  should 
adopt  a  confession  of  faith  accommodated  in  some 
degree  to  the  "  Confession  of  Augsburg,"  —  a  step 
which  would  greatly  promote  their  interests  with 
the  princes  of  Germany.^ 

But  the  Calvinists  were  altogether  the  domi- 
nant party  in  the  Low  Countries.  They  were 
thoroughly  organized,  and  held  their  consistories, 
composed  of  a  senate  and  a  sort  of  lower  house, 
m  many  of  the  great  towns,  all  subordinate  to 
the  great  consistory  at  Antwerp.  They  formed, 
in  short,  what  the  historian  well  calls  an  in- 
dependent Protestant  republic.^  Strong  in  their 
power,  sturdy  in  their  principles,  they  refused  to 
bend  in  any  degree  to  circumstances,  or  to  make 
any  concession,  or  any  compromise  with  the  weaker 
party.  The  German  princes,  disgusted  w  ith  this 
conduct,  showed  no  disposition  to  take  any  active 
measures  in  their  behalf,  and,  although  they  made 
some  efforts  in  favor  of  the  Lutherans,  left  their 
Calvinistic  brethren  in  the  Netherlands  to  their 
fate. 

It  was  generally  understood,  at  this  time,  that 
the  prince  of  Orange  had  embraced  Lutheran 
opinions.      His    wife's    uncle,    the    landgrave    of 


57  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


59  Ibid.,  p.  113. 


98 


Hopper,  Recueil  et  Memorial,  p.  109. 


60  Archives  de  la  Maison  d'O- 
range-Nassau,  torn.  II.  p.  391. 

61  "  Praeterek  consistoria,  id  est 
senatus  ac  coetus,  multis  in  urbibus, 
siouti  jam  AntverpisB  caeperant,  in- 
stituerunt :    creatl'i   Magistratibus, 


Senatoribusque,  quorum  consiliis 
(sed  antek  cum  AntverpianS  curia, 
quam  esse  principem  voluere,  com- 
municatis)  universa  hferoticorum 
Respub.  temperaretur."  Strada, 
De  Bello  Bclgico,  torn  I.  p.  283. 


92 


THE  ICONOCLASTS. 


[Book  II 


Hesse,  pressed  him  publicly  to  avow  his  belief. 
To  this  the  prince  objected,  that  he  should  thus 
become  the  open  enemy  of  the  Catholics,  and 
probably  lose  his  influence  with  the  Calvinists, 
already  too  well  disposed  to  acts  of  violence.®^ 
Yet  not  long  after  we  find  William  inquiring  of 
the  landgrave  if  it  would  not  be  well  to  advise 
the  king,  in  terms  as  little  offensive  as  possible, 
of  his  change  of  religion,  asking  the  royal  per- 
mission, at  the  same  time,  to  conform  his  worship 

to  it*^ 

William's  father  had  been  a  Lutheran,  and  in 
that  faith  had  lived  and  died.  In  that  faith  he 
had  educated  his  son.  When  only  eleven  years 
old,  the  latter,  as  we  have  seen,  was  received  into 
the  imperial  household.  The  plastic  mind  of  boy- 
hood readily  took  its  impressions  from  those 
around,  and  without  much  difficulty,  or  indeed  ex- 
amination, William  conformed  to  the  creed  fashion- 
able at  the  court  of  Castile.  In  this  faith  —  if 
so  it  should  be  called  —  the  prince  remained  dur- 
ing the  lifetime  of  tl^e  emperor.  Then  came  the 
troubles  of  the  Netherlands ;  and  William's  mind 
yielded  to  other  influences.  He  saw  the  workings 
of  Catholicism  under  a  terrible  aspect.  He  beheld 
his  countrymen  dragged  from  their  firesides,  driven 
Lato  exile,  thrown  into  dungeons,  burned  at  the 
stake ;  and  all  this  for  no  other  cause  than  dissent 
from  the  dogmas  of  the  Romish  Church.     His  soul 


«  Archives  de  la  Maison  d'O-        «  Ibid.,  p.  496. 
range-Nassau,  torn.  n.  pp.  455, 456. 


Ch.  Xn.]  WILLIAM'S  RELIGIOUS  OPINIONS. 


93 


sickened  at  these  enormities,  and  his  indignation 
kindled  at  this  invasion  of  the  inalienable  right  of 
private  judgn>ent.  Thus  deeply  interested  for  the 
oppressed  Protestants,  it  was  natural  that  William 
should  feel  a  sympathy  for  their  cause.  His  wife 
too  was  a  Lutheran.  So  was  his  mother,  still  sur- 
viving. So  were  his  brothers  and  sisters,  and  in- 
deed all  those  nearest  akin  to  him.  Under  these 
influences,  public  and  domestic,  it  was  not  strange, 
that  he  should  have  been  led  to  review  the  grounds 
of  his  own  belief;  that  he  should  have  gradually 
turned  to  the  faith  of  his  parents,  —  the  faith  in 
which  he  had  been  nurtured  in  childhood.^^  At 
what  precise  period  the  change  in  his  opinions 
took  place  we  are  not  informed.  But  his  letter 
to  the  landgrave  of  Hesse,  in  November,  1566, 
affords,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  the  earliest  evidence 
that  exists,  under  his  own  hand,  that  he  had  em- 
bmced  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation. 


64  I  quote  almost  the  words  of 
William  in  his  famous  Apology, 
which  suggests  the  same  expla- 
nation of  his  conduct  that  I  have 
piven  in  the  text.  —  "  Car  puis 
que  d^s  le  berceau  j'y  avois  este 
nourry,  Monsieur  mon  Pere  y 
avoit  vescu,  y  estoit  mort,  ayant 
chass^  de  ses  Seigneuries  les  abus 


de  TEglise,  qui  est-ce  qui  troiivera 
estrange  si  cette  doctrine  estoit 
tellement  engravee  en  mon  c«ur, 
et  y  avoit  jette  telles  racines,  qu*en 
son  temps  elle  est  venue  h  appor- 
ter  ses  fruits."  Dumont,  Corps 
Diplomatique,  torn.  V.  part  L  p 
392. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

THE  REGENT'S  AUTHORITY  REESTABLISHED. 

Reaction.— Appeal  to  Arms.— Tumult  in  Antwerp.  —  Siege  of  Valen- 
ciennes. —  The  Government  triumphant 

1566,  1567. 

The  excesses  of  the  iconoclasts,  like  most  ex- 
cesses, recoiled  on  the  heads  of  those  who  CDm- 
mitted   them.     The  Roman  Catholic  members  of 
the  league  withdi'ew,  as  we  have  seen,  from  an 
association  which   connected    them,    however  ro- 
motely,  with  deeds  so  atrocious.     Other  Catholics, 
who  had  looked  with  no  unfriendly  eye  on  the  rev- 
olution, now  that  they  saw  it  was  to  go  forward 
over  the  ruins  of  their  religion,  were  only  eager  to 
show  their  detestation  of  it,  and  their  loyalty  to 
the  government.     The  Lutherans,  who,  as  already 
noticed,  had  never  moved  in  much  harmony  with 
the  Calvinists,  were  anxious  to  throw  the  whole 
blame  of  the  excesses  on  the  rival  sect ;  and  thus 
the  breach,  growing  wider  and  wider  between  the 
two  great  divisions  of  the  Protestants,  worked  in- 
finite prejudice  to  the  common  cause  of  reform. 
Lastly,  men  like  Egmont,  who  from  patriotic  mo- 
tives had  been  led  to  dally  with  the  revolution  in 


Ch.  xm.j 


REACTION. 


95 


its  infancy,  seeming  indeed  almost  ready  to  em- 
brace it,  now  turned  coldly  away,  and  hastened  to 
make  their  peace  with  the  regent. 

Margaret  felt  the  accession  of  strength  she  was 
daily  deriving  from  these  divisions  of  her  enemies, 
and  she  was  not  slow  to  profit  by  it.  As  she  had 
no  longer  confidence  in  those  on  whom  she  had 
hitherto  relied  for  support,  she  was  now  obliged 
to  rely  more  exclusively  on  herself  She  was  in- 
defatigable in  her  application  to  business.  "  I 
know  not,"  writes  her  secretary,  Armenteros,  "  how 
the  regent  contrives  to  live,  amidst  the  disgusts 
and  difficulties  which  incessantly  beset  her.  For 
some  months  she  has  risen  before  dawn.  Every 
morning  and  evening,  sometimes  oftener,  she  calls 
her  council  together.  The  rest  of  the  day  and 
night  she  is  occupied  with  giving  audiences,  or 
with  receiving  despatches  and  letters,  or  in  answer- 
ing them."^ 

Margaret  now  bent  all  her  efforts  to  retrace  the 
humiliating  path  into  which  she  had  been  led, 
and  to  reestablish  the  fallen  authority  of  the  crown. 
If  she  did  not  actually  revoke  the  concessions 
wrung  from  her,  she  was  careful  to  define  them 
so  narrowly  that  they  should  be  of  little  service 


1  "D  y  a  plus  de  trois  mois, 
qu*elle  se  Ikve  avant  le  jour,  et 
que  le  plus  souvent  elle  tient  eon- 
seil  le  matin  et  le  soir  ;  et  tout  le 
Teste  de  la  joumde  et  de  la  nuit, 
elle  le  consacre  k  donner  des  audi- 
ences, k  lire  les  lettres  et  les  avis 


qui  arrivent  de  toutes  parts,  et  k 
determiner  les  rdponses  h  y  faire." 
Correspondance  de  Philippe  11., 
torn.  I.  p.  496. 

Sleep  seems  to  have  been  as 
superfluous  to  Margaret  as  to  a 
hero  of  romance. 


96  REGENT'S  AUTHORITY  REESTABLISHED.    [Book  II 

to  any  one.     She  wrote  to  the  governors  of  the 
I^rovinces,  that  her  license  for  public   preaching 
was  to  be  taken  literally,  and  was  by  no  means  in- 
tended to  cover  the  performance  of  other  religious 
rites,  as  those  of  baptism,  marriage,  and  burial, 
which  she  understood  were  freely  practised  by  the 
reformed  ministers.     She  published   an   edict   re- 
citing the  terrible  penalties  of  the  law  against  all 
offenders  in  this  way,  and  she  enjoined  the  author- 
ities  to  enforce  the  execution  of  it  to  the  letter. 
The  Protestants  loudly  complained  of  what  they 
termed    a    most    perfidious    policy   on    the   part 
of  the   regent.     The   right   of  public   preaching, 
they  said,  naturally  included  that  of  perfommg 
the  other   religious  ceremonies  of  the  Reformed 
Church.     It  was  a  cruel  ^mockery  to  allow  men 
to  profess  a  religion,  and 'yet  not  to  practise  the 
rites  which  belong  to  it.  — The  construction  given 
by  Margaret   to   her  edict  must  be    admitted  to 
savor  somewhat   of  the   spirit   of  that   given  by 
Portia  to  Shylock's  contract.     The  pound  of  flesh 
might  indeed  be  taken ;  but  if  so  much  as  a  drop 
of  blood  followed,  woe  to  him  that  took  it ! 

This  measure  was  succeeded  by  others  on  the 
part  of  the  government  of  a  still  more  decisive 
character.  Instead  of  the  civH  magistracy,  Mar- 
garet now  showed  her  purpose  to  call  in  the  aid 
of  a  strong  military  force  to  execute  the  laws. 
She  ordered  into   the   country  the  levies    lately 

«  Strada,  De  Belto  Bclgico,  torn.  I.  pp.  289,  290. 


ch.  xm.] 


REACTION. 


97 


raised  for  her  in  Germany.  These  she  augmented 
by  a  number  of  Walloon  regiments ;  and  she 
placed  them  under  the  command  of  Aremberg, 
Megen,  and  other  leaders  in  whom  she  confided. 
She  did  not  even  omit  the  prince  of  Orange,  for 
though  Margaret  had  but  little  confidence  in  Wil- 
liam, she  did  not  care  to  break  with  him.  To 
the  provincial  governors  she  wrote  to  strengthen 
themselves  as  much  as  possible  by  additional  re- 
cruits ;  and  she  ordered  them  to  introduce  garri- 
sons into  such  places  as  had  shown  favor  to  the 
new  doctrines. 

The  province  of  Hainault  was  that  which  gave 
the  greatest  uneasiness  to  the  regent.  The  spirit 
of  independence  was  proverbially  high  amongst 
the  people  ;  and  the  neighborhood  of  France  gave 
easy  access  to  the  Huguenot  ministers,  who  reaped 
an  abundant  harvest  in  the  great  towns  of  that 
district.  The  flourishing  commercial  city  of  Va* 
lenciennes  was  particularly  tainted  with  heresy. 
Margaret  ordered  Philip  de  Noircarmes,  governor 
of  Hainault,  to  secure  the  obedience  of  the  place 
by  throwing  into  it  a  garrison  of  three  companies 
of  horse  and  as  many  of  foot. 

When  the  regent's  will  was  announced  to  the 
people  of  Valenciennes,  it  met  at  first  with  no  op- 
position. But  among  the  ministers  in  the  town 
was  a  Frenchman  named  La  Grange,  a  bold  en- 
thusiast, gifted  with  a  stirring  eloquence,  which 
gave  him  immense  ascendency  over  the  masses. 
This  man  told  the  people,  that  to  receive  a  garri- 

13 


VOL.  II. 


..r 


4 


98  KEGE^XT'S  AUTHORITY  REESTABLISHED.    [Book  II 

son  would  be  the  ijeath-blow  to  their  Uberties,  and 
that  those  of  the  reformed  religion  would  be  the 
first  victims.    Thus  warned,  the  citizens  were  now 
even  more  unanimous  in  refusing  a  garrison  than 
they  had  before  been  in  their  consent  to  admit  one. 
Noircarmes,  though  much  surprised  by  this  sud- 
den  change,  gave  the  inhabitants   some  days  to 
consider  the  matter  before  placing  themselves  m 
open  resistance  to   the  government.     The  magis- 
trates  and  some  of  the  principal  persons  in  the 
town  were  willing  to   obey  his  requisition,   and 
besought   La  Grange  to  prevail   on   the   people 
to  consent  to  it.     "  I  would  rather,"  replied  the 
high-spirited  preacher,  "that  my  tongue   should 
cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth,  and  that  I  should 
become  dumb  as  a  fish,   than   open  my  lips   to 
persuade  the  people   to  consent  to  so  cruel   and 
outrr-geous    an    act."*     Finding    the    mhabitants 
still  obstinate,  the  general,  by  Margarets  orders, 
proclaimed  the  city  to  be  in  a  state  of  rebellion, 
—  proscribed  the  persons  of  the  citizens  as  trai- 
tors to  their  sovereign,  and  confiscated  their  prop- 
erty.    At  the  same  time,  active  preparations  were 
begun  for  laying  siege  to  the  place,  and  procla- 
mation  was  made  in  the  regent's  name,  prohibit- 
ing the  people  of  the  Netherlands  from  affording 

a  « J*aimerais   mieux   que  mj  die  et  dcraisonnable."    Chronique 

langue  fut  attach<$€  au  palais,  et  contcmporaine,  cited  by  Gacbard, 

devenir  muet,  comme  un  poisson,  Correspondance  de  Philippe  II., 

que  d'ouvrir  la  boucbe  pour  per-  torn.  I.  p.  561,  note, 
suader  au  peuple  cbosc  tant  cru- 


Ch.  xm.] 


REACTION. 


99 


any  aid,  by  counsel,  arms,  or  money,  to  the  rebel- 
lious city,  under  the  penalties  incurred  by  treason. 

But  the  inhabitants  of  Valenciennes,  sustained 
by  the  promises  of  their  preacher,  were  nothing 
daunted  by  these  measures,  nor  by  the  formidable 
show  of  troops  which  Noircarmes  was  assembling 
under  their  walls.  Their  town  was  strongly  situ- 
ated, tolerably  well  victualled  for  a  siege,  and 
filled  with  a  population  of  hardy  burghers  devoted 
to  the  cause,  whose  spirits  were  raised  by  the  ex- 
hortations of  the  consistories  in  the  neighboring 
provinces  to  be  of  good  courage,  as  their  brethren 
would  speedily  come  to  their  relief. 

The  high-handed  measures  of  the  government 
caused  great  consternation  through  the  country, 
especially  amongst  those  of  the  reformed  religion. 
A  brisk  correspondence  went  on  between  the  mem- 
bers of  the  league  and  the  consistories.  Large 
sums  were  raised  by  the  merchants  well  affected 
to  the  cause,  in  order  to  levy  troops  in  Geimany, 
and  were  intrusted  to  Brederode  for  the  pur- 
pose. It  was  also  determined  that  a  last  effort 
should  be  made  to  soften  the  duchess  by  means 
of  a  petition,  which  that  chief,  at  the  head  of 
four  hundred  knights,  was  to  bear  to  Brussels. 
But  Margaret  had  had  enough  of  petitions,  and 
she  bluntly  informed  Brederode,  that,  if  he  came 
in  that  guise,  he  would  find  the  gates  of  Brussels 
shut  against  him. 

Still  the  sturdy  cavalier  was  not  to  be  balked 
in  his   purpose ;    and,  by  means  of  an  agent,  he 


f  f 


100       REGE^'rS  AUTHORITY  KEfiSTABLISHED.     [Book  II 

caused  the  petition  to  be  laid  before   the  regent^ 
It  was  taken  up  mainly  with  a  remonstrance  on 
the    course    pursued   by  Margaret,   so    much   at 
variance  with  her  promises.     It  particularly  en- 
larcred  on  the  limitation  of  her  license  for  pubhc 
pre'aching.     In  conclusion,  it  besought  the  regent 
to  revoke  her  edict,  to  disband  her  forces,  to  raise 
the   siege  of  Valenciennes,   and    to    respect    the 
agreement  she  had  made  with    the   league;    m 
which  case  they  were  ready  to  assure  her  of  their 
support  in  maintaining  order. 

Margaret  laid  the  document  before  her  councd, 
and  on  the  sixteenth  of  February,  1567,  an  answer, 
which  might  be  rather  said  to  be  addressed  to  the 
countiT  at  large  than  to  Brederode,  was  published. 
The  duchess  intimated  her  surprise  that  any  men- 
tion   should  be  made  of  the  league,  as  sh-  had 
supposed  that  body  had  ceased    to   exist,   since 
so  many  of  its  members  had  been  but  too  glad, 
after  the  late  outrages,  to  make  their  peace  with 
the  government.     As  to  her   concession  of  public 
preaching,  it  could  hardly  be  contended  that  that 
was  designed  to  authorize  the   sectaries   to    lay 
taxes,   levy   troops,    create    magistrates,    and    to 
perform,    among    other    religious    rites,    that    of 
marriage,  involving  the  transfer  of  large  amounts 
of  property.     She  could  hardly  be  thought  mad 
enough  to  invest  them  with  powers  like  these. 
She  admonished  the  petitioners  not   to^  compel 
their  sovereign  to  forego  his  native  benignity  of 
^loT^^oUiATt      Tt  would   be  well    for    them,    she 


Cb.  xm.] 


APPEAL  TO  ARMS. 


101 


hinted,  to  give  less  heed  to  public  affairs,  and 
more  to  their  own;  and  she  concluded  with  the 
assurance,  that  she  would  take  good  care  that  the 
ruin  which  they  so  confidently  predicted  for  the 
country  should  not  be  brought  about  by  them.*^ 

The  haughty  tone   of  the    reply   showed    too 
plainly  that  the  times  were  changed;    that  Mar- 
garet  was   now   conscious    of   her   strength,   and 
meant  to  use  it.     The  confederates  felt   that   the 
hour  had  come  for  action.     To  retrace  their  steps 
was  impossible.     Yet  their  present  position   was 
full  of  peril.     The  rumor  went  that  Kmg  Philip 
was  soon  to  come,  at  the  head  of  a  powerful  force, 
to  take  vengeance  on  his  enemies.     To  remain  as 
they  were,  without  resistance,  would  be  to  offer 
their  necks  to  the  stroke  of  the  executioner.     An 
appeal  to   arms  was  all   that  was   left   to  them. 
This  was  accordingly  resolved  on.     The  standard 
of  revolt  was  raised.     The  drum  beat  to  arms  in 
the  towns  and  villages,  and  recruits  were  everj- 
where   enlisted.     Count   Louis   was   busy   in   en- 
forcing levies  in  Germany.     Brederode's  town  of 
Viana   was   named   as   the   place   of   rendezvous. 
That  chief  was  now  in  his  element.     His  restless 
spirit   delighted   in   scenes    of   tumult.     He    had 
busied    himself   in    strengthening    the   works    of 


*  "  Suadere  itaque  illis,  ut  k 
publici8  certfe  negotiis  abstineant, 
ac  res  quique  suas  in  posterum  cu- 
rent:  neve  Regera  brevi  aflTectu- 
nim  ingenitaj  benignitatis  oblivisci 


cogant  Se  quidem  omni  ope  cura- 
turam,  ne,  quam  ipsi  ruinam  com- 
minentur,  per  haec  vulgi  turbamen- 
ta  Belgium  patiatur."  Strada,  De 
Bello  Belgico,  torn.  I.  p.  295. 


'J 

( 

I 


102      REGENT'S  AUTHORITY  REESTABLISHED.     [Book  II 

Viana,  and  in  furnishing  it  with  artillery  and 
military  stores.  Thence  he  had  secretly  passed 
over  to  Amsterdam,  where  he  was  occupied  m 
organizing  resistance  among  the  people,  already, 
by  their   fondness    for    the   new  doctrines,  well 

disposed  to  it. 

Hostilities  first  broke  out  m  Brabant,  where 
Count  Megen  was  foiled  in  an  attempt  on  Bois-le- 
Duc,  which  had  refused  to  receive  a  garrison.  He 
was  more  fortunate  in  an  expedition  against  the  re- 
fractory city  of  Utrecht,  which  surrendered  without 
a  struggle  to  the  royalist  chief. 

In  other  quarters  the  insurgents  were  not  idle. 
A  body  of  some  two  thousand  men,  under  Mamix, 
lord  of  Thoulouse,  brother  of  the  famous  St.  Alde- 
gonde,  made  a  descent  on  the  island  of  Walcheren, 
where  it  was  supposed  Philip  would  land.     But 
they  were  baffled  in  their  attempts  on  this  place 
by  the  loyalty  and  valor  of  the  inhabitants.     Fail- 
ing in  this  scheme,  Thoulouse  was  compelled  to 
sail  up  the   Scheldt,  until  he  reached  the  little 
village  of  Austruweel,  about  a  league  from  Ant- 
werp.    There  he  disembarked    his   whole    force, 
and  took  up  his  quarters  in  the  dwellings  of  the 
inhabitants.     From  this  place  he  sallied  out,  mak- 
ing depredations  on  the  adjoining  country,  burning 
the  churches,  sacking  the  convents,  and  causing 
great  alarm  to   the  magistrates   of  Antwerp   by 
the  confidence  which  his   presence  gave   to   the 
reformed  party  in  that  city. 

Margaret   saw  the  necessity  of  dislodging   the 


Ca.  xm.] 


TUMULT  IN  ANTWERP. 


103 


enemy  without  delay  from  this  dangerous  posi- 
tion. She  despatched  a  body  of  Walloons  on 
the  service,  under  command  of  an  experienced 
officer  named  Launoy.  Her  orders  show  the 
mood  she  was  m.  "They  are  miscreants,"  she 
said,  "who  have  placed  themselves  beyond  the 
pale  of  mercy.  Show  them  no  mercy  then,  but 
extenninate  with  fire  and  sword! "^  Launoy,  by 
a  rapid  march,  arrived  at  Austruweel.  Though 
taken  unawares,  Thoulouse  and  his  men  made  a 
gallant  resistance;  and  a  fierce  action  took  place 
almost  under  the  walls  of  Antwerp. 

The  noise  of  the  musketry  soon  brought  the 
citizens  to  the  ramparts ;  and  the  dismay  of  the 
Calvinists  was  great,  as  they  beheld  the  little 
army  of  Thoulouse  thus  closely  beset  by  their 
enemies.  Furious  at  the  spectacle,  they  now 
called  on  one  another  to  rush  to  the  rescue  of 
their  friends.  Pouring  down  from  the  ramparts, 
they  hurried  to  the  gates  of  the  city.  But  the 
gates  were  locked.  This  had  been  done  by  the 
order  of  the  prince  of  Orange,  who  had  moreover 
caused  a  bridge  across  the  Scheldt  to  be  broken 
down,  to  cut  off  all  communication  between  the 
city  and  the  camp  of  Thoulouse. 

The  people  now  loudly  called  on  the  authorities 
to  deliver  up  the  keys,  demanding  for  what  pur- 
pose the  gates  were  closed.     Their  passions  were 

• 

*  "  Nee  ullis  condltionibus  flecti  supplicium  commeritos,  ferro  et 
te  patere  ad  clemendam ;  sed  ho-  igni  quamprimum  dele."  Ibid.,  jx 
mines  scelestos,  atque  indeprecabile     300. 


I 


i 


104      REGENTS  AUTHORITY  REESTABLISHED.     [Book  11 


I 


kindled  to  madness  by  the  sight  of  the  wife  — 
now,  alas !  the  widow  —  of  Thoulouse,  who,  with 
streammg  eyes  and  dishevelled  hair,  rushing  wild- 
ly  into  the  crowd,  besought  them  piteously  to  save 
her  husband  and  their  own  brethren  from  massacre. 

It  was  too  late.  After  a  short  though  stout  resist- 
ance, the  insurgents  had  been  driven  from  the  field, 
and  taken  refuge  in  their  defences.  These  were 
soon  set  on  fire.  Thoulouse,  with  many  of  his 
followers,  perished  in  the  flames.  Others,  to  avoid 
this  dreadful  fate,  cut  their  way  through  the  en- 
emy,  and  plunged  into  the  Scheldt,  which  washes 
the  base  of  the  high  land  occupied  by  the  village. 
There  they  miserably  perished  in  its  waters,  or 
were  pierced  by  the  lances  of  the  enemy,  who 
hovered  on  its  borders.  Fifteen  hundred  were 
slain.  Three  hundred,  who  survived,  surrendered 
themselves  prisoners.  But  Launoy  feared  an  at- 
tempt at  rescue  from  the  neighboring  city;  and, 
true  to  the  orders  of  the  regent,  he  massacred 
nearly  all  of  them  on  the  spot !  ® 

While  this  dismal  tragedy  was  passing,  the  mob 
imprisoned  within  the  walls  of  Antwerp  was 
raging  and  bellowing  like  the  waves  of  the  ocean 
chafing  wildly  against  the  rocks  that  confine  them. 
With  fierce  cries,  they  demanded  that  the  gates 


•  "Periere  in  eft  pugn&,  qu»  jussu,  quod  enipturi  Antverpien- 

prima  cum  rebellibus  commisvsa  est  ses,   opemque  reliquiis  vict»  fac- 

in  Belgio,   Gheusiorum  mille    ac  tionis  allaturi  crederen*:ur."    Ibid., 

quingenti:  capti  circiter  treccnti,  p.  301. 
jugulatique  paene  omnes  Beavorii 


Ch.  xm.] 


TUMULT  IN  ANTWERP. 


105 


should  be  opened,  calling  on  the  magistrates  with 
bitter  imprecations  to  deliver  up  the  keys.  The 
magistrates  had  no  mind  to  face  the  infuriated 
populace.  But  the  prince  of  Orange  fortunately, 
at  this  crisis,  did  not  hesitate  to  throw  himself 
into  the  midst  of  the  tumult,  and  take  on  himself 
the  whole  responsibility  of  the  afiair.  It  was  by 
his  command  that  the  gates  had  been  closed, 
in  order  that  the  regent's  troops,  if  victorious, 
might  not  enter  the  city,  and  massacre  those  of 
the  reformed  religion.  This  plausible  explana- 
tion did  not  satisfy  the  people.  Some  called  out 
that  the  true  motive  was,  not  to  save  the  Calvin- 
ists  in  the  city,  but  to  prevent  their  assisting 
their  brethren  in  the  camp.  One  man,  more 
audacious  than  the  rest,  raised  a  musket  to  the 
prince's  breast,  saluting  him,  at  the  same  time, 
with  the  epithet  of  "traitor!"  But  the  fellow 
received  no  support  from  his  companions,  who, 
in  general,  entertained  too  great  respect  for  Wil- 
liam to  offer  any  violence  to  his  person. 

Unable  to  appease  the  tumult,  the  prince  was 
borne  along  by  the  tide,  which  now  rolled  back 
from  the  gates  to  the  Meer  Bridge,  where  it  soon 
received  such  accessions  that  the  number  amounted 
to  more  than  ten  thousand.  The  wildest  schemes 
were  then  agitated  by  the  populace,  among  whom 
no  one  appeared  to  take  the  lead.  Some  were  for 
seizing  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and  turning  out  the 
magistrates.  Others  were  for  sacking  the  convents, 
and  driving  their  inmates,  as  well  as  all  priests, 

VOL.  II.  14 


•t 


•I, 


}': 


i 


106      REGENT'S  AUTHORITY  REESTABLISHED.     [Book  XL 

from  the  city.  MeanwhUe,  they  had  got  possession 
of  some  pieces  of  artillery  from  the  axsenal,  with 
which  they  fortified  the  bridge.  Thus  passed  the 
long  night;  — the  armed  multitude  gathered  to- 
gether like  a  dark  cloud,  ready  at  any  moment 
to  burst  in  fury  on  the  city,  while  the  defenceless 
burghers,  especially  those  who  had  any  property 
at  stake,  were  filled  with  the  most  dismal  appre- 

hensions. 

Yet  the  Catholics  contrived  to  convey  some 
casks  of  powder,  it  is  said,  under  the  Meer  Bridge, 
resolving  to  blow  it  into  the  air  with  all  upon  it, 
as  soon  as  their  enemies  should  make   a  hostile 

movement. 

All  eyes  were  now  turned  on  the  prince  of 
Orange,  as  the  only  man  at  all  capable  of  extri- 
cating them  from  their  pei-ilous  situation.  Wil- 
liam had  stationed  a  guard  over  the  mint,  and 
another  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  to  protect  these 
buildings  from  the  populace.  A  great  part  of  this 
anxious  night  he  spent  in  endeavoring  to  bring 
about  such  an  imderstanding  between  the  two  great 
parties  of  the  Catholics  and  the  Lutherans  as 
should  enable  them  to  act  in  concert.  This  was 
the  less  difficult,  on  account  of  the  jealousy  which 
the  latter  sect  entertained  of  the  Calvinists.  Tht 
force  thus  raised  was  swelled  by  the  accession  of 
the  principal  merchants  and  men  of  substance, 
as  well  as  most  of  the  foreigners  resident  in  the 
city,  who  had  less  concern  for  spiritual  matters 
than  for  the   security  of  life   and  fortune.     The 


4 


Cb.  xm.] 


TUMULT  IN  ANTWERP. 


107 


following  morning  beheld  the  mob  of  Calvinists 
formed  into  something  like  a  military  array,  their 
green  and  white  banners  bravely  unfurled,  and 
the  cannon  which  they  had  taken  from  the  arsenal 
posted  in  front.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  great 
square  before  the  Hotel  de  Ville  were  gathered  the 
forces  of  the  prince  of  Orange,  which,  if  wanting 
artillery,  were  considerably  superior  in  numbers  to 
their  adversaries.  The  two  hosts  now  stood  face 
to  face,  as  if  waiting  only  the  signal  to  join  in 
mortal  conflict.  But  no  man  was  found  bold 
enough  to  give  the  signal  —  for  brother  to  lift  his 
hand  against  brother. 

At  this  juncture  William,  with  a  small  guard, 
and  accompanied  by  the  principal  magistrates, 
crossed  over  to  the  enemy's  ranks,  and  demanded 
an  interview  with  the  leaders.  He  represented  to 
them  the  madness  of  their  present  course ;  which, 
even  if  they  were  victorious,  must  work  infinite 
mischief  to  the  cause.  It  would  be  easy  for  them 
to  obtain  by  fair  means  all  they  could  propose  by 
violence;  and  for  his  own  part,  he  concluded, 
however  well  disposed  to  them  he  now  might  be,  if 
a  single  drop  of  blood  were  shed  in  this  quarrel,  he 
would  hold  them  from  that  hour  as  enemies. 

The  remonstrance  of  the  prince,  aided  by  the 
conviction  of  their  own  inferiority  in  numbers, 
prevailed  over  the  stubborn  temper  of  the  Calvin- 
ists. They  agreed  to  an  accommodation,  one  of 
the  articles  of  which  was,  that  no  garrison  should 
be  admitted  within  the  city.     The  prince  of  Orange 


If 


108      REGENTS  AUTHORITY  REESTABLISHED.     [Book  IL 

Bubscribed  and  swore  to  the  treaty,  on  behalf  of 
his  party ;  and  it  is  proof  of  the  confidence  that 
even  the  Calvinists  reposed  in  him,  that  they  laid 
down  their  arms  sooner  than  either  the  Lutherans 
or  the  Catholics.  Both  these,  however,  speedily 
followed  their  example.  The  martial  array,  which 
had  assumed  so  menacing  an  aspect,  soon  melted 
away.  The  soldier  of  an  hour,  subsiding  into  the 
quiet  burgher,  went  about  his  usual  business  ;  and 
tranquillity  and  order  once  more  reigned  within 
the  walls  of  Antwerp.  —  Thus,  by  the  coolness 
and  discretion  of  a  smgle  man,  the  finest  city 
in  the  Netherlands  was   saved  from  irretrievable 

ruin.^ 

It  was  about  the  middle  of  March,  1567,  that 
the  disturbances  occurred  at  Antwerp.  During 
this  time  Noircarmes  was  enforcing  the  blockade  of 
Valenciennes,  but  with  little  prospect  of  bringmg 
it  to  a  speedy  issue.  The  inhabitants,  confident  in 
their  strength,  had  made  more  than  one  successfid 
sally,  burning  the  cloisters  in  which  the  general 
had  lodged  part  of  his  troops,  and  carrying  back 
considerable  booty  into  the  city.  It  was  evident 
that  to  reduce  the  place  by  blockade  would  be  a 
work  of  no  little  time. 


'  For  the  account  of  the  troubles 
in  Antwerp,  see  Correspondance 
de  Marguerite  d*Autriche,  p.  226 
et  seq. — Archives  de  la  Malson 
d'Orange-Nassau,  torn.  III.  p.  59. 
—  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  torn. 
L  pp.  300  -  303.  —  Brandt,  Refor- 


mation in  the  Low  Countries,  vol 
I.  p.  247. —  Correspondance  de  Phi- 
lippe II.,  torn.  I.  pp.  526,  527.  — 
Vander  Haer,  De  Initiis  Tumultu- 
um,  pp.  314-317. —  Renom  de 
Francia,  Alborotos  de  Flandffc, 
MS. 


Ch.  xm.] 


SIEGE  OF  VALENCIENNES. 


109 


Margaret  wrote  to  her  brother  to  obtain  his  per- 
mission  to  resort  to  more  vigorous  measures,  and, 
without  further  delay,  to  bombard  the  place.  But 
Philip  peremptorily  refused.  It  was  much  to  his 
regret,  he  said,  that  the  siege  of  so  fair  a  city  had 
been  undertaken.  Since  it  had  been,  nothing  re- 
mained  but  to  trust  to  a  blockade  for  its  reduc- 
tion.' 

At  this  time  an  army  of  the  confederates,  some 
three  or  four  thousand  strong,  appeared  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Toumay,  designed  partly  to  pro- 
tect that  town,  which  had  refused  a  garrison,  and 
partly  to  create  a  diversion  in  favor  of  Valenciennes. 
No  sooner  had  Noircannes  got  tidings  of  this,  than, 
leaving  a  sufficient  detachment  to  carry  on  the  block- 
ade, he  made  a  rapid  march  with  the  rest  of  hia 
forces,  came  suddenly  on  the  enemy,  engaged  him  in 
a  pitched  battle,  completely  routed  him,  and  drove 
his  scattered  legions  up  to  the  walls  of  Toumay. 
That  city,  now  incapable  of  resistance,  opened  its 
gates  at  once,  and  submitted  to  the  terms  of  the 
conqueror,  who  soon  returned,  with  his  victorious 
army,  to  resume  the  siege  of  Valenciennes. 

But  the  confidence  of  the  inhabitants  was  not 
shaken.  On  the  contrary,  imder  the  delusive 
promises  of  their  preacher,  it  seemed  to  rise  higher 
than  ever,  and  they  rejected  with  scorn  every  invi- 
tation to  surrender.  Again  the  regent  wrote  to 
her  brother,  that,  unless  he  allowed  more  active 


8  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  torn.  I.  p.  810. 


110      REGENTS  AUTHORITY  REESTABLISHED.    [Book  ll. 

operations,  there  was  great  danger  the  place  would 
be  relieved  by  the  Huguenots  on  the  frontier,  ol 
by  the  Gueux,  whose  troops  were  scattered  through 

the  country. 

Urged  by  the  last  consideration,  Philip  yielded 
a  reluctant  assent  to  his  sister's  wishes.     But  in 
his  letter,  dated  on  the  thirteenth  of  March,  he  in- 
sisted that,  before  resorting  to  violence,  persuasion 
and  menace  should  be  first  tried  ;  and  that,  in  case 
of  an  assault,  great  care  should  be  had  that  no 
harm  came  to  the  old  and  infirm,  to  women  or  chil- 
dren, to  any,  in  short,  who  were  not  found  actually 
in  arms  against  the  government.*  —  The  clemency 
shown  by  Philip  on  this  occasion  reflects  infinite 
credit  on  him ;  and  if  it  be  disposed  of  by  some 
as  mere  policy,  it  must  be  allowed  to  be  a  policy 
near  akin  to  humanity.     It  forms  a  striking  con- 
trast with  the  ferocious  mood  in  which  Margaret 
indulged  at  this  time,  when  she   seems   to   have 
felt  that  a  long  arrear  of  vengeance  was  due  for 
the    humiliations    she    had    been    compelled    to 
endure. 

The  regent  lost  no  time  in  profiting  by  the 
royal  license.  She  first,  however,  proposed,  in 
obedience  to  her  instructions,  to  see  what  could 
be  done  by  milder  measures.     She  sent  two  envoys, 


•  Strada  gives  an  extract  from  rum  mod6)  seniimque  ac  mulierum 

the  letter :  "  Deinde  si  dedido  non  abstinerent;  sed  civium  nullus,  nisi 

iequeretur,  invaderent  quidem  ur-  dum  inter  propugnandum  se  hos- 

bem,  quodque  militum  est,  age-  tem  gereret,  enecaretur."     Ibid^ 

rent ;  k  caedibus  tamen  non  puero-  p.  311. 


Ch.  xm.] 


SIEGE  OF  VALENCIENNES. 


Ill 


Count  Egmont  and  the  duke  of  Arschot,  to  Valen- 
ciennes, in  order  to  expostulate  with  the  citizens, 
and  if  possible  bring  them  to  reason.  The  two 
nobles  represented  to  the  people  the  folly  of  at- 
tempting to  cope,  thus  single-handed,  as  it  were, 
with  the  government.  Their  allies  had  been  dis- 
comfited one  after  another.  With  the  defeat  be- 
fore Toumay  must  have  faded  the  last  ray  of  hope. 
They  besought  the  citizens  to  accept,  while  there 
was  time,  the  grace  proffered  them  by  the  duchess, 
who  was  willing,  if  the  town  submitted,  that  such 
as  chose  to  leave  it  might  take  their  effects  and 
go  wherever  they  listed. 

But  the  people  of  Valenciennes,  fortified  by  the 
promises  of  their  leaders,  and  with  a  blind  confi- 
dence in  their  own  resources,  which  had  hitherto 
proved  effectual,  held  lightly  both  the  arguments 
and  offers  of  the  envoys,  who  returned  to  the  camp 
of  Noircarmes  greatly  disgusted  with  the  ill-success 
of  their  mission.  There  was  no  room  for  further 
delay,  and  preparations  were  made  for  reducing 
the  place  by  more  active  operations. 

Valenciennes  stands  on  the  crest  of  an  eminence 
that  sweeps  down  by  a  gradual  slope  towards  the 
river  Scheldt,  which,  washing  the  walls  of  the  city, 
forms  a  good  defence  on  that  quarter.  The  ram- 
parts encompassing  the  town,  originally  strong 
and  of  great  thickness,  were  now  somewhat  im- 
paired by  age.  They  were  protected  by  a  wide 
ditch,  which  in  some  places  was  partially  choked 
ap  with  rubbish.     The  walls  were  well  lined  with 


112       REGENT'S  AUTHORITY  REESTABLISHED.     [Book  U. 

artillery,  and  the  magazines  provided  witli  ammu- 
nition. In  short,  the  place  was  one  which,  in 
earlier  days,  from  the  strength  of  its  works  as 
well  as  its  natural  position,  might  have  embar- 
rassed  an  army  more  formidable  than  that  which 
now  lay  before  it. 

The  first  step  of  Noircarmes  was  to  contract 
his  Imes,  and  closely  to  invest  the  town.  He  next 
availed  himself  of  a  dark  and  stormy  night  to  at- 
tack one  of  the  suburbs,  which  he  carried  after  a 
sharp  engagement,  and  left  in  the  charge  of  some 
companies  of  Walloons. 

The  following  day  these  troops  opened  a  brisk 
fire  on  the  soldiers  who  defended  the  ramparts, 
which  was  returned  by  the  latter  with  equal  spirit. 
But  while  amusing  the   enemy   in   this   quarter, 
Noircarmes   ordered  a  battery  to  be  constructed, 
consisting  at  first  of  ten,  afterwards  of  twenty, 
heavy  guns  and  mortars,  besides  some  lighter  pieces. 
From  this  battery  he  opened  a  well-directed  and 
most  disastrous  fire  on  the  city,  demolishing  some 
of  the  principal  edifices,  which,  from   their   size, 
afforded  a  prominent  mark.     The  great  tower  of 
St.  Nicholas,  on  which  some  heavy  ordnance  was 
planted,  soon  crumbled  under  this  fierce  cannon- 
ade, and  its  defenders  were  buried  in  its  ruins. 
At    length,   at   the   end   of   four   hours,    the   in- 
habitants, unable  longer  to  endure  the  storm  of 
shot  and  shells  which  penetrated  every  quarter  of 
the  town,  so  far  humbled  their  pride  as  to  request 
ft  parley.     To  this  Noircarmes  assented,  but  with- 
out interaiitting  his  fire  for  a  moment. 


Ch.  xin.i 


8IE6E  OF  VALENCIENNES. 


113 


The  deputies  informed  the  general,  that  the  city 
was  willing  to  capitulate  on  the  terms  before  pro- 
posed by  the  Flemish  nobles.  But  Noircarmes  con- 
temptuously  told  them  that  "  things  were  not  now 
as  they  then  were,  and  it  was  not  his  wont  to 
talk  of  terms  with  a  fallen  enemy."  ^®  The  dep- 
uties, greatly  discomfited  by  the  reply,  returned 
to  report  the  failure  of  their  mission  to  their 
townsmen. 

Meanwhile  the  iron  tempest  continued  with  pit- 
iless fury.  The  wretched  people  could  find  no 
refuge  from  it  in  their  dwellings,  which  filled  the 
streets  with  their  ruins.  It  was  not,  however,  till 
two-and-thirty  hours  more  had  passed  away  that 
a  practicable  breach  was  made  in  the  walls  ;  while 
the  rubbish  which  had  tumbled  into  the  fosse  from 
the  crumbling  ramparts  afforded  a  tolerable  pas- 
sage for  the  besiegers,  on  a  level  nearly  with  the 
breach  itself.  By  this  passage  Noircarmes  now 
prepared  to  march  into  the  city,  through  the  open 
breach,  at  the  head  of  his  battalions. 

The  people  of  Valenciennes  too  late  awoke  from 
their  delusion.  They  were  no  longer  cheered  by 
the  voice  of  their  fanatical  leader,  for  he  had  pro- 
vided for  his  own  safety  by  flight ;  and,  preferring 
any  fate  to  that  of  being  delivered  over  to  the 
ruthless  soldiery  of  Noircarmes,  they  offered  at 
once  to  surrender  the  to\^Ti  at  discretion,  throwing 

*•  "  Quasi  ver6,  inquit,  vestra  tes :  ego  cert^  conditionibus  non 

conditio  cadem  hodie  sit,  ac  nudi-  transigo  cadente  cum  hoste.**   Stra- 

astertius.     Ser6  sapitis  Valencena-  da,  De  Bello  Belgicc  ,  torn.  I.  p.  314 

voi   n.  15 


114       BEGENTS  AUTHOBITY  REESTABLISHED.     [Book  It 

themselves  on  tte  mercy  of  their  victor.  Six-and- 
thirty  hours  only  had  elapsed  since  the  batteries 
of  the  besiegers  had  opened  their  fire,  and  durmg 
that  time  three  thousand  bombs  had  been  thrown 
into  the  city;"  which  was  thought  scarcely  less 
than  a  miracle  in  that  day. 

On  the  second  of  April,  1567,  just  four  months 
after  the  commencement  of  the  siege,  the  victo- 
rious    army  marched  into   Valenciennes.      As   it 
defiled  through  the  long  and  narrow  streets,  which 
showed  signs  of  the  dismal  fray  in  their  shattered 
edifices,  and  in  the  dead  and  dying  still  stretched 
on  the  pavement,  it  was  met  by  troops  of  women 
and  young  maidens  bearing  green  branches  in  their 
hands,   and   deprecating   with    tears   and  piteous 
lamentations  the  wrath  of  the  conquerors.     Nou'- 
carmes  marched  at  once  to  the  town-house,  where 
he  speedily  relieved  the  municipal  functionaries  of 
all  responsibility,  by  turning  them  out  of  office. 
His  next  care  was  to  seize  the  persons  of  the  zeal- 
ous ministers  and  the  other  leaders.     Many  had 
akeady  contrived  to  make  their  escape.     Most  of 
these   were    soon    after    taken,   the   preacher   La 
Grange   among   the  rest,  and  to  the  number  of 
thirty-six  were  sentenced  either  to  the  scaffold  or 
the  gallows.^    The  general  then  caused  the  citi- 

U  "  Feruntque  ter  millies  ex-  rian,  who  would  not  be  likely  to 

plosaa  murales  macbinas,  moenium  exaggerate  the  number  of  those 

qukm    hominum    majori    strage."  who  suffered.    'Ihe  loyal  president 

Ibid,  ubi  supra.  of  Mechlin  dismisses  the  matter 

J2  So  States   Margaret's  histo-  more  summarily,  without  speciiy 


Ch.  Xm.]       THE  GOVERNMENT  TRIUMPHANT. 


115 


zens  to  be  disarmed,  and  the  fortifications,  on 
which  were  mounted  eighty  pieces  of  artillery,  to 
be  dismantled.  The  town  was  deprived  of  its 
privileges  and  immunities,  and  a  heavy  fine  im- 
posed  on  the  inhabitants  to  defray  the  charges  of 
the  war.  The  Protestant  worship  was  abolished, 
the  churches  were  restored  to  their  former  occu 
pants,  and  none  but  the  Roman  Catholic  service 
was  allowed  henceforth  to  be  performed  in  the  city. 
The  bishop  of  Arras  was  invited  to  watch  over 
the  spiritual  concerns  of  the  inhabitants,  and  a 
strong  garrison  of  eight  battalions  was  quartered 
in  the  place,  to  secure  order  and  maintain  the  au- 
thority of  the  crown.^^ 

The  keys  of  Valenciennes,  it  was  commonly  said, 
opened  to  the  regent  the  gates  of  all  the  refractorj' 
cities  of  the  Netherlands.  Maestricht,  Tomhut, 
Ghent,  Ypres,  Oudenarde,  and  other  places  which 
had  refused  to  admit  a  garrison  within  their 
walls,  now  surrendered,  one  after  another,  to  Mar- 
garet,   and   consented   to   receive  her   terms.     In 


ing  any  number  of  victims.    "  El 
senor  de  Noilcarmes  se  asegurd  de 
muchos  prisioneros  principales  Bor- 
geses  y  de  otros  que  avian  sido  los 
autores  de  la  rebelion,  d  los  quales 
se  hizo  luego  en  dih'gencia  su  pley- 
to/*   (Renom  de  Francia,  Alborotos 
de  Flandes,  MS.)    Brandt,  the  his- 
torian of  the  Reformation,  (vol.  I. 
p.  251,)  tells  us  that  two  hundred 
were  said  to  have  perished  by  the 
hands  of  the  hangman  at  Valen- 
ciennes, on  account  of  the  relimous 


troublep,   in   the    course    of  thi« 
year. 

^3  For  information,  moie  or  less 
minute,  in  regard  to  the  siege  of 
Valenciennes,  see  Strada,  De  Bel- 
lo  Belgico,  tom.  I.  pp.  303-31.5. 
—  Vander  Haer,  De  Initiis  Tu- 
multuum,  pp.  319-322.  — Mete- 

ren.  Hist,  des  Pays-Bas,  fol.  49. 

Correspondance  de  Guillaunie  le 
Tacitume,  tom.  11.  p.  501.  — Re- 
nom  de  Francia,  Alborotos  de 
Flandes,  MS. 


116       REGENTS  AUTHORITY  REESTABLISHED.     [Book  D 


like  manner  Megen  established  the  royal  author 
ity  in  the  province  of  Gueldres,  and  Aremberg, 
after  a  more  prolonged  resistance,  in  Groningen 
and  Friesland.  In  a  few  weeks,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  Antwerp  and  some  places  in  Holland, 
the  victorious  arms  of  the  regent  had  subdued 
the  spirit  of  resistance  in  every  part  of  the  coun- 
try." The  movement  of  the  insurgents  had  been 
premature. 

M  Strada,  De  Bello  Bel^co,  torn.  L  pp.  815,  823  et  m(|. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

TRANQUILLITY  RESTORED. 

Oath  Imposed  by  Margaret  —  Refused  by  Orange.  —  He  leaves  tlM 
Netherlands.  —  Submiasion  of  the  Country.  —  New  Edict  —  Order 
restored. 

1567. 


I 


The  perplexities  in  which  the  regent  had  been 
involved  had  led  her  to  conceive  a  plan,  early  in 
January,  1567,  the  idea  of  which  may  have  been 
suggested  by  the  similar  plan  of  Viglius.  This 
was  to  require  an  oath  from  the  great  nobles, 
the  knights  of  the  Golden  Fleece,  and  those  in 
high  stations,  civil  or  military,  that  they  would 
yield  implicit  and  unqualified  obedience  to  the 
commands  of  the  king,  of  whatever  nature  they 
might  be.  Her  object  in  this  measure  was  not 
to  secure  a  test  of  loyalty.  She  knew  full  well 
who  were  the  friends  and  who  were  the  foes  ot 
the  government.  But  she  wished  a  decent  apology 
for  ridding  herself  of  the  latter ;  and  it  was  made 
a  condition,  that  those  who  refused  to  take  the 
oath  were  to  be  dismissed  from  office. 

The  measure  seems  to  have  met  with  no  oppo- 
sition when  first   started  in   the  council;   where 


118 


TRANQUILLITY  RESTORED. 


[Book  II. 


Mansfeldt,  Arschot,  Megen,  Barlaimont,  all  signi 
fied  their  readiness  to  sign^  the  oath.  Egmont 
indeed  raised  some  scruples.  After  the  oath  of 
allegiance  he  had  once  taken,  a  new  one  seemed 
superfluous.  The  bare  word  of  a  man  of  honor 
and  a  chevalier  of  the  Toison  ought  to  suffice.^ 
But  after  a  short  correspondence  on  the  subject, 
his  scruples  vanished  before  the  arguments  or 
persuasions  of  the  regent. 

Brederode,  who  held  a  military  command,  was 
not  of  so  accommodating  a  temper.  He  indig- 
nantly exclaimed,  that  it  was  a  base  trick  of  the 
government,  and  he  understood  the  drift  of  it. 
He  refused  to  subscribe  the  oath,  and  at  once 
threw  up  his  commission.  The  Counts  Hoome 
and  Hoogstraten  declined  also,  but  in  more  tem- 
perate terms,  and,  resigning  their  employments, 
withdrew  to  their  estates  in  the  country. 

The  person  of  most  importance  was  the  prince 
of  Orange,  and  it  was  necessary  to  approach  him 
with  the  greatest  caution.  Margaret,  it  is  true, 
had  long  since  withdrawn  from  him  her  con- 
fidence. But  he  had  too  much  consideration  and 
authority  in  the  coimtry  for  her  to  wish  to  break 
with  him.  Nor  would  she  willingly  give  him 
cause  of  disgust.     She  accordingly  addressed  him 


1  "II  ne  comprenait  pas  pour- 
4|iioi  la  gouvernante  insistait,  apr^s 
qu*il  lui  avait  ^rit  une  lettre  de 
8^  main,  contenant  tout  ce  que 
S.  A.  pouvait  desirer  d'un  gentil- 
homme   d'honneur,   chevalier   de 


rOrdre,  naturel  vassal  du  Roi,  et 
qui  toute  sa  vie  avait  fait  le  devoir 
d'bomme  de  bien,  eomme  il  le  fai- 
sait  encore  journellement'*  Con- 
respondance  de  Philippe  II.,  torn.  L 
p.  321. 


Ch.  XI v.]       oath  imposed  by  MARGABET. 


119 


a  note,  couched   in  the  most   insinuating   terms 
she  had  at  her  command. 

She  could  not  doubt  he  would  be  ready  to  set 
a  good  example,  when  his  example  would  be  so 
important  in  the  perplexed  condition  of  the  coun- 
try. Rumors  had  been  circulated  to  the  prejudice 
of  his  loyalty.  She  did  not  give  them  credit.  She 
could  not  for  a  moment  believe  that  he  would  so 
far  dishonor  his  great  name  and  his  illustrious 
descent  as  to  deserve  such  a  reproach;  and  she 
had  no  doubt  he  would  gladly  avail  himself  of 
the  present  occasion  to  wipe  away  all  suspicion.* 

The  despatch  inclosed  a  form  of  the  oath,  by 
which  the  party  was  to  bind  himself  to  "serve 
the  king,  and  act  for  or  against  whomever  his 
majesty  might  command,  without  restriction  or 
limitation,"*  on  pain  of  being  dismissed  from 
office. 

William  was  not  long  in  replying  to  a  requisi- 
tion, to  obey  which  would  leave  him  less  freedom 
than  might  be  claimed  by  the  meanest  peasant  in 
the  country.  On  the  twenty-eighth  of  April,  the 
same  day  on  which  he  received  the  letter,  he 
wrote  to  the  regent,  declining  in  the  most  positive 


•  "Ferez  cesser  les  calumnies 
que  dictes  se  semer  contre  vous, 
ensamble  tous  ces  bruits  que  scavez 
courrir  de  vous,  eneoires  que  en 
mon  endroict  je  les  tiens  faulx  et 
que  k  tort  ils  se  dyent;  ne  pou- 
vant  croire  que  en  ung  coeur  noble 
et  de  telle  extraction  que   vous 


estes,  successeur  des  Seigneurs," 
etc.  Archives  de  la  Maison  d'O- 
range-Nassau,  torn.  HI.  p.  44. 

3  "  Servir  et  m*employer  envers 
et  contre  tous,  et  comme  me  sera 
ordonnd  de  sa  part,  sans  limitation 
ou  restrinction.**    Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


120 


TRANQUILLITY  RESTORED. 


[Book  IL 


Ch.  XIV.J 


OATH  REFUSED  BY/  ORANGE. 


121 


terms  to  take  the  oath.  Such  an  act,  he  said, 
would  of  itself  imply  that  he  had  already  violated 
the  oath  he  had  previously  taken.  Nor  could  he 
honorably  take  it,  since  it  might  bind  him  to  do 
what  would  be  contrary  to  the  dictates  of  his  own 
conscience,  as  well  as  to  what  he  conceived  to  be 
the  true  interests  of  his  majesty  and  the  country. 
He  was  aware  that  such  a  demand  on  the  regent's 
part  was  equivalent  to  a  dismissal  from  office. 
He  begged  her,  therefore,  to  send  some  one  fully 
empowered  to  receive  his  commissions,  since  he 
was  ready  forthwith  to  surrender  them.  As  for 
himself,  he  should  withdraw  from  the  Netherlands, 
and  wait  until  his  sovereign  had  time  to  become 
satisfied  of  his  fidelity.  But  wherever  he  might 
be,  he  should  ever  be  ready  to  devote  both  life 
and  property  to  the  service  of  the  king  and  the 
common  weal  of  the  coimtry.* 

Whatever  hesitation  the  prince  of  Orange  may 
have  before  felt  as  to  the  course  he  was  to  take, 
it  was  clear  the  time  had  now  come  for  decisive 
action.  Though  the  steady  advocate  of  political 
reform,  his  policy,  as  we  have  seen,  had  been  to 
attempt  this  by  constitutional  methods,  not  by 
violence.  But  all  his  more  moderate  plans  had 
been  overthrown  by  the  explosion  of  the  icono- 

*  "  Je  seroys  aulcunement  obligd  *  "  Vous  asseurant  que,  oil  que 

et  constrainct,  le  cas  advenant,  que  seray,  n'espargneray  jamais  mon 

on  me  viendroict  k    commander  corps  ni  mon  bien  pour  le  service 

those  qui  pourroit  venir  contre  ma  de  Sa  Ma'*  et  le  bien  commun  dt 

'onscience  ou  au  deservice  de  Sa  ces  pays."    Ibid  ,  p.  47. 
Ma»*  et  du  pays."    Ibid.,  p.  46. 


clasts.  The  outrages  then  perpetrated  had  both 
alienated  the  Catholics  and  disgusted  the  more 
moderate  portion  of  the  Protestants;  while  the 
divisions  of  the  Protestants  among  themselves  had 
so  far  paralyzed  their  action,  that  the  whole 
strength  of  the  party  of  reform  had  never  been 
fairly  exerted  in  the  conflict.  That  conflict,  un- 
prepared as  the  nation  was  for  it,  had  been  most 
disastrous.  Everywhere  the  arms  of  the  regent 
had  been  victorious.  It  was  evident  the  hour  for 
resistance  had  not  yet  come. 

Yet  for  William  to  remain  in  his  present  position 
was  hazardous  in  the  extreme.  Rumors  had  gone 
abroad  that  the  duke  of  Alva  would  soon  be  in  the 
Netherlands,  at  the  head  of  a  force  sufficient  to  put 
do^vn  all  opposition.  "  Beware  of  Alva,"  said  his 
wife's  kinsman,  the  landgrave  of  Hesse,  to  William ; 
"  I  know  him  well."  ®  The  prince  of  Orange  also 
knew  him  well,  —  too  well  to  trust  him.  He  knew 
the  hard,  inexorable  nature  of  the  man  who  was 
now  coming  with  an  army  at  his  back,  and  clothed 
with  the  twofold  authority  of  judge  and  execution- 
er. The  first  blow  would,  he  knew,  be  aimed  at  the 
highest  mark.  To  await  Alva's  coming  would  be 
to  provoke  his  fate.  Yet  the  prince  felt  all  the 
dreariness  of  his  situation.  "  I  am  alone,"  he 
wrote  to  the  Landgrave  William  of  Hesse,  "  with 
dangers  menacing  me  on  all  sides,  yet  without  one 
trusty  friend  to  whom  I  can  open  my  heart."  ^ 

•  Ibid.,  p.  42. 

^  "In  ansehung  das  wir  in  dissen  linden  allein  seindt,  und  in  hocb- 

TOL.  II.  16 


I 


122 


TRANQUILLITY  RESTORED. 


[Book  II. 


Margaret  seems  to  have  been  less  prepared  than 
might  have  been  expected  for  the  decision  of  Or- 
ange. Yet  she  determined  not  to  let  him  depart 
from  the  country  without  an  effort  to  retain  him. 
She  accordingly  sent  her  secretary,  Berty,  to  the 
prince  at  Antwerp,  to  enter  into  the  matter  more 
freely,  and,  if  possible,  prevail  on  him  to  review 
the  grounds  of  his  decision.  William  freely,  and 
at  some  length,  stated  his  reasons  for  declining 
the  oath.  "HI  thus  blindly  surrender  myself  to 
the  will  of  the  king,  I  may  be  driven  to  do  what 
is  most  repugnant  to  my  principles,  especially  in 
the  stem  mode  of  dealing  with  the  sectaries.  1 
may  be  compelled  to  denounce  some  of  my  own 
family,  even  my  wife,  as  Lutherans,  and  to  deliver 
them  into  the  hands  of  the  executioner.  Finally," 
said  he,  "  the  king  may  send  some  one  in  his  royal 
name  to  rule  over  us,  to  whom  it  would  be  derog- 
atory for  me  to  submit."  The  name  of  "Alva" 
escaped,  as  if  involuntarily,  from  his  lips,  —  and 
he  was  silent.® 

Berty  endeavored  to  answer  the  objections  of  the 
prince,  but  the  latter,  interrupting  him  before  he 
had  touched  on  the  duke  of  Alva,  bluntly  declared 
that  the  king  would  never  be  content  while  one 
of  his  great  vassals  was  wedded  to  a  heretic.  It 
was  his  purpose,  therefore,  to  leave  the  country 


■ten  noten  und  gefehrden    leibs  recht  eroffnen  dorflen."    Ibid.,  p 

nnd  lebens  stecken,  und  keinen  89. 

vertrauwen  freundt  umb  uns  haben,  8  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  torn 

deme  wir  unser  gemiithe  und  hertz  I.  p.  319. 


Gh.  XIV.J 


OATH  REFUSED  BY  ORANGE. 


123 


at  once,  and  retire  to  Germany;  and  with  this 
remark  he  abruptly  closed  the  conference. 
-  The  secretary,  though  mortified  at  his  own  fail- 
ure, besought  William  to  consent  to  an  interview, 
before  his  departure,  with  Count  Egmont,  who, 
Berty  trusted,  might  be  more  successful.  To  this 
William  readily  assented.  This  celebrated  meet- 
ing  took  place  at  Willbroek,  a  village  between 
Antwerp  and  Brussels.  Besides  the  two  lords 
there  were  only  present  Count  Mansfeldt  and  the 
secretary. 

After  some  discussion,  in  which  each  of  the 
friends  endeavored  to  win  over  the  other  to  his 
own  way  of  thinking,  William  expressed  the  hope 
that  Egmont  would  save  himself  in  time  from  the 
bloody  tempest  that,  he  predicted,  was  soon  to  fall 
on  the  heads  of  the  Flemish  nobles.^  "  I  trust 
in  the  clemency  of  my  sovereign,"  answered  the 
count;  "he  cannot  deal  harshly  with  men  who 
have  restored  order  to  the  country."  "  This  clem- 
ency  you  so  extol,"  replied  William,  "  will  be  your 
ruin.  Much  I  fear  that  the  Spaniards  will  make 
use  of  you  as  a  bridge  to  effect  their  entrance  into 
the  country  !  "^^  With  this  ominous  prediction  on 
his  lips,  he  tenderly  embraced  the  count,  with  tears 
in  his  eyes,  bidding  him  a  last  farewell.     And  thus 


8  "  Orasse  ilium,  subduceret  sese, 
gravidamque  cruore  tempestatem 
ab  UispaniS  impendentem  Belga- 
rum  Procerum  capitibus  ne  oppe- 
riretur"    Ibid.,  p.  321. 

W  **  Perdet  te,  inquit  Orangius, 


haec  quam  jactas  dementia  Regis, 
Egmonti;  ac  videor  mihi  providere 
animo,  utinam  falso,  te  pontem 
scilicet  futurum,  quo  Hispani  cal- 
cato,  in  Belgium  transmittant." 
Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


124 


TRANQUILLITY  RESTORED. 


[Book  IL 


the  two  friends  parted,  like  men  who  were  nevei 
to  meet  again. 

The  different  courses  pursued  by  the  two  nobles 
were  such  as  might  be  expected  from  the  difference 
of  both  their  characters  and  their  circumstances. 
Egmont,  ardent,  hopeful,  and  confiding,  easily  sur- 
rendered himself  to  the  illusions  of  his  own  fancy, 
as  if  events  were  to  shape  themselves  according 
to  his  wishes.  He  had  not  the  far-seeing  eye  of 
William,  which  seemed  to  penetrate  into  events 
as  it  did  into  characters.  Nor  had  Egmont  learned, 
like  William,  not  to  put  his  trust  in  princes.  He 
was,  doubtless,  as  sincerely  attached  to  his  country 
as  the  prince  of  Orange,  and  abhorred,  like  him, 
the  system  of  persecution  avowed  by  the  govern- 
ment. But  this  persecution  fell  upon  a  party  with 
whom  he  had  little  sympathy.  William,  on  the 
other  hand,  was  a  member  of  that  party.  A  blow 
aimed  at  them  was  aimed  also  at  him.  It  is  easy  to 
see  how  different  were  the  stakes  of  the  two  nobles 
in  the  coming  contest,  both  in  respect  to  their 
sympathies  and  their  interests.  Egmont  was  by 
birth  a  Fleming.  His  estates  were  in  Flanders, 
and  there,  too,  were  his  hopes  of  worldly  fortime. 
Exile  to  him  would  have  been  beggary  and  ruin. 
But  a  large,  if  not  the  larger  part  of  William's 
property,  lay  without  the  confines  of  the  Nether- 
lands. In  withdrawing  to  Germany,  he  went  to 
his  native  land.  His  kindred  were  still  there. 
With  them  he  had  maintained  a  constant  corre- 
spondence, and  there  he  would  be  welcomed  by 


Ch.  XIV.]    WILLIAM  LEAVES  THE  NETHERLANDS.         125 

troops  of  friends.     It  was  a  home,  and  no  place 
of  exile,  that  William  was  to  find  in  Germany. 

Shortly  after  this  interview,  the  prince  went  to 
his  estates  at  Breda,  there  to  remain  a  few  days 
before  quitting  the  country.^  From  Breda  he 
wrote  to  Egmont,  expressing  the  hope  that,  when 
he  had  weighed  them  in  his  mind,  he  would  be 
contented  with  the  reasons  assigned  for  his  de- 
parture. The  rest  he  would  leave  to  God,  who 
would  order  all  for  his  own  glory.  "  Be  sure," 
he  added,  "  you  have  no  friend  more  warmly  de- 
voted to  you  than  myself;  for  the  love  of  you  is 
too  deeply  rooted  in  my  heart  to  be  weakened 
either  by  time  or  distance.""  It  is  pleasing  to 
see  that  party  spirit  had  not,  as  in  the  case  of 
more  vulgar  souls,  the  power  to  rend  asunder  the 
ties  which  had  so  long  bound  these  great  men 
to  each  other;  to  see  them  still  turning  back, 
with  looks  of  accustomed  kindness,  when  they 
were  entering  the  paths  that  were  to  *  lead  in  such 
opposite  directions. 

William  wrote  also   to   the  king,  acquainting 


1*  The  secretary  Pratz,  in  a 
letter  of  the  fourteenth  of  April, 
thus  kindly  notices  William's  de- 
parture :  "  The  prince  has  gone, 
taking  along  with  him  half  a  dozen 
heretical  doctors  and  a  good  num- 
ber of  other  seditious  rogues." 
Correspondance  de  Philippe  II., 
torn.  L  p.  526. 

18  tt  Xibi  vero  hoc  persuade 
amiciorem  me  te  habere  neminem 


cui  quidvis  libere  imperare  potes. 
Amor  enim  tui  eas  egit  radices  in 
animo  meo  ut  minui  nullo  temporis 
aut  locorum  intervallo  possit.**  Ar* 
chives  de  la  Maison  d'Orauge-Nas- 
sau,  tom.  III.  p.  70. 

It  is  not  easy  to  understand  why 
William  should  have  resorted  to 
Latin  in  his  correspondence  with 
Egmont 


■M 


I 


\  4 


126 


TRANQUILLITY  RESTORED. 


[Book  n. 


liiTn  with,  what  he  had  done,  and  explaining  the 
grounds  of  it ;  at  the  same  time  renewing  the  dec- 
laration that,  wherever  he  might  be,  he  trusted 
never  to  be  found  wanting  to  the  obligations  of  a 
true  and  faithful  vassal  Before  leaving  Breda, 
the  prince  received  a  letter  from  the  politic  regent, 
more  amiable  in  its  import  than  might  have  been 
expected.  Perhaps  it  was  not  wholly  policy  that 
made  her  unwilling  to  part  with  him  in  anger. 
She  expressed  her  readiness  to  do  him  any  favor 
in  her  power.  She  had  always  felt  for  him,  she 
said,  the  same  affection  as  for  her  own  son,  and 
should  ever  continue  to  do  so.^* 

On  the  last  of  April,  William  departed  for  Ger- 
many. He  took  with  him  all  his  household  ex- 
cept his  eldest  son,  the  count  of  Buren,  then  a 
boy  thirteen  years  old,  who  was  pursuing  his  stud- 
ies at  the  university  of  Louvain.^*  Perhaps  Wil- 
liam trusted  to  the  immunities  of  Brabant,  or  to 
the  tender  age  of  the  youth,  for  his  protection.  If 
so,  he  grievously  miscalculated.  The  boy  would 
serve  as  too  important  a  hostage  for  his  father, 
and  Philip  caused  him  to  be  transferred  to  Madrid ; 


W  «  Ayant  tousjours  port^  en 
vostre  endroit  raffection  que  je 
pourrois  fairs  pour  ung  mien  fils, 
ou  parent  bien  proche.  Et  vous 
Tous  povez  de  ce  eonfier,  toutes 
les  fois  que  les  occasions  se  prdsen- 
teront,  que  feray  le  mesme."  Cor- 
respondance  de  Guillaume  le  Taci- 
turne,  torn.  II.  p.  371, 


^<  William's  only  daughter  was 
maid  of  honor  to  the  regent,  who 
made  no  objection  to  her  accom- 
panying her  father,  saying  that,  on 
the  young  lady's  return,  she  would 
find  no  diminution  of  the  love  that 
had  been  always  shown  to  her 
Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


Ch.  XIV.]  WILLIAM  LEAVES  THE  NETHERLANDS.  127 

where,  under  the  monarch's  eye,  he  was  educated 
in  religious  as  well  as  in  political  sentiments  very 
little  in  harmony  with  those  of  the  prince  of  Or- 
ange. Fortunately,  the  younger  brother,  Maurice, 
who  inherited  the  genius  of  his  father,  and  was 
to  carry  down  his  great  name  to  another  genera- 
tion, was  allowed  to  receive  his  training  under 
the  paternal  roof.^^ 

Besides  his  family,  William  was  accompanied 
by  a  host  of  friends  and  followers,  some  of  them 
persons  of  high  consideration,  who  preferred  ban- 
ishment with  him  to  encountering  the  troubles 
that  awaited  them  at  home.  Thus  attended,  he 
fixed  his  residence  at  Dillemburg,  in  Nassau,  the 
seat  of  his  ancestors,  and  the  place  of  his  own 
birth.  He  there  occupied  himself  with  studying 
the  Lutheran  doctrine  under  an  experienced  teach- 
er of  that  persuasion ;  ^^  and,  while  he  kept  a  watch- 
ful eye  on  the  events  passing  in  his  unhappy 
country,  he  endeavored  to  make  himself  acquaint- 
ed with  the  principles  of  that  glorious  Reformation, 


15  According  to  Strada,  some 
thought  that  William  knew  well 
what  he  was  about  when  he  left 
his  son  behind  him  at  Louvain  ; 
and  that  he  would  have  had  no 
objection  that  the  boy  should  be 
removed  to  Madrid,  —  considering 
that,  if  things  went  badly  with 
himself,  it  would  be  well  for  the 
heir  of  the  house  to  have  a  hold 
on  the  monarch's  favor.  This  is 
rather  a  cool  way  of  proceeding 


for  a  parent,  it  must  be  admitted. 
Yet  it  is  not  very  dissimilar  from 
that  pursued  by  William's  own 
father,  who,  a  stanch  Lutheran 
himself,  allowed  his  son  to  form 
part  of  the  imperial  household, 
and  to  be  there  nurtured  in  the 
Roman  Catholic  faith.  See  Strada, 
De  Bello  Belgico,  torn.  1.  p.  873. 

16  Archives  de  la  Maison  d'O 
range-Nassau,  torn.  III.  p.  ICO. 


128 


TRANQUILLITY  RESTORED. 


[Book  IL 


of  which,  in  connection  with  political  freedom,  he 
was  one  day  to  become  the  champion. 

The  departure  of  the  prince  of  Orange  caused 
general  consternation  in  the  Netherlands.  All 
who  were  in  any  way  compromised  by  the  late 
disturbances  watched  more  anxiously  than  ever 
the  signs  of  the  coming  tempest,  as  they  felt 
they  had  lost  the  pilot  who  alone  could  enable 
them  to  weather  it.  Thousands  prepared  to  imi- 
tate his  example  by  quitting  the  country  before 
it  was  too  late.  Among  those  who  fled  were  the 
Counts  Culemborg,  Berg,  Hoogstraten,  Louis  of 
Nassau,  and  others  of  inferior  note,  who  passed 
into  Germany,  where  they  gathered  into  a  little 
circle  round  the  prince,  waiting,  like  him,  for 
happier  days. 

Some  of  the  great  lords,  who  had  held  out 
against  the  regent,  now  left  alone,  intimated 
their  willingness  to  comply  with  her  demands. 
"Count  Hoome,"  she  writes  to  PhUip,  "has 
offered  his  services  to  me,  and  declares  his  readi- 
ness to  take  the  oath.  If  he  has  spoken  too  freely, 
he  says,  it  was  not  from  any  disaffection  to  the 
government,  but  from  a  momentary  feeling  of 
pique  and  irritation.  I  would  not  drive  him  to 
desperation,  and  from  regard  to  his  kindred  I  have 
consented  that  he  should  take  his  seat  in  the 
council  again.""    The  haughty  tone  of  the  duch- 

*^  **  Ponr  ne  le  jccter  d*advan-  reus  et  alliez,  je  n'ai  peu  excuser 
taige  en  desespoir  et  perdition,  luy  dire  qu'il  seroit  doncques  ainsy 
%us8y  en  contemplation  de  ses  pa-    quHl  avait  faict,  et  qu'il  revinst  au 


Ch.  XIV.]  WILLIAM  LEAVES  THE  NETHERLANDS.  129 

ess  shows  that  she  felt  herself  now  so  strongly 
seated  as  to  be  nearly  indifferent  whether  the 
person    she   dealt   with  were   friend  or  foe.^« 

Egmont,  at  this  time,  was  endeavoring  to  make 
amends  for  the  past  by  such  extraordinary  demon- 
strations  of  loyalty  as  should  efface   all  remem- 
brance  of  it.     He  rode  through  the   land  at   the 
head  of  his  troops,  breaking  up  the  consistories,  , 
arresting  the  rioters,  and  everywhere  reestablishing 
the   Catholic   worship.     He   loudly  declared   that 
those  who  would  remain   his   fnends  must  give 
unequivocal  proofs  of  loyalty  to   the   crown   and 
the  Roman  Catholic  faith.     Some  of  those  with 
whom  he  had  been  most  intimate,  disgusted  with 
this  course,  and  distrusting,  perhaps,  such  a  deposit 
for  their  correspondence,  sent  back  the  letters  they 
had  received  from  him,  and  demanded  their  own  in 
return.^® 

At  Brussels  Egmont  entered  into  all  the  gayeties 
of  the  court,  displaying  his  usual  magnificence  in 
costly  fetes  and  banquets,  which  the  duchess  of 
Parma  sometimes  honored  with  her  presence. 
The  count's  name  appears  among  those  which 
she  mentions  to  Philip  as  of  persons  well  affected 


conseil."    Correspondance  de  Mar- 
guerite d'Autriche,  p.  238. 

^8  William  was  generous  enough 
to  commend  Hoome  for  this  step, 
expressing  the  hope  that  it  might 
induce  such  a  spirit  of  harmony  in 
the  royal  council  as  would  pro- 
mote the  interests  of  both  king 

VOL.   II.  17 


and  country.  See  the  letter,  writ- 
ten in  Latin,  dated  from  Breda, 
April  14,  in  Archives  de  la  Mai- 
son  d'Orange-Nassau,  torn.  HI.  p. 
71. 

19  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  torn. 
I.  p.  822. 


130 


TRANQUILLITY  RESTORED. 


[Book  II 


Ca.  XIV.]         SUBmSSION  OF  THE  COUNTRY. 


131 


to  the  govemment.     "It  is  impossible,"  she  says, 
"not   to   be  satisfied  with  his  conduct."^     Thus 
elated  by  the  favor  of  the   regent  — next  in  im- 
portance   to   that  of  royalty  itself,  — the  ill-fated 
nobleman  cherished  the  fond  hope  that  the  past 
would  now  be  completely  effaced  from  the  memory 
of  his  master,  —  a  master  who  might  forget  a  bene 
•  fit,  but  who  was  never  known  to  forgive  an  injury. 
The  great  towns  throughout  the  land  had  now 
generally  intimated  their  willingness  to  submit  to 
the  requisitions  of  Margaret,  and  many  of  them 
had  admitted  ganisons  within  their  walls.     Ant- 
werp  only,   of  the   cities    of  Brabant,   remained 
intractable.     At  length  it  yielded  to  the  general 
impulse,  and  a  deputation  was  sent  to  the  regent 
to  sue  for  her  forgiveness,  and  to  promise  that  the 
leaders  in  the  late  disturbances  should  be  banished 
from  the  city.     This  was  a  real  triumph  to  the 
royal  party,   considering  the  motley  character  of 
the  population,  in  which  there  was  so  large  an 
infusion  of  Calvinism.     But  Margaret,   far   from 
showing    her    satisfaction,   cooUy   answered,   that 
they  must  first  receive  a  garrison ;  then  she  would 
intercede  for    them   with    the    king,   and   would 
herself  consent  to  take   up  her  residence  in  the 
city.     In  this  the  inhabitants,  now  well  humbled, 
affected  mllingly  to    acquiesce;    and   soon   after 
Count   Mansfeldt,   at   the  head   of   sixteen    com- 
panics  of  foot,  marched  into   Antwerp  m  battle 

»  CoiTCspon(lanc«  V  Marguerite  d'Autrichc,  p.  285. 


array,  and   there   quartered   his   soldiers  as  in  a 
conquered  capital. 

A  day  was  fixed  for  the  regent's  entry,  which 
was  to  be  made  with  all  becoming  pomp.     Detach- 
ments of  troops  were  stationed  in  the  principal 
avenues,  and  on  the  thirtieth  of  April   Margaret 
rode   into   Antwerp,  escorted   by  twelve   hundred 
Walloons,   and    accompanied    by   the   knights    ot 
the  Golden  Fleece,  the  great  lords,  and  the  pro- 
vincial magistrates.     As  the  glittering  procession 
passed   through   the   files   of  the   soldiery,   along 
the  principal  streets,  it  was  greeted  with  the  huz- 
zas of  the  fickle  populace.     Thus  cheered  on  her 
way,  the  regent  proceeded  first  to  the  cathedral, 
where  Te  Deum  was  chanted,  and  on  her  knees 
she  returned  thanks  to  the  Almighty,  that  this 
great   city   had  been   restored   without   battle    or 
bloodshed  to  the  king  and  the  true  faith.^^     As 
her  eyes  wandered  over  the  desecrated  altars  and 
the  walls  despoiled  of  their  ornaments,  their  rich 
sculpture   and    paintings,   by   the   rude   hand    of 
violence,   Margaret  could  not  restrain  her  tears. 
Her  first  care  was  to  recover,  as  far  as  possible, 
the   stolen  property,   and   repair  the  injuries   to 
the  building ;  the  next,  to  punish  the  authors  of 
these  atrocities ;  and  the  execution  in  the  market- 
place  of  four  of   the   ringleaders   proclaimed  to 
the  people  of  Antwerp  that  the  reign  of  anarchy 
was  over. 

•1  "  Egit  ipsa  privatim  magnae  ne,  ReKgiom  Regique  reddiduBet" 
Virgin!  grates,  qu6d  ejus  ope  tan-  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  torn.  I 
tarn  urbem  sine  prselio  ac  sangui-    p.  328. 


»l 


132 


TRANQUILLITY  RESTORED. 


[Book  II 


Margaret  next  caused  the  churclies  of  the  re- 
formed  party   to  be    leveUed  with    the    ground. 
Those  of  the  Komish  faith,  after  being  purified, 
and  the  marks  of  violence,  as  far  as  practicable, 
effaced,  were  restored  to  their  ancient  occupants. 
The   Protestant  schools   were   everywhere  closed. 
The  children  who  had  been  baptized  with  Prot- 
estant rites  were  now  rebaptized  after  the  Cath- 
olic.^   In  fine,  the  reformed  worship  was  interdict- 
ed throughout  the  city,  and  that  of  the  Romish 
Church,  with  its  splendid  ritual,  was  established  m 

its  place. 

On  occupying  Antwerp,  Margaret  had  allowed 
all  who  were  not  implicated  in  the  late  riots  to 
leave  the  city  with  their  effects.  Great  numbers 
now  availed  themselves  of  this  permission,  and 
the  streets  presented  the  melancholy  spectacle  of 
husbands  parting  from  their  wives,  parents  from 
their  children,  or,  it  might  be,  taking  their  families 
along  with  them  to  some  kinder  land,  where  they 
would  be  allowed  to  worship  God  according  to 
the  dictates  of  their  own  consciences. 

But  even  this  glimmering  of  a  tolerant  spirit,  — 
if  so  it  can  be  called,  —  which  Margaret  exhibited 
at  the  outset,  soon  faded  away  before  the  dark 
spirit  of  the  Inquisition.  On  the  twenty-fourth  of 
May,  she  published  an  edict,  written  in  the  char- 
acters of  blood  which  distinguished  the  worst 
times  of  Charles  and  of  PhiHp.  By  this  edict,  all 
who  had  publicly  preached,  or  who  had  performed 

«  Brandt,  Reformation  in  the  Low  Countries,  torn.  I.  p.  254. 


il 


Jh.  XTV.] 


NEW  EDICT. 


133 


the  religious  exercises  after  the  Protestant  manner, 
all  who  had  furnished  the  places  of  meeting,  or  had 
harbored  or  aided  the  preachers,  all  printers  of  he- 
retical tracts,  or  artists  who  with  their  pencil  had 
brought  ridicule  on  the  Church  of  Rome,  —  all,  in 
short,  who  were  guilty  of  these  or  similar  iriiquities, 
were  to  be  punished  with  death  and  confiscation  of 
property.  Lighter  offences  were  to  be  dealt  with 
according  to  the  measure  of  their  guilt.  The  edict 
containing  these  humane  provisions  is  of  consider- 
able length,  and  goes  into  a  large  specification  of 
offences,  from  which  few,  if  any,  of  the  reformed 
could  have  been  entirely  exempt.^  When  this 
ordinance  of  the  regent  was  known  at  Madrid,  it 
caused  great  dissatisfaction.  The  king  pronounced 
it  "indecorous,  illegal,  and  altogether  repugnant 
to  the  true  spirit  of  Christianity ; "  ^  and  he  or- 
dered Margaret  forthwith  to  revoke  the  edict.  It 
was  accordingly  repealed  on  the  twenty-third  of 
July  following.  The  reader  who  may  be  disposed 
to  join  heartily  in  the  malediction  may  not  be  pre- 
pared to  learn  that  the  cause  of  the  royal  indig- 
nation was  not  that  the  edict  was  too  severe,  but 
that  it  was  too  lenient!  It  nowhere  denounced 
the  right  of  private  worship.  A  man  might  still 
be  a  heretic  at  heart  and  at  his  own  fireside,  so 


t' 


■*  Gachard  has  transferred  to  *<  "  La  peine  et  le  mecontente- 

tis  notes  the  whole  of  this  sangm-  ment  qu'il  a  dprouvds,  de  ce  que 

nary  document.     See   Correspon-  Ton  a  fait  une  chose  si  illicite,  w 

dance  de  Philippe  11.,  torn.  I.  pp.  ind^cente,  et  si  contraire  k  la  re- 

550,551.  ligion  chrdtienne."  Ibid.,  ubi  supra 


134  TRANQUILLITY  BESTORED.  [Book  IL 

long  as  lie  did  not  obtrude  it  on  the  public.  This 
did  not  suit  the  Inquisition,  whose  jealous  eye 
penetrated  into  the  houses  and  the  hearts  of  men, 
dragging  forth  their  secret  thoughts  into  open  day, 
and  punishing  these  like  overt  acts.  Margaret 
had  something  yet  to  learn  in  the  school  of  per- 

secution.® 

While  at  Antwerp,  the  regent  received  an  em- 
bassy from  the  elector  of  Saxony,  the  landgrave  of 
Hesse,  and  other  Protestant  princes  of  Germany, 
interceding  for  the  oppressed  Lutherans,  and  pray- 
ing that  she  would  not  consent  to  their  being  so 
grievously  vexed  by  the  Catholic  government. 
Margaret,  who  was  as  little  pleased  with  the  plain 
terms  in  which  this  remonstrance  was  conveyed  as 
with  the  object  of  it,  coldly  replied,  that  the  late 
conduct  of  the  Flemish  Protestants  doubtless  en- 
tided  them  to  all  this  sympathy  from  the  German 
princes ;  but  she  advised  the  latter  to  busy  them- 
selves with  their  own  affairs,  and  leave  the  king 
of  Spain  to  manage  his  as  he  thought  best.^ 


Ch.  xiv.j 


CBUEL  reprisals. 


135 


85  Vij^lius  was  not  too  enlight- 
ened  to  enter  his  protest  against 
the  right  to  freedom  of  conscience, 
which,  in  a  letter  to  his  friend 
Hopper,  he  says  may  lead  every 
one  to  set  up  his  own  gods  — 
"lares  aut  lemures**  —  according 
to  his  fancy.  Yet  the  president 
was  wise  enough  to  see  that  suf- 
ficient had  been  done  at  present 
m  breaking  up  the  preachings. 
*'  Time  and  Philip's  presence  must 
do  the  rest"    (EpbtolaB  ad  Hop- 


perum,  p.  433.)  "  Those,"  he  says 
in  another  letter,  "  who  have  set 
the  king  against  the  edict  have 
greatly  deceived  him.  They  are 
havin'T  their  ovation  before  they 
have  gained  the  victory.  They 
think  they  can  dispose  of  Flemish 
affairs  as  they  like  at  Toledo,  when 
hardly  a  Spaniard  dares  to  show 
his  head  in  Brussels.**     Ibid.,  p. 

428. 

«  Archives  de  la  Maison  d*0- 
range-Nassau,  tom.  III.  pp.  80- 


Of  all  the  provinces,  Holland  was  the  only  one 
which  still  made  resistance  to  the  will  of  the  re- 
gent. And  here,  as  we  have  already  seen,  was 
gathered  a  military  array  of  some  strength.  The 
head-quarters  were  at  Brederode's  town  of  Viana. 
But  that  chief  had  left  his  followers  for  the  pres- 
ent, and  had  been  secretly  introduced  into  Am- 
sterdam, where,  as  before  noticed,  he  was  busy 
in  rousing  a  spirit  of  resistance  in  the  citizens, 
already  well  prepared  for  it  by  their  Protestant 
preachers.  The  magistrates,  sorely  annoyed,  would 
gladly  have  rid  themselves  of  Brederode's  presence, 
but  he  had  too  strong  a  hold  on  the  people.  Yet, 
as  hour  after  hour  brought  fresh  tidings  of  the 
disasters  of  his  party,  the  chief  himself  became 
aware  that  all  hopes  of  successful  resistance  must 
be  deferred  to  another  day.  Quitting  the  city  by 
night,  he  contrived,  with  the  aid  of  his  friends,  to 
make  his  escape  into  Germany.  Some  months  he 
passed  in  Westphalia,  occupied  with  raising  forces 
for  a  meditated  invasion  of  the  Netherlands,  when, 
in  the  summer  of  1568,  he  was  carried  off  by  a 
fever,  brought  on,  it  is  said,  by  his  careless,  intem- 
perate way  of  life.^ 

Brederode  was  a  person  of  a  free  and  fearless 
temper,  —  with  the  defects,  and  the  merits  too. 
that  attach  to  that  sort  of  character.  The  friend- 
ship with  which  he  seems  to  have  been  regarded 
by   some   of  the   most   estimable   persons   of  his 

93.  —  Strada,  De  Bello   Belgico,        ^7  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgieo,  touv 
tom.  I.  p.  329.  I.  p.  332. 


II 


136 


TRANQUILLITY  RESTORED. 


[Book  11 


party — Louis  of  Nassau,  especially — speaks  well 
for  his  heart  The  reckless  audacity  of  the  man 
is  shown  in  his  correspondence  ;  and  the  free  man- 
ner in  which  he  deals  with  persons  and  events 
makes  his  letters  no  less  interesting  than  impor- 
tant for  the  light  they  throw  on  these  troubled 
times.  Yet  it  cannot  be  denied  that,  after  all, 
Brederode  is  indebted  much  more  to  the  circum- 
stances of  his  situation  than  to  his  own  character 
for  the  space  he  occupies  in  the  pages  of  history.^ 
Thus  left  without  a  leader,  the  little  army  which 
Brederode  had  gathered  under  his  banner  soon  fell 
to  pieces.  Detachments,  scattering  over  the  coun- 
try, committed  various  depredations,  plundering 
the  religious  houses,  and  engaging  in  encounters 
with  the .  royal  troops  under  Megen  and  Arem- 
berg,  in  which  the  insurgents  fared  the  worst. 
Thus  broken  on  all  sides,  those  who  did  not  fall 
into  the  enemy's  hands,  or  on  the  field,  were  too 
glad  to  make  their  escape  into  Germany.  One 
vessel,  containing  a  great  number  of  fugitives,  was 
wrecked,  and  all  on  board  were  made  prisoners. 
Among  them  were  two  brothers,  of  the  name  of 
Battenberg;  they  were  of  a  noble  family,  and 
prominent  members  of  the  league.     They  were  at 


*  Groen's  inestimable  collection 
contains  several  of  Brederode's 
letters,  which  may  remind  one  in 
their  tone  of  the  dashing  cavalier 
of  the  time  of  Charles  the  First 
They  come  from  the  heart,  min- 
gling the  spirit  of  daiing  enter- 


prise with  the  careless  gayety  of 
the  bon  vivant^  and  throw  far  more 
light  than  the  stiff,  statesmanlike 
correspondence  of  the  period  on 
the  character,  not  merely  of  the 
writer,  but  of  the  disjoint^  times 
in  which  he  lived. 


Ch.  XIV.J 


CRUEL  REPRISALS. 


137 


once,  with  their  principal  followers,  thrown  into 
prison,  to  await  their  doom  from  the  bloody  tri- 
bunal of  Alva. 

Deprived  of  all  support  from  without,  the  city 
of  Amsterdam  ofiered  no  further  resistance,  but 
threw  open  its  gates  to  the  regent,^  and  consent- 
ed to  accept  her  terms.  These  were  the  same 
that  had  been  imposed  on  all  the  other  refractory 
towns.  The  immunities  of  the  city  were  declared 
to  be  forfeited,  a  garrison  was  marched  into  the 
place,  and  preparations  were  made  for  building 
a  fortress,  to  guard  against  future  commotions. 
Those  who  chose  —  with  the  customary  exceptions 
—  were  allowed  to  leave  the  city.  Great  numbers 
availed  themselves  of  the  permission.  The  neigh- 
boring dikes  were  crowded  with  fugitives  from 
the  territory  around,  as  well  as  from  the  city, 
anxiously  waiting  for  vessels  to  transport  them 
to  Embden,  the  chief  asylum  of  the  exiles.  There 
they  stood,  men,  women,  and  children,  a  melan- 
choly throng,  without  food,  almost  without  rai- 
ment or  any  of  the  common  necessaries  of  life, 
exciting  the  commiseration  of  even  their  Catholic 
adversaries.^ 

The  example  of  Amsterdam  was  speedily  fol- 
lowed by  Delft,  Haarlem,  Rotterdam,  Leyden,  and 
the  remaining  towns  of  Holland,  which  now  seemed 


»  Brandt,  Reformation  in  the    multuum,    p.    827.  —  Correspon- 
;^w  Countries,  vol.  L  p.  255.—-    dance  de  Philippe  H,  tom.  L  p 
Meteren,  Hist  des  Pays-Bas,  fol.    533. 
50. — Vander  H^er,  De  Initiis  Tu- 

VOL.  II.  IS 


138 


TRANQUILLITY  RESTORED. 


[Book  IL 


to  vie  with  one  another  in  demonstrations  of  loy- 
alty to  the  government.  The  triumph  of  the  re- 
gent was  complete.  Her  arms  had  been  every- 
where successful,  and  her  authority  was  fully 
recognized  throughout  the  whole  extent  of  the 
Netherlands.  ,  Doubtful  friends  and  open  foes, 
Catholics  and  Reformers,  were  alike  prostrate  at 
her  feet.**  With  the  hour  of  triumph  came  also 
the  hour  of  vengeance.  And  we  can  hardly  doubt 
that  the  remembrance  of  past  humiliation  gave  a 
sharper  edge  to  the  sword  of  justice.  Fortresses, 
to  overawe  the  inhabitants,  were  raised  in  the 
principal  towrjs ;  ^  and  the  expense  of  their  con- 
struction, as  well  as  of  maintaining  their  garri- 
sons, was  df.f/ayed  by  fines  laid  on  the  refractory 
cities.^  The  regent's  troops  rode  over  the  coun- 
try, an^.  wherever  the  refoimed  were  gathered 
to  hear  the  word,  they  were  charged  by  the  troop- 
ers, who  trampled  them  under  their  horses'  hoofs, 
«hooting  them  down  without  mercy,  or  dragging 


*  Margaret's  success  draws  forth 
an  animated  tribute  from  the  pres- 
ident of  Mechlin.  "  De  manera 
que  los  negocios  de  los  payscs  bajos 
por  la  gracia  de  Dios  y  la  pruden- 
cia  de  esta  virtuosa  Dama  y  Prin- 
cesa  con  la  asistencia  dc  los  buenos 
consejeros  y  servidores  del  Rey  en 
buenos  terminos  y  en  efecto  reme- 
diados,  las  villas  reveldes  y  altera- 
das  amazadas,  los  gueuses  reduci- 
dos  d  huidos ;  los  ministros  y  pre- 
dicantes  echados  fuera  6  presos ;  y 
la  autoriilad  de  su  Ma^estad  esta- 


blecida  otra  vez."  Renom  dd 
Francia,  Alborotos  de  Flandes, 
MS. 

31  This  was  fulfilling  the  proph- 
ecy of  the  prince  of  Orange,  who 
in  his  letter  to  Hoorne  tells  him, "  In 
a  short  time  we  shall  refuse  neither 
bridle  nor  saddle.  For  myself," 
he  adds,  "  I  iiave  not  the  strength 
to  endure  either.**  Archives  de 
la  Maison  d' Orange-Nassau,  torn, 
m.  p.  72. 

**  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  toov 
I.  p.  338. 


Ca.  XLV.} 


CBUEL  BEFBISALS. 


139 


them  off  by  scores  to  execution.  No  town  \\  as 
so  small  that  fifty  at  least  did  not  perish  in  this 
way,  while  the  number  of  the  victims  sometimes 
rose  to  two  or  even  three  hundred.^  Everywhere 
along  the  road-side  the  traveller  beheld  the  ghastly 
spectacle  of  bodies  swinging  from  gibbets,  or  met 
with  troops  of  miserable  exiles  flying  from  their 
native  land.^  Confiscation  followed,  as  usual,  in 
the  train  of  persecution.  At  Tournay,  the  prop- 
erty of  a  hundred  of  the  richest  merchants  was 
seized  and  appropriated  by  the  government.  Even 
the  populace,  like  those  animals  who  fall  upon  and 
devour  one  of  their  own  number  when  woimded, 
now  joined  in  the  cry  against  the  Reformers.  They 
worked  with  the  same  alacrity  as  the  soldiers  in 
pulling  down  the  Protestant  churches;  and  from 
the  beams,  in  some  instances,  formed  the  very  gal 
lows  from  which  their  unhappy  victims  were  sus 
pended.^  Such  is  the  picture,  well  charged  with 
horrors,  left  to  us  by  Protestant  writers.  We  may 
be  quite  sure  that  it  lost  nothing  of  its  darker  col- 
oring xmder  their  hands. 

So  strong  was  now  the  tide  of  emigration,  that 
it  threatened  to   depopulate   some  of  the  fairest 


33  See  Meteren,  (Hist,  des  Pays- 
Bas,  fol.  49,)  who  must  have  drawn 
somewliat  on  his  fancy  for  these 
wholesale  executions,  which,  if 
taken  literally,  would  have  gone 
nigh  to  depopulate  the  Nether- 
lands. 

3*  "  Thus  the  gallowses  were 
filled  with  carcasses,  and  Germany 


with  exiles.**  Brandt,  Reformation 
in  the  Low  Countries,  torn.  I.  p. 
257. 

35  "  Ex  trabibus  decidentium 
templorum,  infelicia  conformarent 
patibula,  ex  quibus  ipsi  temploinun 
fabricultoresquependerent**  Stra» 
da,  De  Bello  Belgico,  torn.  I.  p 
333. 


140 


TRANQUHLITT  RESTORED. 


|Boox  m 


provinces  of  the  country.  The  regent,  who  at 
first  rejoiced  in  this  as  the  best  means  of  ridding 
the  land  of  its  enemies,  became  alarmed,  as  she 
saw  it  was  drawing  off  so  large  a  portion  of  the 
industrious  population.  They  fled  to  France,  to 
Germany,  and  very  many  to  England,  where  the 
wise  Elizabeth  provided  them  with  homes,  know- 
ing well  that,  though  poor,  they  brought  with 
them  a  skill  in  the  mechanic  arts  which  would  do 
more  than  gold  and  silver  for  the  prosperity  of  her 
kingdom. 

Margaret  would  have  stayed  this  tide  of  emigra- 
tion by  promises  of  grace,  if  not  by  a  general  am- 
nesty for  the  past.  But  though  she  had  power  to 
punish,  Philip  had  not  given  her  the  power  to 
pardon.  And  indeed  promises  of  grace  would  have 
availed  little  with  men  flying  from  the  dread  pres- 
ence of  Alva.^  It  was  the  fear  of  him  which  gave 
wings  to  their  flight,  as  Margaret  herself  plainly 
intimated  in  a  letter  to  the  duke,  in  which  she 
deprecated  his  coming  with  an  army,  when  noth- 
ing more  was  needed  than  a  vigilant  police.^ 

In  truth,  Margaret  was  greatly  disgusted  by  the 
intended  mission  of  the  duke  of  Alva,  of  which  she 
had  been  advised  by  the  king  some  months  before. 
She  knew  well  the  imperious  temper  of  the  man, 


•  _ 

■  "Le  bruit  de  rarriv^  pro-  Anemagne   et   ailleun."     Coir^ 

tbaine  du  due,  ^  la  tSte   d'une  spondance  de  Philippe  II.,  torn  I. 

■rm^  fait  fuir  de  toutes  parts  des  p.  546. 
gens,  qui  sc  retirent  en  France,  en        ^  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 
Angleterre,  au  pays  de  Cleves,  ea 


Ca.  XIV.I 


TRANQUILLITT  RESTOBBD. 


141 


and  that,  however  high-sounding  might  be  her  own 
titles,  the  power  would  be  lodged  in  his  hands. 
She  felt  this  to  be  a  poor  requital  for  her  past 
services,  —  a  personal  indignity,  no  less  than  an 
injury  to  the  state.  She  gave  free  vent  to  her 
feelings  on  the  subject  in  more  than  one  letter 
to  her  brother. 

In  a  letter  of  the  fifth  of  April  she  says :  "  You 
have  shown  no  regard  for  my  wishes  or  my  rep- 
utation. By  your  extraordinary  restrictions  on 
my  authority,  you  have  prevented  my  settling  the 
affairs  of  the  country  entirely  to  my  mind.  Yet, 
seeing  things  in  so  good  a  state,  you  are  willing 
to  give  all  the  credit  to  another,  and  leave  me 
only  the  fatigue  and  danger.®  But  I  am  resolved, 
instead  of  wasting  the  remainder  of  my  days,  as  I 
have  already  done  my  health,  in  this  way,  to  retire 
and  dedicate  myself  to  a  tranquil  life  in  the  service 
of  God."  In  another  letter,  dated  four  weeks  later, 
on  the  third  of  May,  after  complaining  that  the 
king  withdraws  his  confidence  more  and  more  from 
her,  she  asks  leave  to  withdraw,  as  the  country  is 
restored  to  order,  and  the  royal  authority  more 
assured  than  in  the  time  of  Charles  the  Fifth.® 


*  «*  Par  les  restrictions  extraor- 
dlnaires  que  V.  M.  a  mises  k  mon 
autorit^,  elle  m*a  enlev^  tout  pou- 
voir,  ct  m'a  prive  des  moyens  d*a- 
chever  Tender  r^tablissement  des 
nffaires  de  ce  pays :  k  present 
qu'elle  Toit  ces  affaires  en  un  bon 
^tat,  elle  en  veut  donner  I'honneur 


k  d*autres,  tandis  que,  mot  seale, 
j*ai  eu  les  fatigues  et  les  dangers." 
Ibid.,  p.  523. 

39  "Oh  Tautorit^  du  Roi  est 
plus  assur^e  qu'elle  ne  Tetait  an 
temps  de  TEmpereur."  Ibid.,  p. 
532. 


142 


TRANQUHXITT  BESTORED. 


[Book  IL 


Ch.  XIV.] 


TRANQUILLITY  RESTORED. 


143 


In  this  assurance  respecting  the  public  tran- 
quillity, Margaret  was  no  doubt  sincere;  as  ai-e 
also  the  historians  who  have  continued  to  take 
the  same  view  of  the  matter,  down  to  the  present 
time,  and  who  consider  the  troubles  of  the  country 
to  have  been  so  far  composed  by  the  regent,  that. 
but  for  the  coming  of  Alva,  there  would  have 
been  no  revolution  in  the  Netherlands.  Indeed, 
there  might  have  seemed  to  be  good  ground  for 
such  a  conclusion.  The  revolt  had  been  crushed. 
Resistance  had  everywhere  ceased.  The  author- 
ity of  the  regent  was  recognized  throughout  the 
land.  The  league,  which  had  raised  so  bold  a 
front  against  the  government,  had  crumbled  away. 
Its  members  had  fallen  in  battle,  or  lay  waiting 
their  sentence  in  dungeons,  or  were  wandering  as 
miserable  exiles  in  distant  lands.  The  name  of 
Gueux^  and  the  insignia  of  the  bowl  and  the  beg- 
gar's scrip,  which  they  had  assumed  in  derision, 
were  now  theirs  by  right.  It  was  too  true  for 
a  jest. 

The  party  of  reform  had  disappeared,  as  if  by 
magic.  Its  worship  was  everywhere  proscribed. 
On  its  ruins  the  Catholic  religion  had  risen  in 
greater  splendor  than  ever.  Its  temples  were 
restored,  its  services  celebrated  with  more  than 
customary  pomp.  The  more  austere  and  uncom- 
promising of  the  Reformers  had  fled  the  country. 
Those  who  remained  purchased  impunity  by  a 
compulsory  attendance  on  mass ;  or  the  wealthier 
sort,  by  the  aid  of  good  cheer  or  more  substantial 


largesses,  bribed  the  priest  to  silence.*®  At  no 
time  since  the  beginning  of  the  Reformation  had 
the  clergy  been  treated  with  greater  deference,  or 
enjoyed  a  greater  share  of  authority  in  the  land. 
The  dark  hour  of  revolution  seemed,  indeed,  to 
have  passed  away. 

Yet  a  Fleming  of  that  day  might  well  doubt 
whether  the  prince  of  Orange  were  a  man  likely 
to  resign  his  fair  heritage  and  the  land  so  dear 
to  his  heart  without  striking  one  blow  m  their 
defence.  One  who  knew  the  wide  spread  of  the 
principles  of  reform,  and  the  sturdy  character  of 
the  reformer,  might  distrust  the  permanence  of 
a  quiet  which  had  been  brought  about  by  so 
much  violence.  He  might  rather  think  that,  be- 
neath the  soil  he  was  treading,  the  elements  were 
still  at  work,  which,  at  no  distant  time  perhicpp, 
would  burst  forth  with  redoubled  A-ioience.  anc' 
spread  ruin  over  the  land! 

^  Brandt,  Refonnation  in  the  Low  Countries,  tnm.  i  p  ^*a 


BOOK  III. 


CHAPTER    I. 

ALVA  SENT  TO  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

Alva's  Appointment — His  remarkable  March.  —  He  arriyes  at  Bras* 
sals. — Margaret  disgusted.  —  Policy  of  the  Duke.  —  Arrest  of  £«• 
mont  and  Hoome. 

1567. 

While  Margaret  was  thus  successful  in  bring- 
ing the  country  to  a  state  of  at  least  temporary 
tranquillity,  measures  were  taken  at  the  court  oi 
Madrid  for  shifting  the  government  of  the  Neth- 
erlands into  other  hands,  and  for  materially  chan- 
gmg  its  poUcy. 

We  have  seen  how  actively  the  rumors  had  been 
circulated,  throughout  the  last  year,  of  Philip's  in- 
tended visit  to  the  country.  These  rumors  had 
received  abundant  warrant  from  his  own  letters, 
addressed  to  the  regent  and  to  his  ministers  at 
the  different  European  courts.  Nor  did  the  king 
confine  himself  to  professions.  He  applied  to  the 
French  government  to  allow  a  free  passage  for  his 
army  through  its  territories.     He  caused  a  survey 


Cm.l.\ 


ALVA'S  APPOINTMENT. 


145 


to  be  made  of  that  part  of  Savoy  through  which 
his  troops  would  probably  march,  and  a  map  of  the 
proposed  route  to  be  prepared.  He  ordered  fresh 
levies  from  Germany  to  meet  him  on  the  Flemish 
frontier.  And  finally,  he  talked  of  calling  the 
cortes  together,  to  provide  for  the  regency  during 
his  absence. 

Yet  whoever  else  might  be  imposed  on,  there 
was  one  potentate  in  Europe  whose  clear  vision 
was  not  to  be  blinded  by  the  professions  of  Philip, 
nor  by  all  this  bustle  of  preparation.  This  was 
the  old  pontiff,  Pius  the  Fifth,  who  had  always 
distrusted  the  king's  sincerity.  Pius  had  beheld 
with  keen  anguish  the  spread  of  heresy  in  the 
Low  Countries.  Like  a  true  son  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion as  he  was,  he  would  gladly  have  seen  its 
fires  kindled  in  every  city  of  this  apostate  land. 
He  had  observed  with  vexation  the  apathy  mani- 
fested by  Philip.  And  he  at  length  resolved  to 
despatch  a  special  embassy  to  Spain,  to  stimu- 
late the  monarch,  if  possible,  to  more  decided 
action. 

The  person  employed  was  the  bishop  of  Ascoli, 
and  the  good  father  delivered  his  rebuke  in  such 
blunt  terms  as  caused  a  sensation  at  the  court  of 
Madrid.  In  a  letter  to  his  ambassador  at  Eome, 
Philip  complained  that  the  pope  should  have  thus 
held  him  up  to  Christendom  as  one  slack  in  the 
performance  of  his  duty.  The  envoy  had  delivered 
himself  in  so  strange  a  manner,  Philip  added,  that, 
but  for  the  respect  and  love  he  bore  his  holiness, 


VOL.  II. 


19 


I 


146 


ALVA  SENT  TO  THE  NETHERLANDS.    [Book  IlL 


he  might  have  been  led  to  take  precisely  the  op- 
posite course  to  the  one  he  intended.^ 

Yet  notwithstanding  this  show  of  indignation, 
had  it  not  been  for  the  outbreak  of  the  icono- 
clasts, it  is  not  improbable  that  the  king  might 
still  have  continued  to  procrastinate,  relying  on 
his  favorite  maxim,  that  "  Time  and  himself  were 
a  match  for  any  other  two."*  But  the  event 
which  caused  such  a  sensation  throughout  Chris- 
tendom roused  every  feeling  of  indignation  in  the 
royal  bosom,  —  and   this  from   the  insult  offered 


1  "Ledit  ^veque,  dans  la  pre- 
miere audience  qull  lui  a  donn^, 
a  nse  d'ailleurs  de  termes  si  dtran- 
ges,  qu'il  Va  mis  en  colore,  et  que, 
sll  eut  eu  moins  d'amour  et  de  re- 
spect pour  S.  S.,  cela  eut  pu  le 
faire  revenir  sur  les  resolutions 
qu'il  a  prises.**  Correspondance 
dc  Philippe  II.,  tom.  I.  p.  488. 

The  tart  remonstrance  of  Philip 
had  its  effect.  Granvelle  soon  after 
wrote  to  the  king,  that  his  holiness 
was  greatly  disturbed  by  the  man- 
ner in  which  his  majesty  had  taken 
his  rebuke.  The  pope,  Granvelle 
added,  was  a  person  of  the  best 
intentions,  but  with  very  little 
knowledge  of  the  world,  and  ea- 
sily kept  in  check  by  those  who 
show  their  teeth  to  him; — "re- 
primese  quando  se  le  muestran  los 
dientes.**    Ibid.,  tom.  II.  p.  Iviii. 

8  "  Que  lui  et  le  temps  en  valai- 
ent  deux  autres.**  Vandervynckt, 
Troubles  des  Pays-Bas,  tom.  II.  p. 
199. 

The  hesitation  of  the  king  drew 


on  him  a  sharp  rebuke  from  the 
audacious  Fray  Lorenzo  Villavi- 
cencio,  who  showed  as  little  cer- 
emony in  dealing  with  Philip  as 
with  his  ministers.    "  If  your  ma- 
jesty,** he  says,  "consulting  only 
your  own  ease,  refuses  to  make 
this  visit  to  Flanders,   which   so 
nearly  concerns  the  honor  of  God, 
his  blessed  Mother,  and  all   the 
saints,  as  well  as  the  weal  of  Chris- 
tendom, what  is  it  but  to  declare 
that  you  are  ready  to  accept  the 
regal  dignity  which  God  has  given 
you,  and  yet  leave  to  him  all  the 
care  and  trouble  that  belong  to 
that  dignity  ?    God  would  take  this 
as  ill  of  your  majesty,  as  you  would 
take  it  of  those  of  your  vassals 
whom  you  had  raised  to  offices  of 
trust  and  honor,  and  who  took  the 
offices,  but  left  you  to  do  the  work 
for  them  I    To  offend  God  is  a  rash 
act,  that  must  destroy  both  soul  and 
body.**     Gachard,  Correspondance 
de  Philippe  II.,  tom.  II.,  Rapport, 
p.  xlviii. 


Ch.  L] 


HIS  APPOINTMENT. 


147 


to  the  crown  as  well  as  to  the  Church  Con 
^trary  to  his  wont,  the  king  expressed  himself  with 
so  much  warmth  on  the  subject,  and  so  openly, 
that  the  most  sceptical  began  at  last  to  believe  that 
the  long  talked  of  visit  was  at  hand.  The  only 
doubt  was  as  to  the  manner  in  which  it  should  be 
made;  whether  the  king  should  march  at  the 
head  of  an  army,  or  attended  only  by  so  much 
of  a  retinue  as  was  demanded  by  his  royal  state. 

« 

The  question  was  warmly  discussed  in  the  coun- 
cil. Ruy  Gomez,  the  courtly  favorite  of  Philip, 
was  for  the  latter  alternative.  A  civil  war  he 
deprecated,  as  bringing  ruin  even  to  the  victor.' 
Clemency  was  the  best  attribute  of  a  sovereign, 
and  the  people  of  Flanders  were  a  generous  race, 
more  likely  to  be  overcome  by  kindness  than  by 
arms.*  —  In  these  liberal  and  humane  views  the 
prince  of  Eboli  was  supported  by  the  politic  secre- 
tary, Antonio  Perez,  and  by  the  duke  of  Feria, 
formerly  ambassador  to  London,  a  man  who  to 
polished  manners  united  a  most  insinuating  elo- 
quence. 

But  very  different  opinions,  as  might  be  ex- 
pected, were  advanced  by  the  duke  of  Alva.  The 
system  of  indulgence,  he  said,  had  been  that 
followed  by  the  regent,  and  its  fruits  were  visible. 


3  "  Ne  extingui  quidem  posse  tilian  proverb,  "  El  vencido  venci- 

fine    ruina    victoris."       Strada,  do,  y  el  vencidor  perdido.** 
De    Bello     Belgico,    tom.   I.   p.        *  "  At  illos  non  armis  sed  bene* 

S38.  ficiis  expugnari."    Strada,  De  Belle 

Better  expressed  by  the  old  Cas-  Belgico,  tom.  I.  p.  839. 


148  ALVA  SENT  TO  THE  NETHERLANDS.    [Book  HI 

The  weeds  of  heresy  were  not  to  be  extirpated 
by  a  gentle  hand ;  and  his  majesty  should  deal  ^ 
with  his  rebellious  vassals  as  Charles  the  Fifth 
had  dealt  with  their  rebel  fathers  at  Ghent.* 
These  stem  views  received  support  from  the 
Cardinal  Espinosa,  who  held  the  office  of  presi- 
dent  of  the  council,  as  well  as  of  grand  inquisitor, 
and  who  doubtless  thought  the  insult  offered 
to  the  Inquisition  not  the  least  of  the  offences 
to  be  charged  on  the  Reformers. 

Each  of  the  great  leaders  recommended  the 
measures  most  congenial  with  his  own  character, 
and  which,  had  they  been  adopted,  would  proba- 
bly have  required  his  own  services  to  carry  them 
into  execution.  Had  the  pacific  course  been  taken, 
Feria,  or  more  probably  Ruy  Gomez,  would  have 
been  intrusted  with  the  direction  of  affairs.  Indeed, 
Montigny  and  Bergen,  still  detained  in  reluctant 
captivity  at  Madrid,  strongly  urged  the  king  to 
send  the  prince  of  Eboli,  as  a  man  who,  by  his 
popular  manners  and  known  discretion,  would  be 
most  likely  to  reconcile  opposite  factions.®  Were 
violent  measures,  on  the  other  hand,  to  be  adopted, 
to  whom  could  they  be  so  well  intrusted  as  to  the 
duke  himself,  the  most  experienced  captain  of  his 
time? 


5  Ibid.,  p.  340.  Heboli,  se  viendront  r^oncilier  il 

8  "  Ouy,  et  qu3  plus  est,  oseri-  luy,  et  le  supplier  avoir,  par  son 

ons  presques  asseurer  Vostre  Ma-  moien,  faveur  vers  Vostre  Majes- 

jest^  plusieurs  des  mauvais  et  des  td."    Correspondance  de  Philipp* 

principaulx,  volant  ledit  prince  de  IL,  torn.  I.  p.  519. 


C11.L] 


ms  APPOINTMENT. 


T   ♦ 


149 


The  king,  it  is  said,  contrary  to  his  custom,  was 
present  at  the  meeting  of  the  council,  and  listened 
to  the  debate.  He  did  not  intimate  his  opinion. 
But  it  might  be  conjectured  to  which  side  he  was 
most  likely  to  lean,  from  his  habitual  preference 
for  coercive  measures.^ 

Philip  came  to  a  decision  sooner  than  usual.  In 
a  few  days  he  summoned  the  duke,  and  tbld  him 
that  he  had  resolved  to  send  him  forthwith,  at  the 
head  of  an  army,  to  the  Netherlands.  It  was  only, 
however,  to  prepare  the  way  for  his  own  coming, 
which  would  take  place  as  soon  as  the  country  was 
in  a  state  sufficiently  settled  to  receive  him. 

All  was  now  alive  with  the  business  of  prep- 
aration in  Castile.  Levies  were  raised  through- 
out the  country.  Such  was  the  zeal  displayed, 
that  even  the  Inquisition  and  the  clergy  advanced 
a  considerable  sum  towards  defraying  the  expenses 
of  an  expedition  which  they  seemed  to  regard  in 
the  light  of  a  crusade.®  Magazines  of  provisions 
were  ordered  to  be  established  at  regular  stations 
on  the  proposed  line  of  march.  Orders  were  sent, 
that  the  old  Spanish  garrisons  in  Lombardy,  Na- 
ples,  Sicily,   and  Sardinia  should  be  transported 


7  The  debate  is  reported  with 
sufficient  minuteness  both  by  Ca- 
brera (Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  VII. 
cap.  vii.)  and  Strada  (De  Bello 
Belgico,  torn.  I.  p.  338).  They 
agree,  however,  neither  in  the 
names  of  the  parties  present,  nor 
in  the  speeches  they  made.    Yet 


their  disagreement  in  these  partic- 
ulars is  by  no  means  so  surprising 
as  their  agreement  in  the  most  im- 
probable  part  of  their  account,  — 
Philip's  presence  at  the  debate. 

8  "  Corame  si  c*eust  este  une 
saincte  guerre.**  Meteren,  Hist 
des  Pavs-Bas,  fol.  52. 


150 


ALVA  SENT  TO  THE  NETHERLANDS.    [Book  HI 


to  the  place  of  rendezvous  in  Piedmont,  to  await 
the  coming  of  the  duke,  who  would  supply  their 
places  with  the  fresh  recruits  brought  with  him 
from  Castile. 

Philip  meanwhile  constantly  proclaimed  that 
Alva's  departure  was  only  the  herald  of  his  own. 
He  wrote  this  to  Margaret,  assuring  her  of  his 
purpose  to  go  by  water,  and  directing  her  to  have 
a  squadron  of  eight  vessels  in  readiness  to  convoy 
him  to  Zealand,  where  he  proposed  to  land.  The 
vessels  were  accordingly  equipped.  Processions 
were  made,  and  prayers  put  up  in  all  the  churches, 
for  the  prosperous  passage  of  the  king.  Yet  there 
were  some  in  the  Netherlands  who  remarked  that 
prayers  to  avert  the  dangers  of  the  sea  were  hardly 
needed  by  the  monarch  in  his  palace  at  Madrid !  * 
Many  of  those  about  the  royal  person  soon  in- 
dulged in  the  same  scepticism  in  regard  to  the 
king's  sincerity,  as  week  after  week  passed  ^way, 
and  no  arrangements  were  made  for  his  departure. 
Among  the  contradictory  rumors  at  court  in  re- 
spect to  the  king's  intention,  the  pope's  nuncio 
>vrote,  it  was  impossible  to  get  at  the  truth.^"  It 
was  easy  to  comprehend  the  general  policy  of 
Philip,  but  impossible  to  divine  the  particular 
plans  by  which  it  was  to  be  carried  out.     If  such 


»  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  torn,  tradlctoires  qui  circulent  k  la  cour, 

I.  p.  350.  il    est  impossible   de  ddmdler   la 

w  "D  r^pfete,"   says   Gachard,  v^rit^."    Correspondance  de  Phi- 

•«dans  une  depeche  du  I''  septem-  lippe  II.,  torn.  I,  Rapport,  p.  clvJ. 
bre,  qu'au  milieu  des  bruits  con- 


Ch.  L] 


HIS  APPOINTMENT. 


151 


was  the  veU  which  hid  the  monarch's  purposes 
even  from  the  eyes  of  those  who  had  nearest  ac- 
cess to  his  person,  how  can  we  hope  at  this  dis- 
tance of  time  to  penetrate  it  %  Yet  the  historian 
of  the  nineteenth  century  is  admitted  to  the  pe- 
rusal of  many  an  authentic  document  revealing 
the  royal  purpose,  which  never  came  under  the  eye 
of  the  courtier  of  Madrid. 

With  all  the  light  thus  afforded,  it  is  still  diffi- 
cult to  say  whether  Philip  ever  was  sincere  in  his 
professions   of   visiting   the   Netherlands.      If  he 
were  so  at  any  time,  it  certainly  was  not  after  he 
had  decided  on  the  mission  of  Alva.    Philip  widely 
differed  from  his  father  in  a  sluggishness  of  body 
which  made  any  undertaking  that  required  phys- 
ical effort  exceedingly  irksome.     He  shrunk  from 
no  amount  of  sedentary  labor,   would   toil  from 
morning  till  midnight  in  his  closet,  like  the  hum- 
blest  of  his   secretaries.      But   a  journey   was   a 
great  undertaking.     After  his  visits,  during  his  fa- 
ther's lifetime,  to  England  and  the  Low  Countries, 
he  rarely  travelled  farther,   as   his   graceless  sou 
satirically  hinted,  than  from  Madrid  to  Aranjuez, 
or  Madrid  to  the  Escorial.     A  thing  so  formidable 
as  an  expedition  to  Flanders,  involving  a  tedious 
journey  through  an  unfriendly  land,  or  a  voyage 
through  seas  not  less  unfriendly,  was  what,  under 
ordinary  circumstances,  the  king  would  have  never 

dreamed  of. 

The    present  aspect   of  affairs,   moreover,   hud 
nothing  in  it  particulariy  inviting,  —  especially  to 


152 


ALVA  SENT  TO  THE  NETHERLANDS.    [Book  HI 


a  prince  of  Philip's  temper.  Never  was  there  ? 
prince  more  jealous  of  his  authority ;  and  the  in 
dignities  to  which  he  might  have  been  exposed, 
in  the  disorderly  condition  of  the  country,  might 
well  have  come  to  the  aid  of  his  constitutional 
sluggishness  to  deter  him  from  the  visit. 

Under  these  circumstances,  it  is  not  strange  that 
Philip,  if  he  had  ever  entertained  a  vague  pro- 
ject of  a  journey  to  the  Netherlands,  should  have 
yielded  to  his  natui-al  habit  of  procrastination. 
The  difficulties  of  a  winter's  voyage,  the  necessity 
of  summoning  cortes  and  settling  the  affairs  of 
the  kingdom,  his  own  protracted  illness,  furnished 
so  many  apologies  for  postponing  the  irksome 
visit,  until  the  time  had  passed  when  such  a  visit 
could  be  effectual. 

That  he  should  so  strenuously  have  asserted  his 
purpose  of  going  to  the  Netherlands  may  be  ex- 
plained by  a  desire  in  some  sort  to  save  his  credit 
with  those  who  seemed  to  think  that  the  present 
exigency  demanded  he  should  go.  He  may  have 
also  thought  it  politic  to  keep  up  the  idea  of  a 
visit  to  the  Low  Countries,  in  order  to  curb  —  as 
it  no  doubt  had  the  effect  in  some  degree  of  curb- 
ing —  the  license  of  the  people,  who  believed  they 
were  soon  to  be  called  to  a  reckoning  for  their 
misdeeds  by  their  prince  in  person.  After  all, 
the  conduct  of  Philip  on  this  occasion,  and  the 
motives  assigned  for  his  delay  in  his  letters  to 
Margaret,  must  be  allowed  to  afford  a  curious 
coincidence  with  those  ascribed,  in  circumstances 


CH.LI 


HIS  APPOINTMENT. 


153 


not  dissimilar,  by  the  Roman  historian  to  Tibe- 
u 


nus.^ 


On  the  fifteenth  of  April,  1567,  Alva  had  his 
last  audience  of  Philip  at  Aranjuez.  He  imme- 
diately after  departed  for  Carthagena,  where  a  fleet 
of  thirty-six  vessels,  under  the  Genoese  Admiral 
Doria,  lay  riding  at  anchor  to  receive  him.  He 
was  detained  some  time  for  the  arrival  of  the 
troops,  and  while  there  he  received  despatches 
from  court  containing  his  commission  of  captain- 
general,  and  particular  instructions  as  to  the  course 
he  was  to  pursue  in  the  Netherlands.  They  were 
so  particular,  that,  notwithstanding  the  broad  ex- 
tent of  his  powers,  the  duke  wrote  to  his  master 
complaining  of  his  want  of  confidence,  and  declar- 
ing that  he  had  never  been  hampered  by  instruc- 
tions so  minute,  even  under  the  emperor.^  One 
who  has  studied  the  character  of  Philip  will  find 
no  difficulty  in  believing  it. 

On  the  twenty-seventh  of  April,  the  fleet  weighed 
anchor ;  but  in  consequence  of  a  detention  of  some 
days  at  several  places  on  the  Catalan  coast,  it  did 
not  reach  the  Genoese  port  of  Savona  till  the 
seventeenth  of  the  next  month.  The  duke  had 
been  ill  when  he  went  on  board,  and  his  gouty 


W  **  Ceterum,  ut  jam  jamque 
iturus,  legit  comites,  conquisivit 
impedimenta,  adornavit  naves :  mox 
hiemem,  aut  negotia  varie  causatus, 
primo  prudentes,  dein  vulgmn,  di- 
utissime  provincias  fefellit"  Taciti 
A.nnales,  I.  xlvii. 

VOL.  II.  20 


W  "  Es  la  prunera  que  se  me  da 
en  mi  vida  de  cosas  desta  cualidad 
en  cuantas  veees  he  servido,  ni  de 
su  Magestad  Cesdrea  que  Dioa 
tenga,  ni  de  V.  M/*  Documentos 
Ineditos,  toDi.  iV.  p.  354. 


\ 


164  ALVA  SENT  TO  THE  NETHERLANDS.    [Book  m 

constitution  received  no  benefit  from  the  voyage. 
Yet  he  did  not  decline  the  hospitalities  offered  by 
the  Genoese  nobles,  who  vied  with  the  senate  in 
showing  the  Spanish  commander  every  testimony 
of  respect.  At  Asti  he  was  waited  on  by  Albu- 
querque, the  Milanese  viceroy,  and  by  ambassa- 
dors from  different  Italian  provinces,  eager  to 
pay  homage  to  the  military  representative  of  the 
Spanish  monarch.  But  the  gout  under  which 
Alva  labored  was  now  aggravated  by  an  attack  of 
tertian  ague,  and  for  a  week  or  more  he  was  con- 
fined to  his  bed. 

Meanwhile  the  troops  had  assembled  at  the 
appointed  rendezvous,  and  the  duke,  as  soon  as 
he  had  got  the  better  of  his  disorder,  made  haste 
to  review  them.  They  amounted  in  all  to  about 
ten  thousand  men,  of  whom  less  than  thirteen 
hundred  were  cavalry.  But  though  small  in 
amount,  it  was  a  picked  body  of  troops,  such  as 
was  hardly  to  be  matched  in  Europe.  The  in- 
fantry, in  particular,  were  mostly  Spaniards, — 
veterans  who  had  been  accustomed  to  victory  un- 
der the  banner  of  Charles  the  Fifth,  and  many  of 
them  trained  to  war  under  the  eye  of  Alva  himself 
He  preferred  such  a  body,  compact  and  well  dis- 
ciplined as  it  was,  to  one  which,  unwieldy  from  its 
size,  would  have  been  less  fitted  for  a  rapid  march 
across  the  moimtains.^ 

»  A  magnanimous  Castilian  his-  of  lines :  "  Los  Soldados  podian 
torian  pronounces  a  swelling  pan-  scr  Capitanes,  los  Capitanes  Ma- 
esrvric  on  this  little  armv  in  a  couple     estros  de  CanqK),  y  los  Maestiof 


Ch.  L] 


HIS  eemarkable  march. 


155 


Besides  those  of  the  common  file,  there  were 
many  gentlemen  and  cavaliers  of  note,  who,  weary 
of  repose,  came  as  volunteers  to  gather  fresh  lau- 
rels under  so  renowned  a  chief  as  the  duke  of 
Alva.  Among  these  was  Vitelli,  marquis  of  Ce- 
tona,  a  Florentine  soldier  of  high  repute  in  his 
profession,  but  who,  though  now  embarked  in 
what  might  be  called  a  war  of  religion,  was  held 
so  indifferent  to  religion  of  any  kind,  that  a  whim- 
sical epitaph  on  the  sceptic  denies  him  the  posses- 
sion of  a  soul.^*  Another  of  these  volunteers  was 
Mondragone,  a  veteran  of  Charles  the  Fifth,  whose 
character  for  chivalrous  exploit  was  unstained  by 
those  deeds  of  cruelty  and  rapine  which  were  so 
often  the  reproach  of  the  cavalier  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  The  duties  of  the  commissariat,  particu- 
larly difficult  in  a  campaign  like  the  present,  were 
intrusted  to  an  experienced  Spanish  officer  named 
Ibarra.  To  the  duke  of  Savoy  Alva  was  indebted 
for  an  eminent  engineer  named  Paciotti,  whose 
services  proved  of  great  importance  in  the  con- 
struction of  fortresses  in  the  Netherlands.  Alva 
had  also  brought  with  him  his  two  sons,  Frederic 


de  Campo  Generales."  Hechos 
de  Sancho  Davila,  (Valladolid, 
1713,)  p.  26. 

The  chivalrous  Brantome  dwells 
with  delight  on  the  gallant  bearing 
and  brilliant  appointments  of  these 
troops,  whom  he  saw  in  their  pas- 
sage throujrh  Lorraine.  **Tous 
vieux  et  aguerrys  soldatz,  tant  bien 
i  \  poinct  d'habillement  et  d'armes, 


la  pluspart  dordes,  et  Tautre  gra- 
vees,  qu'on  les  prenoit  plustost  pour 
capitaines  que  soldaa.**  (Euvrea, 
tom.  1.  p.  GO. 

14  "  Corpus  in  Italia  est,  tenet  intestlaa 
Brabantus ; 
Ast  animam  dmuo.    Cur  ?  quia  non 
habuit." 

Borgnet,  Philippe  IL  et  la  Bet 
gique,  p.  60. 


156  ALVA  SENT  TO  THE  NETHERlANDS.    [Book  111 

and  Ferdinand  de  Toledo,  — the  latter  an  ille- 
gitimate child,  for  whom  the  father  showed  as 
much  aflFection  as  it  was  in  his  rugged  nature 
to  feel  for  any  one.  To  Ferdinand  was  given  the 
command  of  the  cavalry,  composed  chiefly  of  Ital- 


ians.^ 

.Having  reviewed  his  forces,  the  duke  formed 
them  into  three  divisions.  This  he  did  in  order 
to  provide  the  more  easily  for  their  subsistence 
on  his  long  and  toilsome  journey.  The  divisions 
were  to  be  separated  from  one  another  by  a  day  s 
march ;  so  that  each  would  take  up  at  night  the 
same  quarters  which  had  been  occupied  by  the 
preceding  division  on  the  night  before.  Alva 
himself  led  the  van.^* 

He  dispensed  with  artillery,  not  willing  to  em- 
barrass his  movements  in  his  passage  across  the 
mountains.  But  he  employed  what  was  then  a 
novelty  in  war.    F^ch  company  of  foot  was  flanked 


W  No  two  writers,  of  course, 
agree  in  the  account  of  Alva's 
forces.  The  exact  returns  of  the 
amount  of  the  whole  army,  as  well 
as  of  each  company,  and  the  name 
of  the  officer  who  commanded  it, 
are  to  be  found  in  the  Documen- 
tos  Ineditos  (tom.  IV.  p.  382). 
From  this  it  appears  that  the  pre- 
cise number  of  hoi'se  was  1,250, 
and  that  of  the  foot  8,800,  making 
a  total  of  10,050. 

'•  A  poem  in  ollava  rima^  com- 
memorating Alva's  expe<Htion,  ap- 
peared at  Antwerp. the  year  fol- 


lowing, from  the  pen  of  one  Bal- 
thazar de  Vargas,  It  has  more 
value  in  a  historical  point  of  view 
than  in  a  poetical  one.  A  single 
stanza,  which  the  bard  devotes  to 
the  victualling  of  the  army,  will 
probably  satisfy  the  appetite  of  the 
reader:  — 

**  Y  por  que  la  Saroya  m  montaBosa, 
Y  an  de  passar  por  ella  Us  legioDCt, 
Seria  la  paKsada  trubajosa 
8{  a  la  gente  faltaMsen  proTisionefl, 
El  r«al  comitMtario  no  rvposa. 
Haze  lleTsr  de  Italia  municionet 
TantMS  que  proveyo  todo  el  caiuino 
Que  jamas  falto  el  pan,  y  carne,  y  tIii©.» 


C&L] 


HIS  BEMARKABLE  MAECH. 


157 


by  a  body  of  soldiers,  carrying  heavy  muskets 
with  rests  attached  to  them.  This  sort  of  fire- 
arms, from  their  cumbrous  nature,  had  hitherto 
been  used  only  in  the  defence  of  fortresses. 
But  with  these  portable  rests,  they  were  found 
efficient  for  field  service,  and  as  such  came  into 
general  use  after  this  period."  Their  introduc- 
tion by  Alva  may  be  regarded,  therefore,  as  an 
event  of  some  importance  in  the  history  of  mili- 
tary art. 

The  route  that  Alva  proposed  to  take  was  that 
over  Mount  Cenis,  the  same,  according  to  tradi- 
tion, by  which  Hannibal  crossed  the  great  barrier 
some  eighteen  centuries  before.^^  If  less  formi 
dable  than  in  the  days  of  the  Carthagmian,  it 
was  far  from  being  the  practicable  route  so  easily 
traversed,  whether  by  trooper  or  tourist,  at  the 
present  day.  Steep  rocky  heights,  shaggy  with 
forests,  where  the  snows  of  winter  still  lingered 
in  the  midst  of  Jxme ;  fathomless  ravines,  choked 


*7  Ossorio,  AlbsB  Vita,  tom. 
n.  p.  237.  — Trillo,  Rebelion  y 
Guerras  de  Flandes,  (Madrid, 
1592,)  fol.  17. —  Led,  Vita  di 
Filippo  n.,  tom.  I.  p.  490. 

18  So  say  Schiller,  (Abfall  der 
Niederlande,  s.  363,)  Cabrera, 
(Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  VII.  cap. 
15,)  et  auct.  al.  But  every  school- 
boy knows  that  nothing  is  more 
unsettled  than  the  route  taken  by 
Hannibal  across  the  Alps.  The 
/wo  oldest  authorities,  Livy  and 
('olybius,  difler  on  the  point,  and 


it  has  remmned  a  vexed  question 
ever  since,  —  the  criticism  of  later 
years,  indeed,  leaning  to  still  anoth- 
er route,  that  across  the  Little  St. 
Bernard.  The  passage  of  Han- 
nibal forms  the  subject  of  a  curious 
discussion  introduced  into  Gibbon's 
journal,  when  the  young  historian 
was  in  training  for  the  mighty 
task  of  riper  years.  His  reluc- 
tance, even  at  the  close  of  his 
argument,  to  strike  the  balance,  is 
singularly  characteristic  of  his  scep- 
tical mind. 


158 


ALVA  SENT  TO  THE  NETHERLANDS.    [Book  ID- 


up  with  the  dibris  washed  down  by  the  mountain 
torrent ;  paths  scarcely  worn  by  the  hunter  and  his 
game,  affording  a  precarious  footing  on  the  edge  of 
giddy  precipices ;  long  and  intricate  defiles,  where 
a  handful  of  men  might  hold  an  army  at  bay,  and 
from  the  surrounding  heights  roll  down  ruin  on 
their  heads;  —  these  were  the  obstacles  which  Alva 
and  his  followers  had  to  encounter,  as  they  thread- 
ed their  toilsome  way  through  a  country  where 
the  natives  bore  no  friendly  disposition  to  the 
Spaniards. 

Their  route  lay  at  no  great  distance  from  Ge- 
neva, that  stronghold  of  the  Reformers ;  and  Pius 
the  Fifth  would  have  persuaded  the  duke  to  turn 
from  his  course,  and  exterminate  this  "nest  of 
devils  and  apostates,"  ^^  —  as  the  Christian  father 
was  pleased  to  term  them.  The  people  of  Geneva, 
greatly  alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  an  invasion, 
applied  to  their  Huguenot  brethren  for  aid.  The 
prince  of  Conde  and  the  Admiral  Coligni  —  the 
leaders  of  that  party  —  offered  their  services  to 
the  French  monarch  to  raise  fifty  thousand  men, 
fall  upon  his  old  enemies,  the  Spaniards,  and  cut 
them  off  in  the  passes  of  the  mountains.  But 
Charles  the  Ninth  readily  imderstood  the  drift 
of  his  proposal.  Though  he  bore  little  love  to 
the  Spaniards,  he  bore  still  less  to  the  Reformers. 
He  therefore  declined  this  offer  of  the  Huguenot 
chiefs,  adding,  that  he  was  able  to  protect  France 

W  "  A  suidar  da  quel  nido  di    Appostati."     Leti,  Vita  di  Filipp* 
Demoni,  le  aceleraggini  di  tanti    11.,  torn.  L  p.  487. 


Ch.  L] 


HIS  REMARKABLE  MARCH. 


15fJ 


without  their  assistance.^  The  Genevans  were 
accordingly  obliged  to  stand  to  their  own  defence, 
though  they  gathered  confidence  from  the  prom- 
ised support  of  their  countrj^men  of  Berne;  and 
the  whole  array  of  these  brave  mountaineers  was 
in  arms,  ready  to  repel  any  assault  of  the  Spaniards 
on  their  own  territory  or  on  that  of  their  allies, 
in  their  passage  through  the  country.  But  this 
was  unnecessary.  Though  Alva  passed  within  six 
leagues  of  Geneva,  and  the  request  of  the  pontiff 
was  warmly  seconded  by  the  duke  of  Savoy,  the 
Spanish  general  did  not  deem  it  prudent  to  com- 
ply with  it,  declaring  that  his  commission  extended 
no  further  than  to  the  Netherlands.  Without 
turning  to  the  right  or  to  the  left,  he  held  on, 
therefore,  straight  towards  the  mark,  anxious  only 
to  extricate  himself  as  speedily  as  possible  from 
the  perilous  passes  where  he  might  be  taken  at 
so  obvious  disadvantage  by  an  enemy. 

Yet  such  were  the  difficulties  he  had  to  en- 
counter, that  a  fortnight  elapsed  before  he  was 
able  to  set  foot  on  the  friendly  plains  of  Bur- 
gundy,—  that  part  of  the  ancient  duchy  which 
acknowledged  the  authority  of  Spain.  Here  he 
received  the  welcome  addition  to  his  ranks  c£ 
four  hundred  horse,  the  flower  of  the   Burgun- 


*>  The  Huguenots  even  went  so 
far  as  to  attempt  to  engage  the 
reformed  in  the  Low  Countries  to 
join  them  in  assaulting  the  duke 
in  his  march  through  Savoy.  Their 
/lews  were  expressed  in  a  work 


which  circulated  widely  in  th© 
provinces,  though  it  foiled  to  rous© 
the  people  to  throw  off  the  Span- 
ish yoke.  See  Vandervynckt^ 
Troubles  des  Pays-Bas,  torn.  IL 
p.  194. 


160 


ALVA  SENT  TO  THE  NETHERLANDS.    [Book  IU 


dian  chivalry.  On  his  way  across  the  country  he 
was  accompanied  by  a  French  army  of  observ*- 
tion,  some  six  thousand  strong,  which  moved  in  a 
parallel  direction,  at  the  distance  of  six  or  seven 
leagues  only  from  the  line  of  march  pursued  by 
the  Spaniards,  —  though  without  offering  them 
any  molestation. 

Soon  after  entering  Lorraine,  Alva  was  met  by  the 
duke  of  that  province,  who  seemed  desirous  to  show 
him  every  respect,  and  entertained  him  with  prince- 
ly hospitality.  After  a  brief  detention,  the  Spanish 
general  resumed  his  journey,  and  on  the  eighth  ot 
August  crossed  the  frontiers  of  the  Netherlands.^ 

His  long  and  toilsome  march  had  been  accom- 
plished without  an  untoward  accident,  and  with 
scarcely  a  disorderly  act  on  the  part  of  the  soldiers. 
No  man's  property  had  been  plundered.  No  peas- 
ant's hut  had  been  violated.  The  cattle  had  been 
allowed  to  graze  unmolested  in  the  fields,  and  the 
flocks  to  wander  in  safety  over  their  mountain  pas- 
tures. One  instance  only  to  the  contrary  is  men- 
tioned, —  that  of  three  troopers,  who  carried  off  one 


81  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico, 
torn.  L  pp.  350  -  854.  —  Ossorio, 
Albse  Vita,  torn.  U.  p.  232  et  seq. 

—  Hechos  de  Sancho  Davila,  p. 
26.  —  Trillo,  Rebelion  y  Guerras 
de  Flandes,  fol.  16, 17.  —  Cabrera, 
Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  VII.  cap.  15. 

—  Meteren,  Hist,  des  Pays-Bas, 
fol.  62.  —  Lanario,  Guerras  de 
Flandes,  fol.  15. — Renom  de  Fran- 
sia,  AUx)rotos  de  Flandes,  MS. 


Chronological  accuracy  was  a 
thing  altogether  beneath  the  at- 
tention of  a  chronicler  of  the  six- 
teenth century.  In  the  confusion 
of  dates  in  regard  to  Alva's  move- 
ments, I  have  been  guided  as  far 
as  possible  by  his  own  despatches. 
See  Documentos  Ineditos,  torn.  IV 
p.  349  et  seq. 


Ch.  I.] 


HIS  REMARKABLE  MARCH. 


161 


I 


I 

. 


or  two  straggling  sheep  as  the  army  was  passmg 
through  Lorraine.  But  they  were  soon  called  to  a 
heavy  reckoning  for  their  transgression.  Alva,  on 
being  informed  of  the  fact,  sentenced  them  all  to 
the  gallows.  At  the  intercession  of  the  duke  of 
Lorraine,  the  sentence  was  so  far  mitigated  by 
the  Spanish  commander,  that  one  only  of  the 
three,  selected  by  lot,  was  finally  executed.^^ 

The  admirable  discipline  maintained  among  Al- 
va's soldiers  was  the  more  conspicuous  in  an  age 
when  the  name  of  soldier  was  synonymous  with 
that  of  marauder.     It  mattered  little  whether  it 
were  a  friendly  country  or  that  of  a  foe  through 
which   lay   the   line   of  march.     The   defenceless 
peasant  was  eveiywhere  the  prey  of  the  warrior ; 
and  the  general  winked  at  the  outrages  of  his  fol- 
lowers, as  the  best  means  of  settling  their  arrears. 
What  made  the  subordination  of  the  troops,  in 
the  present  instance,  still  more  worthy  of  notice, 
was  the  great  number  of  camp  followers,  especially 
courtesans,  who  hung  on  the  skirts  of  the  army. 
These  latter  mustered  in  such  force,  that  they  were 
divided  into  battalions   and  companies,  marching 
each  under  its  own  banner,  and  subjected  to  a  sort 
of  military   organization,   like    the    men.^^     The 


22  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  torn. 
I.  p.  354.  —  Ossorio,  Albae  Vita, 
torn.  I.  p.  241. 

^  Meteren,  Hist  des  Pays-Bas, 
fol.  52. —  Old  Brantdme  warms  as 
he  contemplates  these  Amazons, 
as  beautiful  and  making  as  brave 


a  show  as  princesses !  «  Plus  il  j 
avoit  quatre  cents  courtisanes  ^ 
cheval,  belles  et  braves  comme 
princesses,  et  huict  cents  k  pied, 
bien  en  point  aussi.**  (Euvres,* 
torn.  I.  p.  62. 


VOL.  II. 


21 


162 


ALVA  SENT  TO  THE  NETHERLANDS.    [Book  IIL 


duke  seems  to  have  been  as  careless  of  the  morals 
of  his  soldiers  as  he  was  careful  of  their  disci- 
pline; perhaps  willing  by  his  laxity  in  the  one 
to  compensate  for  his  severity  in  the  other. 

It  was  of  the  last  importance  to  Alva  that  his 
soldiers  should  commit  no  trespass,  nor  entan- 
gle him  in  a  quarrel  with  the  dangerous  people 
through  the  midst  of  whom  he  was  to  pass ;  and 
who,  from  their  superior  knowledge  of  the  coun- 
try, as  well  as  their  numbers,  could  so  easily  over- 
power him.  Fortunately,  he  had  received  such 
intimations  before  his  departure  as  put  him  on 
his  guard.  The  result  was,  that  he  obtained  such 
a  mastery  over  his  followers,  and  enforced  so  per- 
fect a  discipline,  as  excited  the  general  admiration 
of  his  contemporaries,  and  made  his  march  to  the 
Low  Countries  one  of  the  most  memorable  events 
of  the  period.^ 

At  Thionville  the  duke  was  waited  on  by  Bar- 
laimont  and  Noircarmes,  who  came  to  offer  the 
salutations  of  the  regent,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
request  to  see  his  powers.  At  the  same  place, 
and  on  the  way  to  the  capital,  the  duke  was  met 
by  several  of  the  Flemish  nobility,  who  came  to 
pay  their  respects  to  him;  among  the  rest,  Eg- 
mont,  attended  by  forty  cf  his  retainers.     On  his 


■•  "Ninguna  Historia  nos  ensena 
haya  passado  un  Exercito  per  Pais 
tan  dilatado  y  marchas  tan  con- 
finuas,  sin  cometer  excess©:  La 
del  Duque  es  la  unica  que  nos  la 
hace  ver.    Encantd  k  todo  el  mun- 


do.**  Rustant,  Historia  del  Duque 
de  Alva,  torn.  H.  p.  124.  —  So  al- 
so Herrera,  Historia  General,  torn. 
1.  p.  650.  —  Cabrera,  Filipe  Se» 
jrundo,  lib.  VII.  cap.  15.  —  Strada, 
De  Bello  Belgico,  torn.  I.  p.  354. 


>4t 
I 


Oh.  1.1 


HE  ARRIVES  AT  BRUSSELS. 


I6i 


entering  Alva's  presence,  the  duke  exclaimed  to  one 
of  his  officers,  "  Here  comes  a  great  heretic ! "  The 
words  were  overheard  by  Egmont,  who  hesitated 
a  moment,  naturally  disconcerted  by  what  would 
have  served  as  an  effectual  warning  to  any  other 
man.  But  Alva  made  haste  to  efface  the  impres- 
sion caused  by  his  heedless  exclamation,  receiving 
Egmont  with  so  much  cordiality  as  reassured  the 
infatuated  nobleman,  who,  regarding  the  words  as 
a  jest,  before  his  departure  presented  the  duke 
with  two  beautiful  horses. — Such  is  the  rather 
singular  story  which  comes  down  to  us  on  what 
must  be  admitted  to  be  respectable  authority.^ 

Soon  after  he  had  entered  the  country,  the 
duke  detached  the  greater  part  of  his  forces  to 
garrison  some  of  the  principal  cities,  and  relieve 
the  Walloon  troops  on  duty  there,  less  to  be 
trusted  than  his  Spanish  veterans.  With  the 
Milanese  brigade  he  took  the  road  to  Brussels, 
which  he  entered  on  the  twenty-second  of  August. 
His  cavalry  he  established  at  ten  leagues'  distance 
from  the  capital,  and  the  infantry  he  lodged  in 
the  subui'bs.  Far  from  being  greeted  by  acclama- 
tions, no  one  came  out  to  welcome  him  as  he  en- 
tered the  city,  which  seemed  like  a  place  deserted. 
He  went  straight  to  the  palace,  to  offer  his  homage 
to  the  regent.     An  altercation  took  place  on  the 

»  "  Comme  le  Due  le  vid  de  qu*on  le  pouvoit  entendre  en  deux 

long,  il  dit  tout  haut;   Voicy  le  famous,    il    I'interpreta  de   bonn« 

grand  hereticque,  dequoq  le  Comte  part.**    Meteren,  Hist,  des  Pay* 

s'espouvanta ;  neantmoins,  pource  Bas,  fol.  53. 


..I 


164 


ALVA  SENT  TO  TIIE  NETHERLANDS.    [Book  IH 


threshold  between  his  halberdiers  and  Margaret's 
body-guard  of  archers,  who  disputed  the  entrance 
of  the  Spanish  soldiers.     The   duke  himself  was 
conducted  to  the  bedchamber  of  the  duchess,  where 
she  was  in  the  habit  of  giving  audience.     She  was 
standing,  with  a  few  Flemish  nobles  by  her  side  ; 
and  she  remained  in  that  position,  without  stirring 
a  single  step  to  receive  her  visitor.     Both  parties 
continued  standing  during   the   interview,   which 
lasted  half  an  hour ;  the  duke  during  the  greater 
part  of  the  time  with  his  hat  in  his  hand,  although 
Margaret  requested  him  to  be  covered.     The  curi- 
ous  spectators   of  this   conference   amused   them- 
selves by  contrasting  the  courteous  and  even  def- 
erential manners  of  the  haughty   Spaniard   with 
the  chUling  reserve  and  stately  demeanor  of  the 
duchess.^     At   the   close   of  the   interview   Alva 
withdrew    to    his    own    quarters    at    Culemborg 
House,  —  the  place,  it  will  be  remembered,  where 
the  Gueux  held  their  memorable  banquet  on  their 
visit  to  Brussels. 

The  following  morning,  at  the  request  of  the 
council  of  state,  the  duke  of  Alva  furnished  that 
body  with  a  copy  of  his  commission.  By  this  he 
was  invested  with  the  title  of  captain-general,  and 


■6  "  Vimos  los  que  alH  estdba- 
mos  que  el  Duque  de  Alba  us(5  de 
{rrandisimos  respetos  y  buenas  cri- 
Auzas,  y  que  Madama  estuvo  muy 
levera  y  mas  que  cuando  suelen 
negoclar  con  ella  Egmont  y  estos 
otros  Senores  de  acu,  cosa  que  fue 


muy  notada  de  los  que  lo  miraban." 
A  minute  account  of  this  inter- 
view, as  given  in  the  text,  waa 
sent  to  Philip  by  IMendivil,  an  offi- 
cer of  the  artillery,  and  is  inserted 
in  the  Documentos  Indditos,  torn. 
IV.  p.  397  et  seq.    , 


Cn.  I.] 


HE  ARRIVES  AT  BRUSSELS. 


I6h 


in  that  capacity  was  to  exercise  supreme  control 
in  all  military  affairs.^  By  another  commission, 
dated  two  months  later,  these  powers  were  greatlj 
enlarged.  The  country  was  declared  in  a  state  of 
rebellion ;  and,  as  milder  means  had  failed  to  bring 
it  to  obedience,  it  was  necessary  to  resort  to  arms. 
The  duke  was  therefore  commanded  to  levy  war  on 
the  refractory  people,  and  reduce  them  to  submis- 
sion. He  was  moreover  to  inquire  into  the  causes 
of  the  recent  troubles,  and  bring  the  suspected  par- 
ties to  trial,  with  full  authority  to  punish  or  to  par- 
don  as  he  might  judge  best  for  the  public  weal.^ 
Finally,  a  third  commission,  of  more  startling  im- 
port than  the  two  preceding,  and  which,  indeed, 
might  seem  to  supersede  them  altogether,  was  dated 
three  months  later,  on  the  first  of  March,  1567. 
In  the  former  instruments  the  duke  was  so  far  re- 
quired to  act  in  subordination  to  the  regent,  that 
her  authority  was  declared  to  be  unimpaired.     But 


^  This  document,  dated  De- 
cember 1,  1566,  is  not  to  be  found 
in  the  Archives  of  Simancas,  as 
we  may  infer  from  its  having  no 
place  in  the  Documentos  Ineditos, 
which  contains  the  succeeding  com- 
mission. A  copy  of  it  is  in  the 
Belgian  archives,  and  has  been  in- 
corporated in  Gachard's  Corre- 
spondance  de  Philippe  II.  (torn. 
II.  Appendix,  No.  88.)  It  is  pos- 
sible that  a  copy  of  this  commis- 
Mon  was  sent  to  Margaret,  as  it 
agrees  so  well  with  what  the  king 
bad  written  to  her  on  the  subject 


28  To  this  second  commission, 
dated  January  31,  1567,  was  ap- 
pended a  document,  signed  also  by 
Philip,  the  purport  of  which  seems 
to  have  been  to  explain  more  pre- 
cisely the  nature  of  the  powers  in- 
trusted to  the  duke,  —  which  it 
does  in  so  liberal  a  fashion,  that  it 
may  be  said  to  double  those  pow- 
ers. Both  papers,  the  originals  of 
which  are  preserved  in  Simancas, 
have  been  inserted  in  the  Docu- 
mentos Indditos,  tom.  IV.  pp.  38€ 
-896. 


1(>6  ALVA  SENT  TO  THE  NETHERLANDS.     [Book  III 

by  virtue  of  this  last  commission  he  was  invested 
with  supieme  control  in  civil  as  well  as  military 
affairs  ;  and  persons  of  every  degree,  including  the 
regent  herself,  were  enjoined  to  render  obedience 
to  his  commands,  as  to  those  of  the  king.®     Such 
a  commission,  which  placed  the  government  of  the 
country  in  the  hands  of  Alva,  was  equivalent  to 
a  dismissal  of  Margaret.     The  title  of  « regent," 
which  still  remained  to  her,  was  an  empty  mock- 
ery ;  nor  could  it  be  thought  that  she  would  be 
content  to  retain  a  barren  sceptre  in  the  country 
over  which  she  had  so  long  ruled. 

It  is  curious  to  observe  the  successive  steps  by 
^hich  Philip  had  raised  Alva  from  the  rank  of 
captain-general  of  the  army  to  supreme  authority 
in  the  countrj-.  It  would  seem  as  if  the  king 
were  too  tenacious  of  power  readily  to  part  with 
it ;  and  that  it  was  only  by  successive  efforts,  as 
the  conviction  of  the  necessity  of  such  a  step 
pressed  more  and  more  on  his  mind,  that  he  de- 
termined to  lodge  the  government  in  the  hands 

of  Alva. 

- Whether  the  duke  acquainted  the  council  with 

the  full  extent  of  his  powers,  or,  as  seems  more 
probable,  communicated  to  that  body  only  his  first 


»  "  Par  quoy  requerrons  ii  lar 
dicte  dame  duchesse,  nostre  seur,  et 
eommandons  k  tous  noz  vassaulx 
et  subjectz,  de  obdyr  audict  due 
d'Alve  en  ce  qu'il  leur  comman- 
dera,  et  de  par  nous,  comme  aiant 
telle  diarge,  et  comme  k  nostre 


propre  peraonne."  —  This  instru- 
ment, taken  from  the  Belgian 
archives,  is  given  entire  by  Ga- 
chard,  Correspondance  de  Phi- 
lippe n.,  torn,  n..  Appendix,  No 
102. 


B 


'^ 


Ch.  L] 


MARGARET  DISGUSTED. 


161 


two  commissions,  it  is  impossible  to  say.  At  all 
events,  the  members  do  not  appear  to  have  been 
prepared  for  the  exhibition  of  powers  so  extensive, 
and  which,  even  in  the  second  of  the  commissions, 
transcended  those  exercised  by  the  regent  herself 
A  consciousness  that  they  did  so  had  led  Philip, 
in  more  than  one  instance,  to  qualify  the  language 
of  the  instrument,  in  such  a  manner  as  not  to 
rouse  the  jealousy  of  his  sister,  —  an  artifice  so 
obvious,  that  it  probably  produced  a  contrary  effect. 
At  any  rate,  Margaret  did  not  affect  to  conceal  her 
disgust,  but  talked  bpenly  of  the  affront  put  on 
her  by  the  king,  and  avowed  her  determination 
to  throw  up  the  government.^ 

She  gave  little  attention  to  business,  passing 
most  of  her  days  in  hunting,  of  which  masculine 
sport  she  was  excessively  fond.  She  even  threat- 
ened to  amuse  herself  with  journeying  about  from 
place  to  place,  leaving  public  affairs  to  take  care  of 
themselves,  till  she  should  receive  the  king's  per- 
mission to  retire.^^  Fr<!)m  this  indulgence  of  her 
spleen  she  was  dissuaded  by  her  secretary,  Armen- 
teros,  who,  shifting  his  sails  to  suit  the  breeze, 
showed,  soon  after  Alva's  coming,  his  intention  to 
propitiate  the  new  governor.  There  were  others 
of  Margaret's  adherents  less  accommodating.    Some 


*>  "  Despues  que  los  ban  visto  hecho.**    Carta  de  Mendivil,  ap. 

ban  quedado  todos  muy  lastimados,  Documentos  In^ditos,  torn.  IV.  p 

y  i,  todos  cuajitos  Madama  habla  399. 
les  dice  que  se  quiere  ir  i,  su  casa        ^1  n)id.,  p.  403. 
;)or  los  agravios  que  V.  M.  le  ha 


168 


ALVA  SENT  TO  THE  NETHERLANDS.    [Book  UI 


high  in  office  intimated  very  plainly  their  discon- 
tent at  the  presence  of  the  Spaniards,  from  which 
they  boded  only  calamity  to  the  countiy.®  Mai*- 
garet's  confessor,  in  a  sermon  preached  before  the 
regent,  did  not  scruple  to  denounce  the  Spaniards 
as  so  many  "knaves,  traitors,  and  ravishers."^ 
And  although  the  remonstrance  of  the  loyal  Ar- 
menteros  induced  the  duchess  to  send  back  the 
honest  man  to  his  convent,  it  Avas  plain,  from  the 
warm  terms  in  which  she  commended  the  preach- 
er, that  she  was  far  from  being  displeased  with  his 
discourse. 

The  duke  of  Alva  cared  little  for  the  hatred  of 
the  Flemish  lords.^  But  he  felt  otherwise  towards 
the  regent.  He  would  willingly  have  soothed  her 
irritation,  and  he  bent  his  haughty  spirit  to  show, 
in  spite  of  her  coldness,  a  deference  in  his  manner 
that  must  have  done  some  violence  to  his  nature. 
As  a  mai'k  of  respect,  he  proposed  at  once  to  pay 
her  another  visit,  and  in  great  state,  as  suited  her 
rank.  But  Margaret,  feigning  or  feeling  herself 
too  ill  to  receive  him,  declined  his  visit  for  some 
days;  and   at  last,   perhaps   to   mortify  him   the 


33  Ibid.,  p.  400. 

3^  "  En  todo  el  sermon  no  tratd 
cuasi  de  otra  cosa  sino  de  que  los 
espanoles  eran  traidores  y  ladrones, 
y  forzadores  de  mugeres,  y  que 
totalmente  el  pais  que  los  sufria 
ara  destruido,  con  tanto  escandolo 
y  malda<l  que  merescia  ser  quema- 
do.**     Ibid.,  p.  401. 

3*  Yet  there  was  danger  in  it, 


if,  as  Armenteros  warned  the  duke, 
to  leave  bis  house  would  be  at 
the  risk  of  his  life.  "  Tambien 
me  ha  dicho  Tomas  de  Armen- 
teros que  diga  al  Duque  de  Alba 
que  en  ninguna  man  era  conio  fuera 
de  su  casa  porque  si  lo  hace  seri 
con  notable  peligro  de  la  vida." 
Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


Cb.  I.] 


MARGARET  DISGUSTED. 


16[) 


more,  vouchsafed  him  only  a  private  audience  in 
her  own  apartment. 

Yet  at  this  interview  she  showed  more  conde- 
scension than  before,  and  even  went  so  far  as  to 
assure  the  duke  that  there  was  no  one  whose  ap- 
pointment would  have  been  more  acceptable  to 
her.^  She  followed  this,  by  bluntly  demanding 
why  he  had  been  sent  at  all.  Alva  replied, 
that,  as  she  had  often  intimated  her  desire  for 
a  more  efficient  military  force,  he  had  come  to 
aid  her  in  the  execution  of  her  measures,  and  to 
restore  peace  to  the  country  before  the  arrival  of 
his  majesty.^  —  The  answer  could  hardly  have 
pleased  the  duchess,  who  doubtless  considered  she 
had  done  that  without  his  aid,  already. 

The  discourse  fell  upon  the  mode  of  quartering 
the  troops.  Alva  proposed  to  introduce  a  Spanish 
garrison  into  Brussels.  To  this  Margaret  objected 
with  great  energy.  But  the  duke  on  this  point 
was  inflexible.  Brussels  was  the  royal  residence, 
and  the  quiet  of  the  city  could  only  be  secured  by 
a  garrison.  "  If  people  murmur,"  he  concluded, 
"you  can  tell  them  I  am  a  headstrong  man,  bent  on 
having  my  own  way.  I  am  willing  to  take  all  the 
odium  of  the  measure  on  myself."^     Thus  thwart- 


35  '» Despues  de  haberse  sentado 
le  dijo  el  contentamiento  que  tenia 
de  su  venida  y  que  ningun  otro 
pudiera  venir  con  quien  ella  mas 
se  holgara.*'     Ibid.,  p.  404. 

•*  "  Que  lo  que  principalmente 
traia  era  estar  aqui  con  esta  gente 

VOL.  ir.  22 


para  que  la  justicia  fuese  obedecida 
y  respetada,  y  los  mandamientos 
de  S.  E.  ejecutadas,  y  que  S.  M.  i 
su  venida  hallase  esto  en  la  paz, 
tranquilidad  y  sosiego  que  era  ra- 
zon.**  Ibid.,  p.  406. 
37  "  Podrase   escusar  con  estoi 


170  ALVA  SENT  TO  THE  NETHERLANDS.    [Book  IH 

ed,  and  made  to  feel  her  inferiority  when  any  ques- 
tion  of   real  power  was   involved,  Margaret  felt 
the  humiliation  of  her  position  even  more  keenly 
than  before.     The  appointment  of  Alva  had  been 
from  the  first,  as  we  have  seen,  a  source  of  mortifi- 
cation to  the  duchess.     In  December,  1566,  soon 
after  PhHip   had  decided   on   sending  the  duke, 
with  the  authority  of  captain-general,  to  the  Low 
Countries,  he  announced  it  in  a  letter  to  Margaret. 
He  had  been  as  much  perplexed,  he  said,  in  the 
choice  of  a  commander,  as  she  could  have  been ; 
and  it  was  only  at  her  suggestion  of  the  necessity 
of  some  one  to  take  the  military  command,  that  he 
had  made  such  a  nomination.     Alva  was,  however, 
only  to  prepare  the  way  for  him,  to  assemble  a 
force  on  the  frontier,  establish  the  garrisons,  and 
enforce  discipline  among  the  troops  till  he  came.» 
Philip  was  careful  not  to  alarm  his  sister  by  any 
hint  of  the  extraordinary  powers  to  be  conferred 
on  the  duke,  who  thus  seemed  to  be  sent  only  in 
obedience  to  her  suggestion,  and  in  subordination 
to  her  authority.— Margaret  knew  too  well  that 
Alva  was  not  a  man   to  act  in  subordination  to 
any  one.     But  whatever  misgivings  she  may  have 
had,  she  hardly  betrayed  them   in  her  reply  to 
Philip,  in   the  following  February,   1567,   when 

dici^ndoles  que  yo  soy  cabezudo  y  d  trueque  de  que  V.  E.  quedt 

que  he  estado  muy  opinatre  en  descargada."    Ibid.,  p.  408. 
wear  de  aquf  esta  gente,  que  yo        38  Supplement  k  Strada,  torn.  H 

huelgo  de  que  i  mi  se  me  eche  la  p.  524.' 
culpa  y  de  llevar  el  odio  sobre  mi 


Cb.L] 


MARGARET  DISGUSTED. 


171 


she  told  the  king  she  "  was  sure  he  would  never 
be  so  unjust,  and  do  a  thing  so  prejudicial  to  the 
interests  of  the  country,  as  to  transfer  to  another 
the  powers  he  had  vested  in  her."® 

The  appointment  of  Alva  may  have  stimulated 
the  regent  to  the  extraordinary*  efforts  she  then 
made  to  reduce  the  country  to  order.  When  she 
had  achieved  this,  she  opened  her  mind  more 
freely  to  her  brother,  in  a  letter  dated  July  12, 
1567.  "  The  name  of  Alva  was  so  odious  in  the 
Netherlands  that  it  was  enough  to  make  the  whole 
Spanish  nation  detested.^  She  could  never  have 
imagined  that  the  king  would  make  such  an  ap- 
pointment without  consulting  her."  She  then, 
alluding  to  orders  lately  received  from  Madrid, 
shows  extreme  repugnance  to  carry  out  the  stem 
policy  of  Philip;*^— a  repugnance,  it  must  be  con- 
fessed,  that  seems  to  rest  less  on  the  character  of  the 
measures  than  on  the  difficulty  of  their  execution. 

When  the  duchess  learned  that  Alva  was  in 
Italy,  she  wrote  also  to  him,  hoping  at  this  late 
hour  to  arrest  his  progress  by  the  assurance  that 
the  troubles  were  now  at  an  end,  and  that  his 
appearance  at  the  head  of  an  army  would  only 
serve  to  renew  them.  But  the  duke  was  pre- 
paring for  his   march    across    the    Alps,   and  it 

39  «  Tenendo  per  certo  che  V.  respondance  de  Philippe  II.,  torn. 

M.  non  Torrk  desautorizarmi,  per  I.  p.  605. 

autorizare  altri,  poi  che  questo  non  40  »*  n  y  est  si  odieux  qu*il  suffi- 

e  giusto,  ne  manco  saria  servitio  rait  k  y  faire  hair  toute  la  nation 

suo,  se  non  gran  danno  et  incon-  espagnole.**    Ibid.,  p.  556. 

vexxiente  per  t\  tti  U  negotii.'*    Cor-  ^i  n)id.,  ubi  supra. 


172  ALVA  SENT  TO  THE  NETHERLANDS.    [Book  III. 

would  have  been  as  easy  to  stop  the  avalanche 
in  its  descent,  as  to  stay  the  onward  course  of 
this  "  man  of  destiny." 

The  state  of  Margaret's  feelings  was  shown  by 
the  chilling  reception  she  gave  the  duke  on  his 
arrival  in  Brussels.  The  extent  of  his  powers, 
so  much  beyond  what  she  had  imagined,  did  not 
tend  to  soothe  the  irritation  of  the  regent's  temper; 
and  the  result  of  the  subsequent  interview  filled  up 
the  measure  of  her  indignation.  However  forms 
might  be  respected,  it  was  clear  the  power  had 
passed  into  other  hands.  She  wrote  at  once  to 
Philip,  requesting,  or  rather  requiring,  his  leave 
to  withdraw  without  delay  from  the  countrj'. 
« If  he  had  really  felt  the  concern  he  professed 
for  her  welfare  and  reputation,  he  would  have 
allowed  her  to  quit  the  government  before  being 
brought  into  rivalry  with  a  man  like  the  duke 
of  Alva,  who  took  his  own  course  in  everything, 
without  the  least  regard  to  her.  It  afflicted  her 
to  the  bottom  of  her  soul  to  have  been  thus  treated 

by  the  king."  *^ 

It  may  have  given  some  satisfaction  to  Margaret, 
that  in  her  feelings  towards  the  duke  she  had  the 
entire  sjinpathy  of  the  nation.  In  earlier  days,  in 
the  time  of  Charles  the  Fifth,  Alva  had  passed 
some  time  both  in  Germany  and  in  the  Netherlands, 
and  had  left  there  no  favorable  impression  of  his 
character.     In    the    former    cbuntr)%  mdeed,   his 

«  «  Elle  est  affect^e,  jusq'au  fond  de  l*ame,  de  la  conduite  du  Roi  I 
•on  dgard.**    Ibid.,  p.  667. 


Ch.  I.] 


ANECDOTES  OF  THE  DUKE. 


173 


haughty  deportment  on  a  question  of  etiquette 
had  caused  some  embarrassment  to  his  master. 
Alva  insisted  on  the  strange  privilege  of  the  Cas- 
tilian  grandee  to  wear  his  hat  in  the  presence 
of  his  sovereign.  The  German  nobles,  scandal- 
ized by  this  pretension  in  a  subject,  asserted  that 
their  order  had  as  good  a  right  to  it  as  the  Span- 
iards. It  was  not  without  difficulty  that  the  proud 
duke  was  content  to  waive  the  contested  privilege 
till  his  return  to  Spain.*^ 

Another  anecdote  of  Alva  had  left  a  still  more 
unfavorable  impression  of  his  character.  He  had 
accompanied  Charles  on  his  memorable  visit  to 
Ghent,  on  occasion  of  its  rebellion.  The  emperor 
asked  the  duke's  counsel  as  to  the  manner  in 
which  he  should  deal  with  his  refractory  capital. 
Alva  instantly  answered,  "  Raze  it  to  the  ground ! " 
Charles,  without  replying,  took  the  duke  with 
him  to  the  battlements  of  the  castle ;  and  as  their 
eyes  wandered  over  the  beautiful  city  spread  out  far 
and  wide  below,  the  emperor  asked  him,  with  a  pun 
on  the  French  name  of  Ghent,  (Gand,)  how  many 
Spanish  hides  it  would  take  to  make  such  a  fflove, 
{gant)  Alva,  who  saw  his  master's  displeasure, 
received  the  rebuke  in  silence.  The  story,  whether 
time  or  not,  w^as  current  among  the  people  of  Flan- 
ders, on  whom  it  produced  its  eflfect.** 


<3  Vandervynckt,  Troubles  des  in  reliquum  Belgium  cum  Albani 

Pays-Bas,  torn.  II.  p.  207.  odio  propagata."    Strada,  De  Bello 

^  "  Seu  vera  seu  ficta,  facile  Belgieo,  torn.  I.  p.  368. 
Gandavensibus  credita,  ab  iisque 


174  ALVA  SENT  TO  THE  NETHERLANDS.    [Book  lU 

Alva  was  now  sLxty  years  old.     It  was  not  likely 
that  age  had  softened  the  asperity  of  his  nature 
He  had,  as  might  be  expected,  ever  shown  himself 
the  uncompromising  enemy  of  the  party  of  reform 
in  the  Low  Countries.     He  had  opposed  the  con- 
cession made  to  the  nation  by  the  recaU  of  Gran- 
velle.     The   only  concessions  he  recommended  to 
PhHip  were  in  order  to  lull  the  suspicions  of  the 
great  lords,  till  he  could  bring  them  to  a  bloody 
reckoning  for  their  misdeeds.*^     The  general  drift 
of  his    poUcy  was    perfectly   understood  in    the 
Netherlands,  and  the  duchess  had  not  exaggerated 
when  she  dwelt  on  the  detestation  in  which  he 
was  held  by  the  people. 

His  course  on  his  arrival  was  not  such  as 
to  diminish  the  fears  of  the  nation.  His  first 
act  was  to  substitute  in  the  great  towns  his  own 
troops,  men  who  knew  no  law  but  the  will  of 
their  chief,  for  the  WaUoon  garrisons,  who  might 
naturally  have  some  sympathy  with  their  coun- 
trymen.  His  next  was  to  construct  fortresses, 
under  the  direction  of  one  of  the  ablest  engi- 
neers  in  Europe.  The  hour  had  come  when,  in 
the  language  of  the  prince  of  Orange,  his  coun- 
trymen  were  to  be  bridled  by  the  Spaniard. 

The   conduct  of  Alva's  soldiers  underwent  an 
ominous   change.     Instead   of  the    discipline   ob- 

45  See  Ills  remarkable  letter  to  liacer  dissimnlar  con  ellos.''    1^ 

the  king,  of  October  21,   1563:  piers d'Etat de Granvelle, torn. VIL 

**  A  los  que  destos  merecen,  qui-  p.  238. 
tenles  laa  cave9as,  basta  poderlo 


Ch.  I  ] 


POLICY  OF  THE  DUKE. 


175 


I 


served  on  the  march,  they  now  indulged  in  the 
most  reckless  license.     "One  hears  everywhere," 
writes  a   Fleming   of  the   time,  "of  the  oppres- 
sions of  the  Spaniards.     Confiscation  is  going  on 
to  the  right  and   left.      If  a  man  has  anything 
to  lose,   they   set  him   down   at   once  as  a  her- 
etic."*^   If  the  writer  may  be  thought  to  have 
borrowed  something  from  his  fears,*^  it  cannot  be 
doubted  that  the  panic  was  general  in  the  coun- 
try.    Men   emigrated  by   thousands   and  tens   of 
thousands,  carrying  with  them  to  other  lands  the 
arts   and   manufactures  which  had  so  long  been 
the  boast   and   the    source   of  prosperity   of  the 
Netherlands.*®    Those  who    remained  were  filled 


*6  "  Les  Espaignols  font  les  plus 
grandes  fouUes  qu'on  ne  s9auroit 
escryre;  ils  confisquent  tout,  k  tort, 
k  droit,  disant  que  touts  sont  here- 
tiques,  qui  «nt  du  bien,  et  ont  a 
perdre." 

Tbe  indignant  writer  does  not 
omit  to  mention  the  "two  thou- 
sand" strumpets  who  came  in  the 
duke's  train;  "so,"  he  adds,  "  with 
what  we  have  already,  there  will 
be  no  lack  of  this  sort  of  wares  in 
the  country."  Lettre  de  Jean  de 
Homes,  Aug.  25,  1567,  Corre- 
spondaiK^e  de  Philippe  II.,  tom.  I. 

p.  665. 

47  Clough,  Sir  Thomas  Gresh- 
am's  agent,  who  was  in  the  Low 
Countries  at  this  time,  mentions 
the  license  of  the  Spaniard!.  It 
is  but  just  to  add,  that  he  says  the 
government  took  prompt  measures 


to  repress  it,  by  ordering  some  of 
the  principal  offenders  to  the  gib- 
bet Burgon,  Life  of  Gresham, 
vol.  IL  pp.  229,  230. 

48  The  duchess,  in  a  letter  to 
Philip,  September   8,    1567,   says 
that  a  hundred  thousand  people 
fled  the  country  on  the  coming  of 
Alva !    (Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico, 
tom.  I.  p.  357.)     If  this  be  thought 
a  round  exaggeration,  dictated  by 
policy  or  by  fear,  still   there   are 
positive  proofs   that  the   emigra- 
tion at  this  period  was  excessive. 
Thus,  by  a  return  made  of  the  pop- 
ulation of  London  and  its  suburbs, 
this  very  year  of  1567,  it  appears 
that  the  number  of  Flemings  wai 
as  large  as  that  of  all  other  for- 
eigners put  together.     See  Bulle- 
tins de  I* Academic  Royale  de  Bra 
xelles,  tom.  XIV.  p.  127. 


176 


ALVA  SENT  TO  THE  NETHERLANDS.    [Book  IIL 


Ch.  L] 


POLICY  OF  THE  DUKE. 


171 


with  a  dismal  apprehension,  —  a  boding  of  coming 
evil,  as  they  beheld  the  heavens  darkening  around 
them,  and  the  signs  of  the  tempest  at  hand. 

A  still  deeper  gloom  lay  upon  Brussels,  once 
the  gayest  city  in  the  Netherlands,  —  now  the 
residence  of  Alva.  All  business  was  suspended. 
Places  of  public  resort  were  unfrequented.  The 
streets  were  silent  and  deserted.  Several  of  the 
nobles  and  wealthier  citizens  had  gone  to  their 
estates  in  the  country,  to  watch  there  the  aspect  of 
events.*^  Most  of  the  courtiers  who  remained  — 
the  gilded  insects  that  loved  the  sunshine  —  had 
left  the  regent's  palace,  and  gone  to  pay  their 
homage  to  her  rival  at  Culemborg  House.  There 
everything  went  merrily  as  in  the  gayest  time  of 
Brussels.  For  the  duke  strove,  by  brilliant  en- 
tertainments and  festivities,  to  amuse  the  nobles 
and  dissipate  the  gloom  of  the  capital.^ 

In  all  this  Alva  had  a  deeper  motive  than  met 
the  public  eye.  He  was  carrying  out  the  policy 
which  he  had  recommended  to  Philip.  By  cour- 
teous and  conciliatory  manners  he  hoped  to  draw 


*9  Thus  Jean  de  Homes,  Baron 
(le  Boxtel,  writes  to  the  prince  of 
Orange :  "  J'ay  prins  une  resolu- 
tion pour  mon  faict  et  est  que  je 
fay  tout  effort  de  scavoir  si  I'on 
poulrast  estre  seurement  en  sa  mai- 
Bon :  si  ainsy  est,  me  retireray  en 
ine  des  miennes  le  plus  abstracte- 
ment  que  possible  sera ;  sinon,  re- 
garderay  de  chercher  quelque  re- 
tidence    eri    desoubs    ung    aultre 


Prince.**  Archives  de  la  Maison 
d'Orange-Nassau,  torn.  HI.  p.  125. 
5®  Gothe,  in  his  noble  tragedy 
of  "  Egmont,**  seems  to  have  bor- 
rowed a  hint  from  Shakespeare's 
"  blanket  of  the  dark,**  to  depict 
the  gloom  of  Brussels,  —  where 
he  speaks  of  the  heavens  as  wrapt 
in  a«Iark  pall  from  the  fa  al  hour 
when  the  duke  entered  the  city. 
Act  IV.  Scene  I. 


around  him  the  great  nobles,  especially  such  as 
had  been  at  all  mixed  up  with  the  late  revolution- 
ary movements.  Of  these,  Egmont  was  still  at 
Binissels ;  but  Hoome  had  withdrawn  to  his  estates 
at  Weert.^^  Hoogstraten  was  in  Germany  with  the 
prince  of  Orange.  As  to  the  latter,  Alva,  as  he 
wrote  to  the  king,  could  not  flatter  himself  with 
the  hope  of  his  return.^ 

The  duke  and  his  son  Ferdinand  both  wrote  to 
Count  Hoome  in  the  most  friendly  terms,  inviting 
him  to  come  to  Brussels.^  But  this  distrustful 
nobleman  still  kept  aloof.  Alva,  in  a  conversation 
with  the  count's  secretary,  expressed  the  warmest 
solicitude  for  the  health  of  his  master.  He  had 
always  been  his  friend,  he  said,  and  had  seen  with 
infinite  regret  that  the  count's  services  were  no 
better  appreciated  by  the  king."  But  Philip  was  a 
good  prince,  and  if  slow  to  recompense,  the  count 
would  find  him  not  ungrateful.  Could  the  duke 
but  see  the  count,  he  had  that  to  say  which  would 
content  him.  He  would  find  he  was  not  forgotten 
by  his  friends.^  This  last  assurance  had  a  ter- 
rible significance.  Hoome  yielded  at  length  to 
an  invitation  couched  in  terms  so  flattering.    With 


51  Vera  y  Figueroa,  Vida  de 
Alva,  p.  89. 

52  Correspondance  de  Philippe 
II.,  torn.  I.  p.  578. 

W  Ibid.,  p.  563. 

5*  "  Qu'il  lui  avait  peine  infinl- 
mcnt  que  le  Roi  n'eut  tenu  compte 
de  monseignem*  et  de  ses  services, 

23 


comme  il  le  meritait"    Ibid.,  ubi 
supra. 

55  "  Que  s'il  voyait  M.  de  Homes, 
il  lui  dirait  des  choses  qui  le  satis- 
feraient,  et  par  lesquelles  celui-ci 
connaitrait  qu'il  n'avait  pas  ^t^ 
oublie  de  ses  amis.*'    Ibid.,  p.  564. 


VOL.   II. 


i 


I  ' 


178 


ALVA  SENT  TO  THE  NETHERLANDS.    [Book  III. 


Hooffstraten,  Alva  was  not  so  fortunate.  His 
good  genius,  or  the  counsel  of  Orange,  saved  him 
from  the  snare,  and  kept  him  in  Germany.*^ 

Having  nothing  further  to  gain  by  delay,  Alva 
determined  to  proceed  at  once  to  the  execution 
of  his  scheme.  On  the  ninth  of  September  the 
council  of  state  was  summoned  to  meet  at  Culem- 
bcrg  House.  Egmont  and  Hoome  were  present ; 
and  two  or  three  of  the  officers,  among  them  Pa^ 
ciotti,  the  engineer,  were  invited  to  discuss  a  plan 
of  fortification  for  some  of  the  Flemish  cities.  In 
the  mean  time,  strong  guards  had  been  posted 
at  all  the  avenues  of  the  house,  and  cavalry 
drawn  together  from  the  country  and  established 
in  the  suburbs. 

The  duke  prolonged  the  meeting  until  informa- 
tion was  privately  communicated  to  him  of  the 
arrest  of  Backerzele,  Egmonfs  secretary,  and  Van 
Stralen,  the  burgomaster  of  Antwerp.  The  former 
was  a  person  of  great  political  sagacity,  and  deep 
in  the  confidence  of  Egmont ;  the  latter,  the  friend 
of  Orange,  with  whom  he  was  still  in  constant 
correspondence.  The  arrest  of  Backerzele,  who 
resided  in  Brussels,  was  made  without  difficulty, 
and  possession  was  taken  of  his  papers.  Van 
Stralen  was  surrounded  by  a  body  of  horse,  as  he 


M  According  to  Strada,  Hoog-  the  fate  of  his  friends  in  season 

straten  actually  set  out  to  return  to  profit  by  it  and   make  his  e»- 

to  Brussels,  but,  detained  by  illness  cape.    De  Bello  Belgico,  torn.  L 

or  some  other  cause  on  the  road,  p.  858. 
he  fortunately  received  tidings  of 


Oh.  I.] 


ARREST  OF  EGMONT  AND  HOORNE. 


179 


was  driving  out  of  Antwerp  in  his  carriage ;  and 
both  of  the  unfortunate  gentlemen  were  brought 
prisoners  to  Culemborg  House. 

As  soon  as  these  tidings  were  conveyed  to  Alva, 
he  broke  up  the  meeting  of  the  council.  Then 
entering  into  conversation  with  Egmont,  he  strolled 
with  him  through  the  adjoining  rooms,  in  one  of 
which  was  a  small  body  of  soldiers.  As  the  two 
nobles  entered  the  apartment,  Sancho  Davila,  the 
captain  of  the  duke's  guard,  went  up  to  Egmont, 
and  in  the  king's  name  demanded  his  sword,  tell- 
ing him  at  the  same  time  he  was  his  prisoner." 
The  count,  astounded  by  the  proceeding,  and  see- 
ing himself  surrounded  by  soldiers,  made  no  at- 
tempt at  resistance,  but  calmly,  and  with  much 
dignity  in  his  manner,  gave  up  his  sword,  saying 
at  the  same  time,  "  It  has  done  the  king  service 
more  than  once."^  And  well  might  he  say  so; 
for  with  that  sword  he  had  won  the  fields  of 
Gravelines  and  St.  Quentin.^ 


57  Ibid.,  p.  359.— -Ossorio,  Albas 
Vita,  torn.  II.  p.  248.  Also  the 
memoirs  of  that  "  Thunderbolt  of 
War,"  •  as  his  biographer  styles 
him,  Sancho  Davila  himself.  He- 
chos  de  Sancho  Davila,  p.  29. 

A  report,  sufficiently  meagre,  of 
the  affair,  was  sent  by  Alva  to  the 
king.  In  this  no  mention  is  made 
of  his  having  accompanied  Eg- 
mont when  he  left  the  room  where 
they  had  been  conferring  together. 
See  Documentos  Indditos,  torn.  II. 
C-.  418. 


58  "  Et  tamen  hoc  ferro  saep^ 
ego  Regis  causam  non  infeliciter 
defendi."  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgi- 
CO,  torn.  I.  p.  359. 

59  Clough,  Sir  Thomas  Gresh- 
am*8  correspondent,  in  a  Jetter 
from  Brussels,  of  the  same  date 
with  the  arrest  of  Egmont,  gives 
an  account  of  his  bearing  on  the 
occasion,  which  differs  somewhat 
from  that  in  the  text;  not  more, 
however,  than  the  popular  rumors 
of  any  strange  event  of  recent 
occurrence  are  apt  to  differ.  "And 


180  ALVA  SENT  TO  THE  NETHEBLANDS.    [Book  HI 

Hoome  fell  into  a  similar  ambuscade,  in  another 
part  of  the  palace,  whither  he  was  drawn  while 
conversing  with  the  duke's  son,  Ferdinand  de 
Toledo,  who,  according  to  his  father's  account, 
had  the  whole  merit  of  arranging  this  Uttle 
di-ama.«>  Neither  did  the  admiral  make  any  re- 
sistance ;  but,  on  learning  Egmont's  fate,  yielded 
himself  up,  saying  "he  had  no  right  to  expect  to 
fare  better  than  his  friend."  «^ 

It  now  became  a  question  as  to  the  disposal  of 
the  prisoners.     Culemborg  House  was  clearly  no 
fitting  place  for  their  confinement.     Alva  caused 
several  castles  in  the  neighborhood  of  Brussels  to 
be  examined,  but  they  were  judged  insecure.     He 
finally  decided  on  Ghent.     The  strong  fortress  of 
that  city  was  held  by  one  of  Egmont's  own  parti- 
sans ;  but  an  order  was  obtained  from  the  count 
requiring  him  to   deliver  up   the  keys  into  the 
hands  of  UUoa,  one  of  Alva's  most  trusted  cap- 
tains,  who,  at  the  head  of  a  corps  of  Spanish  vet- 
erans,  marched  to  Ghent,  and  relieved  the  WaUoon 
garrison  of  their  charge.     UUoa  gave  proof  of  his 
vigUance,  immediately  on  his  arrival,  by  seizing  a 


as  touching  the  County  of  Egmond, 
he  was  (as  the  saying  ys)  appre- 
hendyd  by  the  Duke,  and  comyt- 
tyd  to  the  offysers:  whereuppon, 
when  the  capytane  that  had  charge 
[of  him]  demandyd  hys  weapon, 
he  was  in  a  grett  rage ;  and  tooke 
Ills  sword  from  hys  syde,  and  cast 
it  to  the  groundc."  Burgon,  Life 
of  Gresham,  vol.  II.  p.  234. 


w  Correapondance  de  Philippe 

II.,  tom.  I.  p.  674. 

61  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  tom. 
I.  p.  359.  —  Meteren,  Hist,  dea 
Pays-Bas,  fol.  64.— Hechos  de 
Sancho  Davila,  p.  29.  — Ossorio, 
Alba  Vita,  tom.  II.  p.  248.— 
Vandervynckt,  Troubles  des  Pays- 
Bas,  tom.  II.  p.  223.  —  Documentoi 
In^tos,  tom.  IV.  p.  418. 


Ce.  I.]  AEREST  OF  EGMONT  AND  HOORNS. 


18i 


heavy  wagon  loaded  with  valuables  belonging   to 
Egmont,  as  it  was  leaving  the  castle  gate.® 

Having  completed  these  arrangements,  the  duke 
lost  no  time  in  sending  the  two  lords,  under  a 
strong  military  escort,  to  Ghent.  Two  companies 
of  mounted  arquebusiers  rode  in  the  front.  A 
regiment  of  Spanish  infantry,  which  formed  the 
centre,  guarded  the  prisoners ;  one  of  whom,  Eg- 
mont, was  borne  in  a  litter  carried  by  mules,  while 
Hoorne  was  in  his  own  carriage.  The  rear  was 
brought  up  by  three  companies  of  light  horse. 

Under  this  strong  guard  the  unfortunate  nobles 
were  conducted  through  the  province  where  Eg- 
mont  had  lately  ruled  "  with  an  authority,"  writes 
Alva's  secretary,  "  greater  even  than  that  of  the 
king."  ^  But  no  attempt  was  made  at  a  rescue ;  • 
and  as  the  procession  entered  the  gates  of  Ghent, 
where  Egmont's  popularity  was  equal  to  his  power, 
the  people  gazed  in  stupefied  silence  on  the  stem 
array  that  was  conducting  their  lord  to  the  place 
of  his  confinement.^ 

The  arrest  of  Egmont  and  Hoome  was  known, 
in  a  few  hours  after  it  took  place,  to  every  inhab- 
itant of  Brussels ;  and  the  tidings  soon  spread  to 
the  furthest  parts  of  the  country.  "  The  impris- 
onment of  the  lords,"  writes  Alva   to   the  king, 


*®  Vandervynckt,  Troubles  des  qui   ne  oonniUssaient  d'autre   roi 

Pays-Bas,  tom.  11.  p.  226.  que  lui.**    Correspondance  de  Phi- 

^  "  Toutes  ces  mdsures  etaient  lippe  II.,  tom.  I.  p.  582. 

ndcessaires,  vu  la  grande  autorite  64  ibid,,  ubi  supra.  —  Met^^ren 

du  comte  d*Egmont  en  ces  pays,  Hist,  des  Pays-Bas,  fol.  54, 


182 


ALYA  SENT  TO  THE  NETHERLANDS.    [Book  IH 


'*has  caused  no  disturbance.  The  tranquillity  is 
such  that  your  majesty  would  hardly  credit  it."** 
True;  but  the  tranquillity  was  that  of  a  man 
stunned  by  a  heavy  blow.  If  murmurs  were  not 
loud,  however,  they  were  deep.  Men  mourned 
over  the  credulity  of  the  two  counts,  who  had  so 
blindly  fallen  into  the  snare,  and  congratulated 
one  another  on  the  forecast  of  the  prince  of  Or- 
ange, who  might  one  day  have  the  power  to 
avenge  them.*  The  event  gave  a  new  spur  to 
emigration.  In  the  space  of  a  ffew  weeks  no  less 
than  twenty  thousand  persons  are  said  to  have  fled 
the  country.^  And  the  exiles  were  not  altogether 
drawn  from  the  humbler  ranks ;  for  no  one,  how- 
ever high,  could  feel  secure  when  he  saw  the  blow 
aimed  at  men  like  Egmont  and  Hoome,  the  former 
of  whom,  if  he  had  given  some  cause  of  distrust, 
had  long  since  made  his  peace  with  the  gov- 
ernment. 

Count  Mansfeldt  made  haste  to  send  his  son  out 
of  the  country,  lest  the  sympathy  he  had  once 
shown  for  the  confederates,  notwithstanding  his  re- 
cent change  of  opinion,  might  draw  on  him  the 
vengeance  of  Alva.  The  old  count,  whose  own 
loyalty  could  not  be  impeached,  boldly  complained 
of  the  arrest  of  the  lords  as  an  infringement  on  the 

®  "  L'emprisonnement  des  deux  W  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  torn, 

comtes  ne  donne  lieu  k  aucune  I.  p.  359. 

rumeur;  au  contraire,  la  tranqui-  ^  Brandt,  Reformation  in   the 

llite  est  si  grande,  que  le  Roi  ne  le  Low  Countries,  vol.  I.  p.  260. 
pourrait  croire.**     Correspondance 
de  Philippe  II.,  torn.  I.  p.  575. 


:a.  I.]  ARREST  OF  EGMONT  AND  HOORNE. 


183 


rights  of  the  Toison  d'  Or,  which  body  alone  had 
cognizance  of  the  causes  that  concerned  their  order, 
intimating,  at  the  same  time,  his  intention  to  sum- 
mon a  meeting  of  the  members.  But  he  was  si- 
lenced  by  Alva,  who  plamly  told  him,  that,  if  the 
chevaliers  of  the  order  did  meet,  and  said  so  much 
as  the  credo,  he  would  bring  them  to  a  heavy  reck- 
oning for  it.  As  to  the  rights  of  the  Toiso?t,  his 
majesty  has  pronounced  on  them,  said  the  duke, 
and  nothing  remains  for  you  but  to  submit.^ 

The  arrest  and  imprisonment  of  the  two  highest 
nobles  in  the  land,  members  of  the  council  of  state, 
and  that  without  any  communication  with  her,  was 
an  affront  to  the  regent  which  she  could  not  brook. 
It  was  in  vain  that  Alva  excused  it  by  saying  it 
had   been   done   by  the   order  of  the  king,  who 
wished  to  spare  his  sister  the  unpopularity  which 
must    attach    to    such    a    proceeding.     Margaret 
made  no  reply.     She  did  not  complain.     She  was 
too  deeply  wounded  to  complain.     But  she  wrote 
to   Philip,  asking  him   to   consider   "whether  il 
could  be  advantageous  to  him,  or  decorous  for  her, 
whom  he  did  not  disdain  to  call  his  sister,  that 
she  should  remain  longer  in  a  place  of  which  the 
authority  was   so   much   abridged,  or  rather  an- 
nihilated." ^     She  sent  her  secretary,  Machiavelli, 

«8  "Que,  s'il  apprenaitque  quel-  nonc^,  et  qu'on  devait  se  soumet- 

ques-uns  en  fissent,  encore  meme  tre."     Correspondance  de  Philippe 

que  ce  fut  pour  dire  le  credoy  il  les  IL,  torn.  I.  p.  578. 
chatierait;  que,  quant  auxpri vile-        69  «  Ade5    contract©    ac   peni 

pes  de  rOrdre,  le  Roi,  apres  un  nullo  cum   imperio  moderari,  an 

aiQr  examen  de  ceux-ci,  avait  pro-  uUle  Regi,  an  decorum  ei  quam 


{ 


184  ALVA  SENT  TO  THE  NETHERLANDS.    [Book  HI 


with  her  despatches,  requesting  an  immediate  reply 
from  Philip,  and  adding  that,  if  it  were  delayed,  she 
should  take  silence  for  assent,  and  forthwith  leave 

the  country. 

The  duke  of  Alva  was  entirely  resigned  to  the 
proposed  departure  of  Margaret.  However  slight 
the  restraint  her  presence  might  impose  on  his 
conduct,  it  exacted  more  deference  than  w^as  con- 
venient, and  compelled  him  to  consult  appearance?. 
Now  that  he  had  shown  his  hand,  he  was  willing 
to  play  it  out  boldly  to  the  end.  His  first  step, 
after  the  arrest  of  the  lords,  was  to  organize  that 
memorable  tribunal  for  inquiring  into  the  troubles 
of  the  country,  which  has  no  parallel  in  history 
save  the  revolutionary  tribunal  of  the  French 
republic.  The  duke  did  not  shrink  from  assum- 
ing  the  sole  responsibility  of  his  measures.  He 
said,  "  it  was  better  for  the  king  to  postpone  his 
visit  to  the  Netherlands,  so  that  his  ministers 
might  bear  alone  the  odium  of  these  rigorous 
acts.  When  these  had  been  performed,  he  might 
come  like  a  gracious  prince,  dispensmg  promises 

and  pardon."  ^* 

This  admirable  coolness  must  be  referred  in  part 
to  Alva's  consciousness  that  his  policy  would  receive 


Rex  sororem  appellare  non  indig- 
natur,  illius  meditationi  relinquere." 
Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  torn.  L 
p.  360. 

w  "H  vaut  mieux  que  le  Roi 
ittende,  pour  venir,  que  tous  les 
^tes  de  rigueur  aient  6t4  faits ;  il 


entrera  alors  dans  le  pays  comme 
prince  benin  et  element,  pardon- 
nant,  et  accordant  des  fayeum  I 
ceux  qui  I'auront  m^rite."  Corr^ 
spondance  de  Philippe  IL,  torn.  I 
p.  577. 


Ch.  I.]  AREEST  OF  EGMONT  AND  HOORNE. 


185 


the  unqualified  sanction  of  his  master.  Indeed,  his 
correspondence  shows  that  all  he  had  done  in  the 
Low  Countries  was  in  accordance  with  a  plan  pre- 
concerted with  Philip.  The  arrest  of  the  Flemish 
lords,  accordingly,  gave  entire  satisfaction  at  the 
court  of  Madrid,  where  it  was  looked  on  as  the 
first  great  step  in  the  measures  of  redress.  It  gave 
equal  contentment  to  the  court  of  Rome,  where 
it  was  believed  that  the  root  of  heresy  was  to 
be  reached  only  by  the  axe  of  the  executioner. 
Yet  there  was  one  person  at  that  court  of  more 
penetration  than  those  around  him,  the  old  states- 
man, Granvelle,  who,  when  informed  of  the  arrest 
of  Egmont  and  Hoome,  inquired  if  the  duke  had 
"  also  drawn  into  his  net  the  Silent  one,''  —  as  the 
prince  of  Orange  was  popularly  called.  On  being 
answered  in  the  negative,  "  Then,"  said  the  cardi- 
nal, «'  if  he  has  not  caught  him,  he  has  caught 
nothing."'* 

^  "  An  captus  quoque   fuisset  niliil  ab  Duce  Albano   captum." 

Taciturnus,  (sic  Orangium  nomi-  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  torn.  L 

nabat,)  atque  eo  negante  dixisse  p.  360. 
(ertur,  Uno  illo  retibus  non  incluso, 


VOL.  II. 


CHAPTER    II. 

CRUEL  POLICY  OF  ALVA. 

Tlie  Council  of  Blood.— Its  Organization.— General  Prosecutions.-- 
Civil  War  in  France.  —  Departure  of  Margaret  —  Her  Admini§> 
tration  reviewed. 

1567. 

« 

"  Thank  God,"  writes  the  duke  of  Alva  to  his 
sovereign,  on  the  twenty-fourth  of  October,  "  all 
is  tranquil  in  the  Low  Countries."^  It  was  ine 
same  sentiment  he  had  uttered  a  few  weeks  before. 
All  was  indeed  tranquil.  Silence  reigned  through- 
out the  land.  Yet  it  might  have  spoken  more 
eloquently  to  the  heart  than  the  murmurs  of  discon- 
tent, or  the  loudest  tumult  of  insurrection.  "  They 
say  many  are  leaving  the  country,"  he  writes  in 
another  despatch.  "It  is  hardly  worth  while  to 
arrest  them.  The  repose  of  the  nation  is  not  to 
be  brought  about  by  cutting  off  the  heads  of  those 
who  are  led  astray  by  others."^ 


1  **  Grace  k  Dieu,  tout  est  par-  consiste  pas  k  faire  couper  la  tfite 
feitementtranquilleauxPays-Bas.**  k  des  hommes  qui  se  sont  laiss^ 
Correspondance  de  Philippe  II.,  persuader  par  d'autres."  Ibid.,  p. 
torn.  L  p.  589.  576. 

2  "  Le  repos  aux  Pays-Bas  ne 


Ch.  n.] 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  BLOOD. 


187 


Yet  in  less  than  a  week  after  this,  we  find  a 
royal  ordinance,  declaring  that,  "  whereas  his  ma- 
jesty is  averse  to  use  rigor  towards  those  who 
have  taken  part  in  the  late  rebellion ;  and  would 
rather  deal  with  them  in  all  gentleness  and  mer- 
cy,* it  is  forbidden  to  any  one  to  leave  the  land, 
or  to  send  off  his  effects,  without  obtaining  a 
license  from  the  authorities,  under  pain  of  being 
regarded  as  having  taken  part  in  the  late  troubles, 
and  of  being  dealt  with  accordingly.  All  masters 
and  owners  of  vessels,  who  shall  aid  such  per- 
sons in  their  flight,  shall  incur  the  same  penal- 
ties." *  The  penalties  denounced  in  this  spirit  of 
"gentleness  and  mercy"  were  death  and  confisca- 
tion of  property. 

That  the  law  was  not  a  dead  letter  was  soon 
sho^vn  by  the  arrest  of  ten  of  the  principal  mer- 
chants of  Toumay,  as  they  were  preparing  to  fly 
to  foreign  parts,  and  by  the  immediate  confis- 
cation of  their  estates.^  Yet  Alva  would  have 
persuaded  the  world  that  he,  as  well  as  his  master, 
was  influenced  only  by  sentiments  of  humanity. 
To   the   Spanish  ambassador  at  Rome  he  wrote. 


3  "  Os  habemos  hecho  entender 
que  nuestra  intencion  era  de  no 
usar  de  rigor  contra  nuestros  sube- 
getos  que  durante  las  revueltas 
pasadas  pudiesen  haber  ofendido 
contra  Nos,  sino  de  toda  duLzura  y 
clemencia  aegun  nuestra  inclinacion 
natural.**  Documentos  In^tos, 
torn.  IV.  p.  440. 

•  The  ordinance,  dated  Septem- 


ber 18,  1567,  copied  from  the 
Archives  of  Simancas,  is  to  be 
found  in  the  Documentos  In^ditos, 
tom.  IV.  p.  439  et  seq. 

5  "  Statimque  mercatores  decern 
primarios  Tomacenses  e  portu 
Flissingano  fugam  in  Britanniam 
adomantes  capi,  ac  bonis  exutos 
custodiri  jubet,**  Strada,  De  Bel- 
lo  Belgico,  tom.  I.  p.  361. 


188 


CBUEL  POLICY  OF  ALVA. 


[Book  111 


soon  after  the  seizure  of  the  Flemish  lords :  "  I 
might  have  arrested  more ;  but  the  king  is  averse 
to  shedding  the  blood  of  his  people.  I  have  the 
same  disposition  myself.^  I  am  pained  to  the 
bottom  of  my  soul  by  the  necessity  of  the  meas^ 


ure. 


>» 


But  now  that  the  great  nobles  had  come  into 
the  snare,  it  was  hardly  necessary  to  keep  up  the 
affectation  of  lenity ;  and  it  was  not  long  before 
he  threw  away  the  mask  altogether.  The  arm  of 
justice  —  of  vengeance  —  was  openly  raised  to 
strike  down  all  who  had  offended  by  taking  part 
in  the  late  disturbances. 

The  existing  tribunals  were  not  considered  as 
competent  to  this  work.  The  regular  forms  of 
procedure  were  too  dilatory,  and  the  judges  them- 
selves would  hardly  be  found  subservient  enough 
to  the  will  of  Alva.  He  created,  therefore,  a  new 
tribunal,  with  extraordinary  powers,  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  investigating  the  causes  of  the  late 
disorders,  and  for  bringing  the  authors  to  punish- 
ment.  It  was  called  originally  the  "Council  of 
his  Excellency."  The  name  was  soon  changed  for 
that  of  the  "  Council  of  Tumults."  But  the  tribunal 
is  better  known  in  history  by  the  terrible  name  it 
received  from  the  people,  of  the  "  Council  of 
Bloodr'^ 


«  "Mais  rintentaon  de   S.    M.  spondance  de  Phflippe  IT.,  torn.! 

n'est  pas  de  vers^jr  le  sang  de  sei  p.  576. 

■Djets,  et  moi,  de  mon  naturel,  je  ^  "  Novum  igitur  consessum  Ju- 
ne Taime  pas  davantage."    Coire-  dicum  instituit,  exteris  in  eum  pie- 


Ch.  n.] 


THE  COUNCIL  OF  BLOOD. 


189 


It  was  composed  of  twelve  judges,  "  the  most 
learned,  upright  men,  and  of  the  purest  lives  "  — 
if  we  may  take  the  duke's  word  for  it  —  that  were 
to  be  found  in  the  country.^  Among  them  were 
Noircarmes  and  Barlaimont,  both  members  of  the 
council  of  state.  The  latter  was  a  proud  noble, 
of  one  of  the  most  ancient  families  in  the  land, 
inflexible  in  his  character,  and  stanch  in  his  de- 
votion to  the  crown.  Besides  these  there  were 
the  presidents  of  the  councils  of  Artois  and  Flan- 
ders, the  chancellor  of  Gueldres,  and  several  jurists 
of  repute  in  the  country.  But  the  persons  of 
most  consideration  in  the  body  were  two  lawyers 
who  had  come  in  the  duke's  train  from  Castile. 
One  of  these,  the  doctor  Del  Rio,  though  bom  in 
Bruges,  was  of  Spanish  extraction.  His  most 
prominent  trait  seems  to  have  been  unlimited  sub- 
serviency to  the  will  of  his  employer.®  The  other, 
Juan  de  Vargas,  was  to  play  the  most  conspicuous 
part  in  the  bloody  drama  that  followed.  He  was 
a  Spaniard,  and  had  held  a  place  in  the  council  of 
the  Indies.  His  character  was  infamous  ;  and  he 
was  said  to  have  defrauded  an  orphan  ward  of  her 
patrimony.^^  When  he  left  Spain,  two  criminal 
prosecutions  are  reported    to   have  been  hanging 


risque  adscitis;   quem  Turharum  vie."    Correspondance  de  Riilippe 

ille  ;  plebes,  Sanguinis  appellabat  II.,  torn.  I.  p.  576. 

Senatum."  Reidani  Annalcs,  (Lug-  9  Correspondance   de   Maipie^ 

dunum  Batavorura,  1633,)  p.  5.  rite  d'Autriche,  p.  300. 

8  "  Les  plus  savants  et  les  plus  ^o  Meteren,  Hist,  des  Pajs-Baa, 

•ntegres  du  pays,  et  de  la  meilleure  fol.  54. 


190 


CRUEL  POLICY  OF  ALVA. 


[Book  III. 


Ch.  n.] 


COUNCIL  OF  BLOOD. 


191 


over  him.  This  only  made  him  the  more  depend 
ent  on  Alva's  protection.  He  was  a  man  of  great 
energy  of  character,  unwearied  in  application  to 
business,  unscrupulous  in  the  service  of  his  em- 
ployer, ready  at  any  price  to  sacrifice  to  his  own 
interest,  not  only  every  generous  impulse,  but 
the  common  feelings  of  humanity.  Such,  at  least, 
are  the  dark  colors  in  which  he  is  portrayed  by 
the  writers  of  a  nation  which  held  him  in  detesta- 
tion. Yet  his  very  vices  made  him  so  convenient 
to  the  duke,  that  the  latter  soon  bestowed  on  him 
more  of  his  confidence  than  on  any  other  of  his 
followers ; "  and  in  his  correspondence  with  Philip 
we  perpetually  find  him  commending  Vargas  to 
the  monarch's  favor,  and  contrasting  his  "  acti\dty, 
altogether  juvenile,"  with  the  apathy  of  others  of 
the  council."  As  Vargas  was  unacquainted  with 
Flemish,  the  proceedings  of  the  court  were  con- 
ducted, for  his  benefit,  in  Latin.^^  Yet  he  was 
such  a  bungler,  even  in  this  language,  that  his 
blunders  furnished  infinite  merriment  to  the  peo- 
ple of  Flanders,  who  took  some  revenge  for  their 
wrongs  in  the  ridicule  of  their  oppressor. 

As  the  new  court  had  cognizance  of  all  cases, 
civil  as  weU  as  criminal,  that  grew  out  of  the  late 


Ji  Viglius,  who  had  not  yet  seen  dicitup."      Epist    ad    Hopperum; 

tlie  man,  thus  mentions  him  in  a  p.  451. 

letter  to  his  friend  Hopper :  "  Im-        i'  "  Une  activity  toute  juvenile.* 

perium  ac  rigorem  metuunt  cnjus-  Correspondance    de   Philippe  II., 

dam  Vergasi,  qui  apud  eum  mul-  torn.  I.  p.  588. 
torn  posse,  et  nescio  quid  aliud,        ^3  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


disorders,  the  amount  of  business  soon  pressed  op 
them  so  heavily,  that  it  was  found  expedient  to 
distribute  it  into  several  departments  among  the 
diiferent  members.  Two  of  the  body  had  especial 
charge  of  the  processes  of  the  prince  of  Orange, 
his  brother  Louis,  Hoogstraten,  Culemborg,  and 
the  rest  of  William's  noble  companions  in  exile. 
To  Vargas  and  Del  Rio  was  intrusted  the  trial  of 
the  Counts  Egmont  and  Hoome.  And  two  others, 
Blasere  and  Hessels,  had  the  most  burdensome 
and  important  charge  of  all  such  causes  as  came 
from  the  provinces.^* 

The  latter  of  these  two  worthies  was  destined 
to  occupy  a  place  second  only  to  that  of  Vargas 
on  the  bloody  roll  of  persecution.  He  was  a  na- 
tive of  Ghent,  of  sufficient  eminence  in  his  pro- 
fession to  fill  the  office  of  attorney-general  of  his 
province  under  Charles  the  Fifth.  In  that  capa- 
city he  enforced  the  edicts  with  so  much  rigor  as 
to  make  himself  odious  to  his  countrymen.  In 
the  new  career  now  opened  to  him,  he  found  a 
still  wider  field  for  his  mischievous  talents,  and 
he  entered  on  the  duties  of  his  office  with  such 
hearty  zeal  as  soon  roused  general  indignation  in 
the  people,  who  at  a  later  day  took  terrible  ven- 
geance on  their  oppressor.^ 

1*  Bulletins  de  T Academic  Roy-  of  Viglius.    According  to  the  old 

ale  de  Belgique,  torn.  XVI.  par.  councillor,  she  was  on  bad  terms 

n.  p.  58.  with  her  husband,  because  he  had 

15  Vandervynckt,  Troubles  des  not  kept  his  promise  of  resigning 

Pays-Bas,  torn.  II.  p.  242.  the  office  of  attorney-general,  in 

Hessels  was  married  to  a  niece  which  he  made  himself  so  unpop* 


192 


CBUBL  POLICY  OF  ALVA. 


[Book  ITju 


Ch.  n.] 


COUNCIL  OF  BLOOD. 


193 


As  soon  as  the  Council  of  Troubles  was  or 
ganized,  commissioners  were  despatched  into  the 
provinces  to  hunt  out  the  suspected  parties.  All 
who  had  officiated  as  preachers,  or  had  harbored 
or  aided  them,  who  had  joined  the  consistories, 
who  had  assisted  in  defacing  or  destroying  the 
Catholic  churches  or  in  building  the  Protestant, 
who  had  subscribed  the  Compromise,  or  who, 
in  short,  had  taken  an  active  part  in  the  late 
disorders,  were  to  be  arrested  as  guilty  of  trea- 
son. In  the  hunt  after  victims  informations 
were  invited  from  every  source.  Wives  were 
encouraged  to  depose  against  husbands,  children 
against  parents.  The  prisons  were  soon  full  to 
overflowing,  and  the  provincial  and  the  local 
magistrates  were  busy  in  filing  informations  of 
the  difierent  cases,  which  were  forwarded  to  the 
court  at  Brussels.  When  deemed  of  sufficient 
importance,  the  further  examination  of  a  case 
was  reserved  for  the  council  itself.  But  for  the 
most  part  the  local  authorities,  or  a  commission 
sent  expressly  for  the  purpose,  were  authorized 
to  try  the  cause,  proceeding  even  to  a  definitive 
sentence,  which,  with  the  grounds  of  it,  they  were 
to  lay  before  the  Council  of  Troubles.  The  process 
was  then  revised  by  the  committee  for  the  prov- 
inces, who  submitted  the  result  of  their  examina- 
tion to  Vargas  and  Del  Rio.     The  latter  were 

ular  in  Flanders.    (Epist.  ad  Hop-    find  some  mention  of  the  tragic 
permn,  p.  495.)     In  the  last  chap-    fate  of  Hessels. 
ler  of  this  Book  the  reader  will 


K 


alone  empowered  to  vote  in  the  matter,  and  their 
sentence,  prepared  in  writing,  was  laid  before  the 
duke,  who  reserved  to  himself  the  right  of  a 
final  decision.  This  he  did,  as  he  wrote  to  Philip, 
that  he  might  not  com<?  too  much  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  council.  "  Your  majesty  well  knows," 
he  concludes,  "  that  gentlemen  of  the  law  are  un- 
willing to  decide  anything  except  upon  evidence, 
while  measures  of  state  policy  are  not  to  be  regu- 
lated by  the  laws."^^ 

It  might  be  supposed  that  the  difierent  judges, 
to  whom  the  prisoner's  case  was  thus  separately 
submitted  for  examination,  would  have  afibrded 
an  additional  guaranty  for  his  security.  But  quite 
the  contrary  ;  it  only  multiplied  the  chances  of  his 
conviction.  When  the  provincial  committee  pre- 
sented theu-  report  to  Vargas  and  Del  Rio,  —  to 
whom  a  Spanish  jurist,  auditor  of  the  chancery 
of  Valladolid,  named  Roda,  was  afterwards  added, 
—  if  it  proposed  sentence  of  death,  these  judges 
declared  it  "  was  right,  and  that  there  was  no  neces- 
sity of  reviewing  the  process."  If,  on  the  contrary, 
a  lower  penalty  was  recommended,  the  worthy 
ministers  of  the  law  were  in  the  habit  of  returning 
the  process,  ordering  the  committee,  with  bitter  im- 
precations,  to  revise  it  more  carefully  !^^ 


*•  "  Letrados  no  sentencian  sino  d^mie  Royale  de  Belgique,  torn, 

en  casos  probados ;  y  como  V.  M.  XVI.  par.  II.  p.  52,  note, 
sabe,  los  negocios  de  Estado  son        "  "  En  siendo  el  aviso  de  con- 

muy  diferentes  de  las  leyes  que  demnar  A  muerte,  se  decia  que 

«llos  tiencn."     Bulletins  do  I'Aca-  estaba  muy  bien  y  no  habia  mas 

VOL.  II.  25 


194 


CRUEL  POLICY  OF  ALVA. 


[Book  III 


As  confiscation  was  one  of  the  most  frequent 
as  well  as  momentous  penalties  adjudged  by  the 
Council  of  Blood,  it  necessarily  involved  a  large 
number  of  civil  actions ;  for  the  estate  thus  for- 
feited was  often  burdened  with  heavy  claims  on 
it  by  other  parties.  These  were  all  to  be  estab- 
lished before  the  council.  One  may  readily  com- 
prehend how  small  was  the  chance  of  justice  be- 
fore such  a  tribunal,  where  the  creditor  was  one 
of  the  parties,  and  the  crown  the  other.  Even  if 
the  suit  was  decided  in  favor  of  the  creditor,  it 
was  usually  so  long  protracted,  and  attended  with 
such  ruinous  expense,  that  it  would  have  been 
better  for  him  never  to  have  urged  it.^® 

The  jurisdiction  of  the  court,  within  the  limits 
assigned  to  it,  wholly  superseded  that  of  the  great 
court  of  Mechlin,  as  well  as  of  every  other  tribunal, 
provincial  or  municipal,  in  the  country.  Its  de- 
cisions were  final.  By  the  law  of  the  land,  estab- 
lished by  repeated  royal  charters  in  the  provinces, 
no  man  in  the  Netherlands  could  be  tried  by  any 
but  a  native  judge.  But  of  the  present  court,  one 
member  was  a  native  of  Burgundy  and  two  were 
Spaniards. 

It  might  be  supposed  that  a  tribunal  with  such 
enormous    powers,    which   involved   so   gross   an 


que  ver;  empero,  si  el  aviso  era  ruin  tratamiento.**    Gachard  citef 

de  roenor  pena,  no  se  estaba  i  lo  the  words  of  the  official  documeDtf 

que  ellos  decian,  sino  tomabase  d  Jb\d.^  p.  67. 

Ter  el  proceso,  y  decianles  sobre        *8  Ibid.,  p.  68  et  seq. 

ello  malas  palabras,    y   hacianlea  ' 


Cb.  U] 


COUNCIL  OF  BLOOD. 


195 


outrage  on  the  constitutional  rights  and  long-estab- 
lished usages  of  the  nation,  would  at  least  have 
been  sanctioned  by  some  warrant  from  the  crown 
It  could  pretend  to  nothing  of  the  kind, — not  even 
a  written  commission  from  the  duke  of  Alva,  the 
man  who  created  it.  By  his  voice  alone  he  gave 
it  an  existence.  The  ceremony  of  induction  into 
office  was  performed  by  the  new  member  placing 
his  hands  between  those  of  the  duke,  and  swearing 
to  remain  true  to  the  faith ;  to  decide  in  all  cases 
according  to  his  sincere  conviction ;  finally,  to  keep 
secret  all  the  doings  of  the  council,  and  to  de- 
nounce any  one  who  disclosed  them.^^  A  tribu- 
nal clothed  with  such  unbounded  power,  and  con- 
ducted on  a  plan  so  repugnant  to  all  principles  of 
justice,  fell  nothing  short,  in  its  atrocity,  of  that 
Inquisition  so  much  dreaded  in  the  Netherlands. 

Alva,  in  order  to  be  the  better  able  to  attend  the 
council,  appointed  his  own  palace  for  the  place  of 
meeting.  At  first  the  sittings  were  held  morning 
and  afternoon,  lasting  sometimes  seven  hours  in  a 
day.^  There  was  a  general  attendance  of  the 
members,  the  duke  presiding  in  person.  After 
a  few  months,  as  he  was  drawn  to  a  distance  by 
more   pressing  affairs,   he   resigned  his   place  to 


1^  "  Qu'Ils  seraient  et  demeure- 
raient  k  jamais  bons  catholiques, 
selon  que  commandait  Tl^glise  ca- 
tholique  romaine  ;  que,  par  haine, 
amour,  pitid  ou  crainte  de  per- 
Bonne,  ils  ne  laisseraient  de  dire 
franchement  ef  sinc^rement  leur 


avis,  selon  qu*en  bonne  justice,  ill 
trouvaient  convenir  et  appartenir ; 
qu'ils  tiendraient  secret  tout  ce  qui 
se  traiterait  au  conseil,  et  qu'ils 
accuseraient  ceux  qui  feraient  !• 
contraire.**  Ibid.,  p,  56. 
so  Ibid.,  p.  57. 


196 


CRUEL  POLICnr  OF  ALVA. 


[Book  IH 


Vargas.     Barlaimont    and   Noircarmes,   disgusted 
with  the  atrocious  character  of  the  proceedings, 
soon  absented  themselves  from  the  meetings.     The 
more  respectable  of  the  members   imitated  their 
example.     One  of  the  body,  a  Burgundian,  a  fol- 
lower of  Granvelle,  having  criticized  the  proceed- 
ings somewhat  too  freely,  had  leave  to  withdraw 
to  his  own  province ;  ^  till  at  length  only  three  or 
four  coimcillors  remained,  — Vargas,  Del  Rio,  Hes- 
sels,  and  his  colleague,— on  whom  the  despatch 
of  the  momentous  business  wholly  devolved.     To 
some  of  the  processes  we  find  not  more  than  three 
names   subscribed.     The  duke  was  as  indifferent 
to  forms,  as  he  was  to  the  rights  of  the  nation.^* 


21  Belin,  in  a  letter  to  Ws  pa- 
tron, Cardinal  Granvelle,  gives  full 
vent  to  his  discontent  with  "  three 
or  four  Spaniards  in  the  duke's 
train,  who  would  govern  all  in  his 
name.    They  make  but  one  head 
under  the  same  hat."     He  men- 
tions Vargas  and  Del  Rio  in  par- 
ticular.    Granvelle's  reply  is  very 
characteristic.     Far  from  sympa- 
thizing with  his  querulous  follower, 
he  predicts  the  ruin  of  his  fortunes 
by  this  mode  of  proceeding.    "  A 
man  who  would  rise  in  courts  must 
do  as  he  is  bidden,  without  ques- 
tion.   Far  from  taking  umbrage, 
he  must  bear  in  mind  that  injuries, 
like  pills,  should  be  swallowed  with- 
out chewing,  that  one  may  not  taste 
the  bitterness  of  them ; "  —  a  noble 
maxim,  if  the  motive  had  been 
noble.     See  Levesque,  Memoires 

de  Granvelle,  torn.  II.  pp.  91  -  94. 


23  The  historians  of  the  time  are 
all  more  or  less  diffuse  on  the  do- 
in<TS  of  the  Council  of  Troubles, 
written  as  they  are  in  characters 
of  blood.    But  we  look  in  vain  for 
any  account  of  the  interior  organ- 
ization of  that  tribunal,  or  of  its 
mode  of  judicial  procedure.    This 
may  be  owing  to  the  natural  reluc- 
tance which  the  actors  themselves 
felt,  in  later  times,  to  being  mixed 
up  with  the  proceedings  of  a  court 
so  universally  detested.     For  the 
same  reason,  as  Gachard  intimates, 
they  may  not    improbably    have 
even  destroyed  some  of  the  rec- 
ords of  its  proceedings.      Fortu- 
nately that  zealous  and  patriotic 
scholar  has  discovered  in  the  Ar- 
chives of  Simancas  sundry  letters 
of  Alva  and  his  successor,  as  well 
as  some  of  the  official  records  of 
the  tribunal,  which  in  a  great  de- 


Ch.  n.] 


G^ENERAL  PROSECUTIONS. 


191 


It  SQfln  became  apparent,  that,  as  in  most  pro- 
scriptions, wealth  was  the  mark  at  which  persecu- 
tion was  mainly  directed.  At  least,  if  it  did  not 
actually  form  a  ground  of  accusation,  it  greatly 
enhanced  the  chances  of  a  conviction.  The  com- 
missioners sent  to  the  provinces  received  written 
instructions  to  ascertain  the  exact  amount  of  prop- 
erty belonging  to  the  suspected  parties.  The  ex- 
pense incident  to  the  maintenance  of  so  many 
officials,  as  well  as  of  a  large  military  force,  pressed 
heavily  on  the  government ;  and  Alva  soon  found 
it  necessary  to  ask  for  support  from  Madrid.  It 
was  in  vain  he  attempted  to  obtain  a  loan  from 
the  merchants.  "  They  refuse,"  he  writes,  "  to  ad- 
vance a  real  on  the  security  of  the  confiscations, 
till  they  see  how  the  game  we  have  begun  is  likely 
to  prosper!"^ 

In  another  letter  to  Philip,  dated  on  the  twenty- 
fourth  of  October,  Alva,  expressing  his  regret  at 
the  necessity  of  demanding  supplies,  says  that  the 
Low  Countries  ought  to  maintain  themselves,  and 
be  no  tax  upon  Spain.  He  is  constantly  thwart- 
ed by  the  duchess,  and  by  the  council  of  finance, 
in  his  appropriation  of  the  confiscated  property. 
Could  he  only  manage  things  in  his  own  way,  he 


gree  supply  the  defect.  The  re- 
sult he  has  embodied  in  a  lumi- 
nous paper  prepared  for  the  Royal 
Academy  of  Belgium,  which  has 
supplied  me  with  the  materials  for 
the  preceding  pages.  See  Bulle- 
tins   de   I'Academie    Royale    des 


Sciences,  des  Lettres,  et  des  Beaux 
Arts  de  Belgique,  torn.  XVI.  par. 
II.  pp.  50  -  78. 

23  "  Hasta  que  vean  en  que  para 
este  juego  que  se  comien^a.**  Cor- 
respondance  de  Philippe  II.,  torn. 
I.  p.  598. 


198 


CRUEL  POLICY  OF  ALVA. 


[Book  III 


Ch.  n.] 


GENERAL  PROSECUTIOiJS. 


199 


would  answer  for  it  that  the  Flemish  cities,  uncer- 
tain and  anxious  as  to  their  fate,  would  readily  ac- 
quiesce in  the  fair  means  of  raising  a  revenue  pro- 
posed  by  the  king.^     The  ambitious  general,  eager 
to  secure   the   sole  authority  to  himself,  artfully 
touched  on  the  topic  which  would  be  most  likely 
to  operate  with  his  master.     In  a  note  on  this  pas- 
sage, in  his  own  handwriting,  Philip  remarked  that 
this  was  but  just ;  but  as  he  feared  that  supplies 
would  never  be  raised  with  the  consent  of  the  states, 
Alva  must  devise  some  expedient  by  which  their 
consent  in  the  matter  might  be  dispensed  with, 
and  communicate  it  privately  to  him.^     This  preg- 
nant thought  he  soon  after  develops  more   fully 
in  a  letter  to  the  duke.^  —  It  is  edifying  to  observe 
the  cool  manner  in  which  the  king  and  his  general 
discuss  the  best  means  for  filching  a  revenue  from 
the  pockets  of  the  good  people  of  the  Netherlands. 
Margaret,  —  whose   name  now   rarely  appears, 
—  scandalized  by  the  plan  avowed  of  wholesale 
persecution,  and  satisfied  that  blood  enough  had 
been   shed  already,   would  fain  have   urged  her 
brother  to  grant  a  general  pardon.     But  to  this 
the  duke  strongly  objected.     "  He  would  have  every 


••  **  Car  rincertitude  ou  celles-ci 
Be  trouvent  du  sort  qu'on  leur  re- 
serve, les  fera  plus  aisement  k  con- 
•entir  aux  moyens  de  finances  justes 
et  honnfites  qui  seront  dtablis  par. 
leRoi/*    Ibid.,  p.  590. 

85  "  Porqu^  creo  yo  que,  con  la 
voluntad  de  los  Estados,  no  se 
ballarun  estas,  que   es    menester 


ponerlos  de  manera  que  no  sea 
menester  su  voluntad  y  consenti- 

miento  para  ello Esto  irtl  en 

cifra,  y  aun  creo  que  seria  bien 
que  fuese  en  un^  cartilla  k  parte 
que  descifrase  el  mas  confidente." 
Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 
»  Ibid.,  p.  610. 


man,"  he  wrote  to  Philip,  "  feel  that  any  day  his 
house  might  fall  about  his  ears.^^  Thus  private 
individuals  would  be  induced  to  pay  larger  sums 
by  way  of  composition  for  their  offences." 

As  the  result  of  the  confiscations,  owing  to  the 
drains  upon  them  above  alluded  to,  proved  less  than 
he  expected,  the  duke,  somewhat  later,  proposed  a 
tax  of  one  per  cent  on  all  property,  personal  and  real. 
But  to  this  some  of  the  council  had  the  courage  to 
object,  as  a  thing  not  likely  to  be  relished  by  the 
states.  "  That  depends,"  said  Alva,  "  on  the  way 
in  which  they  are  approached."  He  had  as  little 
love  for  the  states-general  as  his  master,  and  looked 
on  applications  to  them  for  money  as  something 
derogatory  to  the  crown.  "I  would  take  care  to 
ask  for  it,"  he  said,  "  as  I  did  when  I  wanted 
money  to  build  the  citadel  of  Antwerp,  —  in  such 
a  way  that  they  should  not  care  to  refuse  it."^ 

The  most  perfect  harmony  seems  to  have  sub- 
sisted between  the  king  and  Alva  in  their  opera- 
tions for  destroying  the  liberties  of  the  nation,  — 
so  perfect,  indeed,  that  it  could  have  been  the  re- 
sidt  only  of  some  previous  plan,  concerted  probably 
while  the  duke  was  in  Castile.  The  details  of  the 
execution  were  doubtless   left,  as  they  arose,  to 


^  "Para  que  cada  uno  piense 
que  ^  la  noche,  d  d  la  manana,  se 
le  puede  caer  la  casa  encima.** 
Ibid.,  torn.  11.  p.  4. 

*3  '*  Esto  so  ba  de  proponer  en 
ki  forma  que  yo  propuse  a  los  de 
Anvers  los  cuatrocientos  mill  flo- 


rines  para  la  ciudadela,  y  que  ellos 
entiendan  que  aunque  se  les  pro- 
pone y  se  les  pide,  es  en  tal  manera 
que  lo  que  se  propusiere  no  se  ha 
de  dejar  de  hacer."  Documentoc 
In^ditos,  tom.  IV.  p.  492. 


200 


CBUEL  POLICY  OF  ALVA- 


[BooK  ni 


Ch  II.] 


GENERAL  PROSECUTIONS. 


201 


iVlva's  discretion.  But  they  so  entirely  received  the 
royal  sanction,  —  as  is  abundantly  shown  by  the 
correspondence,  —  that  Philip  may  be  said  to  have 
made  every  act  of  his  general  his  own.  And  not 
unfrequently  we  find  the  monarch  improving  on 
the  hints  of  his  correspondent  by  some  additional 
suggestion.®  Whatever  evils  grew  out  of  the  male- 
administration  of  the  duke  of  Alva,  the  responsi- 
bility for  the  measures  rests  ultimately  on  the  head 
of  Philip. 

One  of  the  early  acts  of  the  new  council  was 
to  issue  a  summons  to  the  prince  of  Orange,  and 
to  each  of  the  noble  exiles  in  his  company,  to 
present  themselves  at  Brussels,  and  answer  the 
charges  against  them.  In  the  summons  addressed 
to  William,  he  was  accused  of  having  early  en- 
couraged a  spirit  of  disaffection  in  the  nation ;  of 
bringing  the  Inquisition  into  contempt ;  of  pro- 
moting the  confederacy  of  the  nobles,  and  opening 
his  own  palace  of  Breda  for  their  discussions ;  of 
authorizing  the  exercise  of  the  reformed  religion 
in  Antwerp ;  in  fine,  of  being  at  the  bottom  of 
the  troubles,  civil  and  religious,  which  had  so  long 
distracted  the  land.     He  was  required,  therefore, 


29  Thus,  for  example,  when  Al- 
va states  that  the  council  had  de- 
clared all  those  who  signed  the 
Cwnpromise  guilty  of  treason,  Phil- 
ip notes,  in  his  own  handwriting, 
on  the  mai-gin  of  the  letter,  "  The 
tame  should  be  done  vrith  all  who 
aided  and  abetted  them,  as  in  fact 


the  more  guilty  party.**  (Corre- 
spondance  de  Philippe  II.,  torn;  I. 
p.  590.)  These  private  memoran- 
da of  Philip  are  of  real  value  to 
the  historian,  letting  him  behind 
the  curtain,  where  the  king's  own 
ministers  could  not  always  pen- 
etrate.  » 


under  pain  of  confiscation  of  his  property  and  per- 
petual exile,  to  present  himself  before  the  coun- 
cil at  Brussels  within  the  space  of  six  weeks, 
and  answer  the  charges  against  him.  This  sum- 
mons was  proclaimed  by  the  public  crier,  both  in 
Brussels  and  in  William's  own  city  of  Breda; 
and  a  placard  containing  it  was  affixed  to  the 
door  of  the  principal  church  in  each  of  those 
places.^ 

Alva  followed  up  this  act  by  another,  which 
excited  general  indignation  through  the  country. 
He  caused  the  count  of  Buren,  William's  eldest 
son,  then  a  lad  pursuing  his  studies  at  Louvain, 
to  be  removed  from  the  university,  and  sent  to 
Spain.  His  tutor  and  several  of  his  domestics 
were  allowed  to  accompany  him.  But  the  duke 
advised  the  king  to  get  rid  of  these  attendants  as 
speedily  as  possible,  and  fill  their  places  with  Span- 
iards.^^ This  unwarrantable  act  appears  to  have 
originated  with  Granvelle,  who  recommends  it  in 
one  of  his  letters  from  Rome.*^  The  object,  no 
doubt,  was  to  secure  some  guaranty  for  the  father's 
obedience,  as  well  as  to  insure  the  loyalty  of  the 
heir  of  the  house  of  Nassau,  and  to  retain  him  in 
the  Catholic  faith.     In  the  last  object  the  plan 


^  Comejo,  Disension  de  Flan- 
des,  fol.  63  et  seq.  —  Hist  des 
Troubles  et  Guerres  Civiles  des 
Pays-Bas,  pp.  133-136.  —  Docu- 
mentos  Ineditos,  tom.  IV.  pp.  428 
-439.  —  Archives  de  la  Malson 
i'Orange-Nassau,  torn.  UL  p.  119. 

VOL.  II.  26 


31  Correspondance  de  Plulippe 
II.,  tom.  n.  p.  IS. 

32  "  Non-seulement  afin  quH 
servlt  d'dtage  pour  ce  que  son  p^re 
pourrait  faire  en  Allemagne,  mais 
pour  qull  fUt  ^lev^  catholique- 
ment**    Ibid.,  torn.  L  p.  596. 


202 


CKUEL  POLICY  OF  ALVA. 


[BooE  ni 


succeeded.  The  youth  was  kindly  treated  by  Phil- 
ip, and  his  long  residence  in  Spain  nourished  in 
him  so  strong  an  attachment  to  both  Church  and 
crown,  that  he  was  ever  after  divorced  from  the 
great  cause  in  which  his  father  and  his  country- 
men were  embarked. 

The  prince  of  Orange  published  to  the  world 
his  sense  of  the  injury  done  to  him  by  this  high- 
handed proceeding  of  the  duke  of  Alva ;  and  the 
university  of  Louvain  boldly  sent  a  committee  to 
the  council  to  remonstrate  on  the  violation  of  their 
privileges,  Yargas  listened  to  them  with  a  smile 
of  contempt,  and,  as  he  dismissed  the  deputation, 
exclaimed,  ^' Non  curamus  vestros  privilegios,'"  — 
an  exclamation  long  remembered  for  its  bad  Latin 
as  well  as  for  its  insolence.® 

It  may  well  be  believed  that  neither  William 
nor  his  friends  obeyed  the  summons  of  the  Council 
of  Blood.  The  prince,  in  a  reply  which  was  print- 
ed and  circulated  abroad,  denied  the  authority  of 
Alva  to  try  him.  As  a  knight  of  the  Golden 
Fleece,  he  had  a  right  to  be  tried  by  his  peers ; 
as  a  citizen  of  Brabant,  by  his  countrymen.  He 
was  not  bound  to  present  himself  before  an  incom- 
petent tribunal, — one,  moreover,  which  had  his 
avowed  personal  enemy  at  its  head.** 

The  prince,  during  his  residence  in  Germany, 

»  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  torn.  »*  Strada,  ubi  supra.  —  Vander. 

I.  p.  872.  — Vandervynckt,  Troo-  vynckt,    Troubles  des    Pays-Bas, 

blet  des    Payfr-Bas,    torn.    IL   p.  torn.  IL  p.  243.  — Auberi,  Histoire 

2G1.  de  HoUaude,  p.  2a. 


Ch.  n.] 


CIVIL  WAR  m  FRANCE. 


203 


experienced  all  those  alleviations  of  his  misfor 
tunes  which  the  sympathy  and  support  of  pow 
erful  friends  could  afford.  Among  these  the  mosl 
deserving  of  notice  was  William  the  Wise,  a  wor- 
thy son  of  the  famous  old  landgrave  of  Hesse 
who  so  stoutly  maintained  the  Protestant  cause 
against  Charles  the  Fifth.  He  and  the  elector  of 
Saxony,  both  kinsmen  of  William's  wife,  offered 
to  provide  an  establishment  for  the  prince,  while 
he  remained  in  Germany,  which,  if  it  was  not  on 
the  magnificent  scale  to  which  he  had  been  used 
in  the  Netherlands,  was  still  not  unsuited  to  the 
dignity  of  his  rank.^ 

The  little  court  of  William  received  every  day 
fresh  accessions  from  those  who  fled  from  perse- 
cution in  the  Netherlands.  They  brought  with 
them  appeals  to  him  from  his  countrymen  to  in- 
terpose in  their  behalf.  The  hour  had  not  yet 
come.  But  still  he  was  not  idle.  He  was  ear- 
nestly endeavoring  to  interest  the  German  princes 
in  the  cause,  was  strengthening  his  own  resources, 
and  steadily,  though  silently,  making  preparation 
for  the  great  struggle  with  the  oppressors  of  his 
country. 

WhUe  these  events  were  passing  in  the  Nether- 
lands, the  neighboring  monarchy  of  France  was 
torn  by  those  religious  dissensions,  which,  at  this 
period,  agitated,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  most 
of  the  states  of  Christendom.     One  half  of  the 

^  Archives  de  la  Maison  d'Orange-Nassau,  torn.  III.  p.  159. 


3a4 


CRUEL  POLICY  OF  ALVA. 


[Book  III. 


Ch.  XL] 


CIVIL  WAR  IN  FRANCE. 


205 


French  nation  was  in  arms  against  the  other  half. 
At  the  time  of  our  history,  the  Huguenots  had 
gained  a  temporary  advantage  ;  their  combined 
forces  were  beleaguering  the  capital,  in  which  the 
king  and  Catherine  de  Medicis,  his  mother,  were 
then  held  prisoners.  In  this  extremity,  Catherine 
appealed  to  Margaret  to  send  a  body  of  troops  to 
her  assistance.  The  regent  hesitated  as  to  what 
course  to  take,  and  referred  the  matter  to  Alva. 
He  did  not  hesitate.  He  knew  Philip's  disposi- 
tion in  regard  to  France,  and  had  himself,  prob- 
ably, come  to  an  understanding  on  the  subject 
with  the  queen-mother  in  the  famous  interview  at 
Bayonne.  He  proposed  to  send  a  body  of  three 
thousand  horse  to  her  relief  At  the  same  time 
he  wrote  to  Catherine,  offering  to  leave  the  Low 
Countries,  and  march  himself  to  her  support  with 
his  whole  strength,  five  thousand  horse  and  fif- 
teen thousand  foot,  all  his  Spanish  veterans  in- 
cluded, provided  she  would  bring  matters  to  an 
issue,  and  finish  at  once  with  the  enemies  of  their 
religion.  The  duke  felt  how  powerfully  such  a 
result  would  react  on  the  Catholic  cause  in  the 
Netherlands. 

He  besought  Catherine  to  come  to  no  terms 
with  the  rebels ;  above  all,  to  make  them  no  con- 
cessions. "  Such  concessions  must,  of  necessity,  be 
either  spiritual  or  temporal.  If  spiritual,  they 
would  be  opposed  to  the  rights  of  God ;  if  tem- 
poral, to  the  rights  of  the  king.  Better  to  reign 
over  a  ruined  land,  which  yet  remains  true  to  its 


God  and  its  king,  than  over  one  left  unharmed 
for  the  benefit  of  the  Devil  and  his  followers,  the 
heretics."^  In  this  declaration,  breathing  the 
full  spirit  of  religious  and  political  absolutism, 
may  be  found  the  true  key  to  the  policy  of  Alva 
and  of  his  master. 

Philip  heartily  approved  of  the  views  taken  by 
his'  general.^^  As  the  great  champion  of  Catholi- 
cism, he  looked  with  the  deepest  interest  on  the  re 
ligious  struggle  going  forward  in  the  neighboring 
kingdom,  which  exercised  so  direct  an  influence  on 
the  revolutionary  movements  in  ^he  Netherlands. 
He  strongly  encouraged  the  queen-mother  to  yield 
nothing  to  the  heretics.  "  With  his  own  person," 
he  declared,  "and  with  all  that  he  possessed,  he 
was  ready  to  serve  the  French  crown  in  its  con- 
tests with  the  rebels."  ^  Philip's  zeal  in  the  .cause 
was  so  well  understood  in  France,  that  some  of 
the  Catholic  leaders  did  not  scruple  to  look  to 
him,  rather  than  to  their  own  government,  as 
the  true  head  of  their  party.® 


36  "  Or,  il  vaut  beaucoup  mieux 
avoir  un  royaume  mine,  en  le  con- 
servant  pour  Dieu  et  le  roi,  au 
moyen  de  la  guerre,  que  de  I'avoir 
tout  entier  sans  celle-ci,  au  profit 
du  demon  et  des  heretiques,  ses 
sectateurs."  Correspondance  de 
Philippe  II. ,  torn.  I.  p.  609. 

37  This  appears  not  merely  from 
the  king's  letters  to  the  duke,  but 
from  a  still  more  unequivocal  tes- 
timony, the  minutes  in  his  own 
hai(twriting  on  the-  duke's  letters 


to  him.  See,  in  particular,  his 
summary  approval  of  the  reply 
which  Alva  tells  him  he  has  made 
to  Catherine  de  Medicis.  "  Yo  \o 
mismo,  todo  lo  demas  que  dice  en 
este  capitulo,  que  todo  ha  sido  muy 
i  proposito."     Ibid.,  p.  591. 

38  Eanke,  Civil  Wars  and  Mon- 
archy in  France  in  the  Sixteenth 
and  Seventeenth  Centuries,  (Eng. 
trans.,)  vol.  I.  p.  349. 

39  The  cardinal  of  Lorraine 
went  so  far  as  to  offer,  in  a  certain 


206 


CEUEL  POLICY  OF  ALVA. 


[Book  III 


Ch.  U.] 


DEPARTURE  OF  MARGARET. 


207 


Catherine  de  Medicis  did  not  discover  the  same 
uncompromising  spirit,  and  had,  before  this,  dis- 
gusted her  royal  son-in-law  by  the  politic  views 
which  mingled  with  her  religion.  On  the  pres- 
ent occasion  she  did  not  profit  by  the  brilliant 
offer  made  to  her  by  Alva  to  come  in  person  at 
the  head  of  his  army.  She  may  have  thought 
so  formidable  a  presence  might  endanger  the  in* 
dependence  of  the  government.  Roman  Catholic 
as  she  was  at  heart,  she  preferred,  with  true  Ital- 
ian policy,  balancing  the  rival  factions  against 
each  other,  to  exterminating  either  of  them  al- 
together. The  duke  saw  that  Catherine  was 
not  disposed  to  strike  at  the  root  of  the  evil, 
and  that  the  advantages  to  be  secured  by  success 
would  be  only  temporary.  He  contented  himself, 
therefore,  with  despatching  a  smaller  force,  chiefly 
of  Flemish  troops,  under  Aremberg.  Before  the 
count  reached  Paris,  the  battle  of  St.  Denis  had 
been  fought.  Montmorenci  lell,  but  the  royal 
party  was  victorious.  Catherine  made  a  treaty 
with  the  discomfited  Huguenots  as  favorable  to 
them  as  if  they,  not  she,  had  won  the  fight. 
Alva,  disgusted  with  the  issue,  ordered  the  speedy 


contingency,  to  put  several  strong 
frontier  places  into  Alva's  hands. 
In  case  the  French  king  and  his 
brothers  should  die  without  heirs, 
the  king  of  Spain  might  urge  his 
own  claim  through  his  wife,  as 
nearest  of  blood,  to  the  crown  of 
France.     "The  Salic  law,**  adds 


the  duke,  "  is  but  a  jest  All  dif- 
ficulties will  be  easily  smoothed 
away  with  the  help  of  an  anny.** 
Philip,  in  a  marginal  note  to  this 
letter,  intimates  his  relish  for  the 
proposal.  See  Corrcspondance  dt 
Philippe  n.,  torn.  I.  p.  593. 


return  of  Aremberg,  whose  presence,  moreover, 
was  needed  on  a  more  active  theatre  of  opera- 
tions. 

During  all  this  while  Margaret's  position  af- 
forded  a  pitiable  contrast  to  the  splendid  eleva- 
tion which  she  had  occupied  for  so  many  years 
as  head  of  the  government.  Not  only  had  the 
actual  power  passed  from  her  hands,  but  she  felt 
that  all  her  influence  had  gone  with  it.  She 
hardly  enjoyed  even  the  right  of  remonstrance. 
In  this  position,  she  had  the  advantage  of  being 
more  favorably  situated  for  criticizing  the  conduct 
of  the  administration,  than  when  she  was  herself 
at  the  head  of  it.  She  became  more  sensible  of 
the  wrongs  of  the  people,  —  now  that  they  were 
inflicted  by  other  hands  than  her  own.  She  did 
not  refuse  to  intercede  in  their  behalf.  She  dep- 
recated the  introduction  of  a  garrison  into  the 
good  city  of  Brussels.  If  this  were  necessary, 
she  still  besought  the  duke  not  to  allow  the  loyal 
inhabitants  to  be  burdened  with  the  maintenance 
of  the  soldiers.*^  But  he  turned  a  deaf  ear  to 
her  petition.  She  urged  that,  after  the  chastise- 
ment  already  inflicted  on  the  nation,  the  only  way 
to  restore  quiet  was  by  a  general  amnesty.     The 


*>  The  municipality  of  Brussels, 
alarmed  at  the  interpretation  which 
the  duke,  after  Margaret's  depart- 
ure, might  put  on  certain  equivo- 
cal passages  iii  their  recent  history, 
obtained  a  letter  from  the  regent, 
in  which  she  warmly  commends 


the  good  people  of  the  capital  as 
zealous  Catholics,  loyal  to  their 
king,  and,  on  all  occasions,  prompt 
to  show  themselves  the  friends  of 
public  order.  See  the  correspond- 
ence, ap.  Gachard,  Analectes  Bel- 
giques,  p.  348  et  seq. 


208 


CBUEL  POLICY  OF  ALVA. 


[Book  III 


Ch.  nj 


DEPARTURE  OF  MARGARET. 


* 


f 


duke  replied,  that  no  amnesty  could  be  so  general 
but  there  must  be  some  exceptions,  and  it  would 
take  time  to  determine  who  should  be  excepted. 
She  recommended  that  the  states  be  called  together 
to  vote  the  supplies.  He  evaded  this  also  by 
saying  it  would  be  necessary  first  to  decide  on 
the  amount  of  the  subsidy  to  be  raised.*^  The 
regent  felt  that  in  all  matters  of  real  moment  she 
had  as  little  weight  as  any  private  individual  in 
the  country. 

From  this  state  of  humiliation  she  was  at  last 
relieved  by  the  return  of  her  secretary,  Machia- 
velli,  who  brought  with  him  despatches  from 
Ruy  Gomez,  Philip's  favorite  minister.  He  in- 
formed the  duchess  that  the  king,  though  re- 
luctantly, had  at  last  acceded  to  her  request,  and 
allowed  her  to  resign  the  government  of  the  prov- 
inces. In  token  of  his  satisfaction  with  her  con- 
duct, his  majesty  had  raised  the  pension  which 
she  had  hitherto  enjoyed,  of  eight  thousand  flor- 
ins, to  fourteen  thousand,  to  be  paid  her  yearly 
during  the  remainder  of  her  life.  This  letter  was 
dated  on  the  sixth  of  October.*^  Margaret  soon 
after  received  one,  dated  four  days  later,  from 
Philip  himself,  of  much  the  same  tenor  with  that 
of  his  minister.  The  king,  in  a  few  words,  in- 
timated the  regret  he  felt  at  his  sister's  retirement 
from  oflice,  and  the  sense  he  entertained  of  the 


^  Docnmentos  In^ditos,  torn.  TV.        **  Correspondance  de  Philippe 
p.  481  et  seq.  H.,  torn.  I.  p.  583. 


209 


services   she   had  rendered  him  by  her  long  and 
faithful  administration.^* 

The  increase  of  the  pension  showed  no  very 
extravagant  estimate  of  these  services;  and  the 
parsimonious  tribute  which,  after  his  long  silence, 
he  now,  in  a  few  brief  sentences,  paid  to  her  deserts, 
too  plainly  intimated,  that  all  she  had  done  had 
failed  to  excite  even  a  feeling  of  gratitude  in  the 
bosom  of  her  brother.*^  At  the  same  time  with 
the  letter  to  Margaret  came  a  commission  to  the 
duke  of  Alva,  investing  him  with  the  title  of  regent 
and  governor-general,  together  with  all  the  powers 
that  had  been  possessed  by  his  predecessor.*^ 

Margaret  made  only  one  request  of  Philip,  pre- 
vious to  her  departure.  This  he  denied  her.  Her 
father,  Charles  the  Fifth,  at  the  time  of  his  ab- 
dication, had  called  the  states-general  together, 
and  taken  leave  of  them  in  a  farewell  address, 
which  was  still  cherished  as  a  legacy  by  his  sub- 
jects. Margaret  would  have  imitated  his  exam- 
ple. The  grandeur  of  the  spectacle  pleased  her 
imagination,  and   she  was   influenced,  no   doubt, 


^  The  king's  acknowledgments 
to  his  sister  are  condensed  into  the 
sentence  with  which  he  concludes 
his  letter,  or,  more  properly,  his 
billet.  This  is  dated  October  13, 
1568,  and  is  published  by  Ga- 
chard,  in  the  Correspondance  de 
Philippe  II.,  torn.  II.,  Appendix, 
Ko.  119. 

^  "  EUe  re9ut,'*  says  De  Thou 
with  some  humor, "  enfin  d'Espagne 

VOL.  II.  27 


une  lettre  pleine  d*amiti^  et  de 
tendresse,  telle  qu*on  a  coutume 
d'dcrire  k  une  personne  qu'on  re- 
mercie  apr^s  I'avoir  ddpouillde  de 
sa  dignite."  Hist  Universelle,  torn. 
V.  p.  439. 

^  A  copy  of  the  original  is  to 
be  found  in  the  Correspondance 
de  Philippe  11.,  torn.  II.,  Appen- 
dix, No.  118. 


210 


CRUEL  POLICY  OF  ALVA. 


[Book  m. 


by  the  honest  desire  of  manifesting,  in  the  hour 
of  separation,  some  feelings  of  a  kindly  nature  for 
the  people  over  whom  she  had  ruled  for  so  many 

years.  ^ 

But  Philip,  as  we  have  seen,  had  no  relish  for 
these  meetings  of  the  states.  He  had  no  idea  of 
consenting  to  them  on  an  emergency  no  more 
pressing  than  the  present.  Margaret  was  obliged, 
therefore,  to  relinquish  the  pageant,  and  to  content 
herself  with  taking  leave  of  the  people  by  letters 
addressed  to  the  principal  cities  of  the  provinces. 
In  these  she  briefly  touched  on  the  difficulties 
which  had  lain  in  her  path,  and  on  the  satisfaction 
which  she  felt  at  having,  at  length,  brought  the 
country  to  a  state  of  tranquillity  and  order.  She 
besought  them  to  remain  always  constant  in  the 
faith  in  which  they  had  been  nurtured,  as  well  as 
in  their  loyalty  to  a  prince  so  benign  and  merciful 
as  the  king,  her  brother.  In  so  doing  the  blessing 
of  Heaven  would  rest  upon  them;  and  for  her 
own  part,  she  would  ever  be  found  ready  to  use 
her  good  offices  in  their  behalf.*^ 

She  proved  her  sincerity  by  a  letter  written  to 
Philip,  before  her  departure,  in  which  she  in- 
voked his  mercy  in  behalf  of  his  Flemish  subjects. 
"  Mercy,"  she  said,  "  was  a  divine  attribute.  The 
greater  the  power  possessed  by  a  monarch,  the 
nearer  he  approached  the  Deity,  and  the  more 
should  he  strive  to  imitate  the  divine  clemency 

^  The  letter  lias  been  inserted  by  Gachard  in  the  Analectes  BeU 
giques,  pp.  295  -  800. 


Ch.  n.] 


DEPARTURE  OF  MARGARET. 


211 


and  compassion.*^  His  royal  predecessors  had  con 
tented  themselves  with  punishing  the  leaders  of 
sedition,  while  they  spared  the  masses  who  re- 
pented. Any  other  course  would  confound  the 
good  with  the  bad,  and  bring  such  calamities  on 
the  country  as  his  majesty  could  not  fail  to  ap- 
predate."  *«  — Well  had  it  been  for  the  fair  fame 
of  Margaret,  if  her  counsels  had  always  been 
guided  by  such  wise  and  magnanimous  senti- 
ments. 

The  tidings  of  the  regent's  abdication  were  re- 
ceived with  dismay  throughout  the  provinces.  All 
the  errors  of  her  government,  her  acts  of  dupli- 
city, the  excessive  rigor  with  which  she  had  of  late 
visited  offences,  —  all  were  forgotten  in  the  re- 
gret felt  for  her  departure.  Men  thought  only  of 
the  prosperity  which  the  country  had  enjoyed  un- 
der her  rule,  the  confidence  which  in  earlier  years 
she  had  bestowed  on  the  friends  of  the  people, 
the  generous  manner  in  which  she  had  interposed, 
on  more  than  one  occasion,  to  mitigate  the  hard 
policy  of  the  court  of  Madrid.  And  as  they 
turned  from  these  more  brilliant  passages  of  her 
history,  their  hearts  were  filled  with  dismay  while 
they  looked  gloomily  into  the  future. 


^  "  Suplicar  may  humilmente, 
y  con  toda  afeccion,  que  V.  M. 
use  de  clemencia  y  misericordia 
?on  ellos,  conforme  ^  la  esperanza 
que  tantas  vezes  les  ha  dado,  y 
que  tenga  en  memoria  que  cuanto 
mas  grandes  son  los  reyes,  y  se 


acercan  mas  i,  Dios,  tanto  mas 
deben  ser  imitadores  de  esta  gran- 
de  divina  bondad,  poder,  y  cle- 
mencia.**  Correspondance  de  Phi. 
lippe  II.,  torn.  I.  p.  608. 
*8  Ibid.,  loc.  cit. 


212 


CRUEL  POLICY  OF  ALVA. 


[Book  IH 


Addresses  poured  in  upon  lier  from  all  quarters. 
The  different  cities  vied  with  one  another  in  ex- 
pressions of  regret  for  her  departure,  while  they 
invoked  the  blessings  of  Heaven  on  her  remain- 
ing  days.     More  than  one  of  the  provinces  gave 
substantial  evidence  of  their  good-will  by  liberal 
donatives.     Brabant  voted  her  the  sum  of  twenty 
five  thousand  florins,  and  Flanders,  thirty  thou- 
sand.*^    The  neighboring  princes,  and  among  them 
Elizabeth  of  England,  joined  with  the  people  of 
the  Netherlaads  in  professions  of  respect  for  the 
regent,  as  well  as  of  regret  that  she  was  to  relin- 
quish the  government.^ 

Cheered  by  these  assurances  of  the  considera- 
tion in  which  she  was  held  both  at  home  and 
abroad,  Margaret  quitted  Brussels  at  the  close  of 
December,  1567.  She  was  attended  to  the  bor- 
ders  of  Brabant  by  Alva,  and  thence  conducted  to 
Germany  by  Count  Mansfeldt  and  an  escort  of 
Flemish  nobles.^^  There  bidding  adieu  to  all  that 
remained  of  her  former  state,  she  pursued  her 
journey  quietly  to  Italy.  For  some  time  she  con- 
tinued with  her  husband  in  his  ducal  residence  at 


49  n)id.,  torn.  n.  p.  6. 

50  "  Superavitque  omnes  Eliza- 
betha  Angllae  Regina,  tam  bonae 
carseque  sororis,  uti  scribebat,  vi- 
tinitate  in  posterum  caritura;" 
*•  sive,"  adds  the  historian,  with 
candid  scepticism,  "is  amor  fuit 
m  Margaritam,  sive  soUicitudo  ex 
Albano  successore.*'  Strada,  De 
Uello  Belgico,  torn.  L  p.  365. 


51  Historians  vary  considerablj 
as  to  the  date  of  Margaret's  de- 
parture. She  crossed  the  frontier 
of  the  Netherlands  probably  by 
the  middle  of  January,  1568.  At 
least,  we  find  a  letter  from  her  to 
Philip  when  she  had  nearly  reached 
the  borders,  dated  at  Luxembourg 
on  the  twelfth  of  that  month. 


Ch.  n.]  HBB  ADMINISTRATION  REVIEWED. 


213 


Parma.  But,  wherever  lay  the  fault,  it  was  Mar- 
garet's misfortune  to  taste  but  little  of  the  sweets 
of  domestic  intercourse.  Soon  afterwards  she 
removed  to  Naples,  and  there  permanently  es- 
tablished her  abode,  on  estates  which  had  been 
granted  her  by  the  crown.  Many  years  later, 
when  her  son,  Alexander  Famese,  was  called  to 
the  government  of  the  Netherlands,  she  quitted 
her  retirement  to  take  part  with  him  in  the  direc- 
tion of  public  aflFairs.  It  was  but  for  a  moment ; 
and  her  present  departure  from  the  Netherlands 
may  be  regarded  as  the  close  of  her  political 
existence. 

The  government  of  Margaret  continued  from 
the  autumn  of  1559  to  the  end  of  1567,  a  pe- 
riod  of  eight  years.  It  was  a  stormy  and  most 
eventful  period;  for  it  was  then  that  the  minds 
of  men  were  agitated  to  their  utmost  depths  by 
the  new  doctrines  which  gave  birth  to  the  rev- 
olution. Margaret's  regency,  indeed,  may  be  said 
to  have  furnished  the  opening  scenes  of  that  great 
dmma.  The  inhabitants  of  the  Low  Countries 
were  accustomed  to  the  sway  of  a  woman.  Mar- 
garet was  the  third  of  her  line  that  had  been  in- 
trusted with  the  regency.  In  qualifications  for 
the  office  she  was  probably  not  inferior  to  her 
predecessors.  Her  long  residence  in  Italy  had 
made  her  acquainted  with  the  principles  of  gov- 
ernment in  a  country  where  political  science  was 
more  carefully  studied  than  in  any  other  quarter 
of  Europe.     She  was  habitually  industrious,  and 


214 


CBUEL  POLICY  OF  ALVA- 


fBooK  HI 


her  robust  frame  was  capable  of  any  amount  of 
labor.  If  she  was  too  masculine  in  her  nature  to 
allow  of  the  softer  qualities  of  her  sex,  she  was, 
on  the  other  hand,  exempt  from  the  fondness  fo^ 
pleasure  and  from  most  of  the  frivolities  which 
belonged  to  the  women  of  the  voluptuous  clime  in 
which  she  had  lived.  She  was  stanch  in  her  de^  o- 
lion  to  the  Catholic  faith;  and  her  loyalty  was 
such,  that,  from  the  moment  of  assuming  the  gov- 
emment,  she  acknowledged  no  stronger  motive 
than  that  of  conformity  to  the  will  of  her  sov- 
ereign.  She  was  fond  of  power;  and  she  well 
knew  that,  with  Philip,  absolute  conformity  to  his 
will  was  the  only  condition  on  which  it  was  to  be 

held. 

With  her  natural  good  sense,  and  the  general 
moderation  of  her  views,  she  would,  doubtless, 
have  ruled  over  the  land  as  prosperously  as  her 
predecessors,  had  the  times  been  like  theirs.  But, 
unhappily  for  her,  the  times  had  greatly  changed. 
Still  Margaret,  living  on  the  theatre  of  action,  and 
feeling  the  pressure  of  circumstances,  would  have 
gone  far  to  conform  to  the  change.  But  unfortu- 
nately she  represented  a  prince,  dwelling  at  a  dis- 
tance, who  knew  no  change  himself,  allowed  no 
concessions  to  others,  —  whose  conservative  policy 
rested  wholly  on  the  past. 

It  was  unfortunate  for  Margaret,  that  she  never 
fully  possessed  the  confidence  of  Philip.  Whether 
from  distrust  of  her  more  accommodating  temper, 
or  of  her   capacity  for   government,   he   gave   a 


Ch.  n.I  HER  ADMINISTRATION  REVIEWED. 


215 


larger  share  of  it,  at  the  outset,  to  Granvelle 
than  to  her.  If  the  regent  could  have  been 
blind  to  this,  her  eyes  would  soon  have  been 
opened  to  the  fact  by  the  rivals  who  hated  the 
minister.  It  was  not  long  before  she  hated  him 
too.  But  the  removal  of  Granvelle  did  not  es- 
tablish her  in  her  brother*s  confidence.  It  rath- 
er increased  his  distrust,  by  the  necessity  it  im- 
posed on  her  of  throwing  herself  into  the  arms 
of  the  opposite  party,  the  friends  of  the  people. 
From  this  moment  Philip's  confidence  was  more 
heartily  bestowed  on  the  duke  of  Alva,  even  on 
the  banished  Granvelle,  than  on  the  regent.  Her 
letters  remained  too  often  unanswered.  The  an- 
swers, when  they  did  come,  furnished  only  dark 
and  mysterious  hints  of  the  course  to  be  pursued. 
She  was  left  to  work  out  the  problem  of  govern- 
ment by  herself,  sure  for  every  blunder  to  be  called 
to  a  strict  account.  Rumors  of  the  speedy  com- 
ing of  the  king  suggested  the  idea  that  her  own 
dominion  was  transitory,  soon  to  be  superseded  by 
that  of  a  higher  power. 

Under  these  disadvantages  she  might  well  have 
lost  all  reliance  on  herself.  She  was  not  even 
supplied  with  the  means  of  carrying  out  her  own 
schemes.  She  was  left  without  money,  without 
arms,  without  the  power  to  pardon,  —  more  impor- 
tant, with  a  brave  and  generous  race,  than  the  pow- 
er to  punish.  Thus,  destitute  of  resources,  with- 
out the  confidence  of  her  employer,  with  the  people 
stoutly  demanding  concessions  on  the  one  side,  with 


216 


CRUEL  POLICY  OF  ALVA- 


[BOOK  III 


the  sovereign  sternly  refusing  them  on  the  other, 
it  is  little  to  say,  that  Margaret  was  in  a  false  posi- 
tion. Her  position  was  deplorable.  She  ought  not 
to  have  remained  in  it  a  day  after  she  found  that 
she  could  not  hold  it  with  honor.  But  Margaret 
was  too  covetous  of  power  readily  to  resign  it. 
Her  misunderstanding  with  her  husband  made  her, 
moreover,  somewhat  dependent  on  her  brother. 

At  last  came  the  Compromise  and  the  league. 
Margaret's  eyes  seemed  now  to  be  first  opened 
to  the  direction  of  the  course  she  was  taking. 
This  was  foUowed  by  the  explosion  of  the  icon- 
oclasts. The  shock  fully  awoke  her  from  her 
delusion.  She  was  as  zealous  for  the  Catholic 
Church  as  Philip  himself;  and  she  saw  with 
horror  that  it  was  trembling  to  its  foundations. 
A  complete  change  seemed  to  take  place  in  her 
convictions,  —  in  her  very  nature.  She  repu- 
diated all  those  with  whom  she  had  hitherto 
acted.  She  embraced,  as  heartily  as  he  could 
desire,  the  stem  policy  of  Philip.  She  proscribed, 
she  persecuted,  she  punished,  —  and  that  with  an 
excess  of  rigor  that  does  little  honor  to  her  mem- 
ory. It  was  too  late.  The  distrust  of  PhQip  was 
not  to  be  removed  by  this  tardy  compliance  with 
his  wishes.  A  successor  was  already  appointed; 
and  at  the  very  moment  when  she  flattered  her- 
self that  the  tranquillity  of  the  country  and  her 
own  authority  were  established  on  a  permanent 
basis,  the  duke  of  Alva  was  on  his  march  across 
the  mountains. 


Ch.  n.]  HER  ADMINISTRATION  REVIEWED. 


217 


Yet  it  was  fortunate  for  Margaret's  reputation 
that  she  was  succeeded  in  the  government  by  a 
man  like  Alva.  The  darkest  spots  on  her  adminis- 
tration became  light  when  brought  into  comparison 
with  his  reign  of  terror.  From  this  point  of  view 
it  has  been  criticized  by  the  writers  of  her  own  time 
and  those  of  later  ages.^^  And  in  this  way,  prob- 
ably, as  the  student  who  ponders  the  events  of  her 
history  may  infer,  a  more  favorable  judgment 
has  been  passed  upon  her  actions  than  would  be 
warranted  by  a  calm  and  deliberate  scrutiny. 


^  See,  among  otHers,  Strada, 
De  Bello  Belgico,  torn.  I.  p.  128; 
Guerres  Civiles  du  Pays-Bas,  p. 
128;  De  Thou,  Hist  Gen.,  torn. 
V.  p.  439;  and  Renom  de  Fran- 
cia,  All)orotos  de  Flandcs,  MS.,  who 
in  these  words  concludes  his  notice 
of  Margaret's  departure :  "  Dejan- 


do  gran  reputacion  de  su  virtud  j 
un  sentimiento  de  su  partida  en 
los  corazones  de  los  vasallos  de 
por  aci  el  qual  crecio  mucho  de- 
spues  ansi  continuo  quando  se  de* 
scribio  el  gusto  de  los  humores  j 
andamientos  de  su  succesor.** 


VOL.  II. 


ch.  m.| 


DKCREK  OF  THE  INQXIISITION. 


219 


CHAPTER    III. 

BEIGN  OF  TEKEOR. 

Numerous  Arrests.— TrialB  and  Executions— Confiscations.  — Oraug* 
assembles  an  Amy—BatUe  of  HeyUgerlee.  -  Alva's  Proceeding. 

1568. 

In  the  beginniiig  of  1568,  Philip,  if  we  may 
trust  the  historians,  resorted  to  a  very  extraordi 
nary  measure  for  justifying  to  the  world  his  i-ig- 
orous  proceedings  against  the  Netherlands.  He 
submitted  the  case  to  the  Inquisition  at  Madrid ; 
and  that  ghostly  tribunal,  after  duly  considering 
the  evidence  derived  from  the  information  of  the 
king  and  of  the  inquisitors  in  the  Netherlands, 
came  to  the  following  decision.  All  who  had 
been  guilty  of  heresy,  apostasy,  or  sedition,  and 
aU,  moreover,  who,  though  professing  themselves 
good  Catholics,  had  offered  no  resistance  to  these, 
were,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  specified  indi- 
viduals, thereby  convicted  of  treason  in  the  high 

est  degree.-^ 

This  sweeping  judgment  was  followed  by  a  royal 

1  De  Thou,  Hist  Gen.,  torn.  V.    cites  tbe  words  of  the  original  in- 
p.  487.— Meteren,  Hist  des  Pays-    strument 
Bas,  fol.  54.  —  The  latter  historian 


edict,  dated  on  the  same  day,  the  sixteenth  of 
February,  in  which,  after  reciting  the  language 
of  the  Inquisition,  the  whole  nation,  with  the 
exception  above  stated,  was  sentenced,  without 
distinction  of  sex  or  age,  to  the  penalties  of  treason, 
—  death  and  confiscation  of  property ;  and  this, 
the  decree  went  on  to  say,  "  without  any  hope  of 
grace  whatever,  that  it  might  serve  for  an  example 
and  a  warning  to  all  future  time ! "  ^ 

It  is  difficult  to  give  credit  to  a  story  so  monstrous, 
repeated  though  it  has  been  by  successive  writers, 
without  the  least  distrust  of  its  correctness.  Not 
that  anything  can  be  too  monstrous  to  be  believed 
of  the  Inquisition.  But  it  is  not  easy  to  believe 
that  a  sagacious  prince  like  Philip  the  Second,  how- 
ever willing  he  might  be  to  shelter  himself  under 
the  mantle  of  the  Holy  Office,  could  have  lent  him- 
self to  an  act  as  impolitic  as  it  was  absurd;  one 
that,  confounding  the  innocent  with  the  guilty, 
would  drive  both  to  desperation,  —  would  incite 
the  former,  from  a  sense  of  injury,  to  take  up  re- 
bellion, by  which  there  was  nothing  more  to  lose, 
and  the  latter  to  persist  in  it,  since  there  was 
nothing  more  to  hope.^ 


2  «  Voulans  et  ordonnaiis  qu'ainsi 
en  soit  faict,  afin  que  ceste  seri- 
euse  sentence  serve  d'exemple,  et 
donne  crainte  pour  I'advenir,  sans 
aucune  esperance  de  grace.** 
Meteren,  Hist  des  Pays-Bas,  fol. 
54. 

3  Among  contemporary  writers 
whom  I  have  consulted,  I  find  no 


authorities  for  this  remarkable  state- 
ment except  MetertA  and  De  Thou. 
This  might  seem  strange  to  one 
who  credited  the  story,  but  not  so 
strange  as  that  a  proceeding  so  ex- 
traordinary should  have  escaped 
the  vigilance  of  Llorente,  the  sec- 
retary of  the  Holy  Office,  who  had 
all  its  papers  at  his  command.    1 


220 


BEIGN  OF  TERROB. 


[Book  m. 


The  messenger  who  brought  to  Margaret  the 
royal  permission  to  resign  the  regency  delivered 
to  Alva  his  commission  as  captain-general  of  the 
Netherlands.  This  would  place  the  duke,  as 
Philip  wrote  to  him,  beyond  the  control  of  the 
council  of  finance,  in  the  important  matter  of 
the  confiscations.*  It  raised  him,  indeed,  not 
only  above  that  council,  but  above  every  other 
council  in  the  country.  It  gave  him  an  authority 
not  less  than  that  of  the  sovereign  himself  And 
Alva  prepared  to  stretch  this  to  an  extent  greater 
than  any  sovereign  of  the  Netherlands  had  ever 
ventured  on.  The  time  had  now  come  to  put  his 
terrible  machinery  into  operation.  The  regent 
was  gone,  who,  if  she  could  not  curb,  might  at 
least  criticize  his  actions.  The  prisons  were  fuU ; 
the  processes  were  completed.  Nothing  remained 
but  to  pass  sentence  and  to  execute. 

On  the  fourth  of  January,  1568,  we  find  eighty- 
four  persons  sentenced  to  death  at  Valenciennes,  on 
the  charge  of  having  taken  part  in  the  late  move- 
ments, —  religious  or  political.^  On  the  twentieth 
of  February,  ninety-five  persons  were  arraigned  be- 
fore the  Council  of  Blood,  and  thirty-seven  capitally 
convicted.^     On  the  twentieth  of  March  thirty-five 


have  met  with  no  allusion  what-  deniers  des  confiscations.**     Corre- 

ever  to  it  in  his  pages.  spondance  de  Philippe  11.,  torn.  L 

*  "  Au  moyen  de  la  patente  de  p.  609. 
gouverneur  general  que    le   due        *  Bulletins  de  1* Acaddmie  Boyalt 

aura  re9ue,  il  pourra  faire  cesser  de  Belgique,  torn.  XVI.  par.  H 

les  entraves  que  mettait  le  conseil  p.  62. 
des  finances  k  ce  qu'il  disposfit  des        6  i^id.,  ubi  supra. 


ch.  ra.j 


NUMEROUS  ABRESTS. 


221 


more  were  condemned.^  The  governor's  emissaries 
were  out  in  every  direction.  "  I  heard  that  preach- 
ing was  going  on  at  Antwerp,"  he  writes  to  Philip, 
"  and  I  sent  my  own  provost  there,  for  I  cannot 
trust  the  authorities.  He  arrested  a  good  number 
of  heretics.  They  will  never  attend  another  such 
meeting.  The  magistrates  complain  that  the  in- 
terference of  the  provost  was  a  violation  of  their 
privileges.  The  magistrates  may  as  well  take  it 
patiently."^  The  pleasant  manner  in  which  the 
duke  talks  over  the  fate  of  his  victims  with  his 
master  may  remind  one  of  the  similar  dialogues 
between  Petit  Andre  and  Louis  the  Eleventh,  in 
"Quentin  Durward." 

The  proceedings  in  Ghent  may  show  the  course 
pursued  in  the  other  cities.  Commissioners  were 
sent  to  that  capital,  to  ferret  out  the  suspected. 
No  less  than  a  hundred  and  forty-seven  were 
summoned  before  the  council  at  Brussels.  Their 
names  were  cried  about  the  streets,  and  posted 
up  in  placards  on  the  public  buildings.  Among 
them  were  many  noble  and  wealthy  individuals 
The  officers  were  particularly  instructed  to  as- 
certain the  wealth  of  the  parties.  Most  of  the 
accused  contrived  to  make  their  escape.  They 
preferred  flight  to  the  chance  of  an  acquittal 
by  the  bloody  tribunal,  —  though  flight  involved 


'  Ibid.,  p.  63.  il  faudra  bien  qu*il  prenne    pa» 

8  "  Le  magistrat  s*est  plaint  de  tience.'*    Correspondance  de  Phi- 

'infraction    de    ses    privileges,    k  lippe  11.,  torn.  IL  p.  13. 

irause  de  Tenvoi  dudit  prdvdt;  mais 


222 


BEIGK  OF  TERROR. 


[Book  IH 


certain  banishment  and  confiscation  of  property 
Eighteen  only  answered  the  summons  by  re- 
pairing to  Brussels.  They  were  all  arrested  on 
the  same  day,  at  their  lodgings,  and,  without 
exception,  were  sentenced  to  death!  Five  or 
six  of  the  principal  were  beheaded.  The  rest 
perished  on  the  gallows.* 

Impatient  of  what  seemed  to  him  a  too  tardy 
method  of  following  up  his  game,  the  duke  de- 
termined on  a  bolder  movement,  and  laid  his 
plans  for  driving  a  goodly  number  of  victims  into 
the  toils  at  once.  He  fixed  on  Ash  Wednesday 
for  the  time,  —  the  beginning  of  Lent,  when  men, 
after  the  Carnival  was  past,  would  be  gathered 
soberl)'  hi  their  own  dwellings.^^  The  officers  of 
justice  entered  their  premises  at  dead  of  night, 
and  no  less  than  five  hundred  citizens  were 
dragged  from  their  beds  and  hurried  off  to  prison." 


»  Vandervynckt,  Troubles  des 
Pays-Bas,  torn.  11.  pp.  243-247. 

The  author  tells  us  he  col- 
lected these  particulars  from  the 
memoirs  and  diaries  of  eyewit- 
nesses,— confirmed,  moreover,  by 
the  acts  and  public  registers  of  the 
time.  The  authenticity  of  the 
statement,  he  adds,  is  incontes- 
table. 

*•  See  the  circular  of  Alva  to 
the  officers  charged  with  these  ar- 
rests, in  the  Correspondance  de 
Philippe  n.,  torn.  II.,  Appendix, 
p.  660. 

11  "Et,  affin  que  ledict  due 
d'Alve  face  apparoir  ae  plus  son  af- 


fection sanguinaire  et  tyrannicque, 
il  a,  pass^  peu  de  temps,  faict  ap- 
prehender,  tout  sur  une  nuict,  [le 
3  mars,  1568,]  en  toutes  les  villes 
des  pays  d'embas,  ung  grand  nom- 
bre  de  ceulx  qu'il  a  tenu  suspect 
en  leur  foy,  et  les  faict  mectrc 
hors  leurs  maisons  et  lictz  en  pri- 
son, pour  en  aprfes,  k  sa  conuno- 
dit^,  faire  son  plaisir  et  voluntis 
avecque  lesdicts  prisonniers."  Cor- 
respondance de  Guillaume  le  Taci- 
tume,  tom.  III.  p.  9. 

The  extract  is  from  a  memorial 
addressed  by  William  to  the  em- 
peror, vindicating  his  own  course, 
and  exposing,  with  the  indignant 


Ch.  m.] 


TRIALS  AND  EXECUTIONS. 


223 


They  all  received  sentence  of  death ! ^  "I  have 
reiterated  the  sentence  again  and  again,"  he  writes 
to  Philip,  "for  they  torment  me  with  inquiries 
whether  in  this  or  that  case  it  might  not  be  com- 
muted for  banishment.  They  weary  me  of  my 
life  with  their  importunities."^  He  was  not  too 
weary,  however,  to  go  on  with  the  bloody  work; 
for  in  the  same  letter  we  find  him  reckoning  that 
three  hundred  heads  more  must  fall  before  it  will 
be  time  to  talk  of  a  general  pardon.^* 

It  was  common,  says  an  old  chronicler,  to  see 
thirty  or  forty  persons  arrested  at  once.  The. 
wealthier  burghers  might  be  seen,  with  their 
arms  pinioned  behind  them,  dragged  at  the  horse's 
tail  to  the  place  of  execution.^^  The  poorer  sort 
were  not  even  summoned  to  take  their  trial  in, 
Brussels.     Their  cases  were   despatched   at   once, 


eloquence  of  a  patriot,  the  wrongs 
and  calamities  of  his  country. 
This  document,  printed  by  Ga- 
chard,  is  a  version  from  the  Ger- 
man original  by  the  hand  of  a  con- 
temporary. A  modern  translation 
— so  ambitious  in  its  style  that  one 
may  distrust  its  fidelity — is  also  to 
be  found  in  the  Archives  de  la 
Maison  d'Orange-Nassau,  Supple- 
ment, p.  91  et  seq. 

12  "  Se  prendieron  cerca  de 
quinientos He  mandado  ju- 
sticiar todos,**  says  Alva  to  the 
king,  in  a  letter  written  in  cipher, 
April  13, 1568.  (Documentos  In^- 
ditos,  tom.  IV.  p.  488.)  Not  one 
escaped  !  It  is  told  with  an  air  of 
nofichalance  truly  appalling. 


13  "  Que  cada  dia  me  quiebran 
la  cabeza  con  dudas  de  que  si  el 
que  delinquid  desta  nianera  me- 
resce  la  muerte,  6  si  el  que  delin- 
quid desta  otra  meresce  destierro, 
que  no  me  dejan  vivir,  y  no  basta 
con  ellos."  Documentos  Ineditos, 
tom.  IV.  p.  488. 

1*  "  En  este  castigo  que  agora  se 
hace  y  en  el  que  vendrd  despuea 
de  Pascua  tengo  que  pasard  de 
ochocientas  cabezas."  Ibid.,  p. 
489. 

15  "  Les  Bourgeois  qui  estoyet 
riches  de  quarante,  soixante,  et 
cent  mille  florins,  il  les  faysoit  at- 
tacher  k  la  queue  d*un  cheval,  et 
ainsi  les  faysoit  trainer,  ayant  lei 
mains  li^es  sur  le  dos,  jusques  an 


224 


REIGN  OF  TERROR. 


[Book  HI 


Ctt  m.] 


TRIALS  AND  EXECUTIONS. 


225 


and  they  were  hung  up,  without  further  delay, 
in  the  city  or  in  the  suburbs.^® 

Brandt,  in  his  History  of  the  Keformation,  has 
collected  many  particulars   respecting   the   perse- 
cution, especially  in  his  own  province  of  Holland, 
during  that  "  reign  of  terror."     Men  of  lower  con- 
sideration,  when   dragged   to   prison,  were    often 
cruelly  tortured  on  the  rack,  to  extort  confessions, 
implicating  themselves  or  their  friends.    The  modes 
of  death   adjudged  by  the  bloody  tribunal  were 
various.     Some  were  beheaded  with   the   sword, 
—  a  distinction  reserved,  as  it  would  seem,  for 
persons   of  condition.     Some   were    sentenced    to 
the  gibbet,  and  others  to  the   stake."     This  last 
punishment,  the  most  dreadful   of  all,  was   con- 
,  fined  to   the   greater    offenders   against    religion. 
But  it  seems  to  have  been  left  much  to  the  ca- 
price of  the  judges,  sometimes  even  of  the  brutal 
soldiery  who   superintended  the   executions.     At 
least  we   find   the   Spanish   soldiers,  on   one   oc- 
casion, in   their  righteous   indignation,  throwing 
into  the  flames  an  unhappy  Protestant  preacher 
whom  the  court  had  sentenced  to  the  gallows.^' 
The  soldiers  of  Alva  were  many  of  them  veter- 
ans, who  had  borne  arms  against  the  Protestants 
under  Charles  the  Fifth,  —  comrades  of  the  men 
who,  at  that  very  time,  were  hunting  down  the 


lieu  ou  on  les  debvoit  pendre.**   Me-  queo,  igne,  honunes  enecare." 

leren,  Hist,  des  Pays-Bas,  foL  55.  idanus,  Annales,  p.  6. 

W  Ibid.,  ubi  supra.  ^^  Brandt,   Bcformation  in  th« 

17  "Die  [Vargas]  pronuscu^  la-  Low  Countries,  v...  1  ,.  ^74. 


natives  of  the  New  World,  and  slaughtering  them 
by  thousands  in  the  name  of  religion.  With  them 
the  sum  and  substance  of  religion  were  comprised 
in  a  blind  faith  in  the  Romish  Church,  and  in 
uncompromising  hostility  to  .the  heretic.  The 
life  of  the  heretic  was  the  most  acceptable  sacri- 
fice that  could  be  ofifered  to  Jehovah.  With 
hearts  thus  seared  by  fanaticism,  and  made  cal- 
lous by  long  familiarity  with  human  sufiering, 
they  were  the  very  ministers  to  do  the  bidding 
of  such  a  master  as  the  duke  of  Alva. 

The  cruelty  of  the  persecutors  was  met  by  an 
indomitable  courage  on  the  part  of  their  victims. 
Most  of  the  offences  were,  in  some  way  or  other, 
connected  with  religion.  The  accused  were  preach- 
ers, or  had  aided  and  comforted  the  preachers,  or 
had  attended  their  services,  or  joined  the  consis- 
tories, or  afibrded  evidence,  in  some  form,  that 
they  had  espoused  the  damnable  doctrines  of  her- 
esy. It  is  precisely  in  such  a  case,  where  men 
are  called  to  suffer  for  conscience'  sake,  that  they 
are  prepared  to  endure  all,  —  to  die  in  defence  of 
their  opinions.  The  storm  of  persecution  fell  on 
persons  of  every  condition ;  men  and  women,  the 
young,  the  old,  the  infirm  and  helpless.  But  the 
weaker  the  party,  the  more  did  his  spirit  rise  to 
endure  his  sufferings.  Many  affecting  instances 
are  recorded  of  persons  who,  with  no  support  but 
their  trust  in  Heaven,  displayed  the  most  heroic 
fortitude  in  the  presence  of  their  judges,  and,  by 
the  boldness  with  which  they  asserted  their  opin- 


VOL.  II. 


29 


226 


BEIGN  OF  TERROB. 


[Book  III 


ions,  seemed  even  to  court  the  crown  of  martyr- 
dom. On  the  scaffold  and  at  the  stake  this 
intrepid  spirit  did  not  desert  them ;  and  the  testi- 
mony they  bore  to  the  truth  of  the  cause  for  which 
they  suffered  had  such  an  effect  on  the  by-standers, 
that  it  was  found  necessary  to  silence  them.  A 
cruel  device  for  more  effectually  accomplishiug  this 
was  employed  by  the  officials.  The  tip  of  the 
tongue  was  seared  with  a  red-hot  iron,  and  the  swol- 
len member  then  compressed  between  two  plates 
of  metal  screwed  fast  together.  Thus  gagged,  the 
groans  of  the  wretched  sufferer  found  vent  in 
strange  sounds,  that  excited  the  brutal  merriment 
of  his  tormentors.^^ 

But  it  is  needless  to  dwell  longer  on  the  mis- 
eries endured  by  the  people  of  the  Netherlands  in 
this  season  of  trial.  Yet,  if  the  cruelties  perpe- 
trated in  the  name  of  religion  are  most  degrading 
to  humanity,  they  must  be  allowed  to  have  called 
forth  the  most  sublime  spectacle  which  humanity 
can  present,  —  that  of  the  martyr  offering  up  his 
life  on  the  altar  of  principle. 

It  is  difficult  — in  fact,  from  the  data  in  my 
possession,  not  possible  —  to  calculate  the  number 
of  those  who  fell  by  the  hand  of  the  executioner 
in  this  dismal  persecution.^    The  number,  doubt- 


is  "  Hark  how  they  ang !  **  ex- 
cladmed  a  friar  in  the  crowd ; 
"should  they  not  be  made  to  dance 
too?"  Brandt,  Reformation  in 
the  Low  Countries,  vol.  I.  p.  275. 

»  It  will  be  understood  that  I 


am  speaking  of  the  period  em- 
braced in  this  portion  of  the  his- 
tory, terminating  at  the  beginning 
of  June,  1568,  when  the  Council 
of  Blood  had  been  in  active  op- 
eration about  four  months,  —  the 


JH.  m.] 


TRIALS  AND  EXECUTIONS. 


22' 


less,  was  not  great  as  compared  with  the  population 
of  the  country,  —  not  so  great  as  we  may  find  left, 
almost  every  year  of  our  lives,  on  a  single  battle- 
field. When  the  forms  of  legal  proceedings  are 
maintained,  the  movements  of  justice — if  the  name 
can  be  so  profaned  —  are  comparatively  tardy.  It 
is  only,  as  in  the  FrencBi  Revolution,  when  thou- 
sands are  swept  down  by  the  cannon,  or  whole 
cargoes  of  wretched  victims  are  plunged  at  once 
into  the  waters,  that  death  moves  on  with  the  gi- 
gantic stride  of  pestilence  and  war. 

But  the  amount  of  suffering  from  such  a  perse- 
cution is  not  to  be  estimated  merely  by  the  number 
of  those  who  have  actually  sufiered  death,  when 
the  fear  of  death  hung  like  a  naked  sword  over 
every  man's  head.  Alva  had  expressed  to  Philip 
the  wish  that  every  man,  as  he  lay  down  at  night. 


period  when  the  sword  of  legal 
persecution  fell  heaviest.  Alva,  in 
the  letter  above  cited  to  Philip, 
admits  eight  hundred  —  including 
three  hundred  to  be  examined 
after  Easter  —  as  the  number  of 
victims.  (Documentos  In^itos, 
tom.  IV.  p.  489.)  Viglius,  in  a 
letter  of  the  twenty-ninth  of  March, 
says  fifteen  hundred  had  been 
already  cited  before  the  tribunal, 
the  greater  part  of  whom  —  they 
had  probably  fled  the  country  — 
were  condemned  for  contumacy. 
(Epist.  ad  Hopperum,  p.  415.) 
Grotius,  alluding  to  this  period, 
tpeaks  even  more  vaguely  of  the 
multitude  of  the  victims,  as  innu- 


merahle.  "  Stipatse  reis  custodiae, 
innumeri  mortales  necati :  ubique 
una  species  ut  captae  civitatis." 
(Annales,  p.  29.)  So  also  Hooft, 
cited  by  Brandt:  "The  Gallows, 
the  Wheels,  Stakes,  and  Trees  in 
the  highways,  were  loaden  with 
carcasses  or  limbs  of  such  as  had 
been  hanged,  beheaded,  or  roast- 
ed; so  that  the  air,  which  God 
had  made  for  respiration  of  the 
living,  was  now  become  the  com- 
mon grave  or  habitation  of  the 
dead."  (Reformation  in  the  Low 
Countries,  vol.  I.  p.  261.)  Lan- 
guage like  this,  however  expre^ 
sive,  does  little  for  statistics. 


228 


BEIGN  OF  TERROB. 


[Book  IH 


Ch.  m.] 


CONFISCATIONS. 


229 


or  as  lie  rose  in  the  morning,  "  might  feel  that  his 
house,  at  any  hour,  might  fall  and  crush  him ! "  " 
This  humane  wish  was  accomplished.  Those  who 
escaped  death  had  to  fear  a  fate  scarcely  less  dread- 
ful, in  banishment  and  confiscation  of  property. 
The  persecution  very  soon  took  this  direction  ;  and 
persecution  when  prompted  by  avarice  is  even 
more  odious  than  when  it  springs  from  fanaticism, 
which,  however  degradmg  in  itself,  is  but  the  per- 
version of  the  religious  principle. 

Sentence  of  perpetual  exile  and  confiscation  was 
pronounced  at  once  against  all  who  fied  the  coun- 
try.^  Even  the  dead  were  not  spared ;  as  is  shown 
by  the  process  instituted  against  the  marquis  of 
Bergen,  for  the  confiscation  of  his  estates  on  the 
charge  of  treason.  That  nobleman  had  gone  with 
Montigny,  as  the  reader  may  remember,  on  his 
mission  to  Madrid,  where  he  had  recently  died,  — 
more  fortimate  than  his  companion,  who  survived 
for  a  darker  destiny.  The  duke's  emissaries  were 
everywhere  active  in  making  up  their  inventories 
of  the  property  of  the  suspected  parties.     "  I  am 


»  Correspondance  de  PluKppe 
II.,  torn.  n.  p.  4. 

22  Sentences  passed  by  the  Coun- 
cil of  Blood  against  a  great  num- 
ber of  individuals  —  two  thousand 
or  more  —  have  been  collected  in 
a  little  volume,  (Sententien  en  In- 
dagtngen  van  Alba,)  published  at 
Amsterdam,  in  1785.  The  parties 
condemned  were  for  the  most  part 
natives  of  Holland,  Zealand,  and 


Utrecht  They  would  seem,  with 
very  few  exceptions,  to  have  been 
absentees,  and,  being  pronounced 
guilty  of  contiunacy,  were  sen- 
tenced to  banishment  and  the  con- 
fiscation of  their  property.  The 
volume  furnishes  a  more  emphatic 
commentary  on  the  proceedings  of 
Alva  than  anything  which  could 
come  from  the  pen  of  the  histo 


going  to  arrest  some  of  the  richest  and  the  worst 
ofienders,"  writes  Alva  to  his  master,  "and  bring 
them  to  a  pecuniary  composition."^  He  shall  next 
proceed,  he  says,  against  the  delinquent  cities.  In 
this  way  a  round  sum  will  flow  into  his  majesty's 
coffers.^^  —  The  victims  of  this  class  were  so  nu- 
merous, that  we  find  a  single  sentence  of  the  coun- 
cil sometimes  comprehending  eighty  or  a  hundred 
individuals.  One  before  me,  in  fewer  words  than 
are  taken  up  by  the  names  of  the  parties,  dooms  no 
less  than  a  hundred  and  thirty-five  inhabitants  of 
Amsterdam  to  confiscation  and  exile.^ 

One  may  imagine  the  distress  brought  on  this 
once  flourishing  country  by  this  wholesale  proscrip-' 
tion;  for  besides  the  parties  directly  interested, 
there  was  a  host  of  others  incidentally  affected,  — 
hospitals  and  charitable  establishments,  widows  and 
helpless  orphans,  now  reduced  to  want  by  the  fail- 
ure of  the  sources  which  supplied  them  with  their 
ordinary  subsistence.^  Slow  and  sparing  must 
have  been  the  justice  doled  out  to  such  impotent 
creditors,  when  they  preferred  their  claims  to  a 
tribunal  like  the  Council  of  Blood!  The  effect 
was  soon  visible   in   the  decay  of  trade  and  the 


nan. 


23  "  Acabando  este  castigo  co- 
menzar^  &  prender  algunos  parti- 
culares  de  los  mas  culpados  y  mas 
ricos  para  moverlos  i.  que  vengan 
i.  composicion.''  Documentos  In^- 
ditos,  tom.  IV.  p.  489. 

^  "  Destos  Uiles  se  saque  todo 
«l  golpe  de  dinero  que  sea  possi- 
ble.     Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


^  Sententien  van  Alva,  bl.  122 
-124. 

*  "  Combien  d'Hospitaux,  Ve- 
lues,  et  Orphelins,  estoyent  par  c« 
moyen  prives  de  leur  rentes,  et 
raoyes  de  vivrel"  Meteren,  Ifist 
des  Pays-Bas,  foL  55. 


I 


I 


230 


BEIGN  OF  TERROB. 


[Book  IIL 


rapid  depopulation  of  the  towns.     Notwithstand- 
ing the  dreadful  penalties  denounced  against  fugi- 
tives, great  numbers,  especially  from  the   border 
states,  contrived  to  make  their  escape.     The  neigh- 
boring  districts  of  Germany  opened  their  arms  to 
the  wanderers;  and  many  a  wretched  exile  from 
the  northern   province's,  flying  across   the  frozen 
waters  of  the  Zuyder   Zee,  found   refuge  within 
the  hospitable   walls   of  Embden.^     Even   in  an 
inland  city  like  Ghent,  half  the   houses,   if  we 
may  credit  the  historian,  were  abandoned.^    Not 
a  family  was  there,  he  says,  but  some  of  its  mem- 
bers had  tasted  the  bitterness  of  exUe  or  of  death.® 
^'The  fury  of  persecution,"  writes  the  prince  of 
Orange,  "  spreads  such  horror  throughout  the  na- 
tion, that  thousands,  and   among   them   some  of 
the  principal  Papists,  have  fled  a  country  where 
tyranny  seems  to  be  directed  against  all,  without 
distinction  of  faith."  ^ 

Yet  in  a  financial  point  of  view  the  results  did 
not  keep  pace  with  Alva's  wishes.  Notwithstand- 
ing the  large  amount  of  the  confiscations,  the  pro- 
ceeds, as  he  complains  to  Philip,  were  absorbed  in 
so  many  ways,  especially  by  the  peculation  of  his 


^  Brandt,  Refonnatioii  in  the 
Low  Countries,  vol.  I.  p.  265. 

«  Vandervynckt,  Troubles  des 
Pays-Bas,  torn.  II.  p.  247. 

29  Ibid.,  p.  245. 

3*  "  Par  laquelle  auparavant  ja- 
msus  ouye  tyrannie  et  persecution, 
ledict  due  d*Albe  a  cause  partout 
telle  peur,  qdc  aulcuns  milles  per- 


sonnes,  et  mesmement  cenlx  estans 
principaulx  papistes,  se  sont  reti- 
rez  en  dedens  peu  de  temps  hors 
les  Pays-Bas,  en  consideration  que 
ceste  tyrannie  s'exerce  contre  tons, 
sans  aulcune  distinction  de  la  re- 
ligion." Correspondance  de  Gui- 
Uaume  le  Taciturne,  torn.  UI.  p 
14. 


Ch.  IIL] 


CONFISCATIONS. 


231 


agents,  that  he  doubted  whether  the  expense  would 
not  come  to  more  than  the  profits!*^  He  was 
equally  dissatisfied  with  the  conduct  of  other  func- 
tionaries. The  commissioners  sent  into  the  prov- 
inces, instead  of  using  their  efi'orts  to  detect  the 
guilty,  seemed  disposed,  he  said,  rather  to  conceal 
them.  Even  the  members  of  the  Council  of  Trou- 
bles manifested  so  much  apathy  in  their  vocation, 
as  to  give  him  more  annoyance  than  the  delin- 
quents themselves!®  The  only  person  who  showed 
any  zeal  in  the  service  was  Vargas.  He  was  worth 
all  the  others  of  the  council  put  together.^  The 
duke  might  have  excepted  from  this  sweeping 
condemnation  Hessels,  the  lawyer  of  Ghent,  if  the 
rumors  concerning  him  were  true.  This  worthy 
councillor,  it  is  said,  would  sometimes  fall  asleep 
in  his  chair,  worn  out  by  the  fatigue  of  try- 
ing causes  and  signing  death-warrants.  In  this 
state,  when  suddenly  called  on  to  pronounce  the 
doom  of  the  prisoner,  he  would  cry  out,  half 
awake,  and  rubbing  his  eyes,  "  Ad  patihulum !  Ad 
patlbulum  !  "  —  "  To  the  gallows  !  To  the  gal- 
lows !"«* 


31  "  Que  temo  no  venga  i  ser 
mayor  la  espesa  de  los  ministros  que 
el  litil  que  dello  se  sacari.**  Docu- 
mentos  Ineditos,  torn.  IV.  p.  495. 

33  "  El  tribunal  todo  que  hice 
para  estas  cosas  no  solamente  no 
me  ayuda,  pero  estdrbame  tanto 
que  tengo  mas  que  hacer  con  ellos 
qu6  con  los  delincuentes."  Ibid., 
iibi  supra. 


35  Vargas  passed  as  summary  a 
judgment  on  the  people  of  the 
Netherlands  as  that  imputed  to 
the  Inquisition,  condensing  it  in- 
to a  memorable  sentence,  much 
admired  for  its  Latinity.  "  Ilcere- 
tici  fraxerunt  templa^  honi  nihil  f axe- 
runt  contra^  ergo  dehent  omueii  pati- 
bulare.**     Rei«lanus,  Annales,  p.  6. 

34  «  Quand  on   i'eveilloit  pout 


232 


BEIGN  OF  TEBROR. 


[Book  III 


But  Vargas  was  after  the   duke's   own   heart. 
Alva  was  never  weary   of  commending   his   fol- 
lower to  the  king.     He  besought  Philip  to  inter- 
pose in  his  behalf,  and  cause  three  suits  which  had 
been  brought  against  that  functionary  to  be  sus- 
pended during  his  absence  from  Spain.     The  king 
accordingly  addressed  the  judge   on   the   subject. 
But  the   magistrate  (his  name  should  have  been 
preserved)  had   the   independence   to   reply,   that 
"justice  must  take  its  course,  and  could  not  be 
suspended  from  favor  to  any  one."     "  Nor  would 
I  have  it  so,"  answered  Philip,  (it  is  the  king  who 
tells  it ; )  "  I  would  do  only  what  is  possible  to  save 
the    interests    of  Vargas    from    suffering    by  his 
absence."     In  conclusion,  he  tells  the  duke,  that 
Vargas   should   give  no  heed  to  what  is  said  of 
the   suits,   since   he  must   be   assured,   after    the 
letter  he  has  received  under  the  royal  hand,  that 
his  sovereign  fully  approves   his   conduct.^      But 
if  Vargas,  by  his   unscrupulous   devotion  to  the 
cause,  won  the   confidence   of  his  employers,  he 
incurred,  on  the  other  hand,  the  unmitigated  ha- 
tred of  the   people, — a  hatred  deeper,  it  would 
almost  seem,  than  even  that  which   attached    to 
Alva;   owing   perhaps   to  the   circumstance  that, 
as  the  instrument  for  the  execution  of  the  duke's 
measures,    Vargas    was    brought    more    immedi- 


dire  son  avis,  il  disoit  tout  endor-  pour  servir  k  I'Hist  de  Hollande, 

mi,  en  se  frottant  lea  yeux,  cul  pa-  p.  22. 

Hhulum,  ad  patibulum,  c'est-k-dire,  35  Correspondance  de  Philippe 

&a  gibet,  au  gibet.**    Auberii  Mem.  II.,  torn.  II.  p.  12. 


Ch.  in.] 


BESULTS. 


233 


ately  in  contact  with  the  people  than  the  duke 
himself. 

As  we  have  already  seen,  many,  especially  of 
those  who  dwelt  in  the  border  provinces,  escaped 
the  storm  of  persecution  by  voluntary  exile.  The 
suspected  parties  would  seem  to  have  received,  not 
unfrequently,  kindly  intimations  from  the  local 
magistrates  of  the  fate  that  menaced  them.^ 
Others,  who  lived  in  the  interior,  were  driven 
to  more  desperate  courses.  They  banded  together 
in  considerable  numbers,  under  the  name  of  the 
"  wild  Gueux,''  —  "  Gueux  sauvaffes"  —  and  took 
refuge  in  the  forests,  particularly  of  West  Flan- 
ders. Thence  they  sallied  forth,  fell  upon  un- 
suspecting travellers,  especially  the  monks  and 
ecclesiastics,  whom  they  robbed,  and  sometimes 
murdered.  Occasionally  they  were  so  bold  as  to 
invade  the  monasteries  and  churches,  stripping 
them  of  their  rich  ornaments,  their  plate  and 
other  valuables,  when,  loaded  with  booty,  they 
hurried  back  to  their  fastnesses.  The  evil  pro- 
ceeded to  such  a  length,  that  the  governor-general 
was  obliged  to  order  out  a  strong  force  to  extermi- 
nate the  banditti,  while  at  the  same  time  he  pub- 
lished an  edict,  declaring  that  every  district  should 
be  held  responsible  for  the  damage  done  to  prop- 
erty within  its  limits  by  these  marauders.^ 

It  might  be  supposed  that,  under  the  general 

»  Brandt,  Beformation  in  the  ^  Grotius,  Annales,  p.  29.  — 

^w  Countries,  vol.  I.  pp.   263,  Vandervynckt,  Troubles  des  P»y§- 

264,  et  alibi.  Bas,  torn.  II.  p.  450. 

VOL.  II.  80 


234 


BEIGN  OF  TERROIl. 


[Book  III 


feeling  of  resentment  provoked  by  Alva's  cruel 
policy,  his  life  would  have  been  in  constant  danger 
from  the  hand  of  the  assassin.  Once,  indeed,  he 
had  nearly  fallen  a  victim  to  a  conspiracy  headed 
by  two  brothers,  men  of  good  family  in  Flan- 
ders, who  formed  a  plan  to  kill  him  while  attend- 
ing mass  at  an  abbey  in  the  neighborhood  of  Brus- 
sels.^ But  Alva  was  not  destined  to  fall  by  the 
hand  of  violence. 

We  may  well  believe  that  wise  and  temperate 
men,  like  Viglius,  condemned  the  duke's  proceed- 
ings as  no  less  impolitic  than  cruel.  That  this 
veteran  councillor  did  so  is  apparent  from  his 
confidential  letters,  though  he  was  too  prudent  to 
expose  himself  to  Alva's  enmity  by  openly  avow- 
in<y  it.^  There  were  others,  however, — the  princes 
of  Germany,  in  particular,  —  who  had  no  such 
reasons  for  dissembling,  and  who  carried  their  re- 
monstrances to  a  higher  tribunal  than  that  of  the 
governor-general. 

On  the  second  of  March,  1568,  the  Emperor 
Maximilian,  in  the  name  of  the  electors,  ad- 
dressed a  letter  to  Philip,  in  behalf  of  his  op- 
pressed subjects  in  the  Netherlands.  He  reminded 
the  king  that  he  had  already  more  than  once,  and 
in  most  affectionate   terms,  interceded  with  him 


»  Campana,   Guerra  de  Fian-  criminalmmque  processuum  finem, 

dra,  fol.  38.  — Ferreras,  Hist  d*E-  qui  non  populum  tantum  nostrum, 

ipagne,  torn.  IX.  p.  555.  sed    vicinos    omnes    exasperant" 

39  "Valde    optaremus    tandem  Viglii    Epist    ad    Ilopperum,    |^ 

allquam    funesti    hujus    temporis,  482 


^ 


Ch.  m.] 


EESULTS. 


235 


for  a  milder  and  more  merciful  policy  towards  his 
Flemish  subjects.  He  entreated  his  royal  kins- 
man to  reflect  whether  it  were  not  better  to  insure 
the  tranquillity  of  the  state  by  winning  the  hearts 
of  his  people,  than  by  excessive  rigor  to  drive  them 
to  extremity.  And  he  concluded  by  intimating 
that,  as  a  member  of  the  Germanic  body,  the  Neth- 
erlands had  a  right  to  be  dealt  with  in  that  spirit 
of  clemency  which  was  confoimable  to  the  consti- 
tutions of  the  empire.*^ 

Although  neither  the  arguments  nor  the  impor- 
tunity of  Maximilian  had  power  to  shake  the  con- 
stancy of  Philip,  he  did  not  refuse  to  enter  into 
some  explanation,  if  not  vindication,  of  his  con- 
duct. "  What  I  have  done,"  he  replied,  "  has  been 
for  the  repose  of  the  provinces,  and  for  the  de- 
fence of  the  Catholic  faith.  If  I  had  respected 
justice  less,  I  should  have  despatched  the  whole 
business  in  a  single  day.  No  one  acquainted  with 
the  state  of  affairs  will  find  reason  to  censure  my 
severity.  Nor  would  I  do  otherwise  than  I  have 
done,  though  I  should  risk  the  sovereignty  of  the 
Netherlands,  —  no,  though  the  world  should  fall 
in  ruins  around  me ! "  *^  —  Such  a  reply  efiectually 
closed  the  correspondence. 


^  Correspondance  de  Philippe 
n.,  torn.  II.  p.  15. 

<l  "  Y  quando  por  esta  causa  se 
aventurassen  los  Estados,  y  me  vi- 
niesse  i  caer  el  mundo  encima." 
Ibid.,  p.  27. 

Philip  seems  to  have  put  him- 


self in  the  attitude  of  the  "jus- 
tum  et  tenacem  **  of  Horace.  His 
concluding  hyperbole  is  almost 
a  literal  version  of  the  Roman 
bard:  — 

**  Si  fractus  lllabatar  orlds, 
ImpaTidum  feH«nt  ruintt." 


236 


BEIGN  OF  TERROR. 


[Book  III 


The  wretched  people  of  the  Netherlands,  mean 
while,  now  looked  to  the  prince  of  Orange  as  the 
only  refuge  left  them,  under  Providence.  Those 
who  fled  the  country,  especially  persons  of  higher 
condition,  gathered  round  his  little  court  at  Dil- 
lemburg,  where  they  were  eagerly  devising  plans 
for  the  best  means  of  restoring  freedom  to  their 
country.  They  brought  with  them  repeated  in- 
vitations from  their  countrymen  to  William  that 
he  would  take  up  arms  in  their  defence.  The 
Protestants  of  Antwerp,  in  particular,  promised 
that,  if  he  would  raise  funds  by  coining  his  plate, 
they  would  agree  to  pay  him  double   the   value 

of  it.*^ 

William  had  no  wish  nearer  his  heart  than  that 
of  assuming  the  enterprise.  But  he  knew  the  diffi- 
culties that  lay  in  the  way,  and,  like  a  wise  man, 
he  was  not  disposed  to  enter  on  it  till  he  saw  the 
means  of  carrying  it  through  successfully.  To  the 
citizens  of  Antwerp  he  answered,  that  not  only 
would  he  devote  his  plate,  but  his  person  and  all 
that  he  possessed,  most  willingly,  for  the  freedom 
of  religion  and  of  his  country.**  But  the  expenses 
of  raising  a  force  were  great,  —  at  the  very  least, 
six  hundred  thousand  florins;  nor  could  he  now 
undertake  to  procure  that  amount,  unless  some  of 


«  Archives  de  la  Maison  d*0-  propose  touchant  sa  vasselle,  aim 

range-Nassau,  Supplement,  p.  87.  de  sa  propre  personne,  et  de  tout 

^  "  II  n'est  pas  seulement  con-  ce  que  rests  en  son  pouvoir."  n)id., 

tent  de  s'employer  k  la  n^essit^  p.  88. 
pr^sente  par  le  moyen  par  eulx 


Ch.  III.J 


ORANGE  ASSEMBLES  AN  ARMY. 


237 


the  principal  merchants,  whom  he  named,  would 
consent  to  remain  with  him  as  security.** 

In  the  mean  time  he  was  carrying  on  an  ex- 
tensive correspondence  with  the  German  princes, 
with  the  leaders  of  the  Huguenot  party  in  France, 
and  even  with  the  English  government,  —  endeav- 
oring to  propitiate  them  to  the  cause,  as  one  in 
which  every  Protestant  had  an  interest.  From 
the  elector  of  Saxony  and  the  landgrave  of  Hesse 
he  received  assurances  of  aid.  Considerable  sums 
seem  to  have  been  secretly  remitted  from  the  prin- 
cipal towns  in  the  Low  Coimtries;  while  Culem- 
borg,  Hoogstraten,  Louis  of  Nassau,  and  the  other 
great  lords  who  shared  his  exile,  contributed  as 
largely  as  their  dilapidated  fortunes  would  allow.*^ 
The  prince  himself  parted  with  his  most  precious 
effects,  pawning  his  jewels,  and  sending  his  plate 
to  the  mint,  —  "the  ornaments  of  a  palace,"  ex- 
claims an  old  writer,  "but  yielding  little  for  the 
necessities  of  war."  ^ 

By  these  sacrifices  a  considerable  force  was 
assembled  before  the  end  of  April;  consisting  of 


i; 


1 


44  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 

45  The  funds  were  chiefly  fur- 
nished, as  it  would  seem,  by  Ant- 
werp, and  the  great  towns  of  Hol- 
land, Zealand,  Friesland,  and  Gro- 
ningen,  the  quarter  of  the  country 
where  the  spirit  of  independence 
was  always  high.  The  noble  ex- 
iles with  William  contributed  half 
the  amount  raised.  This  informa- 
tion was  given  to  Alva  by  Villers, 
one  of  the  banished  lords,  after  he 


had  fallen  into  the  duke's  hands  in 
a  disastrous  affair,  of  which  some 
account  will  be  given  in  the  pres- 
ent chapter.  Correspondance  de 
Philippe  n.,  torn.  II.  p.  27. 

46  "  Ipse  Arausionensis  monilia, 
vasa  argentea,  tapetes,  caetera  su- 
pellectilis  divendit,  digna  regie 
palatio  omamenta,  sed  exigui  ad 
bellum  momenti."  Reidanus,  An- 
nales,  p.  6. 


t 


238 


BEIGN  OF  TERKOR. 


[Book  III 


the  most  irregular  and  incongruous  materials- 
There  were  German  mercenaries,  who  had  no 
interest  in  the  cause  beyond  their  pay;  Hugue- 
nots from  France,  who  brought  into  the  field  a 
hatred  of  the  Roman  Catholics  which  made  them 
little  welcome,  even  as  allies,  to  a  large  portion 
of  the  Netherlands;  and  lastly,  exiles  from  the 
Netherlands,  —  the  only  men  worthy  of  the  strug- 
gle, —  who  held  life  cheap  in  comparison  with  the 
great  cause  to  which  they  devoted  it.  But  these, 
however  strong  in  their  patriotism,  were  for  the 
most  part  simple  burghers,  untrained  to  arms, 
and  ill  fitted  to  cope  with  the  hardy  veterans  of 
Castile. 

Before  completing  his  levies,  the  prince  of 
Orange,  at  the  suggestion  of  his  friend,  the  land- 
grave of  Hesse,  prepared  and  published  a  docu- 
ment, known  as  his  "Justification,"  in  which  he 
vindicated  himself  and  his  cause  from  the  charges 
of  Alva.  He  threw  the  original  blame  of  the 
troubles  on  Granvelle,  denied  having  planned  or 
even  promoted  the  confederacy  of  the  nobles,  and 
treated  with  scorn  the  charge  of  having,  from  mo- 
tives of  criminal  ambition,  fomented  rebellion  in 
a  country  where  he  had  larger  interests  at  stake 
than  almost  any  other  inhabitant.  He  touched 
on  his  own  services,  as  well  as  those  of  his  ances- 
tors, and  the  ingratitude  with  which  they  had 
been  requited  by  the  throne.  And  in  conclusion, 
he  prayed  that  his  majesty  might  at  length  open 
his  eyes  to  the  innocence  of  his  persecuted  subjects, 


^ 


•* 
i- 


Ch.  m.] 


ORANGE  ASSEMBLES  AN  ARMY. 


239 


and  that  it  might  be  made  apparent  to  the  world 
that  the  wrongs  inflicted  on  them  had  come  from 
evil  counsellors  rather  than  himself.*^ 

The  plan  of  the  campaign  was,  to  distract  the 
duke's  attention,  and,  if  possible,  create  a  general 
rising  in  the  country,  by  assailing  it  on  three  several 
points  at  once.  A  Huguenot  corps,  under  an  ad- 
venturer named  Cocqueville,  was  to  operate  against 
Artois.  Hoogstraten,  with  the  lord  of  Villers,  and 
others  of  the  banished  nobles,  were  to  penetrate 
the  country  in  a  central  direction,  through  Brabant. 
While  William's  brothers,  the  Counts  Louis  and 
Adolphus,  at  the  head  of  a  force,  partly  Flemish, 
partly  German,  were  to  carry  the  war  over  the 


*7  The  "  Justification  "  has  been 
very  commonly  attributed  to  the 
pen  of  the  learned  Languet,  who 
was  much  in  William's  confidence, 
and  is  known  to  have  been  with 
him  at  this  time.  But  William  was 
too  practised  a  writer,  as  Groen 
well  suggests,  to  make  it  proba- 
ble that  he  would  trust  the  com- 
position of  a  paper  of  such  mo- 
ment to  any  hand  but  his  own. 
It  is  very  likely  that  he  submit- 
ted his  own  draft  to  the  revision 
of  Languet,  whose  political  sagaci- 
ty he  well  understood.  And  this 
is  the  most  that  can  be  fairly  in- 
ferred from  Languet's  own  account 
of  the  matter :  "  Fui  Dillemburgi 
per  duodecim  et  tredecim  dies,  ubi 
Princeps  Orangiae  mihi  et  aliquot 
aliis  curavit  prolixe  explicari  cau- 
las  et  initia  tumultuum  in  inferiore 
Germania  et  suam  responsionem 


ad  accusationes  Albani."  It  fared 
with  the  prince's  "  Justification  ** 
as  it  did  with  the  famous  "  Farewell 
Address  "  of  Washington,  so  often 
attnbuted  to  another  pen  than  his ; 
but  which,  however  much  it  may 
have  been  benefited  by  the  coun- 
sels and  corrections  of  others,  bears 
on  every  page  unequivocal  marks 
of  its  genuineness. 

The  "Justification"  called  out 
several  answers  from  the  opposite 
party.  Among  them  were  two  by 
Vargas  and  Del  Rio.  But  in  the 
judgment  of  Vigiius — whose  bias 
certainly  did  not  He  on  AVilliam's 
side — these  answers  were  a  failure. 
See  his  letter  to  Hopper  (Epist 
adHopperum,p.458).  The  reader 
will  find  a  full  discussion  of  the 
matter  by  Groen,  in  the  Archives 
de  la  Maison  d'Orange-Nassau,  took 
III.  p.^  187. 


I  : 


If 

.1 


240 


BEIGN  OF  TEEEOB. 


[Book  IH 


i 
I 


northern  borders,  into  Groningen.  The  prince  him- 
self,  who  established  his  head-quarters  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Cleves,  was  busy  in  assembling  a  force 
prepared  to  support  any  one  of  the  divisions,  as 
occasion  might  require. 

It  was  the  latter  part  of  April,  before  Hoogstra- 
ten  and  Louis  took  the  field.     The  Huguenots 
were  still  later ;  and  William  met  with  difficulties 
which  greatly  retarded  the  formation  of  his  own 
corps.     The   great  difficulty  —  one  which   threat- 
ened to  defeat  the  enterprise  at  its  commencement 
—  was  the  want  of  money ;  equally  felt  in  raising 
troops   and   in  enforcing  discipline   among   them 
when  they  were  raised.     "  If  you  have  any  love 
for  me,"  he  writes  to  his  friend,  the  "wise"  land-, 
grave  of  Hesse,  "  I  beseech  you  to  aid  me  private- 
ly with  a  sum  sufficient  to  meet  the  pay  of  the 
troops  for  the  first  month.     Without  this  I  shall 
be  in  danger  of  failing  in  my  engagements,  —  to 
me  worse  than  death ;  to  say  nothing  of  the  ruin 
which  such  a  failure  must  bring  on  our  credit  and 
on  the  cause."  ^    We  are  constantly  reminded,  in 
the  career  of  the  prince  of  Orange,  of  the  embar- 
rassments under  which  our  own  Washington  la- 
bored in  the  time  of  the  Kevolution,  and  of  the 
patience  and  imconquerable  spirit  which  enabled 
him  to  surmount  them. 

«  »t  En  quoy  ne  gist  pas  seule-  merois  mieulx  morir  que  les  faillir 

ment  le  bien  de  ce  faict,  msus  aussi  k  ma  promesse.''    Archives  de  la 

mon  honeur  et  reputation,  pour  Maison  d*Orange-Nassau,  Supple 

avoir  promis  aus  gens  de  guerre  ment,  p.  89. 
leur  paier  le  diet  mois,  et  que  j'ay- 


Ch.  m.] 


OEANGE  ASSEMBLES  AN  ABMT. 


241 


Little  need  be  said  of  two  of  the  expeditions, 
which  were  failures.  Hoogstraten  had  scarcely 
crossed  the  frontier,  towards  the  end  of  April,  when 
he  was  met  by  Alva's  trusty  lieutenant,  Sancho 
Davila,  and  beaten,  with  considerable  loss.  Villers 
and  some  others  of  the  rebel  lords,  made  prisoners, 
escaped  the  sword  of  the  enemy  in  the  field,  to 
fall  by  that  of  the  executioner  in  Brussels.  Hoog- 
straten, with  the  remnant  of  his  forces,  made  good 
his  retreat,  and  efiected  a  junction  with  the  prince 
of  Orange.*^ 

Cocqueville  met  with  a  worse  fate.  A  detach- 
ment of  French  troops  was  sent  against  him  by 
Charles  the  Ninth,  who  thus  requited  the  ser- 
vice of  the  same  kind  he  had  lately  received  from 
the  duke  of  Alva.  On  the  approach  of  their  coun- 
tiymen,  the  Huguenots  basely  laid  down  their 
aims.  Cocqueville  and  his  principal  officers  were 
surrounded,  made  prisoners,  and  perished  ignomin- 
iously  on  the  scaflbld.^ 

The  enterprise  of  Louis  of  Nassau  was  attended 
with  different  results.  Yet  after  he  had  pene- 
trated into  Groningen,  he  was  sorely  embarrassed 
by  the  mutinous  spirit  of  the  German  mercenaries. 
The  province  was  defended  by  Count  Aremberg, 
its  governor,  a  brave  old  officer,  who  had  studied 
the  art  of  war  under  Charles  the  Fifth;  one  of 
those  models  of  chivalry  on  whom  the  men  of  a 


^t 


^  Mendoza,  Comentarios,  p.  42  50  Meteren,  Hist,  des  Pays-Bas, 

et  seq.  —  Cornejo,  Disension   de  fol.  56.  —  De  Thou,  Hist  Univer- 

Flandes,  p.  63.  selle,  torn.  V.  p.  443. 

VOL.  II.  81 


242 


BEIGN  OF  TERROR. 


[Book  IH 


i 


ii> 


younger  generation  are  ambitious  to  form  them- 
selves.  He  had  been  employed  on  many  distin- 
guished  services,  and  there  were  few  men  at  the 
court  of  Brussels  who  enjoyed  higher  consideration 
under  both  Philip  and  his  father.  The  strength 
of  his  forces  lay  in  his  Spanish  infantry.  He  was 
deficient  in  cavalry,  but  was  soon  to  be  reinforced 
by  a  body  of  horse  under  Count  Megen,  who 
was  a  day's  march  in  his  rear. 

Aremberg   soon   came  in  sight   of  Louis,   who 
was  less  troubled  by  the  presence   of  his  enemy 
than  by  the  disorderly  conduct  of  his  German  sol- 
diers, clamorous  for  their  pay.     Doubtful  of  his 
men,  Louis  declined  to  give  battle  to  a  foe  so  far 
superior  to  him  in  everything  but  numbers.     He 
accordingly  established  himself  in  an  uncommonly 
strong  position,  which  the  nature  of  the  ground 
fortunately  afforded.      In  his   rear,   protected  by 
a  thick  wood,  stood  the  convent  of  Heyligerlee, 
which  gave  its  name  to  the  battle.     In  front  the 
land  sloped  towards  an  extensive  morass.     His  in- 
fantry,  on  the  left,  was  partly  screened  by  a  hill 
from  the  enemy's  fire;  and  on  the  right  he  sta- 
tioned his   cavalry,   under   the   command    of   his 
brother  Adolphus,   who  was   to  fall  on  the   ene- 
my's flank,  should  they  be  hardy  enough  to  give 

battle. 

But  Aremberg  was  too  well  acquainted  with 
the  difficulties  of  the  ground  to  risk  an  engage- 
ment, at  least  till  he  was  strengthened  by  the 
reinforcement   under  Megen.     Unfortunately,  the 


Cb.  m.] 


BATTLE  OF  HEYLIGERLEE. 


243 


Spanish  infantry,  accustomed  to  victory,  and  feel- 
ing  a  contempt  for  the  disorderly  levies  opposed 
to  them,  loudly  called  to  be  led  against  the  here- 
tics. In  vain  their  more  prudent  general  persisted 
in  his  plan.  They  chafed  at  the  delay,  refusing  to 
a  Flemish  commander  the  obedience  which  they 
might  probably  have  paid  to  one  of  their  own  na- 
tion. They  openly  accused  him  of  treachery,  and 
of  having  an  understanding  with  his  countrymen 
in  the  enemy's  camp.  Stung  by  their  reproaches, 
Aremberg  had  the  imprudence  to  do  what  more 
than  one  brave  man  has  been  led  to  do,  both  be- 
fore and  since;  he  surrendered  his  own  judgment 
to  the  importunities  of  his  soldiers.  Crying  out 
that  "  they  should  soon  see  if  he  were  a  traitor ! "" 
he  put  himself  at  the  head  of  his  little  army, 
and  marched  against  the  enemy.  His  artillerj^, 
meanwhile,  which  he  had  posted  on  his  right, 
opened  a  brisk  fire  on  Louis's  left  wing,  where, 
owing  to  the  nature  of  the  ground,  it  did  little 
execution. 

Under  cover  of  this  fire  the  main  body  of  the 
Spanish  infantry  moved  forward;  but,  as  their 
commander  had  foreseen,  the  men  soon  became 
entangled  in  the  morass ;  their  ranks  were  thrown 
into  disorder ;  and  when  at  length,  after  long  and 


m 


M  **  Ains,  comme  gens  prede-  ennemis.    Luy,  qui  estoit  tout  no- 

stinez  k  leur  malheur  et  de  leur  ble  et  courageux,  leur  dit :  *  Ouy, 

general,  crierent  plus  que  devant  je  vous  monstreray  si  je  le  suis.'  * 

contre  luy  jusques  k  Tappeller  trai-  Brantdme,  (Euvres,  torn.  L  p.  382. 
itre,  et  qu*il  s'entendoit  avec  lea 


244 


BEIGN  OF  TERROR. 


[Book  III 


painful  efforts,  they  emerged  on  the  firm  ground. 
they  were  more  spent  with  toU  than  they  would 
have  been  after  a  hard  day's  march.     Thus  jad- 
ed,  and  sadly  in  disarray,  they  were  at  once  as- 
sailed  in  front  by  an  enemy  who,  conscious  of  his 
own  advantage,  was  all  fresh  and  hot  for  action. 
Notwithstanding  their  distressed  condition,  Arem- 
berg's  soldiers  maintained  their  ground  for  some 
time,  like  men  unaccustomed  to  defeat.    At  length, 
Louis  ordered  the  cavalry  on  his  right  to  charge 
Aremberg's  flank.     This   unexpected    movement, 
occurring  at  a  critical  moment,  decided  the  day. 
AssaUed  in  front  and  in  flank,  hemmed  m  by  the 
fatal  morass  in  the  rear,  the  Spaniards  were  thrown 
into  utter  confusion.     In  vain  their  gallant  leader, 
proof  against  danger,  though  not  against  the  taunts 
of  his  foUowers,  endeavored  to  rally. them.     His 
horse    was    killed  under    him;    and  as  he  was 
mounting  another,  he  received  a  shot  from  a  foot- 
soldier,  and  feU  mortaUy  wounded  from  his  sad- 
die  ^    The  rout  now  became  general.     Some  took 
to  the  morass,  and  feU  into   the  hands   of  the 
™tors.     Some    succeeded  in   cutting    their  way 


M  Brantdme  has  given  U8  the 

portrait  of  this  Flemish  nobleman, 

with  whom  he  became  acquainted 

on  his  visit  to  Paris,  when  sent 

thither  by  Alva   to    relieve   the 

French  monarch.    The  chivalrous 

old  writer  dwells  on  the  personal 

appearance  of  Aremberg,  his  noble 

mien  and  Hgh-bred  courtesy,  which 

made  him  a  favorite  with  the  dames 


ofthe  royal  circle.  "Untresbeau 
et  tres  agreable  seigneur,  surtout 
de  fort  grande  et  haute  taille  et  de 
tres  belle  apparence."  ((Euvres, 
tom.  I.  p.  883.)  Nor  does  he  omit 
to  mention,  among  other  accom- 
plishments, the  fluency  with  which 
he  could  speak  French  and  several 
other  languages.    Ibid.,  p.  884. 


ill 


J?H.  m.] 


BATTLE  OF  HEYLIGERLEE. 


245 


! 


thi-ough  the  ranks  of  their  assaUants,  whUe  many 
more  lost  their  lives  in  the  attempt.  The  ground 
was  covered  with  the  wounded  and  the  dead.  The 
victory  was  complete. 

Sixteen  hundred  of  the  enemy  were  left  on  that 
fatal  field.     In  the  imagination  of  the  exile  thirst- 
ing  for  vengeance,  it  might  serve  in  some  degree 
to  balance  the  bloody  roll  of  victims  whom  the 
pitiless   duke   had   sent   to   their   account.     Nme 
pieces  of  artillery,  with  a  large  quantity  of  ammu 
nition  and  mQitary  stores,  a  rich  service  of  plate 
belonging  to  Aremberg,  and  a  considerable   sum 
of  money  lately  received  by  him  to  pay  the  arrears 
of  the  soldiers,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  patriots. 
Yet  as  serious  a  loss  as  any  inflicted  on  the  Span- 
iards was   that  of  their  brave  commander.     His 
corpse,  disfigured  by  wounds,  was  recognized,  amid 
a  heap  of  the  slain,  by  the  insignia  of  the  Golden^ 
Fleece,  which  he  wore  round  his  neck,  and  which 
Louis  sent  to  the  prince,  his  brother,  as  a  proud 
trophy  of  his  victory.^     The  joy  of  the  conquer- 
ors was  dimmed  by  one  mournful  event,  the  death 
of  Count  Adolphus  of  Nassau,  who  fell,  bravely 
fighting,   at   the  head  of  his  troops,  one   of  the 
first   victims   in   the  war  of  the   revolution.     He 
was  a  younger  brother  of  WiUiam,  only  twenty- 
seven   years   of  age.     But  he  had  already  given 
promise   of  those   heroic   qualities   which   proved 

«3  See  a  letter  written,  as  seems  week  after  the  battle.  Archivei 
probable,  by  a  councillor  of  Wil-  de  la  Maison  d'Orange-Nassau  torn, 
^am  to  the  elector  of  Saxony,  the    III.  p.  2M.  ' 


tl 


^1 

II 


> 


S46 


EEIGN  OF  TERBOR. 


[Book  in. 


Cb.  m.] 


ALVA'S  PROCEEDINGS. 


241 


him  worthy  of  the  generous  race  from  which  he 

sprung."  .    .1  .  J     X 

The  battle  was  fought  on  the  twenty-third  of 

May,  1568.     On  the  day  following,  Count  Megen 

arrived  with  a  reinforcement ;  too  late  to  secure  the 

victory,  but  not,  as  it  proved,  too  late  to  snatch 

the  fruits  of  it  from  the  victors.     By  a  rapid  move- 

ment   he  succeeded  in  throwing  himself  into  the 

town' of  Groningen,  and  thus  saved  that  important 

place  from  falUng  into  the  hands  of  the  patriots 

The  tidings  of  the  battle  of  Heyligerlee  caused 

a  great  sensation  through  the  country.     While  it 

raised  the  hopes  of  the  malecontents,  it  filled  the 

duke  of  Alva  with  indignation,  -  the  greater,  as 

he  perceived  that  the  loss  of  the  battle  was  to  be 

referred  mainly  to  the  misconduct  of  his  own  sol- 

diers.     He  saw  with  alarm  the  disastrous   effect 


M  It  18  a  common  report  of  his- 
torians, that  Adolpbus  and  Arem- 
berg  met  in  single  combat  in  the 
thick  of  the  fight,  and  fell  by  each 
other's  hands.     See  Cornejo,  Di- 
sension  de  Flandes,  fol.  63 ;  Stra- 
cla,  De  Bello  Belgico,  torn.  I.  p. 
282;  et  d.    An  incident  so  ro- 
mantic found  easy  credit  in  a  ro- 
mantic age. 

M  The  accounts  of  the  battle  of 
Heyligerlee,  given  somewhat  con- 
fusedly, may  be  found  in  Herrcra, 
Hist  del  Mundo,  tom.  I.  p.  688  et 
seq.;  Campana,  Guerra  di  Fian- 
dra,  (Vicenza,  1602,)  p.  42  et  seq.; 
Mendoza,  Comentarios,   (Madrid, 
1592,)   p.  43   et   seq.;    Cornejo, 
Disension  de  Flandes,  fol.  66  et 


seq.;  Camero,  Guerras  de  Flandes, 
(Brusselas,  1625,)  p.  24  et  seq. ; 
Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  tom.  I. 
p.  382  et  seq.;  Bentivoglio,  Guerra 
di  Fiandra,  p.  192  et  seq. 

The  last  writer  tells  us  he  had 
heard  the  story  more  than  once 
from  the  son  and  heir  of  the  de- 
ceased Count  Aremberg,  who  sorely 
lamented  that  his  gallant  father 
should  have  thrown  away  his  life 
for  a  mistaken  point  of  honor. 

In  addition  to  the  above  author- 
ities, I  regret  it  is  not  in  my  power 
to  cite  a  volume  published  by  M. 
Gachard  since  the  present  chapter 
was  written.  It  contains  the  cor- 
respondence  of  Alva  relating  t» 
the  invasion  by  Louis. 


likely  to  be  produced  by  so  brilliant  a  success  on 
the  part  of  the  rebels,  in  the  very  beginning  of 
the  struggle.  The  hardy  men  of  Friesland  would 
rise  to  assert  their  independence.  The  prince  of 
Orange,  with  his  German  levies,  would  unite  'with 
his  victorious  brother,  and,  aided  by  the  inhabit- 
ants, would  be  in  condition  to  make  formidable 
head  against  any  force  that  Alva  could  muster.  It 
was  an  important  crisis,  and  called  for  prompt  and 
decisive  action.  The  duke,  with  his  usual  energy, 
determined  to  employ  no  agent  here,  but  to  take 
the  affair  into  his  own  hands,  concentrate  his 
forces,  and  march  in  person  against  the  enemy. 

Yet  there  were  some  things  he  deemed  necessary 
to  be  done,  if  it  were  only  for  their  effect  on  the 
public  mind,  before  entering  on  the  campaign. 
On  the  twenty-eighth  of  May,  sentence  was  passed 
on  the  prince  of  Orange,  his  brother  Louis,  and 
their  noble  companions.  They  were  pronounced 
guilty  of  contumacy  in  not  obeying  the  summons 
of  the  council,  and  of  levying  war  against  the 
king.  For  this  they  were  condemned  to  perpetual 
banishment,  and  their  estates  confiscated  to  the 
use  of  the  crown.  The  sentence  was  signed  by 
the  duke  of  Alva.^  William's  estates  had  been 
already  sequestrated,  and  a  body  of  Spanish  troops  \ 
was  quartered  in  his  town  of  Breda. 

Another  act,   of  a   singular    nature,   intimated 
pretty  clearly  the  dispositions  of  the  government, 

5f  Viglii  Epist.  ad  Hopperum,  p.    of  Orange  may  be  found  in  the 
481  —The  sentence  of  the  prince     Sententien  van  Alba,  p.  70. 


1 


'ill 


I 

f 


248 


BBIGIl  OF  TERBOB. 


|6ooK  in 


Ch.  m.] 


ALVA'S  PROCEEDINGS. 


249 


The  duke  caused  the  Hotel  de  Culemborg,  where 
he  had  fixed  his  own  residence  before  the  regent's 
departure,  and  where   the  Gueux  had  held  their 
meetings   on   coming  to  Brussels,  to  be   levelled 
with  the  ground.     On  the  spot  a  marble  column 
was   raised,   bearing    on   each   side    of  the    base 
the  following  inscription :   "  Here  once  stood  the 
mansion  of  Florence  Pallant,"  —  the  name  of  the 
Count  of  Culemborg,  —  "  now  razed  to  the  ground 
for  the  execrable  conspiracy  plotted  therein  against 
religion,  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  the  king's 
majesty,  and   the   country." «     Alva  by  this   act 
intended  doubtless  to  proclaim  to  the  world,  not 
80  much    his    detestation    of  the    confederacy  — 
that  would  have  been   superfluous  —  as   his   de- 
termination to  show  no  mercy  to  those  who  had 
taken  part  in  it.     Indeed,  in  his  letters,  on  more 
than  one  occasion,  he  speaks  of  the  signers  of  the 
Compromise  as  men  who  had  placed  themselves 
beyond  the  pale  of  mercy. 

But  all  these  acts  were  only  the  prelude  to  the 
dismal  tragedy  which  was  soon  to  be  performed. 
Nearly  nine  months  had  elapsed  since  the  ar- 
rest  of  the  Counts  Egmont  and  Hoome.  Dur- 
ing  all  this  time  they  had  remamed  prisoners  of 


w  Viglii  Epist.  ad  Hopperum, 
p.  481.  —  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgi- 
co,  torn.  I.  p.  373.  —  Vera  y  Fi- 
gueroa,  Vida  de  Alva,  p.  101. 

The  Hotel  de  Culemborg,  so 
memorable  for  its  connection  with 
the  early  meetings  of  the  Gueux, 


had  not  been  long  in  possession  of 
Count  Culemborg,  who  purchased 
it  as  late  as  1556.  It  stood  on  the 
Place  du  Petit  Sablon.  See  Reif- 
fenberg,  Correspondance  de  Mar- 
guerite d*Autriche,  p.  863. 


State,  under  a  strong  guard,  in  the  castle  of  Ghent. 
Their  prosecution  had  been  conducted  in  a  de- 
liberate, and  indeed  dilatory  manner,  which  had 
nourished  in  their  friends  the  hope  of  a  favor- 
able issue.  Alva  now  determined  to  bring  the 
trial  to  a  close,  —  to  pass  sentence  of  death  on 
the  two  lords,  and  to  carry  it  into  execution  be- 
fore departing  on  his  expedition. 

It  was  in  vain  that  some  of  his  counsellors 
remonstrated  on  the  impolicy,  at  a  crisis  like 
the  present,  of  outraging  the  feelings  of  the 
nation,  by  whom  Egmont,  in  particular,  was  so 
much  beloved.  In  vain  they  suggested  that  the 
two  nobles  would  serve  as  hostages  for  the  good 
behaviour  of  the  people  during  his  absence,  since 
any  tumult  must  only  tend  to  precipitate  the  fate 
of  the  prisoners.^  Whether  it  was  that  Alva 
distrusted  the  eflfect  on  his  master  of  the  impor- 
tunities, from  numerous  quarters,  in  their  behalf; 
or,  what  is  far  more  likely,  that  he  feared  lest  some 
popular  rising,  during  his  absence,  might  open  the 
gates  to  his  prisoners,  he  was  determined  to  pro- 
ceed at  once  to  their  execution.  His  appetite  for 
vengeance  may  have  been  sharpened  by  mortifi- 
cation at  the  reverse  his  arms  had  lately  expe- 
rienced ;  and  he  may  have  felt  that  a  blow  like  the 
present  would  be  the  most  effectual  to  humble  the 
arrogance  of  the  nation. 

w  "  His  tamen  Albanus  facile    praesertira    offerrentur,    avereug.* 
contemptis,  quippe  k  diutemi  re-    Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  torn.  L  p 
rum  experientia  suspicax,  et  suopte    386. 
ingenio  ab  aliorum  consiliis,  si  ultr6 

32 


I 


N 


:   <i 


f  1 


VOL.   II. 


•   I 


250 


REIGN  OF  TERROR. 


[Book  m. 


Ch.  m.] 


ALVA'S  PROCEEDINGS. 


25' 


There  were  some  other  prisoners,  of  less  note, 
but  of  no  litde  consideration,  who  remained  to  be 
disposed  of.     Their  execution  would  prepare  the 
public   mind   for   the   last   scene    of  the   drama. 
There  were  nineteen  persons  who,  at  this  time,  lay 
in  confinement  in  the  castle  of  Vilvoorde,  a  for- 
tress  of  great  strength,  two  leagues  distant  from 
Brussels.     They  were   chiefly  men  of  rank,   and 
for   the   most  part  members  of  the  Union.     For 
these  latter,  of  course,  there  was  no  hope.     Their 
trials  were   now  concluded,  and  they  were   only 
waiting  their  sentences.     On  the  ominous  twenty- 
eighth  of  May,  a  day  on  which  the  Council  of 
Blood    seems    to    have    been    uncommonly   alert, 
they  were  all,  without  exception,  condemned  to  be 
beheaded,   and   their   estates   were   confiscated   to 

the  public  use. 

On  the  first  of  June,  they  were  brought  to  Brus- 
sels, having  been  escorted  there  by  nine  companies 
of  Spanish  infantry,  were  conducted  to  the  great 
square  in  front  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  and,  while  the 
drums  beat  to  prevent  their  last  words  from  reach- 
ing the  ears  of  the  by-standers,  their  heads  were 
struck  off  by  the  sword  of  the  executioner.     Eight 
of  the  number,  who  died  in  the  Roman  Catholic 
faith,  were  graciously  allowed  the  rites  of  Christian 
burial.     The  heads  of  the  remaining  eleven  were 
set  upon  poles,  and  their  bodies  left  to  rot  upon 
the  gibbet,  like  those  of  the  vHest  malefactors."* 

»  Ibid.,  ubi  supra.  -  Guerres  The  third  volume  of  tho  Archives 
Civiles  du  Pavs-Bas,  p.  1 71.-Me-  de  la  Maison  d'OranJIe-^assau  con- 
t4jren,  Hist  des  Pav^Bas,  fol.  57.       tains  a  report  of  th^s   exc.  utio/i 


On  the  second  of  June,  ten  or  twelve  more, 
some  of  them  persons  of  distmction,  perished  on 
the  scaffold,  in  the  same  square  in  Brussels.  Among 
these  was  Villers,  the  companion  of  Hoogstraten 
in  the  ill-starred  expedition  to  Brabant,  in  which 
he  was  made  prisoner.  Since  his  captivity  he 
had  made  some  disclosures  respecting  the  meas- 
ures of  Orange  and  his  party,  which  might  have 
entitled  him  to  the  consideration  of  Alva.  But  he 
had  signed  the  Compromise. 

On  the  following  day,  five  other  victims  were 
led  to  execution  within  the  walls  of  Vilvoorde, 
where  they  had  been  long  confined.  One  of  these 
has  some  interest  for  us,  Casembrot,  lord  of  Back- 
erzeele,  Egmont's  confidential  secretary.  That  un- 
fortunate gentleman  had  been  put  to  the  rack 
more  than  once,  to  draw  from  him  disclosures  to 
the  prejudice  of  Egmont.  But  his  constancy 
proved  stronger  than  the  cruelty  of  his  persecu- 
tors. He  was  now  to  close  his  sufferings  by  an 
ignominious  death ;  so  far  fortunate,  however,  that 


from  an  eyewitness,  a  courier  of 
Alva,  who  left  Brussels  the  day 
after  the  event,  and  was  inter- 
cepted on  his  route  by  the  patriots. 
One  may  imagine  the  interest  with 
which  William  and  his  friends  lis- 
tened to  the  recital  of  the  tragedy; 
and  how  deep  must  have  been 
their  anxiety  for  the  fate  of  their 
other  friends,  —  Hoome  and  Eg- 
mont in  particular,  —  over  whom 
the  sword  of  the  executioner  huns 
by  a  thread.    We  may  well  credit 


the  account  of  the  consternation 
that  reigned  throughout  Brussels. 
"  n  affinne  que  c'estoit  une  chose 
de  Tautre  monde,  le  crys,  lamenta- 
tion et  juste  compassion  qu*aviont 
tous  ceux  de  la  ville  du  dit  Bru- 
xelles,  nobles  et  ignobles,  pour  cest« 
barbare  tyrannic,  mais  que  non- 
obstant,  ce  cestuy  Nero  d'Alve  se 
vante  en  ferat  le  semblable  de  tous 
ceulx  quy  potra  avoir  en  mains." 
p.  241. 


I 


I 


li 


!  ?l 


252 


BEIGN  OF  TEKROR. 


[Book  llL 


it  saved  him  from  witnessing  the  fate  of  his  be- 
loved master.*^  Such  were  the  gloomy  scenes 
which  ushered  in  the  great  catastrophe  of  the  fifth 
of  June. 


w  If  we  are  to  believe  Benti- 
voglio,  Backerzeele  was  torn  asun- 
der by  horses.  **  Da  quattro  ca- 
valli  fu  smembrato  vivo  in  Brus- 
selles  il  Casembrot  gik  segretario 
dell*  Agamonte.**  (Guerra  di  Fi- 
andra,  p.  200.)  But  Alva's  char- 
acter, hard  and  unscrupulous  as  he 
may  have  been  in  carrying  out  his 
designs,  does  not  warrant  the  im- 
putation of  an  act  of  such  wanton 
cruelty  as  this.  Happily  it  is  not 
justified  by  historic  testimony  ;  no 
notice  of  the  fact  being  found  in 
Strada,  or  Meteren,  or  the  author 
of  the  Guerres  Civiles  du  Pays- 


Bas,  not  to  add  other  writers  of 
the  time,  who  cannot  certainly  be 
charged  with  undue  partiality  to 
the  Spaniards.  If  so  atrocious  a 
deed  had  been  perpetrated,  it 
would  be  passing  strange  that  it 
should  not  have  found  a  place  in 
the  catalogue  of  crimes  imputed 
to  Alva  by  the  prince  of  Orange. 
See,  in  particular,  his  letter  to 
Schwendi,  written  in  an  agony  of 
grief  and  indignation,  soon  after 
he  had  learned  the  execution  of 
his  friends.  Archives  de  la  Mai- 
son  d'Orange-Nassau,  tom.  ILL  pu 
244. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

TRIALS  OF  EGMONT  AND  HOORNE. 

The  Examination.— Efforts  in  their  Behalf.—  Specification  of  Chai^en 
—  Sentence  of  Death.  —  The  Processes  reviewed. 

1568. 

Nine  months  had  now  elapsed  since  the  Counts 
Egmont  and  Hoome  had  been  immured  within 
the  strong  citadel  of  Ghent.  During  their  con- 
finement they  had  met  with  even  less  indulgence 
thdn  was  commonly  shown  to  prisoners  of  state. 
They  were  not  allowed  to  take  the  air  of  the  cas- 
tie,  and  were  debarred  from  all  intercourse  with 
the  members  of  their  families.  The  sequestration 
of  their  property  at  the  time  of  their  arrest  had 
moreover  reduced  them  to  such  extreme  indigence, 
that  but  for  the  care  of  their  friends  they  would 
have  wanted  the  common  necessaries  of  life.^ 

During  this  period  their  enemies  had  not  been 
idle.     We  have  seen,  at  the  time  of  the  arrest  of 


1  Bor,  the  old  Dutch  historian,  tually  have  starved  in  prison  from 

contemporary  with  these  events,  want  of  money  to  procure  himself 

says   that,   "if  it  had   not   been  food  I*'     Arend,   Algemeene   Ge- 

for  the  countess-dowager,  Hoome*s  schiedenis  des  Vaderlands,  D.  II. 

Btcp-roother,  that  noble  would  ac-  St.  Y.  bl.  87. 


J 


{\ 


•254  TRIALS  OF  EGMONT  AOT)  HOORNE.      [Book  IIL 

the  two  nobles,  that  their  secretaries  and  their 
private  papers  had  been  also  seized.  "Backer- 
zeele,"  writes  the  duke  of  Alva  to  Philip,  "  makes 
disclosures  every  day  respecting  his  master,  Count 
Egmont.  When  he  is  put  to  the  torture,  wonders 
may  be  expected  from  him  in  this  way ! "  *  But 
all  that  the  rack  extorted  from  the  unhappy  man 
was  some  obscure  intimation  respecting  a  place  in 
which  Egmont  had  secreted  a  portion  of  his  effects. 
After  turning  up  the  ground  in  every  direction 
round  the  castle  of  Ghent,  the  Spaniards  succeed- 
ed in  disinterring  eleven  boxes  filled  with  plate, 
and  some  caskets  of  jewels,  and  other  precious 
articles,  —  all  that  now  remained  of  Egmont's  once 
splendid  fortune.* 

Meanwhile  commissioners  were  sent  into  the 
provinces  placed  under  the  rule  of  the  two  noble- 
men  to  collect  information  respecting  their  govern- 
ment. The  burgomasters  of  the  towns  were  close- 
ly questioned,  and  where  they  showed  reluctance, 
were  compelled  by  menaces  to  answer.  But  what 
Alva  chiefly  relied  on  was  the  examination  of  the 
prisoners  themselves. 

On  the  twelfth  of  November,  1567,  a  commission 
composed  of  Vargas,  Del  Rio,  and  the  Secretary 
Pratz,  proceeded  to  Ghent,  and  began  a  personal 
examination  of  Egmont.     The  interrogatories  cov- 

«  «  Ce  dernier  fait  chaque  jour  dance  de  Philippe  II.,  torn.  I.  p. 

des  aveux',  et  on  pent  s'attendre  589. 

qull  dira  des  merveilles,  lorsqull  3  Vandervynckt,  Troubles  del 

sera  mis  h  la  torture.**    Correspon-  Pay»-Ba8,  torn.  II.  p.  247. 


Ch.  IV.J 


THE  EXAMINATION. 


255 


ered  the  whole  ground  of  the  recent  troubles. 
They  were  particularly  directed  to  ascertain  Eg- 
mont's  relations  with  the  reformed  party,  but  above 
all,  his  connection  with  the  confederates,  —  the 
ofience  of  deepest  dye  in  the  view  of  the  commis- 
sioners. The  examination  continued  through  five 
days;  and  a  record,  signed  and  sworn  to  by  the 
several  parties,  furnished  the  basis  of  the  future 
proceedings  against  the  prisoner.  A  similar  course 
was  then  taken  in  regard  to  Hoome.* 

In  the  mean  time  the  friends  of  the  two  nobles 
were  making  active  exertions  in  their  behalf.  Eg- 
mont, as  we  have  already  seen,  was  married  to  a 
German  princess,  Sabina,  sister  of  the  elector  of 
Bavaria,  —  a  lady  who,  from  her  rank,  the  charm 
of  her  manners,  and  her  iiTeproachable  character, 
was  the  most  distinguished  ornament  of  the  court 
of  Brussels.  She  was  the  mother  of  eleven  chil- 
dren, the  eldest  of  them  still  of  tender  age.  Sur- 
rounded  by  this  numerous  and  helpless  family, 
thus  suddenly  reduced  from  affluence  to  miserable 


*  The  InterrogcUoireSj  filling 
nearly  fifty  octavo  pages,  were 
given  to  the  public  by  the  late 
Baron  Reiffenberg,  at  the  end  of 
his  valuable  compilation  of  the  cor- 
respondence of  Margaret.  Both 
the  questions  and  answers,  strange 
as  it  may  seem,  were  original- 
ly drawn  up  in  Castilian.  A 
French  version  was  immediately 
made  by  the  Secretary  Pratz, — 
probably  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Flemish  councillors  of  the  bloody 


tribunal.  Both  the  Castilian  and 
French  MSS.  were  preserved  in 
the  archives  of  the  house  of  Eg- 
mont until  the  middle  of  the  last 
century,  when  an  unworthy  heir 
of  this  ancient  line  suffered  them 
to  pass  into  other  hands.  They 
were  afterwards  purchased  by  the 
crown,  and  are  now  in  a  fitting 
place  of  deposit,  — the  arch-ves 
of  the  kingdom  of  Holland.  The 
MS.  printed  by  Reiffenberg  if  in 
French.   * 


I 


256 


TEIALS  OF  EGMONT  AND  HOORNE.     [Book  IH 


Ch.  rv.] 


EFFORTS  IN  THEIR  BEHALF. 


257 


penury,  the  countess  became  the  object  of  general 
commiseration.  Even  the  stem  heart  of  Alva 
seems  to  have  been  touched,  as  he  notices  her 
^'  lamentable   situation,"   in   one  of  his  letters  to 

PhiUp.^ 

The  unhappy  lady  was  fortunate  in  securing  the 
services  ;.f  Nicolas  de  Landas,  one  of  the  most 
eminent  jurists   of  the   country,  and  a  personal 
friend  of   her    husband.      In  her  name,  he   ad- 
dressed letters  to  several  of  the  German  princes, 
and  to  the  Emperor  Maximilian,  requesting  their 
good   offices    in    behalf   of   her    lord.      He   also 
wrote  both  to  Alva  and  the  king,  less  to  solicit 
the  release  of  Egmont  —  a  thing  little  to  be  ex- 
pected —  than  to  obtain  the  removal  of  the  cause 
from  the  Council  of  Blood  to  a  court  consisting  of 
the  knights  of  the  Golden  Fleece.     To  this  both 
Egmont  and  Hoome  had  a  good  claim,  as  belong- 
ing  to  that  order,  the  statutes  of  which,  solemnly 
ratified  by  Philip  himself,  guarantied  to  its  mem- 
bers  the  right  of  being  tried  only  by  their  peers. 
The  frank  and  independent  tone  with  which  the 
Flemish   jurist,  himself   also   one   of   the   order, 
and  well   skilled  in   the  law,  urged    this   claim 
on  the   Spanish  monarch,  reflects  honor  on  his 
memory. 

Hoome's  wife,  also  a  German  lady  of  high  con- 
nections,  and  his  step-mother,  the  countess-dow- 
ager,  were  unwearied  in  their  exertions  in  his  be- 

•  Correspondance  de  Philippe  II.,  torn.  IL  p.  14. 


half.  They  wrote  to  the  knights  of  the  Golden 
Fleece,  in  whatever  country  residing,  and  obtained 
their  written  testimony  to  the  inalienable  right  of 
the  accused  to  be  tried  by  his  brethren.^  This  was 
obviously  a  point  of  the  last  importance,  since  a 
trial  by  the  Council  of  Blood  was  itself  equivalent 
to  a  condemnation. 

Several  of  the  electors,  as  well  as  other  princes 
of  the  empire,  addressed  Philip  directly  on  the 
subject,  beseeching  him  to  deal  with  the  two  no 
bles  according  to  the  statutes  of  the  order.  Max- 
imilian wrote  .  two  letters  to  the  same  purpose ; 
and,  touching  on  the  brilliant  services  of  Egmont, 
he  endeavored  to  excite  the  king's  compassion  for 
the  desolate  condition  of  the  countess  and  her 
children.^ 

But  it  was  not  foreigners  only  who  interceded 
in  behalf  of  the  lords.  Mansfeldt,  than  whom 
Philip  had  not  a  more  devoted  subject  in  the 
Netherlands,  implored  his  sovereign  to  act  con- 
foimably  to  justice  and  reason  in  the  matter.^ 
Count  Barlaimont,  who  on  all  occasions  had  proved 
himself  no  less  stanch  in  his  loyalty,  found  himself 
now  in  an  embarrassing  situation,  —  being  both  a 
knight  of  the  order  and  a  member  of  the  Council 
of  Troubles.     He  wrote  accordingly  to  Philip,  be- 


•  Supple'ment  h  Strada,  torn.  L  cette  affaire  la  ddtermination  que 

P-  244.  la  raison  et  T^uitd   ixSclament" 

^  Ibid.,  p.  21 9.— Correspondance  Correspondance  de   Philippe  11., 

de  Philippe  IL,  torn.  I.  p.  588.  torn.  I.  p.  607. 

®  "  La  suppliant  de  prendre  en 

VOL.  II.  33 


258  TRIALS  OF  EGMONT  AND  HOORNE.      [Book  III. 

seeching  his  majesty  to  relieve  him  from  the  ne- 
cessity of  either  acting  like  a  disloyal  subject  or 
of  incurring  the  reproaches  of  his  brethren.* 

Still  more  worthy  of  notice  is  the  interference 
of  Cardinal  Granvelle,  who,  forgetting  his  own 
discrrace,  for  which  he  had  been  indebted  to  Eg- 
mont  perhaps  as  much  as  to  any  other  person, 
now  generously  interceded  in  behalf  of  his  an- 
cient foe.  He  invoked  the  clemency  of  Philip,  as 
more  worthy  of  a  great  prince  than  rigor.  He 
called  to  mind  the  former  good  deeds  of  the 
count,  and  declared,  if  he  had  since  been  led 
astray,  the  blame  was  chargeable  on  others  rather 
than  on  himself.^^  But  although  the  cardinal 
wrote  more  than  once  to  the  king  in  this  strain, 
it  was  too  late  to  efface  the  impression  made  by 
former  communications,  in  which  he  had  accused 
his  rival  of  being  a  party  to  the  treasonable  designs 
of  the  prince  of  Orange.^^  This  impression  had 
been  deepened  by  the  reports  from  time  to  time 
received  from  the  regent,  who  at  one  period,  as 
we  have  seen,  withdrew  her  confidence  altogether 
from  Egmont.  Thus  the  conviction  of  that  noble- 
man's guilt  was  so  firmly  settled  in  the  king's 
mind,  that,  when  Alva  received  the  government 


»  Ibid.,  p.  614. 

JO  Ibid.,  p.  599. 

u  "  Le  Comte  d*Egmont,**  said 
Granvelle,  in  a  letter  so  recent  as 
August  17, 1567,  "disait  au  prince 
que  leui-s  menses  etaient  decou- 
vertes ;  que  le  Roi  fasait  des  arme- 


ments;  qulls  ne  sauraient  lui  r^ 
sister;  qu'ainsi  il  leur  fallait  dis- 
simuler,  ct  s'accommoder  le  mieux 
possible,  en  attendant  d'autres  cir- 
constances,  pour  realiscr  leurs  dw 
seins.'*    Ibid.,  p.  661. 


Ch.  IV.] 


SPECIFICATION  OF  CHARGES. 


259 


of  the  Netherlands,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that 
Egmont  was  already  marked  out  as  the  first  great 
victim  to  expiate  the  sins  of  the  nation.  The  argu- 
ments and  entreaties,  therefore,  used  on  the  present 
occasion  to  dissuade  Philip  from  his  purpose,  had 
no  other  effect  than  to  quicken  his  movements. 
Anxious  to  rid  himself  of  importunities  so  annoy- 
ing, he  ordered  Alva  to  press  forward  the  trial, 
adding,  at  the  same  time,  that  all  shoidd  be  made 
so  clear  that  the  world,  whose  eyes  were  now  turned 
on  these  proceedings,  might  be  satisfied  of  their 
justice.^ 

Before  the  end  of  December  the  attorney-general, 
Du  Bois,  had  prepared  the  articles  of  accusation 
against  Egmont.  They  amounted  to  no  less  than 
ninety,  some  of  them  of  great  length.  They  chiefly 
rested  on  evidence  derived  from  the  personal  ex- 
amination, sustained  by  information  gathered  from 
other  quarters.  The  first  article,  which,  indeed, 
may  be  said  to  have  been  the  key  to  all  the  rest, 
charged  Egmont  with  having  conspired  with 
William  and  the  other  banished  lords  to  shake 
off  the  Spanish  rule,  and  divide  the  government 
among  themselves.  With  this  view  he  had  made 
war  on  the  faithful  Granvelle,  had  sought  to  con- 
centrate the  powers  of  the  various  councils  into 
one,  had  resisted  the  Inquisition,  had  urged  the 
meeting  of  the  states-general,  in  short,  had  thwart^ 

^3  "  Tout  ce  qui  s'est  passd  doit  sur  laquelle  le  monde  entier  a  lei 
§tre  tird  au  clair,  pour  qu'il  soit  yeux  fixds,  le  Roi  et  lui  ont  pro- 
bicn  constant  que,  dans  une  affaire    c^d  avec  justice."    Ibid.,  p.  609. 


260 


TBIALS  OF  EGMONT  AND  HOORNE.     [Book  m 


Ch.  rv.] 


SPECIFICATION  OF  CHARGES. 


261 


ed,  as  far  as  possible,  in  every  particular,  the  in 
tentions  of  the  king.     He  was  accused,  moreover, 
of  giving   encouragement    to    the    sectaries.     He 
had  not  only  refused  his  aid  when  asked  to  repress 
their  violence,  but  had   repeatedly  licensed  their 
meetings,   and    allowed    them   to   celebrate    their 
religious  rites.     Egmont  was  too  stanch  a  Catho- 
lic  to  warrant  his   own  faith  being   called   into 
question.     It  was   only  in   connection   with   the 
political  movements  of  the   country  that  he  was 
supposed  to  have  coimtenanced  the  party  ot  reli- 
gious  reform.     Lastly  he  was   charged,  not  only 
with  abetting  the  confederacy  of  the  nobles,  but 
with  having,  in  conjunction  with   the   prince   of 
Orange   and  his   associates,   devised  the    original 
plan  of  it.     It  was  proof  of  the  good-will  he  bore 
the   league,   that  he  had   retained  in  his  service 
more   than   one   member   of  his  household   after 
they  had  subscribed  the  Compromise.     On  these 
various  grounds,  Egmont  was  declared  to  be  guilty 

of  treason.^^ 

The  charges,  which  cover  a  great  space,  would 
seem  at  the  first  glance  to  be  crudely  put  together, 
confounding  things  trivial,  and  even  irrelevant  to 
the  question,  with  others  of  real  moment.^*     Yet 


W  This  tedious  instrument  is 
given  in  extenso  by  Foppens,  Sup- 
[)lement  k  Strada,  torn.  I.  pp.  44  - 
63. 

14  Indeed,  this  seems  to  have 
been  the  opinion  of  the  friends  of 
the  government    Councillor  Belin 


writes  to  Granvelle,  December  14, 
1567 :  "  They  have  arrested  Hoome 
and  Egmont,  but  in  their  accusa- 
tions have  not  confined  themselves 
to  individual  charges,  but  have 
ac<!umulated  a  confused  mass  of 
things."    Raumer,  Sixteenth  and 


they  must  be  admitted  to  have  been  so  cunningly 
prepared  as  to  leave  an  impression  most  unfavorable 
to  the  innocence  of  the  prisoner.  The  attorney-gen- 
eial,  sometimes  audaciously  perverting  the  answers 
of  Egmont,^^  at  other  times  giving  an  exaggerated 
importance  to  his  occasional  admissions,  succeeded 
in  spreading  his  meshes  so  artfully,  that  it  required 
no  slight  degree  of  coolness  and  circumspection, 
even  in  an  innocent  party,  to  escape  from  them. 

The  instrument  was  delivered  to  Egmont  on  the 
twenty-ninth  of  December.  Five  days  only  were 
allowed  him  to  prepare  his  defence,  —  and  that 
too  without  the  aid  of  a  friend  to  support,  or  of 
counsel  to  advise  him.  He  at  first  resolutely  de- 
clined to  make  a  defence  at  all,  declaring  that 
he  was  amenable  to  no  tribunal  but  that  of  the 
members  of  the  order.  Being  informed,  however, 
that  if  he  persisted  he  would  be  condemned  foi 
contumacy,  he  consented,  though  with  a  formal 
protest  against  the  proceeding  as  illegal,  to  enter 
on  his  defence. 

He  indignantly  disclaimed  the  idea  of  any  design 
to  subvert  the  existing  government.  He  admitted 
the  charges  in  regard  to  his  treatment  of  GranveUe, 
and  defended  his  conduct  on  the  ground  of  expe- 


Seventeenth  Centuries,  vol.  L  p. 
182. 

1*  For  example,  see  the  thirty- 
eighth  article,  in  which  the  attor- 
ney-general accuses  Egmont  of  ad- 
mitting, on  his  examination,  that 
be  had  parted  with  one  of  his  fol- 


lowers, suspected  of  heretical  opin- 
ions, for  a  short  time  only,  when, 
on  the  contrary,  he  had  express- 
ly stated  that  the  dismissal  was 
final,  and  that  he  had  never  seen 
the  man  since.  Supplement  i 
Strada,  tom.  I.  p.  40. 


262 


TRIALS  OF  EGMONT  AND  HOORNE.     [Book  HI 


diency,  —  of  its  being  demanded  by  the  public 
interest  On  the  same  ground  he  explained  his 
course  in  reference  to  some  of  the  other  matters 
charged  on  him,  and  especially  in  relation  to  the 
sectaries, — too  strong  in  numbers,  he  maintained, 
to  be  openly  resisted.  He  positively  denied  the 
connection  imputed  to  him  with  the  confederates ; 
declaring  that,  far  from  coimtenancing  the  league, 
he  had  always  lamented  its  existence,  and  discour- 
aged all  within  his  reach  from  joining  it.  In  reply 
to  the  charge  of  not  having  dismissed  Backerzeele 
after  it  was  known  that  he  had  joined  the  confed- 
erates, he  excused  himself  by  alleging  the  good  ser- 
vices which  his  secretary  had  rendered  the  govern- 
ment, more  especially  in  repressing  the  disorders 
of  the  iconoclasts.  On  .the  whole,  his  answers 
seem  to  have  been  given  in  good  faith,  and  convey 
the  impression  —  probably  not  far  from  the  truth 
—  of  one  who,  while  he  did  not  approve  of  the 
policy  of  the  crown,  and  thought,  indeed,  some  of 
its  measures  impracticable,  had  no  design  to  over- 
turn the  govemment.^^ 

The  attorney-general  next  prepared  his  accusa- 
tion of  Count  Hoome,  consisting  of  sixty- three 
separate  charges.  They  were  of  much  the  same 
import  with  those  brought  against  Egmont.  The 
bold,  impatient  temper  of  the  admiral  made  him 


W  Egmonfs  defence,  of  which  his  useful  compilation,  Proofes  du 

extracts,  wretchedly  garbled,  are  Comted*Egmont,(Bruxelles,l854,) 

given  by  Foppens,  has  been  print-  pp.  121  - 153. 
ed  in  extenso  by  M.  de  Bavay,  in 


Ch   IV.J 


DEFENCE  OF  THE  PRISONERS. 


263 


particularly  open  to  the  assault  of  his  enemies. 
He  was  still  more  peremptory  than  his  friend  in 
his  refusal  to  relinquish  his  rights  as  a  knight  of 
the  Golden  Fleece,  and  appear  before  the  tribunal 
of  Alva.  When  prevailed  on  to  waive  his  scruples, 
his  defence  was  couched  in  language  so  direct  and 
manly  as  at  once  engages  our  confidence.  "Un- 
skilled as  I  am  in  this  sort  of  business,"  he  re- 
marks, "  and  without  the  aid  of  counsel  to  guide 
me,  if  I  have  fallen  into  errors,  they  must  be 
imputed,   not   to   intention,   but   to   the   want   of 

experience I    can   only  beseech    those 

who  shall  read  my  defence  to  believe  that  it  has 
been  made  sincerely  and  in  all  truth,  as  becomes 
a  gentleman  of  honorable  descent."  ^^ 

By  the  remonstrances  of  the  prisoners  and  their 
friends,  the  duke  was  at  length  prevailed  on  to 
allow  them  counsel.  Each  of  the  two  lords  ob- 
tained the  services  of  five  of  the  most  eminent 
jurists  of  the  country;  who,  to  their  credit,  seem 
not  to  have  shrunk  from  a  duty  which,  if  not  at- 
tended with  actual  danger,  certainly  did  not  lie 
in  the  road  to  preferment.^® 


17  "  Suppliant  ik  *ous  ceux  qui 
la  verront,  croire  qu*il  a  respondu 
a  tous  les  articles  sincerement  et 
en  toute  vdrite  comme  un  Gentil- 
homme  bien  ne,  est  tenu  et  oblige 
de  faire."  Supplement  k  Strada, 
torn.  I.  p.  209. 

18  Foppens  has  devoted  nearly 
all  the  first  volume  of  his  "  Supple- 
vwnt  **  to  pieces  illustrative  of  the 


proceedings  against  Egmont  and 
Hoome.  The  articles  of  accusa- 
tion are  given  at  length.  His 
countrymen  are  under  obligations 
to  this  compiler,  who  thus  early 
brought  before  them  so  many  doc- 
uments of  great  importance  to  the 
national  history.  The  obligations 
would  have  been  greater,  if  the 
editor  had  done  his  work  in  a 


264 


TRIALS  OF  EGMONT  AND  HOORNE.     [Book  HI 


Cb.  IV.] 


DEFENCE  OF  THE  PRISONERS. 


265 


The  counsel  of  the  two  lords  lost  no  time  in 
preparing  the  defence  of  their  clients,  taking  up 
each  charge  brought  against  them  by  the  attorney- 
general,  and  minutely  replying  to  it.  Their  de- 
fence was  substantially  the  same  with  that  which 
had  been  set  up  by  the  prisoners  themselves, 
though  more  elaborate,  and  sustained  by  a  greater 
array  both  of  facts  and  arguments.^^  Meanwhile 
the  counsel  did  not  remit  their  efforts  to  have 
the  causes  brought  before  the  tribunal  of  the 
Toison  ctOr,  Unless  this  could  be  effected,  they 
felt  that  all  endeavors  to  establish  the  innocence 
of  their  clients  would  be  unavailing. 

Alva  had  early  foreseen  the  embarrassment  to 
which  he  would  be  exposed  on  this  ground.  He 
had  accordingly  requested  Philip  to  stop  all  fur- 
ther solicitations  by  making  known  his  own 
decision  in  the  matter.^  The  king  in  reply  as- 
sured the  duke  that  men  of  authority  and  leam- 


•cbolar-likc  way, — instead  of  heap- 
ing together  a  confused  mass  of 
materials,  without  method,  often 
without  dates,  and  with  so  little 
care,  that  the  titles  of  the  docu- 
ments are  not  seldom  at  variance 
with  the  contents. 

13  At  least  such  is  the  account 
which  Foppens  gives  of  the  "  Jus- 
tification,'* as  it  is  termed,  of 
Hoorne,  of  which  the  Flemish  ed- 
itor has  printed  only  the  preamble 
and  tlie  conclusion,  without  so 
much  as  favoring  us  with  the  date 
of  the  instrument     (Supplement 


k  Strada,  torn.  I.  pp.  241-243.) 
M.  de  Bavay,  on  the  other  hand, 
has  ^ven  the  defence  set  up  by 
Egmont's  counsel  in  extenso.  It 
covers  seventy  printed  pages,  be- 
ing double  the  quantity  occupie<l 
by  Egmont's  defence  of  himself. 
By  comparing  the  two  together,  it 
is  easy  to  see  how  closely  the 
former,  though  with  greater  am- 
plification, is  fashioned  on  the  lat- 
ter. Procfes  du  Comte  d'Egmont, 
pp.  153  -  223. 

80  Correspondance  dc  Philippe 
II.,  torn.  I.  p.  582. 


ing,  to  whom  the  subject  had  been  committed, 
after  a  full  examination,  entirely  confirmed  the 
decision  made  before  Alva^s  departure,  that  the 
case  of  treason  did  not  come  withm  the  cogni- 
zance  of  the  Toison  dOr?"  Letters  patent  ac- 
companied this  note,  empowering  the  duke  to 
try  the  cause.^^  With  these  credentials  Alva  now 
strove  to  silence,  if  not  to  satisfy,  the  counsel  of 
the  prisoners ;  and,  by  a  formal  decree,  all  further 
applications  for  transferring  the  cause  from  his  own 
jurisdiction  to  that  of  the  Golden  Fleece  were 
peremptorily  forbidden. 

Yet  all  were  not  to  be  thus  silenced.  Egmont's 
countess  still  continued  unwearied  in  her  efforts 
to  excite  a  sympathy  in  her  lord's  behalf  in 
all  those  who  would  be  likely  to  have  any  influ- 
ence  with  the  government.  Early  in  1568  she 
again  wrote  to  Philip,  complaining  that  she  had 
not  been  allowed  so  much  as  to  see  her  husband. 
She  implored  the  king  to  take  her  and  her  children 
as  sureties  for  Egmont,  and  permit  him  to  be  re- 
moved  to  one  of  his  own  houses.  If  that  could 
not  be,   she   begged   that  he   might  at  least  be 


'^  "  Quoique,  avant  le  ddpart 
du  due,  il  ait  dtd  reconnu,  dans  les 
deliberations  qui  ont  eu  lieu  k  IMa- 
drid  en  sa  presence,  que  cette  pre- 
tention n'etait  pas  fondee,  le  Roi, 
vu  la  gravity  de  Taflfaire,  a  ordonne 
que  quelques  personnes  d'autorite 
et  de  lettres  se  reunissent  de  nou- 
veau,  p^  .r  examiner  la  question. 
—  D    ommunique  au  due  les  con- 

VOL.  II.  34 


siddrations  qui  ont  dte  approuv^es 
dans  cette  junte,  et  q  ai  confirment 
Topinion  precedemmeut  emise.*' 
Ibid.,  p.  612. 

^  The  letters  patent  were  ante- 
dated, as  far  back  as  April  15, 
1567,  probably  that  they  might 
not  appear  to  have  been  got  up  for 
the  nonce.     Conf  Ibid.,  p.  528. 


266 


TKIALS  OF  EGMONT  AND  HOORNE.    [Book  IIL 


Ch.  IV.] 


DEFENCE  OF  THE  PRISONERS. 


267 


allowed  the  air  of  the  castle,  lest,  though  innocent, 
his  confinement  might  cost  him  his  life.  She  al- 
ludes to  her  miserable  condition,  with  her  young 
and  helpless  family,  and  trusts  in  the  king's  good- 
ness  and  justice  that  she  shall  not  be  forced  to  seek 
a  subsistence  in  Germany,  from  which  country 
she  had  been  brought  to  Flanders  by  his  father 
the  emperor.28  —  The  letter,  says  a  chronicler  of 
the  time,  was  not  to  be  read  by  any  one  without 
sincere  commiseration  for  the  writer.'^ 

The  German  princes,  at  the  same  time,  contin- 
ued theu'  intercessions  with  the  king  for  both  the 
nobles;  and  the  duke  of  Bavaria,  and  the  duke 
and  duchess  of  Lorraine,  earnestly  invoked  his 
clemency  in  their  behalf  Philip,  wearied  by  this 
importunity,  but  not  wavering  in  his  purpose, 
again  called  on  Alva  to  press  the  trial  to  a  con- 
clusion.^ 

Towards   the   end   of  April,    1568,   came   that 


83  "  J'espere  en  la  bont^,  cl^ 
mence  et  justice  de  Votre  Majesti^ 
qu'icelle  ne  voudra  souffrir  que  je 
sorte  vos  pays,  avec  mes  onze  en- 
fants,  pour  aller  hers  d'iceux  cher- 
cher  moyen  de  vivre,  ayant  et^ 
amenee  par  feu  de  bonne  memoire 
TEmpereur,  votre  pere."  Ibid., 
torn.  II.  p.  5. 

a*  "Haud  facilfe  sine  commise- 
ratione  legi  k  quoquam  potest.** 
Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico,  torn.  I. 
p.  887. 

According  to  Alva's  biographer, 
Ossorio,  the  appeal  of  the  count- 


ess would  probably  have  softened 
the  heart  of  Philip,  and  inclined 
him  to  an  "ill-timed  clemency/* 
had  it  not  been  for  the  remon- 
strance of  Cardinal  Espinosa,  then 
predominant  in  the  cabinet,  who 
reminded  the  king  that ''  clemency 
was  a  sin  when  the  outrage  was 
against  religion.**  (Albte  Vita,  p. 
282.)  To  one  acquainted  with  the 
character  of  Philip  the  "  probabil- 
ity **  of  the  historian  may  seem 
somewhat  less  than  probable. 

25  Corresi)ondance  de  Philippe 
II.,  torn.  II.  p.  18. 


irruption  across  the  borders  by  Hoogstraten  and 
the  other  lords,  described  in  the  proious  chapter. 
Alva,  feeling  probably  that  his  own  presence 
might  be  required  to  check  the  invaders,  found 
an  additional  motive  for  bringing  the  trials  to  a 
decision. 

On  the  sixth  of  May,  the  attorney-general  pre- 
sented a  remonstrance  against  the  dilatory  pro- 
ceedings of  Egmont's  counsel,  declaring  that, 
although  so  many  months  had  elapsed,  they  had 
neglected  to  bring  forward  their  witnesses  in 
support  of  their  defence.  He  prayed  that  a  day 
might  be  named  for  the  termination  of  the  pro- 


cess. 


26 


In  the  latter  part  of  May,  news  came  of  the 
battle  won  by  Louis  of  Nassau  in  the  north.  That 
now  became  certain  which  had  before  been  only 
probable,  —  that  Alva  must  repair  in  person  to  the 
seat  of  war,  and  assume  the  command  of  the  army. 
There  could  be  no  further  delay.  On  the  first  of 
June,  a  decree  was  published,  declaring  that  the 
time  allowed  for  the  defence  of  the  prisoners  had 
expired,  and  that  no  evidence  could  henceforth  be 
admitted.^  The  counsel  for  the  accused  loudly 
protested  against  a  decision  which  cut  them  off 
from   all  means  of  establishing  the  innocence  of 


36  Supplement  k  Strada,  tom.  I.  from  any  further  right  to  bring  ev- 

p.  90.  idence  in  his  defence.    The  doc- 

^  Ibid.,  p.  252.  —  By  a  decree  uments  connected  with  this  matter 

passed  on  the  eighteenth  of  May,  are  given  by  Foppens,  Ibid.,  took 

Egmont  had  been  already  excluded  I.  pp.  80 - 1 03. 


268 


TRIALS  OF  EGMONT  AND  HOORNE.     [Book  IH 


their  clients.  They  had  abundant  testimony  at 
hand,  they  said,  and  had  only  waited  until  the 
government  should  have  produced  theirs.  This 
was  plausible,  as  it  w^as  in  the  regular  course  for 
the  prosecuting  party  to  take  precedence.  But 
one  can  hardly  doubt  that  the  waiy  lawyers  knew 
that  too  little  was  to  be  expected  from  a  tribunal 
like  the  Council  of  Blood  to  wish  to  have  the  case 
brought  to  a  decision.  By  delaying  matters,  some 
circumstance  might  occur,  —  perhaps  some  strong- 
er expression  of  the  public  sentiment,  —  to  work  a 
favorable  change  in  the  mind  of  the  king.  Poor 
as  it  was,  this  was  the  only  chance  for  safety ;  and 
every  day  that  the  decision  was  postponed  was  a 
day  gained  to  their  clients. 

But  no  time  was  given  for  expostulation.  On 
the  day  on  which  Alva  s  decree  was  published,  the 
affair  was  submitted  to  the  decision  of  the  Coun- 
oil  of  Blood ;  and  on  the  following  morning,  the 
second  of  June,  that  body  —  or  rather  Vargas 
and  Del  Kio,  the  only  members  who  had  a  voice 
in  the  matter  —  pronounced  both  the  prisoners 
guilty  of  treason,  and  doomed  them  to  death. 
The  sentence  was  approved  by  Alva. 

On  the  evening  of  the  fourth,  Alva  went  in 
person  to  the  meeting  of  the  council.  The  sen- 
tences of  the  two  lords,  each  under  a  sealed  en- 
velope, were  produced,  and  read  aloud  by  the 
secretary.  They  were  both  of  precisely  the  same 
import.  After  the  usual  preamble,  they  pro- 
nounced the  Counts  Egmont  and  Iloome  to  have 


Ch.  IV.] 


SENTENCE  OF  DEATH. 


269 


been  proved    parties    to    the    abominable  league 
and  conspiracy  of  the  prince  of  Orange  and  his 
associates;    to  have   given  aid  and   protection  to 
the  confederates;  and  to  have  committed  sundry 
malepractices  in   their  respective  governments  in 
regard  to   the  sectaries,   to  the  prejudice  of  the 
holy  Catholic  faith.     On  these  grounds  they  were 
adjudged  guilty  of  treason  and  rebellion,  and  were 
sentenced   accordingly   to   be   beheaded   with    the 
sword,  their  heads  to  be  set  upon  poles,  and  there 
to  continue  during  the  pleasure  of  the  duke ;  their 
possessions,  fiefs,  and  rights,  of  every  description, 
to  be  confiscated  to  the  use  of  the  crown.^^     These 
sentences  were  signed  only  with  the  name  of  Alva, 
and    countersigned    with    that   of  the   Secretary 

Pratz.28 

Such  was  the  result  of  these  famous  trials, 
which,  from  the  peculiar  circumstances  that  at- 
tended them,  especially  their  extraordinary  dura- 
tion and  the  illustrious  characters  and  rank  of 
the  accused,  became  an  object  of  general  interest 


ill 


28  Among  the  documents  ana- 
lyzed by  Gachard  is  one  exhibit- 
ing the  revenues  of  the  great  lords 
of  the  Low  Countries,  whose  es- 
tates were  confiscated.  No  one 
except  the  prince  of  Orange  had 
an  income  nearly  so  great  as  that 
of  Egmont,  amounting  to  63,000 
florins.  He  had  a  palace  at  Brus- 
sels, and  other  residences  at  Mech- 
lin, Ghent,  Bruges,  Arras,  and 
the  Hague. 


The  revenues  of  Count  Hoome 
amounted  to  about  8,500  florins. 
Count  Culemborg,  whose  hotel  was 
the  place  of  rendezvous  for  the 
Gueux,  had  a  yearly  income  ex- 
ceeding 31,000  florins.  William*? 
revenues,  far  greater  than  either, 
rose  above  152,000.  Correspon- 
dance  de  Philippe  H.,  torn.  H.  p^ 
116. 

29  Supplement  k  Strada,  torn.  I. 

pp.  252  -  257. 


370 


TRIALS  OF  EGMONT  AND  HOOllNE.     [Book  IH. 


througlkout  Europe.  In  reviewing  them,  the  first 
question  that  occurs  is  in  regard  to  the  validity  of 
the  grounds  on  which  the  causes  were  removed  from 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Toison  d'  Or.  The  decision 
of  the  "  men  of  authority  and  learning,"  referred 
to  by  the  king,  is  of  little  moment,  considering 
the  influences  under  which  such  a  decision  in  the 
court  of  Madrid  was  necessarily  given.  The  onlj' 
authority  of  any  weight  in  favor  of  this  interpre- 
tation  seems  to  have  been  that  of  the  President 
Viglius ;  a  man  well  versed  in  the  law,  with  the 
statutes  of  the  order  before  him,  and,  in  short,  with 
every  facility  at  his  command  for  forming  an  ac- 
curate judgment  in  the  matter. 

His  opinion  seems  to  have  mainly  rested  on  the 
fact  that,  in  the  year  1473,  a  knight  of  the  order, 
charged  with  a  capital  crime,  submitted  to  be  tried 
by  the  ordinary  courts  of  law.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  some  years  later,  in  1490,  four  knights 
accused  of  treason,  the  precise  crime  alleged 
against  Egmont  and  Hoome,  were  arraigned  and 
tried  before  the  members  of  the  Toison,  A  more 
conclusive  argument  against  Viglius  was  aff'ord- 
ed  by  the  fact,  that  in  1531  a  law  was  passed, 
under  the  Emperor  Charles  the  Fifth,  that  no 
knight  of  the  Golden  Fleece  could  be  arrested 
or  tried,  for  any  offence  whatever,  by  any  other 
body  than  the  members  of  his  own  order.  This 
statute  was  solemnly  confirmed  by  Philip  him- 
self in  1550;  and  no  law,  surely,  could  be  de- 
vised,  covering  more  effectually  the  whole  ground 


Cb.  rv.i 


THE  PROCESSES  REVIEWED. 


271 


in  question.  Yet  Viglius  had  the  effrontery  to 
set  this  aside  as  of  no  force,  being  so  clearly  in 
contempt  of  all  precedents  and  statutes.  A  sub- 
terfuge like  this,  which  might  justify  the  disregard 
of  any  law  whatever,  found  no  favor  with  the 
members  of  the  order.  Arschot  and  Barlaimont, 
in  particular,  the  most  devoted  adherents  of  the 
crown,  and  among  the  few  knights  of  the  Toison 
then  in  Brussels,  openly  expressed  their  dissent. 
The  authority  of  a  jurist  like  Viglius  was  of  great 
moment,  however,  to  the  duke,  who  did  not  fail  to 
parade  it.*^  But  sorely  was  it  to  the  disgrace  ot 
that  timid  and  timeserving  councillor,  that  he 
could  thus  lend  himself,  and  in  such  a  cause,  to 
become  the  tool  of  arbitrary  power.  It  may  well 
lead  us  to  give  easier  faith  than  we  should  other- 
wise have  done  to  those  charges  of  peculation  and 
meanness  which  the  regent,  in  the  heat  of  party 
dissensions,  so  liberally  heaped  on  him.^^ 

But  whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  rights  pos- 


30  In  a  letter  dated  January  6, 
1568,  Alva  tells  the  king  that  Vig- 
lius, afler  examining  into  the  af- 
fair, finds  the  evidence  so  clear  on 
the  point,  that  nothing  more  could 
be  desired.  Correspondance  de 
Philippe  II.,  torn.  II.  p.  4. 

31  For  the  facts  connected  with 
the  constitution  of  the  Toison  (TOr, 
I  am  indebted  to  a  Dutch  work, 
now  in  course  of  publication  in 
Amsterdam,  (Algemeene  Geschie- 
denis  des  Vaderlands,  van  de  vro- 
cgste  tijden  tot  op  heden,  door  Dr. 


J.  P.  Arend.)  This  work,  which 
is  designed  to  cover  the  whole  his- 
tor}'  of  the  Netherlands,  may  claim 
the  merits  of  a  thoroughness  rare 
in  this  age  of  rapid  book-making, 
and  of  a  candor  rare  in  any  age. 
In  my  own  ignorance  of  the  Dutch, 
I  must  acknowledge  my  obligations 
to  a  friend  for  enabling  me,  jto 
read  it.  I  must  further  add,  that 
for  the  loan  of  the  work  I  am  in- 
debted to  the  courtesy  of  B.  Homer 
Dixon,  Esq.,  Consul  for  the  Neth- 
erlands in  Boston. 


272  TKIALS  OF  EGMONT  AND  HOORNE.     [Book  III 

sessed  by  the  Toison  SOr  in  this  matter,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  as  to  the  iUegality  of  the  court  before 
which  the  cause  was  brought;— a  court  which  had 
no  warrant  for  its  existence  but  the  wiU  of  Alva; 
where  the  judges,  contrary  to  'the  law  of  the  land, 
were  foreigners ;  where  the  presiding  officer  was 
not  even  necessarily  present  at  the  trial  of  the 
causes  on  which  he  alone  was  to  pass  sentence. 

If  so  little  regard  was  paid  to  the  law  in  the 
composition  of  this  tribunal,  scarcely  more  was 
shown  to  it  in  the  forms  of  proceeding.  On  the 
present  occasion  it  does  not  appear  that  any  evi- 
dence  was  brought  forward  by  the  prisoners.  And 
as  we  are  in  possession  of  only  a  small  part 
of  that  which  sustained  the  prosecution,  it  is 
not  easy  to  form  an  opinion  how  far  the  parties 
were  or  were  not  guUty  of  the  crime  imputed  to 
them ;  still  less,  whether  that  crime,  according  to 
the  laws  of  the  land,  amounted  to  treason.^    The 


a  M.  de  Bavay  lias  devoted  sev- 
enty pages  or  more  of  his  publica- 
tion to  affidavits  of  witnesses  in 
behalf  of  the  prosecution.    (Procfes 
du   Comte    d'Egmont,  pp.    267  - 
322.)     But  their  testimony  bears 
abnost  exclusively  on  the  subject 
of  Egmont*s  dealings  with  the  sec- 
taries,—  scarcely  warranting  the 
Flemish  editor's  assertion  in  his 
preface,  that  he  has  been  able  to 
furnish  "  all  the  elements  of  the 
conviction  of  the  accused  by  the 
auke  of  Alva." 
M.  de  Bavay's  work  is  one  of 


the  good  fruits  of  that  patriotic 
zeal  which  animates  the  Belgian 
scholars  of  our  time  for  the  illus- 
tration of  their  national  history.    It 
was  given  to  the  public  only  the 
last  year,  after  the  present  chapter 
had  been  written.     In  addition  to 
what  is  contained  in  former  publi- 
cations, it  furnishes  us  with  com- 
plete copies  of  the  defence  of  Eg- 
mont,  as  prepared  both  by  himself 
and  his  counsel,  and  with  the  affi- 
davits above  noticed  of  witnesses 
on  the  part  of  the  government. 
It  has  supplied  me,  therefore,  with 


Ch.  IV.] 


THE  PROCESSES  REVIEWED. 


273 


i 


gravest  charge  made,  with  any  apparent  foundation, 
was  that  of  a  secret  understanding  with  the  con- 
federates. The  avowed  object  of  the  confederates 
was,  in  certain  contingencies,  to  resist  the  execu- 
tion of  a  particular  ordinance ;  ^  but  without  any 
design  to  overturn  the  government.  This,  by  our 
law,  could  hardly  be  construed  into  treason.  But 
in  the  Netherlands,  in  the  time  of  the  Spanish 
rule,  the  law  may  have  been  more  comprehensive 
in  its  import ;  nor  is  it  likely  that  the  word  "  trea^ 
son  "  was  limited  in  so  explicit  a  manner  as  by  the 
English  statute-book  under  the  Plantagenets.^ 

We  have  information  of  a  curious  document  of 
the  time,  that  may  throw  light  on  the  matter. 
Peter  d'Arset,  president  of  Artois,  was  one  of 
the  original  members  of  the  Council  of  Troubles, 
but  had  retired  from  office  before  the  trial  of  the 
two  lords.  It  may  have  been  from  the  high  judi- 
cial  station  he  held  in  one  of  Egmont's  provinces, 
that  he  was  consulted  in  regard  to  that  nobleman's 
process.  After  an  examination  of  the  papers,  he 
returned  an  answer,  written  in  Latin,  at  great 
length,  and  with  a  purity  of  style  that  shows  him 


valuable  materials,  whether  for  the 
correction  or  the  corroboration  of 
my  previous  conclusions. 

33  The  resistance,  to  which  those 
who  signed  the  Compromise  were 
pledged,  was  to  the  Inquisition, 
in  case  of  its  attempt  to  arrest 
any  member  of  their  body.  Ante, 
vol.  I.  p.  599. 
•^  By  the  famous  statute,  in  pap- 
VOL.  II.  35 


ticular,  of  Edward  the  Third,  the 
basis  of  all  subsequent  legislation 
on  the  subject  Some  reflections, 
both  on  this  law  and  the  laws  which 
subsequentiy  modified  it,  made  with 
the  usual  acuteness  of  their  author, 
may  be  found  in  the  fifteenth  chap- 
ter of  Hallam's  Constitutional  Hi^ 
tory  of  England. 


274 


TRIALS  OF  EGMONT   AND  HOORNE.     [Book  HI 


to  have  been  a  scholar.  In  this,  he  goes  over  the 
whole  ground  of  the  accusation,  article  by  article, 
showing  the  insufficiency  of  proof  on  every  charge, 
and  by  argument  and  legal  reference  fully  estab- 
lishing the  innocence  of  the  accused.  The  presi- 
dent's opmion,  so  independently  given,  we  may 
readily  believe,  foimd  too  little  favor  with  the  duke 
of  Alva  to  be  cited  as  authority.*^ 

But  even  though  it  were  true  that  the  two  lords, 
in  that  season  of  public  excitement,  had  been  se- 
duced from  their  allegiance  for  a  time,  some  char- 
ity might  have  been  shown  to  men  who  had  sub- 
sequently broken  with  their  former  friends,  and 
displayed  the  utmost  zeal  in  carrying  out  the 
measures  of  the  government;  a  zeal  in  the  case 
of  Egmont,  at  least,  which  drew  from  the  re- 
gent unqualified  commendation.^  Something  more 
might  have  been  conceded  to  the  man  who  had 
won  for  his  sovereign  the  most  glorious  trophies 
of  his  reign.  But  Philip's  nature,  unhappily,  as 
I  have  had  occasion  to  notice,  was  of  that  sort 
which  is  more  sensible  to  injuries  than  to  benefits. 


35  The  original  document  is  to 
be  found  in  the  archives  of  Brus- 
sels, or  was  in  the  time  of  Vander- 
vynckt,  who,  having  examined  it 
carefully,  gives  a  brief  notice  of 
it  (Troubles  des  Pays-Bas,  tom. 
11.  pp.  256,  257.)  The  name  of 
its  author  should  be  cherished  by 
the  historian,  as  that  of  a  magis- 
trate who,  in  the  fece  of  a  tyranni- 
cal government,  had  the  courage 
to  enter  his  protest  against  the 


judicial  murders  perpetrated  under 
its  sanction. 

*  Among  other  passages,  see 
one  in  a  letter  of  Margaret  to 
the  king,  dated  March  23,  1567. 
**  Ceulx  de  son  conseil  icy,  qui 
s'employent  tout  fidMement  et  dili« 
gemment  en  son  service,  et  entre 
aultres  le  comte  d'Egmont  dont  je 
ne  puis  avoir  synon  bon  contente- 
ment"  Correspondance  de  Mar- 
guerite d'Autriche,  p.  235. 


Ch.  IV.] 


THE  PROCESSES  REVIEWED. 


275 


Under  the  cu'cumstances  attending  this  tnal,  it 
may  seem  to  have  been  a  waste  of  time  to  inquire 
into  the  legality  of  the  court  which  tried  the  cause, 
or  the  regularity  of  the  forms  of  procedure.  The 
real  trial  took  place,  not  in  Flanders,  but  in  Cas- 
tile. Who  can  doubt  that,  long  before  the  duke 
of  Alva  began  his  march,  the  doom  of  the  two 
nobles  had  been  pronounced  in  the  cabinet  of 
Madrid  ?  ^ 


37  M.  de  Gerlache,  in  a  long 
note  to  the  second  edition  of  his 
history,  enters  into  a  scrutiny  of 
Ejmiont's  conduct  as  severe  as  that 
by  the  attorney-general  himself,  — 
and  with  much  the  same  result 
(Hist,  du  Royaume  des  Pays-Bas, 
tom.  I.  pp.  99  - 101.)  "  Can  any 
one  believe,"  he  asks,.  "  that  if,  in- 
stead of  having  the  *  Demon  of  the 
South '  for  his  master,  it  had  been 


Charles  the  Fifth  or  Napoleon, 
Ejnnont  would  have  been  allowed 
to  play  the  part  he  did  with  impu- 
nity so  long  ?  "  This  kind  of  So- 
cratic  argument,  as  far  as  it  goes, 
proves  only  that  Philip  did  no 
worse  than  Charles  or  Napoleon 
would  have  done.  It  by  no  means 
proves  Egmont  to  have  deserved 
his  sentence. 


CHAPTER  V. 


t 


EXECUTION  OF  EGMONT  AND  HOORNE. 

The  Counts  removed  to  Brussels.  —  Informed  of  the  Sentence.  —  Pro- 
cession to  the  ScaflTold.  —  The  Execution.  —  Character  of  Egmont 
—  Fate  of  his  Family.  —  Sentiment  of  the  People. 

« 

1568. 

On  the  second  of  June,  1568,  a  body  of  three 
thousand  men  was  ordered  to  Ghent  to  escort 
the  Counts  Egmont  and  Hoorne  to  Brussels.  No 
resistance  was  offered,  although  the  presence  of 
the  Spaniards  caused  a  great  sensation  among  the 
inhabitants  of  the  place,  who  too  well  foreboded 
the  fate  of  their  beloved  lord. 

The  nobles,  each  accompanied  by  two  officers, 
were  put  into  separate  chariots.  They  were  guard- 
ed by  twenty  companies  of  pikemen  and  arque- 
busiers ;  and  a  detachment  of  lancers,  among  whom 
was  a  body  of  the  duke's  own  horse,  rode  in  the  van, 
while  another  of  equal  strength  protected  the  rear. 
Under  this  strong  escort  they  moved  slowly  towards 
Brussels.  One  night  they  halted  at  Dendermonde, 
and  towards  evening,  on  the  fourth  of  the  month, 
entered  the  capital.^     As  the  martial  array  defiled 

*  Relacion  de  la  Justicia  que  se  hizo  de  los  Contes  A^ramont  f 
Orne,  MS. 


I 


. 


Ch.  T.]   the  counts  removed  to  BRUSSELS.    277 


through  its  streets,  there  was  no  one,  howevei 
stout-hearted  he  might  be,  says  an  eyewitness,  who 
could  behold  the  funeral  pomp  of  the  procession, 
and  listen  to  the  strains  of  melancholy  music,  with- 
out a  feeling  of  sickness  at  his  heart.^ 

The  prisoners  were  at  once  conducted  to  the 
Brodhuys^  or  "Bread-House,"  usually  known  aa 
the  Maison  du  Roiy  —  that  venerable  pile  in  the 
market-place  of  Brussels,  still  visited  by  every 
traveller  for  its  curious  architecture,  and  yet  more 
as  the  last  resting-place  of  the  Flemish  lords. 
Here  they  were  lodged  in  separate  rooms,  small, 
dark,  and  uncomfortable,  and  scantily  provided 
with  furniture.  Nearly  the  whole  of  the  force 
which  had  escorted  them  to  Brussels  was  estab- 
lished in  the  great  square,  to  defeat  any  attempt 
at  a  rescue.  But  none  was  made ;  and  the  night 
passed  away  without  disturbance,  except  what  was 
occasioned  by  the  sound  of  busy  workmen  em- 
ployed in  constructing  a  scaffold  for  the  scene  of 
execution  on  the  following  day.' 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  fourth,  the  duke  of 
Alva  had  sent  for  Martin  Rithovius,  bishop  of 
Ypres ;  and,  communicating  to  him  the  sentence 


9  "  Mar^harent  dans  la  ville  en 
bataille,  et  avecques  une  batterie 
de  tambourins  et  de  phifTres  si 
pitleuse  qu'il  n*y  avoit  spectateur 
de  si  bon  cceur  qui  ne  palist  et  ne 
pleurast  d'une  si  triste  pompe  fu- 
nebre.**  Mondoucet, ap.  Brantome, 
(Euvres,  torn.  I.  p.  363. 


3  De  Thou,  Histoire  Universelle, 
torn.  V.  p.  460.  —  Guerres  Ciyiles 
du  Pays-Bas,  p.  172.  —  Meteren, 
Hist,  des  Pays-Bas,  fol.  57.  —  Re- 
lacion  de  la  Justicia  que  se  hizo 
de  los  Contes  AgaD[M)nt  y  Om«^ 
MS. 


278       EXECUTION  OF  EGMONT  AND  HOORNE.    [Book  ni 

of  the  nobles,  he  requested  the  prelate  to  visit  the 
prisoners,  acquaint  them  with  their  fate,  and  pre- 
pare them  for  their  execution  on  the  following  day. 
The  bishop,  an  excellent  man,  and  the  personal 
friend  of  Egmont,  was  astounded  by  the  tidings. 
He  threw  himself  at  Alva*s  feet,  imploring  mercy 
for  the  prisoners,  and,  if  he  could  not  spare  their 
lives,  beseeching  him  at  least  to  grant  them  more 
time  for  preparation.  But  Alva  sternly  rebuked 
the  prelate,  saying  that  he  had  been  summoned, 
not  to  thwart  the  execution  of  the  law,  but  to 
console  the  prisoners,  and  enable  them  to  die  like 
Christians.*  The  bishop,  finding  his  entreaties 
useless,  rose  and  addressed  himself  to  his  melan- 
choly mission. 

It  was  near  midnight  when  he  entered  Egmont's 
apartment,  where  he  found  the  poor  nobleman, 
whose  strength  had  been  already  reduced  by  con- 
finement, and  who  was  wearied  by  the  fatigue  of 
the  journey,  buried  in  slumber.  It  is  said  that 
the  two  lords,  when  summoned  to  Brussels,  had 
indulged  the  vain  hope  that  it  was  to  inform 
them  of  the  conclusion  of  their  trial  and  their 
acquittal !  *    However  this  may  be,  Egmont  seems 


^  "  Sur  quoy  le  Due  lui  repon- 
dit  fort  vivement  et  avec  une 
espece  de  colere,  qu'il  ne  I'avoit 
pas  fait  venir  k  Brusselle  pour 
mettre  quelque  empechement  k 
fexecution  de  leur  sentence,  mais 
bien  pour  les  consoler  et  les  a»- 
•ister  k  mourir  chretiennement.'' 


Supplement  k  Strada,  torn.  I.  p. 
259. 

*  "  Venian  en  alguna  manera 
contentos  de  pensar  que  sus  cau- 
sas  andaban  al  cabo,  y  que  havian* 
de  salir  presto  y  bien  dcspachados 
este  dia."  Relacion  de  la  Justicia, 
MS. 


I 


Ch   v.] 


INFORMED  OF  THE  SENTENCE. 


279 


to  have  been  but  ill  prepared  for  the  dreadful  ti- 
dings he  received.  He  turned  deadly  pale,  as  he 
listened  to  the  bishop,  and  exclaimed,  with  deep 
emotion:  "It  is  a  terrible  sentence.  Little  did 
I  imagine  that  any  offence  I  had  committed 
against  God  or  the  king  could  merit  such  a  pun- 
ishment. It  is  not  death  that  I  fear.  Death  is 
the  common  lot  of  all.  But  I  shrink  from  dis- 
honor. Yet  I  may  hope  that  my  sufferings  will 
so  far  expiate  my  offences,  that  my  innocent  family 
will  not  be  involved  in  my  ruin  by  the  confis- 
cation of  my  property.  Thus  much,  at  least,  I 
think  I  may  claim  in  consideration  of  my  past 
services."  Then,  after  a  pause,  he  added,  "  Since 
my  death  is  the  will  of  God  and  his  majesty,  I 
will  try  to  meet  it  with  patience."^  He  asked  the 
bishop  if  there  were  no  hope.  On  being  answered, 
"None  whatever,"  he  resolved  to  devote  himself 
at  once  to  preparing  for  the  solemn  change. 

He  rose  from   his   couch,  and   hastily  dressed 
himself.     He  then  made  his  confession  to  the  prel- 


•  "  Voicy  une  Sentence  bien 
rigoureuse,  je  ne  pense  pas  d'avoir 
tant  offence  Sa  Majeste,  pour  me- 
ritcr  un  tel  traittement;  neanmoins 
je  le  prens  en  patience  et  prie  le 
Seigneur,  que  ma  mort  soit  une 
expiation  de  mes  pech(?s,  et  que 
par  Ik,  ma  chere  Femme  et  mes 
Knfans  n*encourent  aucun  blame, 
ny  confiscation.  Car  mes  services 
passez  meritent  bien  qu*on  me 
^se  'iette  grace.     Puis  qu*il  plait 


k  Dieu  et  au  Roy,  j*accepte  la 
mort  avec  patience.'*  Supplement 
k  Strada,  tom.  I.  p.  259.  —  These 
remarks  of  Egmont  are  also  given, 
with  very  little  discrepancy,  by 
Meteren,  Hist,  des  Pays-Bas,  fol. 
56  ;  in  the  Relacion  de  la  Justacia 
que  se  hizo  de  los  Contes  Agamont 
y  Orne,  MS. ;  and  in  the  relation 
of  Mondoucet,  ap.  Brantome,  QEu- 
vres,  tom.  I.  p.  364. 


280      EXECUTION  OF  EGMONT  AND  HOORNE.    [Book  m 

ate,  and  desired  that  mass  might  be  said,  and  the 
sacrament  administered  to  him.  This  was  done 
with  great  solemnity,  and  Egmont  received  the 
communion  in  the  most  devout  manner,  manifest- 
ing the  greatest  contrition  for  his  sins.  He  next 
inquired  of  the  bishop  to  what  prayer  he  could 
best  have  recourse  to  sustain  him  in  this  trying 
liour.  The  prelate  recommended  to  him  that 
prayer  which  our  Saviour  had  commended  to  his 
disciples.  The  advice  pleased  the  count,  who 
earnestly  engaged  in  his  devotions.  But  a  host 
of  tender  recollections  crowded  on  his  mind,  and 
the  images  of  his  wife  and  children  drew  his 
thoughts  in  another  direction,  till  the  kind  ex- 
X>ostulations  of  the  prelate  again  restored  him  to 
liimself 

Egmont  asked  whether  it  would  be  well  to 
say  anything  on  the  scaffold  for  the  edification  of 
the  people.  But  the  bishop  discouraged  him,  say- 
ing  that  he  would  be  imperfectly  heard,  and  that 
the  people,  in  their  present  excitement,  would  be 
apt  to  misinterpret  what  he  said  to  their  own 
prejudice. 

Having  attended  to  his  spiritual  concerns,  Eg- 
mont called  for  writing  materials,  and  wrote  a  let- 
ter to  his  wife,  whom  he  had  not  seen  during  his 
long  confinement ;  and  to  her  he  now  bade  a  ten- 
der farewell.  He  then  addressed  another  letter, 
written  in  French,  in  a  few  brief  and  touching 
sentences,  to  the  king,  —  which  fortunately  has 
been  preserved  to  us.     "This  morning,"  he  says. 


12 


T 


Ch.  v.] 


INFORMED  or  THE   SENTENCE. 


281 


"  I  have  been  made  acquainted  with  the  sentence 
which  it  has  pleased  your  majesty  to  pass  upon 
me.  And  although  it  has  never  been  my  intent 
to  do  aught  against  the  person  or  the  service  of 
your  majesty,  or  against  our  true,  ancient,  and 
Catholic  faith,  yet  I  receive  in  patience  what  it 
has  pleased  God  to  send  me.^  If  during  these 
troubles  I  have  counselled  or  permitted  aught 
which  might  seem  otherwise,  I  have  done  so  from 
a  sincere  regard  for  the  service  of  God  and  your 
majesty,  and  from  what  I  believed  the  necessity  of 
the  times.  Wherefore  I  pray  your  majesty  to  par- 
don it,  and  for  the  sake  of  my  past  services  to 
take  pity  on  my  poor  wife,  my  children,  and  my 
servants.  In  this  trust,  I  commend  myself  to  the 
mercy  of  God."  The  letter  is  dated  Brussels, 
*'  on  the  point  of  death,"  June  5,  1568.^ 

Having  time  still  left,  the  count  made  a  fair 
copy  of  the  two  letters,  and  gave  them  to  the 
bishop,  entreating  him  to  deliver  them  according 
to  their  destination.  He  accompanied  that  to 
Philip  with  a  ring,  to  be  given  at  the  same  time 
to  the  monarch.^     It  was  of  great  value,  and  as 


^  "  Et  combien  que  jamais  men 
intention  n'ait  estd  de  riens  traic- 
ter,  ni  faire  contre  la  Personne,  ni 
le  service  de  Vostre  Majesty,  ne 
contre  nostre  vraye,  ancienne,  et 
catholicque  Religion,  si  est-ce  que 
je  prens  en  patience,  ce  qu'il  plsust 
k  mon  bon  Dieu  de  m*envoyer.'* 
Supplement  k  Strada,  tom.  I.  p. 
261. 

VOL.  n.  SS 


8  "Parquoy,  je  prie  h  Vostre 
Majestd  me  le  pardonner,  et  avoir 
pitid  de  ma  pauvre  fenmie,  enfans 
et  serviteurs,  vous  souvenant  de 
mes  services  passez.  Et  sur  cest 
espoir  m*en  vols  me  recommander 
k  la  mlsericorde  de  Dieu.  Do 
Bruxelles  prest  k  mourir,  ce  5  de 
Juing  1568."     Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 

^  "  Et  luy  donna  une  bague  fort 


282       EXECUTION  OF  EGMONT  AND  HOORNE.    [Book  m 

it  had  been  the  gift  of  Philip  himself  during  the 
count's  late  visit  to  Madrid,  it  might  soften  the 
heart  of  the  king  by  reminding  him  of  happier 
days,  when  he  had  looked  with  an  eye  of  favor  on 
his  unhappy  vassal. 

Having  completed  all  his  arrangements,  Egmont 
became  impatient  for  the  hour  of  his  departure ; 
and  he  expressed  the  hope  that  there  would  be  no 
unnecessary  delay.^^  At  ten  in  the  morning  the 
soldiers  appeared  who  were  to  conduct  him  to  the 
scaffold.  They  brought  with  them  cords,  as  usual, 
to  bind  the  prisoner  s  hands.  But  Egmont  remon- 
strated, and  showed  that  he  had,  himself,  cut  off 
the  collar  of  his  doublet  and  shirt,  in  order  to 
facilitate  the  stroke  of  the  executioner.  This  he 
did  to  convince  them  that  he  meditated  no  resist- 
ance ;  and  on  his  promising  that  he  would  attempt 
none,  they  consented  to  his  remaining  with  his 
hands  unbound. 

Egmont  was  dressed  in  a  crimson  damask  robe, 
over  which  was  a  Spanish  mantle  fringed  with 
gold.  His  breeches  were  of  black  silk,  and  his 
hat,  of  the  same  material,  was  garnished  with 
white  and  sable  plumes.^^      In  his  hand,  which. 


richc  que  le  roy  d'Espaigr^e  lay 
avoit  donn€  lors  qu*il  fut  en  Espai- 
gne,  en  signe  d*amiti^,  pour  la 
luy  envoyer  et  feire  tenir.**  Bran- 
tdme,  (Euvres,  torn.  I.  p.  861. 

W  "En  apres,  le  comte  d'Aigue- 
mont  commen(^a  k  aoliciter  fort 
radvancement  de  sa  mort,  disant 


que  puis  qu*il  devoit  mourir  qu*on 
ne  le  devoit  tenir  si  longuement 
en  ce  travail.**  Mondoucet,  Ibid., 
p.  866. 

1*  "  n  estott  vestu  d*une  juppe 
de  damas  cramoisy,  et  d'un  man- 
tcau  noir  avec  du  passement  d'or, 
les  ehausses  de  taffetas  noir  et  le 


^1 


Ch.  v.] 


PROCESSION  TO  THE  SCAPFOLD. 


283 


as 'we  have  seen,  remained  free,  he  held  a  white 
handkerchief  On  his  way  to  the  place  of  ex- 
ecution, he  was  accompanied  by  Julian  de  Ro- 
mero, maitre  de  camp,  by  the  captain,  Salinas, 
who  had  charge  of  the  fortress  of  Ghent,  and  by 
the  bishop  of  Ypres.  As  the  procession  moved 
slowly  forward,  the  count  repeated  some  portion 
of  the  fifty-first  psalm, — "Have  mercy  on  me,  O 
God!"  —  in  which  the  good  prelate  joined  mth 
him.  In  the  centre  of  the  square,  on  the  spot 
where  so  much  of  the  best  blood  of  the  Nether- 
lands has  been  shed,  stood  the  scaffold,  covered 
with  black  cloth.  On  it  were  two  velvet  cushions 
with  a  small  table,  shrouded  likewise  in  black,  and 
supporting  a  silver  crucifix.  At  the  comers  of 
the  platform  were  two  poles,  pointed  at  the  eird 
with  steel,  intimating  the  purpose  for  which  they 
were  intended.^ 

In  front  of  the  scaffold  was  the  provost  of  the 
court,  mounted  on  horseback,  and  bearing  the  red 
wand  of  office  in  his  hand.^^  The  executioner 
remained,  as  usual,  below  the  platform,  screened 
from  view,  that  he  might  not,  by  his  presence  be- 
fore it  was  necessary,  outrage  the  feelings  of  the 


has  de  chamois  bronzd,  son  cha- 
peau  de  taffetas  noir  convert  de 
force  plumes  blanches  et  noires.** 
Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 

^2  Ossorio,  Albae  Vita,  p.  287. 
—  Guerres  Civiles  du  Pays-Baa, 
p.  177  — Relacion  de  la  Jusdcia, 
uiS. 

*'  This  personage,  whose  name 


was  Spel,  met  with  no  better  fete 
than  that  of  the  victims  whose 
execution  he  now  superintended. 
Not  long  after  this  he  was  sen- 
tenced to  the  gallows  by  the  duke, 
to  the  great  satisfaction  of  the 
people,  as  Strada  tells  us,  for  the 
manifold  crimes  he  had  committed. 
De  B,ello  Belgico,  torn.  L  p.  387. 


284      EXECUTION  OF  EGMONT  AND  HOORNE.    [Book  m 

prisoners.^*  The  troops,  who  had  been  under  ailna 
all  night,  were  drawn  up  around  in  order  of  battle ; 
and  strong  bodies  of  arquebusiers  were  posted  in 
the  great  avenues  which  led  to  the  square.  The 
space  left  open  by  the  soldiery  was  speedily  oc- 
cupied by  a  crowd  of  eager  spectators.  Others 
thronged  the  roofs  and  windows  of  the  buildings 
that  surrounded  the  market-place,  some  of  which, 
still  standing  at  the  present  day,  show,  by  their 
quaint  and  venerable  architecture,  that  they  must 
have  looked  down  on  the  tragic  scene  we  are  now 
depicting. 

It  was  indeed  a  gloomy  day  for  Brussels,  —  so 
long  the  residence  of  the  two  nobles,  where  their 
forms  were  as  familiar,  and  where  they  were  held 
in  as  much  love  and  honor  as  in  any  of  their 
own  provinces.  All  business  was  suspended. 
The  shops  were  closed.  The  bells  tolled  in  all 
the  churches.  An  air  of  gloom,  as  of  some 
impending  calamity,  settled  on  the  city.  "  It 
seemed,"  says  one  residing  there  at  the  time,  "  as 
if  the  day  of  judgment  were  at  hand ! "  ^ 


M  The  executioner  was  said  to 
have  been  formerly  one  of  Eg- 
monf 8  servants.  "  £1  verdugo, 
que  hasta  aquel  tiempo  no  se  havia 
dejado  ver,  por  que  en  la  forma 
de  morir  se  le  tuvo  este  respeto, 
hizo  su  oficio  eon  gran  presteza,  al 
qual  havia  hecho  dar  aquel  maldito 
oficio  el  dicho  Conde,  y  dicen  aver 
ndo  lacayo  suyo.**  Relacion  de 
U  Jusdcia,  MS.  —  This    relacion 


forms  part  of  a  curious  compilation 
in  MS.,  endtled  "  Cartas  y  Papeles 
varios/'  in  the  British  Museum. 
The  compiler  is  supposed  to  have 
been  Pedro  de  Gante,  secretary 
of  the  duke  of  Naxera,  who 
amused  himself  with  transciibing 
various  curious  "  relations  **  of  the 
time  of  Charles  the  Fiilh  and 
Philip  the  Second. 
15  »« Todas  las  boticas  se  cerr»> 


■^ 


Ch.  v.] 


THEIB  LAST  MOMENTS. 


285 


As  the  procession  slowly  passed  through  the 
ranks  of  the  soldiers,  Egmont  saluted  the  officers 
—  some  of  them  his  ancient  companions  —  with 
such  a  sweet  and  dignified  composure  in  his 
manner  as  was  long  remembered  by  those  who 
saw  it.  And  few  even  of  the  Spaniards  could 
refrain  from  tears,  as  they  took  their  last  look 
at  the  gallant  noble  who  was  to  perish  by  so 
miserable  an  end.^^ 

With  a  steady  step  he  mounted  the  scaffold, 
and,  as  he  crossed  it,  gave  utterance  to  the  vain 
wish,  that,  instead  of  meeting  such  a  fate,  he 
had  been  allowed  to  die  in  the  service  of  his 
king  and  country."  He  quickly,  however,  turned 
to  other  thoughts,  and,  kneeling  on  one  of  the 
cushions,  with  the  bishop  beside  him  on  the  other, 
he  was  soon  engaged  earnestly  in  prayer.  With 
his  eyes  raised  towards  Heaven  with  a  look  of 
unutterable  sadness,^^  he  prayed  so  fervently  and 
loud  as  to  be  distinctly  heard  by  the  spectators. 
The  prelate,  much  affected,  put  into  his  hands  the 
silver  crucifix,  which  Egmont  repeatedly  kissed; 


ron,  y  dohlaron  por  ellos  todo  el 
dia  las  campanas  de  las  Yglesias, 
que  no  parecia  otra  cosa  si  no  dia 
de  juicio."  Relacion  de  la  Justi- 
cia,  MS. 

W  «  r^squelz  pleuroient  et  re- 
grettoi<;nt  de  voir  un  si  grand  ca- 
pitaine  mourir  ainsi."  Mondoucet, 
ap.  Brantome,  (Euvres,  torn.  I.  p. 
867. 

17  "  II  8e  pourmena  quelque  peu, 


souhaytant  de  pouvoir  finir  sa  vie 
au  service  de  son  Prince  et  du 
pais."  Meteren,  Hist  des  Pay»- 
Bas,  fol.  58. 

18  «  Alzd  los  ojos  al  cielo  por  un 
poco  espacio  con  un  semblante  tan 
doloroso,  como  se  puede  pensar  le 
tenia  en  aquel  transito  un  hombre 
tan  discreto."  Relacion  de  la  Ju». 
ticia,  MS. 


286      EXECUTION  OF  EGMONT  AND  HOORNE.    [Book  m 

after  which,  having  received  ahsolution  for  the  last 
time,  he  rose  and  made  a  sign  to  the  bishop  to 
retire.  He  then  stripped  off  his  mantle  and  robe: 
and  again  kneeling,  he  drew  a  silk  cap,  which  he 
had  brought  for  the  purpose,  over  his  eyes,  and, 
repeating  the  words,  "  Into  thy  hands,  O  Lord, 
I  commend  my  spirit,"  he  calmly  awaited  the 
stroke  of  the  executioner. 

The  low  sounds  of  lamentation,  which  from  time 
to  time  had  been  heard  among  the  populace,  were 
now  hushed  into  silence,^^  as  the  minister  of  justice, 
appearing  on  the  platfoim,  approached  his  victim, 
and  with  a  single  blow  of  the  sword  severed  the 
head  from  the  body.  A  cry  of  horror  rose  from 
the  midtitude,  and  some,  frantic  with  grief,  broke 
through  the  ranks  of  the  soldiers,  and  wildly  dipped 
their  handkerchiefs  in  the  blood  that  streamed  from 
the  scaffold,  treasuring  them  up,  says  the  chron- 
icler, as  precious  memorials  of  love  and  incitements 
to  vengeance.*  —  The  head  was  then  set  on  one 
of  the  poles  at  the  end  of  the  platform,  while  a 
mantle  thrown  over  the  mutilated  trunk  hid  it 
from  the  public  gaze." 


Ch.  v.] 


THEm  LAST  MOMENTS. 


287 


'•  "  En  gran  silencio,  con  nota- 
ble lastima,  sin  que  por  un  buen 
espacio  se  sintiese  rumor  niaguno.** 
Ibid. 

**  "  FuerCf  qui  linteola,  contem* 
plo  periculo,  Egmontii  cruore  con- 
sperserint,  servaverintque,  seu  mo- 
numcntum  amoris,  seu  vindictae 
irritamentum."  Strada,  De  Bello 
Belgico,  torn.  I.  p.  394. 


*i  Meteren,  Hist  des  Pays-Bas, 
fol.  58. — Guerres  Civiles  du  Pays- 
Bas,  p.  177.  —  Relacion  de  la  Jus- 
ticia,  MS. 

M.  de  Bava^r  bas  published  a 
letter  from  one  of  the  bishop  of 
Ypres's  household,  givinj?  an  ac- 
count of  the  last  hours  of  E<nnont, 
and  written  immediately  atler  his 
death.     (Proces  du  Comte  d'Fg- 


.1 


It  was  near  noon,  when  orders  were  sent  to  lead 
forth  the  remaining  prisoner  to  execution.     It  had 
been  assigned  to  the  curate  of  La  Chapelle  to  ac- 
quaint  Count  Hoorne  with  his  fate.     That  noble- 
man  received  the  awful  tidings  with  less  patience 
than  was  shown  by  his  friend.     He  gave  way  to 
a  burst  of  indignation  at  the  cruelty  and  injustice 
of  the  sentence.     It  was  a  poor  requital,  he  said, 
for  eight  and  twenty  years  of  faithful  services  to 
his  sovereign.     Yet,  he  added,  he  was  not  sorry  to 
be  released  from  a  life  of  such  incessant  fatigue.^* 
For  some  time  he  refused  to  confess,  saying  he  had 
done  enough  in  the  way  of  confession.^^     When 
urged  not  to  throw  away  the  few  precious  moments 
that  were  left  to  him,  he  at  length  consented. 

The  count  was  dressed  in  a  plain  suit  of  black, 
and  wore  a  Milanese  cap  upon  his  head.  He  was,' 
at  this  time,  about  fifty  years  of  age.  He  was 
tall,  with  handsome  features,  and  altogether  of  a 
commanding  presence.^*  His  form  was  erect,  and 
as  he  passed  with  a  steady  step  through  the  files 


mont,  pp.  232  -  234.)  The  state- 
ments in  the  letter  entirely  corrob- 
orate those  made  in  the  text.  In- 
deed, they  are  so  nearly  identical 
with  those  given  by  Foppens  in 
the  Supplement  k  Strada,  that  we 
can  hardly  doubt  that  the  writer  of 
the  one  narrative  had  access  to 
the  other. 

^  "  Que  avia  servido  i  su  ma- 
gestad  veinte  y  ocho  anos  y  no 
pensaba  tener  merecido  tal  payo, 
pero  que  se  consolaba  que  con  dar 
w  cuerpo  &  la  tierra,  saldria  de  los 


contlnuos  trauajos  en  que  havia  vivi- 
do."  Relacion  de  la  Justicia,  MS. 
^  "  Se  despita,  maugreant  et 
regrettant  fort  sa  mort,  et  se  trouva 
quelque  peu  opiniastre  en  la  con- 
fession, la  regrettant  fort,  disant 
qu'il  estoit  assez  confess^."  Mon- 
doucet,  ap.  Brantdme,  torn.  L  n, 
865.  *^ 

^  "  II  ^toit  agd  environ  ciV 
quante  ans,  et  ^toit  d*une  grand* 
et  belle  taille,  et  d'une  phisionomit 
revenante."  Supplement  h  Strada, 
torn.  I.  p.  264. 


li 


288       EXECUTION  OF  EGMONT  AND  HOORNE.    [Book  III. 


Ch.  v.] 


THEm  LAST  MOMENTS. 


289 


of  soldiers,  on  his  way  to  the  place  of  execution, 
he  frankly  saluted  those  of  his  acquaintance  whom 
he  saw  among  the  spectators.  His  look  had  in 
it  less  of  sorrow  than  of  indignation,  like  that 
of  one  conscious  of  enduring  wrong.  He  was 
spared  one  pang,  in  his  last  hour,  which  had  filled 
Egmont's  cup  with  bittemess;  though,  like  him, 
he  had  a  wife,  he  was  to  leave  no  orphan  family 

to  mourn  him. 

As  he  trod  the  scaiFold,  the  apparatus  of  death 
seemed  to  have  no  power  to  move  him.  He  still 
repeated  the  declaration,  that,  "often  as  he  had 
offended  his  Maker,  he  had  never,  to  his  knowledge, 
committed  any  offence  against  the  king."  When 
his  eyes  fell  on  the  bloody  shroud  that  enveloped 
the  remains  of  Egmont,  he  inquired  if  it  were  the 
body  of  his  friend.  Being  answered  in  the  af- 
firmative,  he  made  some  remark  in  Castilian,  not 
understood.  He  then  prayed  for  a  few  moments, 
but  in  so  low  a  tone,  that  the  words  were  not 
caught  by  the  by-standei-s,  and,  rising,  he  asked 
pardon  of  those  around  if  he  had  ever  offended 
any  of  them,  and  earnestly  besought  their  prayers. 
Then,  without  further  delay,  he  knelt  down,  and, 
repeating  the  words  ''In  mantis  hias,  Domine"  he 
submitted  himself  to  his  fate.* 


«*  "  The  deatb  of  this  man  * 
«ys  Strada,  "  would  liave  been 
immoderately  mourned,  had  not 
•II  tears  been  exhausted  by  sorrow 
for  Egmont"  De  BeDo  Belgieo, 
I.  p.  396. 


For  the  account  of  Hoorne'i 
last  moments,  see  Relacien  de  la 
Justicia,  MS.;  Meteren,  Hist,  det 
Pays-Bas,  fol.  68 ;  Supplement  k 
Strada,  torn.  I.  pp.  265,  266 ;  Mon- 
doucet,ap.  Brant&ne,  (Euvres,  torn 


•H^ 


I 


His  bloody  head  was  set  up  opposite  to  that  of 
his  fellow-sufferer.  For  three  hours  these  ghastly 
trophies  remained  exposed  to  the  gaze  of  the 
multitude.  They  were  then  taken  down,  and, 
with  the  bodies,  placed  in  leaden  coffins,  which 
were  straightway  removed,  —  that  containing  the 
remains  of  Egmont  to  the  convent  of  Santa  Clara, 
and  that  of  Hoome  to  the  ancient  church  of  St. 
Gudule.  To  these  places,  especially  to  Santa 
Clara,  the  people  now  flocked,  as  to  the  shrine  of 
a  martyr.  They  threw  themselves  on  the  coffin, 
kissing  it  and  bedewing  it  with  their  tears,  as  if  it 
had  contained  the  relics  of  some  murdered  saint ;  ^ 
while  many  of  them,  taking  little  heed  of  the 
presence  of  informers,  breathed  vows  of  ven- 
geance; some  even  swearing  not  to  trim  either 
hair  or  beard  till  these  vows  were  executed.^^  The 
government  seems  to  have  thought  it  prudent  to 
take  no  notice  of  this  burst  of  popular  feeling. 
But  a  funeral  hatchment,  blazoned  with  the  arms 
of  Egmont,  which,  as  usual  after  the  master's 
death,  had  been  fixed  by  his  domestics  on  the 
gates  of  his  mansion,  was  ordered  to  be  instantly 
removed;  no  doubt,  as  tending  to  keep  alive  the 


I.  p.  367 ;  De  Thou,  Hist.  Univer- 
selle,  torn.  I.  p.  451 ;  Ossorio,  Albs 
Vita,  p.  287. 

*  "Plusieurs  allarent  k  Teglise 
Saincte  Claire  ou  gisoit  son  corp, 
baisant  le  cercueil  aiirec  grande 
effusion  de  larmes,  conmie  si  ee 
fust  este  les  saincts  ossemens  et 

VOL,  II.  37 


reliques  de  quelque  sainct."  Mon- 
doucet,  ap.  Brantome,  GBuyrea, 
torn.  I.  p.  367. 

27  Arend,  Algemeene  Gescbie- 
denis  des  Vaderlands,  D.  H.  St 
V.  bl.  66.  —  Strada,  De  Bello  Bel- 
gieo,  torn.  L  p.  395. 


J\ 


290       EXECUTION  OF  EGMONT  AND  HOORNE.    [Book  111 


Cb.  V.l 


CHARACTER  OF  EGMONT. 


291 


popular  excitement."  The  bodies  were  not  al- 
lowed to  remain  long  in  their  temporary  places 
of  deposit,  but  were  transported  to  the  family  resi- 
dences of  the  two  lords  in  the  country,  and  laid 
in  the  vaults  of  their  ancestors.^ 

Thus  by  the  hand  of  the  common  executioner 
perished  these  two  unfortunate  noblemen,  who, 
by  their  rank,  possessions,  and  personal  cliaracters, 
were  the  most  illustrious  victims  that  could  have 
been  selected  in  the  Netherlands.  Both  had  early 
enjoyed  the  favor  of  Charles  the  Fifth,  and  both 
had  been  intrusted  by  Philip  with  some  of  the 
highest  offices  in  the  state.  Philip  de  Mont- 
morency, Count  Hoome,  the  elder  of  the  two, 
came  of  the  ancient  house  of  Montmorency  in 
France.  Besides  filling  the  high  post  of  Ad- 
miral of  the  Low  Countries,  he  was  made  gov- 
ernor of  the  provinces  of  Gueldres  and  Zutphen, 
was  a  councillor  of  state,  and  was  created  by  the 
emperor  a  knight  of  the  Golden  Fleece.  His  for- 
tune was  greatly  inferior  to  that  of  Count  Egmont ; 
yet  its  confiscation  aflbrded  a  supply  by  no  means 
unwelcome  to  the  needy  exchequer  of  the  duke 
of  Alva, 


*  "  Les  gens  du  comte  d'Aigue- 
mont  plant^rent  ses  armes  et  en- 
seignes  de  deuil  k  sa  porte  du 
palais ;  mais  le  due  d'Albe  en  es- 
tant  adverty,  les  en  fit  bien  oster 
bientost  et  emporter  dehors.**  Mon- 
doucet,  ap.  Brantdme,  (Euvres, 
torn.  I.  p.  367. 


•  Mondoucet,  the  French  am- 
bassador at  the  court  of  Brussels, 
was  among  the  spectators  who  wit- 
nessed the  execution  of  the  two 
nobles.  He  sent  home  to  his  mas- 
ter a  full  account  of  the  traffic 
scene,  the  most  minute,  and  per- 
haps the   most   trustworthy,  that 


I 


However  nearly  on  a  footing  they  might  be  in 
many  respects,  Hoome  was  altogether  eclipsed  by 
his  friend  in  military  renown.  Lamoral,  Count 
Egmont,  inherited  through  his  mother,  the  most 
beautiful  woman  of  her  time,*^  the  title  of  prince 
of  Gavre,  —  a  place  on  the  Scheldt,  not  far  from 
Ghent.  He  preferred,  however,  the  more  modest 
title  of  count  of  Egmont,  which  came  to  him  by  the 
father  s  side,  from  ancestors  who  had  reigned  over 
the  duchy  of  Gueldres.  The  uncommon  promise 
which  he  early  gave  served,  with  his  high  position, 
to  recommend  him  to  the  notice  of  the  Emperor 
Charles  the  Fifth,  who,  in  1544,  honored  by  his 
presence  Egmont's  nuptials  with  Sabina,  countess- 
palatine  of  Bavaria.  In  1546,  when  scarcely 
twenty-four  years  of  age,  he  was  admitted  to  the 
order  of  the  Golden  Fleece,  —  and,  by  a  singular 
coincidence,  on  the  same  day  on  which  that  dignity 
was  bestowed  on  the  man  destined  to  become  his 
mortal  foe,  the  duke  of  Alva.^^  Philip,  on  his  ac- 
cession, raised  him  to  the  dignity  of  a  councillor 
of  state,  and  made  him  governor  of  the  important 
provinces  of  Artois  and  Flanders. 

But  every  other  title  to  distinction  faded  away 
before  that  derived  from  those  two  victories,  which 
left  the  deepest  stain  on  the  French  arms  that  they 

we  have  of  it.    It  luckily  fell  into  bruit  d'etre  la  plus  belle  de  toutcs 

Brant6me*s  hands,  who  has  incor-  les  Flamandes.**     Correspondanee 

porated  it  into  his  notice  of  Eg-  de  Marguerite  d*Autriche,  p.  364. 
mont.  31  Gerlache,  Hist,  du  Royaume 

30  "  La  comtesse  d'Aiguemont,  des  Pays-Bas,  torn.  I.  p.  96. 
^ui  emporta  en  cette  assemblee  le 


(f 


290       EXECUTION  OF  EGMOXT  AND  HOORNE.    |Book  III 

popular  excitement.'*  The  bodies  were  not  al- 
lowed  to  remain  long  in  their  temporary  places 
of  deposit,  but  were  transported  to  the  family  resi- 
dences of  the  two  lords  in  the  country,  and  laid 
in  tlie  vaults  of  their  ancestors.^ 

Thus  by  the  hand  of  the  common  executioner 
perished  these  two  unfortunate  noblemen,  who, 
by  their  rank,  possessions,  and  personal  characters, 
were  the  most  illustrious  victims  that  could  have 
been  selected  in  the  Netherlands.  Both  had  early 
enjoved  the  favor  of  Charles  the  Fifth,  and  both 
had  been  intrusted  by  Philip  with  some  of  the 
hisjhest  offices  in  the  state.  Philip  de  Mont- 
morencv,  Count  Iloorne,  the  elder  of  the  two, 
came  of  the  ancient  house  of  Montmorency  in 
France.  Besides  filling  the  high  post  of  Ad- 
miral of  the  Low  Countries,  he  was  made  gov- 
ernor of  the  provinces  of  Gueldres  and  Zutphen, 
was  a  councillor  of  state,  and  was  created  by  the 
emTvjror  a  knicrht  of  the  Golden  Fleece.  His  for- 
tune  was  greatly  inferior  to  that  of  Count  Egmont ; 
yet  its  confiscation  afi'orded  a  supply  by  no  means 
unwelcome  to  the  needy  exchequer  of  the  duke 
of  Alva. 


^  "  Les  gens  du  comte  d'Aigue- 
mont  plantcrent  ses  armes  et  en- 
seignes  de  deuil  a  sa  porte  du 
palais :  mais  Ic  due  d'Albe  en  es- 
tant  advcrtv,  les  en  fit  bien  oster 
bientost  et  emporter  dchoi-s  "  ^lon- 
doucet,  ap.  Brantome,  CEuvres, 
torn.  I.  p.  36  7. 


»  Mondoucet,  the  French  am- 
bassador at  the  court  of  Brussels, 
was  among  the  spectators  wlio  wit- 
nessed the  execution  of  the  two 
nobles.  He  sent  home  to  his  mas- 
ter a  full  account  of  the  tragic 
scene,  the  most  minute,  and  per- 
haps the  most   trustworth)^,  that 


Cb.  v.] 


CHARACTER  OF  EGMONT. 


291 


i« 


However  nearly  on  a  footing  they  might  be  in 
many  respects,  Hoorne  was  altogether  eclipsed  by 
his   friend   in  military  renown.     Lamoral,    Count 
Egmont,  inherited  through  his  mother,  the  most 
beautiful  woman  of  her  time,^  the  title  of  prince 
of  Gavre,  —  a  place  on  the  Scheldt,  not  far  from 
Ghent.     He  i)referred,  however,  the  more  modest 
title  of  count  of  Egmont,  which  came  to  him  bv  the 
father's  side,  from  ancestors  who  had  reigned  over 
the  duchy  of  Gueldres.     The  uncommon  promise 
which  he  early  gave  served,  with  his  high  position, 
to  recommend  him  to  the  notice  of  the  Eniperor 
Charles   the  Fifth,  who,  in   1544,  honored  by  his 
presence  Egmont's  nuptials  with  Sabina,  countess- 
palatine    of    Bavaria.     In    1546,    when    scarcely 
twenty-four  years  of  age,  he  was  admitted  to  the 
order  of  the    Golden  Fleece,  —  and,  by  a  singular 
coincidence,  on  the  same  day  on  which  that  dignity 
was  bestowed  on  the  man  destined  to  become  his 
mortal  foe,  the  duke  of  Alva.^^     Philip,  on  his  ac- 
cession, raised  him   to    the  dignity  of  a  councillor 
of  state,  and  made  him  governor  of  the  important 
provinces  of  Artois  and  Flanders. 

But  every  other  title  to  distinction  faded  away 
before  that  derived  from  those  two  victories,  which 
left  the  deepest  stain  on  the  French  arms  that  they 

we  have  of  it.    It  luckily  fell  into  bruit  d'etre  la  plus  belle  de  toutes 

Brantome's  hands,  who  has  incor-  \q,^  Flamandes.'*     Correspon dance 

porated  it  into  his  notice  of  Eg-  de  ^larguerite  d'Autriche,  p.  364. 

»^*^n*-  31  Gerlache,  Hist,  du  Royaume 

**  "  La  comtesse  d'Aiguemont,  des  Pays-Bas,  torn.  I.  p.  96. 
^ui  emporta  en  cette  assemblee  le 


292      EXECUTION  OF  EGMONT  AND  HOORNE.    [Book  III 

had  received  since  the  defeat  at  Pavia.  "  I  have 
seen,"  said  the  French  ambassador,  who  witnessed 
the  execution  of  Egmont,  "  I  have  seen  the  head 
of  that  man  fall  who  twice  caused  France  to 
tremble."  ^ 

Yet  the  fame  won  by  his  success  was  prob- 
ably unfortunate  for  Egmont.  For  this,  the  fruit 
of  impetuous  valor  and  of  a  brilliant  coup^dc' 
main,  was  very  different  from  the  success  of  a 
long  campaign,  implying  genius  and  great  military 
science  in  the  commander.  Yet  the  eclat  it  gave 
was  enough  to  turn  the  head  of  a  man  less  pre- 
sumptuous than  Egmont.  It  placed  him  at  once 
on  the  most  conspicuous  eminence  in  the  country ; 
compelling  him,  in  some  sort,  to  take  a  position 
above  his  capacity  to  maintain.  When  the  trou- 
bles broke  out,  Egmont  was  found  side  by  side 
with  Orange,  in  the  van  of  the  malecontents. 
He  was  urged  to  this  rather  by  generous  sensi- 
bility to  the  wrongs  of  his  countrymen,  than  by 
any  settled  principle  of  action.  Thus  acting  from 
impulse,  he  did  not,  like  William,  calculate  the 
consequences  of  his  conduct.  When  those  con- 
sequences came,  he  was  not  prepared  to  meet  them ; 
he  was  like  some  unskilful  necromancer,  who  has 
neitlier  the  wit  to  lay  the  storm  which  he  has 
raised,  nor  the  hardihood  to  brave  it.  He  was 
acted  on  by  contrary  influences.  In  opposition  to 
the  popular  movement  came  his  strong  feeling  of 

32  "  Qu'il  avoit  vu    tomber  la    deux  fois  la  France.**    Suppldmcnt 
tate  de  celui  qui  avoit  fait  trembler    k  Strada,  torn.  I.  p.  266. 


-^t 


Ch.  v.] 


CHARACTER  OF  EGMONT. 


293 


loyalty,  and  his  stronger  devotion  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  faith.  His  personal  vanity  cooperated 
with  these ;  for  Egmont  was  too  much  of  a  court- 
ier willingly  to  dispense  with  the  smiles  of  royalty. 
Thus  the  opposite  forces  by  which  he  was  impelled 
served  to  neutralize  each  other.  Instead  of  movins: 
on  a  decided  line  of  conduct,  like  his  friend,  Wil- 
liam  of  Orange,  he  appeared  weak  and  vacillating. 
Pie  hesitated  where  he  should  have  acted.  And 
as  the  storm  thickened,  he  even  retraced  his  steps, 
and  threw  himself  on  the  mercy  of  the  monarch 
whom  he  had  offended.  William  better  understood 
the  character  of  his  master,  —  and  that  of  the 
minister  who  was  to  execute  his  decrees.^ 

Still,  with  all  his  deficiencies,  there  w^as  much 
both  in  the  personal  qualities  of  Egmont  and  in 
his  exploits  to  challenge  admiration.  "I  knew 
him,"  says  Brantome,  "both  in  France  and  in 
Spain,  and  never  did  I  meet  with  a  nobleman  of 
higher  breeding,  or  more  gracious  in  his  man- 
ners." ^     With  an  address  so  winning,  a  heart  so 


33  Morillon,  in  a  letter  to  Gran- 
velle,  dated  August  3,  1567,  a  few 
weeks  only  before  Egniont's  arrest, 
gives  a  graphic  sketch  of  that  no- 
bleman, which,  although  by  no 
friendlv  hand,  seems  to  be  not 
whollv  without  truth.  "  Ce  sei- 
gneur,  y  est-il  dit,  est  haut  et  pre- 
sumant  de  soy,  jusques  k  vouloir 
embrasser  le  faict  de  la  republi([ue 
et  le  redresscment  d'icelle  et  de  la 
religion,  que  ne  sont  pas  de  son 
gibier,  et  est  plus  propre  pour  con- 


duire  une  chasse  ou  volerie,  et, 
pour  dire  tout,  une  bataille,  s'il  fut 
este  si  bien  advise  que  de  se  co- 
gnoisti-e  et  se  mesurer  de  son  pied ; 
mais  les  flatteries  perdent  ees  gens, 
et  on  leur  fait  accroire  qu'ilz  sont 
plus  saiges  qu'ilz  ne  sont,  et  ilz  le 
croicnt  et  se  bouttent  sy  avant, 
que  aprez  ilz  ne  se  peuvent  ravoir, 
et  il  est  force  qu'ilz  facent  le  sault.** 
Archives  de  la  ISfaison  d'Orange- 
Nassau,  torn.  I.  p.  Ixix. 

34  "  Je  diray  de  lui  qu<i  e*estoit 


294   EXECUTION  OF  EGMONT  AND  HOORNE.  [Book  HI 

generous,  and  with  so  biilliant  a  reputation,  it  is 
not  wonderful  that  Egmont  should  have  been  the 
pride  of  his  court  and  the  idol  of  his  country- 
men.    In   their   idolatry  they  could  not  compre- 
hend  that  Alva's  persecution  should  not  have  been 
prompted  by  a  keener  feeling  than  a  sense  of  pub- 
lic duty  or  obedience  to  his  sovereign.     They  in 
dustriously  sought   in   the   earlier  history  of  the 
rival  chiefs  the  motives  for  personal  pique.     On 
Alva's  first  visit  to  the  Netherlands,  Egmont,  then 
a  young  man,   was   said  to  have   won  of  him  a 
considerable  sum  at  play.     The  ill-will  thus  raised 
in  Alva's  mind  was  heightened  by  Egmont's  supe- 
riority over  him  at  a  shooting-match,  which  the 
people,  regarding  as  a  sort  of  national  triumph, 
hailed  with  an  exultation   that  greatly  increased 
the  mortification  of  the  duke.^     But  what  filled 
up  the  measure  of  his  jealousy  was  his  rival's  mil- 
itary renown ;  for  the  Fabian  policy  which  direct- 
ed Alva's   campaigns,  however  it  established  his 


le  seigneur  de  la  plus  belle  fa<;on 
et  de  la  meilleure  grace  que  j'aye 
veu  jamais,  fust  ce  parmy  les 
grandz,  panny  ses  pairs,  pamiy  les 
gens  de  guerre,  et  parmy  les  dames, 
I'ayant  veu  en  France  et  en  Espa- 
gue,  et  jmrle  k  luy."  Brantome, 
(Euvres,  torn.  I.  p.  369. 

An  old  lady  of  the  French 
court,  who  in  her  early  days  had 
visited  Flanders,  assured  Brantome 
that  she  had  often  seen  Egmont, 
then  a  mere  youth,  and  that  at 
that  time  he  was  excessively  shy 


and  awkward,  so  much  so,  indeed, 
that  it  was  a  common  jest  with 
both  the  men  and  women  of  the 
court.  Such  was  the  rude  stock 
from  which  at  a  later  day  was  to 
spring  the  flower  of  chivalry ! 

35  "  Posted  in  publica  laetitia 
dum  uterque  cxplodendo  ad  sig- 
num  sclopo  ex  provocatione  con- 
tenderent,  superatus  esset  Albanus, 
ingenti  Belgarum  plausu  ad  na- 
tionis  suae  decus  referentium  victo- 
riam  ex  Duce  Hispano."  Stradzt 
De  Bello  Belgico,  torn.  J.  p.  391. 


r 


Cn.  V.J 


CONDUCT  OF  ALVA. 


293 


claims  to  the  reputation  of  a  great  commander.  • 
was  by  no  means  favorable  to  those  brilliant  feats 
of  arms  which  have  such  attraction  for  the  mul- 
titude. So  intense,  indeed,  was  the  feeling  of  ha- 
tred,  it  was  said,  in  Alva's  bosom,  that,  on  the  day 
of  his  rival's  execution,  he  posted  himself  behind 
a  lattice  of  the  very  building  in  which  Egmont 
had  been  confined,  that  he  might  feast  his  eyes 
witli  the  sight  of  his  mortal  agony.^^ 

The  friends  of  Alva  give  a  very  different  view 
of  his  conduct.  According  to  them,  an  illness 
under  which  he  labored,  at  the  close  of  Egmont's 
trial,  was  occasioned  by  his  distress  of  mind  at 
the  task  imposed  on  him  by  the  king.  He  had 
written  more  than  once  to  the  court  of  Castile,  to 
request  some  mitigation  of  Egmont's  sentence,  but 
was  answered,  that  "this  would  have  been  easy 
to  grant,  if  the  offence  had  been  against  the  king ; 
but  against  the  faith,  it  was  impossible."  ^  It  was 
even  said  that  the  duke  was  so  much  moved,  that 
he  was  seen  to  shed  tears  as  big  as  peas  on  the  day 
of  the  execution!^ 


36  Schiller,  in  his  account  of  the 
execution  of  the  two  nobles,  tells 
us  that  it  was  from  a  window  of 
the  Hotel  de  Ville,  the  fine  old 
building  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
market-place,  that  Alva  watched 
the  last  struggles  of  his  victims. 
The  cicerone,  on  the  other  hand, 
who  shows  the  credulous  traveller 
the  memoraUlia  of  the  city,  points 
out  the  very  chamber  in  the  Mai- 
aon   du   lloi  in   which   the    duke 


secreted    himself.  —  Valeat    quan- 
turn. 

^7  «  Qu'il  avoit  procure  de  tout^ 
son  povoir  la  mitigation,  mals  que 
Ton  avoit  repondu  que,  si  il  n'y 
cut  este  aultre  ollcnte  (pie  celle 
qui  touchoit  S.  M.,  le  pardon  fut 
este  facille,  mais  qu'elle  ne  pouvoit 
rcmectre  rolTense  faicte  si  grande 
h  Dieu."  Archives  de  la  Maison 
d'0range-Nassau,Supplcnient,p.81 

33  "  J'entendz  d'aucuns  que  soi 


f  ' 


'I 


296   EXECUTION  OF  EGMONT  AND  HOORNE.  [Book  IU. 

I  must  confess,  I  have  never  seen  any  account 
that  would  warrant  a  belief  in  the  report  that  Al- 
va witnessed  in  person  the  execution  of  his  pris- 
oners. Nor,  on  the  other  hand,  have  I  met  Avith 
any  letter  of  his  deprecating  the  severity  of  their 
sentence,  or  advising  a  mitigation  of  their  punish- 
ment. This,  indeed,  would  be  directly  opposed 
to  his  policy,  openly  avowed.  The  reader  may, 
perhaps,  recall  the  homely  simile  by  which  he 
recommended  to  the  queen-mother,  at  Bayonne, 
to  strike  at  the  great  nobles  in  preference  to 
the  commoners.  "  One  salmon,"  he  said,  "  was 
worth  ten  thousand  frogs."  ®  Soon  after  Eg- 
mont's  arrest,  some  of  the  burghers  of  Brus- 
sels waited  on  him  to  ask  w^iy  it  had  been 
made.  The  duke  bluntly  told  them,  "When  he. 
had  got  together  his  troops,  he  would  let  them 
know.'""*  Everjthing  shows  that,  in  his  method 
of  proceeding  in  regard  to  the  two  lords,  he  had 
acted  on  a  preconcerted  plan,  in  the  arrangement 
of  which  he  had  taken  his  full  part.  In  a  letter  to 
Philip,  written  soon  after  the  execution,  he  speaks 
with  complacency  of  having  carried  out  the  royal 
views  in  respect  to  the  great  offenders.*^    In  another, 


Ch.  v.] 


CONDUCT  OF  ALVA. 


297 


Exc.  at  jectd  des  larmes  anssi 
presses  (|ue  poix  au  temps  que 
Ton  pstoit  siir  ces  executions." 
Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 

Tliov  nuist  have  been  as  bijr  as 
rroc'odlles'  tears. 

89  Ante,  vol.  I.  p.  606. 

**  "  Je  suis  oi-eupe  h  reunir  mes 


troupes,  Espagnoles,  Italiennes,  et 
Allemandes ;  quand  je  serai  pret, 
vous  recevrez  ma  rcponsc.**  Ar- 
chives de  la  Maison  d'Oranjje-Nas- 
sau,  torn.  III.  p.  XX. 

^1  "  11  lui  rend  comptc  de  ce 
qu'il  a  fait  pour  Texecution  des 
ordres  que  le  Roi  lui  donna  h  son 


id 


he  notices  the  sensation  caused  by  the  death  of 
Egmont ;  and  "  the  greater  the  sensation,"  he  adds, 
"  the  greater  will  be  the  benefit  to  be  derived  from 
it."  42  —  There  is  little  in  all  this  of  compunction 
for  the  act,  or  of  compassion  for  its  victims. 

The  truth  seems  to  be,  that  Alva  was  a  man  of 
an  arrogant  nature,  an  inflexible  w^ill,  and  of  the 
most  narrow  and  limited  views.  His  doctrine  of 
implicit  obedience  went  as  far  as  that  of  Philip 
himself.  In  enforcing  it,  he  disdained  the  milder 
methods  of  argument  or  conciliation.  It  was  on 
force,  brute  force  alone,  that  he  relied.  He  was 
bred  a  soldier,  early  accustomed  to  the  stern  dis- 
cipline of  the  camp.  The  only  law  he  recognized 
was  martial  law;  his  only  argument,  the  sword. 
No  aj?ent  could  have  been  fitter  to  execute  the 
designs  of  a  despotic  prince.  His  hard,  impassible 
nature  was  not  to  be  influenced  by  those  affec- 
tions which  sometimes  turn  the  most  obdurate  from 
their  purpose.  As  little  did  he  know  of  fear; 
nor  could  danger  deter  him  from  carrying  out  his 
work.  The  hatred  he  excited  in  the  Netherlands 
was  such,  that,  as  he  was  warned,  it  was  not  safe 
for  him  to  go  out  after  dark.  Placards  were 
posted  up  in  Brussels  menacing  his  life  if  he  per- 
sisted in  the  prosecution  of  Egmont.*^     He  held 


depart,  et  qui  consistiuent  k  arre- 
ter  et  a  chatier  exemplairement 
les  principaux  du  pays  qui  s'etaient 
rendus  coupables  durant  les  trou- 
bles." Correspondance  de  Phi- 
appe  II.,  tom.  II.  p.  29. 
VOL.  II.  38 


*2  "  C*a  ete  une  chose  de  <n*and 
effet  en  ce  pays,  que  Tcxecution 
d'Egmont;  et  plus  grand  a  6t4 
I'effet,  plus  I'exemple  qu'on  a  voulu 
faire  sera  fruetueux."    Ibid.,  p.  28. 

«  Ossorio,  Albre  Vita,  p.  278. 


i 


298       EXECUTION  OF  EGMONT  sVSJ)  HOOHNE.    [Cook  IH. 


Ch.  V.J 


FATE  OF  EGMONT'S  FAMILY 


29?* 


such  menaces  as  light  as  he  did  the  entreaties  of 
the  countess,  or  the  arguments  of  her  counsel. 
Far  from  being  moved  by  personal  considerations, 
no  power  could  turn  him  from  that  narrow  path 
which  he  professed  to  regard  as  the  path  of 
duty.  He  went  surely,  though  it  might  be  slowly, 
towards  the  mark,  crushing  by  his  iron  will  every 
obstacle  that  lay  in  his  track.  We  shudder  at 
the  contemplation  of  such  a  character,  relieved  by 
scarcely  a  single  touch  of  humanity.  Yet  we 
must  admit  there  is  something  which  challenges 
our  admiration  in  the  stern,  uncompromising  man- 
ner, without  fear  or  favor,  with  which  a  man  of 
this  indomitable  temper  carries  his  plans  into  ex- 
ecution. 

It  would  not  be  fak  to  omit,  in  this  connection, 
some  passages  from  Alva's  correspondence,  which 
suggest  the  idea  that  he  was  not  wholly  insensible 
to  feelings  of  compassion,  —  when  they  did  not  in- 
terfere with  the  pei-formance  of  his  task.  In  a  let- 
ter to  the  king,  dated  the  ninth  of  June,  four  days 
only  after  the  death  of  the  two  nobles,  the  duke 
says :  "  Your  majesty  will  understand  the  regret  I 
feel  at  seeing  these  poor  lords  brought  to  sucli  an 
end,  and  myself  obliged  to  bring  them  to  it.'*  But 
I  have  not  shrunk  from  doing  what  is  for  your 
majesty's  service.     Indeed,  they  and  their  accom- 


<*  "  V.  M.  peult  consid^rer  le  en  fusse  Tex^cuteur.**     Correspon- 

regret  que  9a  m'a  este  de  voir  ces  dance  de  Marguerite  d'Autnche, 

pauvres    seigneurs    venus    h   tels  p.  252. 
termes,  et  (ju'il  ayt  fallut  que  nioy 


' 


ii 


r 


plices  have  been  the  cause  of  very  great  present 
evil,  and  one  which  will  endanger  the  souls  of 
many  for  years  to  come.  The  Countess  Egmont's 
condition  fills  me  with  the  greatest  pity,  burdened 
as  she  is  with  a  family  of  eleven  children,  none  old 
enough  to  take  care  of  themselves ;  —  and  she  too 
a  lady  of  so  distinguished  rank,  sister  of  the  count- 
palatine,  and  of  so  virtuous,  truly  Catholic,  and 
exemplary  life.*^  There  is  no  man  in  the  counti"^' 
who  does  not  grieve  for  her !  I  cannot  but  coni 
mend  her,"  he  concludes,  "  as  I  do  now,  very  hum- 
bly, to  the  good  grace  of  your  majesty,  beseeching 
you  to  call  to  mind  that  if  the  count,  her  hus- 
band, came  to  trouble  at  the  close  of  his  days, 
he  formerly  rendered  great  service  to  the  state."  ^ 
The  reflection,  it  must  be  owned,  came  somewhat 
late. 

In  another  letter  to  Philip,  though  of  the  same 
date,  Alva  recommends  the  king  to  summon  the 
countess  and  her  children  to  Spain;  where  her 
daughters  might  take  the  veil,  and  her  sons  be 
properly  educated.  "  I  do  not  believe,"  he  adds, 
"that  there  is  so  unfortunate  a  family  in  the 
whole  world.     I  am  not  sure  that   the  countess 


^  "  jMadame  d'Egmont  me  faict 
grand  })itie  et  compassion,  pour  la 
voir  cliargee  de  unze  enfans  et 
nuls  addressez,  et  elle,  dame  sy 
principale,  comme  elle  est,  soeur 
du  comte  palatin,  et  de  si  bonne, 
vertueuse,  catliolieque  et  exem- 
plaire  vie,  qu'il  n'y  a  homme  qui 
ne  la  regrette."    Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


46  The  duke  wrote  no  less  than 
three  letters  to  the  king,  of  this 
same  date,  June  9.  The  ]j7'ecis  of 
two  is  given  by  Gachard,  and  the 
third  is  published  entire  by  Ueif- 
fenberg.  The  countess  and  her 
misfortunes  form  the  burden  oi 
two  of  them. 


Il 


300   EXECUTION  OF  EGMONT  AND  HOORNE.  [Book  III. 

has  the  means  of  procuring  a  supper  this  very 
evenuig ! "  *^ 

Philip,  in  answer  to  these  letters,  showed  that 
he  was  not  disposed  to  shrink  from  his  own  share 
of  responsibility  for  the  proceedings  of  his  gen- 
eral. The  duke,  he  said,  had  only  done  what  jus- 
tice and  his  duty  demanded.*^  He  could  have 
wished  that  the  state  of  things  had  warranted  a 
difFerent  result ;  nor  could  he  help  feeling  deeply 
that  measures  like  those  to  which  he  had  been 
forced  should  have  been  necessarv  in  his  reio^n. 
"  But,"  continued  the  king,  "  no  man  has  a  right 
to  shrink  from  his  duty.^^  —  I  am  well  pleased," 
he  concludes,  "  to  learn  that  the  two  lords  made  so 
good  and  Catholic  an  end.  As  to  what  you  recom- 
mend in  regard  to  the  countess  of  Egmont  and  her 
eleven  children,  I  shall  give  all  proper  heed  to  it."^ 

The  condition  of  the  countess  might  well  have 
moved  the  hardest  heart  to  pity.  Denied  all 
access  to  her  husband,  she  had  been  unable  to 
afford  him  that  consolation  which  he  so  much 
needed  during  his  long  and   dreary  confinement. 


<7  «  n  ne  croit  pas  qu*il  y  ait 
aujouni'hui  sur  la  terre  ime  mai- 
8on  aussi  malheureuse ;  il  ne  sait 
meme  si  la  comtesse  aura  de  quoi 
souper  ce  soir."  Correspondance 
de  Philippe  II.,  torn.  II.  p.  28. 

^  "Je  treuve  ce  debvoir  de 
justice  estre  faict  comme  il  convi- 
ent  et  vostre  consideration  tres- 
bonne.**  Correspondance  de  Mar- 
guerite d'Autriche,  p.  255. 


49  "  Mais  personne  ne  peult  de- 
laisser  de  se  acquitter  en  ce  en 
quoy  il  est  obligd."  Ibid.,  ubi 
supra. 

^  "  (^uant  k  la  dame  d'Egmont 
et  ses  unze  enfans,  et  ce  que  me  y 
representez,  en  me  les  recomman- 
dant,  je  y  auray  tout  bon  regard." 
Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


!+ 


''W 


v* 


\ 


Ch.  v.] 


FATE  OF  EGMONT'S  FAMILY. 


301 


Yet  she  had  not  been  idle ;  and,  as  we  have  seen, 
she  was  unwearied  in  her  efforts  to  excite  a  sym- 
pathy in  his  behalf  Neither  did  she  rely  only 
on  the  aid  which  this  world  can  give;  and  few 
nights  passed  during  her  lord's  imprisonment  in 
which  she  and  her  daughters  might  not  be  seen 
making  their  pious  pilgrimages,  barefooted,  to 
the  different  churches  of  Brussels,  to  invoke 
the  blessing  of  Heaven  on  their  labors.  She 
had  been  supported  through  this  trying  time  by  a 
reliance  on  the  success  of  her  endeavors,  in  which 
she  was  confirmed  by  the  encouragement  she 
received  from  the  highest  quarters.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  give  credit  to  the  report  of  a  brutal 
jest  attributed  to  the  duke  of  Alva,  w^ho,  on  the 
day  preceding  the  execution,  was  said  to  have 
told  the  countess  "  to  be  of  good  cheer ;  for  her 
husband  would  leave  the  prison  on  the  morrow  !"^^ 
There  is  more  reason  to  believe  that  the  Emperor 
Maximilian,  shortly  before  the  close  of  the  trial, 
sent  a  gentleman  with  a  kind  letter  to  the  countess, 
testifying  the  interest  he  took  in  her  affairs,  and 
assuring  her  she  had  nothing  to  fear  on  account 
of  her  husband.^^  On  the  very  morning  of  Eg- 
mont's  execution,  she  was  herself,  we  are  told, 
paying  a  visit  of  condolence  to  the  countess  ot 
Aremberg,  whose  husband  had  lately  fallen  in  the 

51  Arend,  (Algemeene  Geschie-  it  himself,  from  a  contemporary, 

denis  des  Vaderlands,  D.  II.  St.  Hooft. 

V.  bl.  66,)   who  gets  the  story,        ^^  Supplement  k  Strada,  tom.  L 

to  which    he    attaches    no  cred-  p.  252. 


I 


302       EXECUTION  OF  EGMONT  AND  IIOORNE     [Book  IIL 

battle  of  Heyligerlee;  and  at  her  friend's  house 
the  poor  lady  is  said  to  have  received  the  first 
tidings  of  the  fate  of  her  lord.^ 

The  blow  fell  the  heavier,  that  she  was  so  ill 
prepared  for  it.  On  the  same  day  she  found  her- 
self, not  only  a  widow,  but  a  beggar,  —  with  a 
family  of  orphan  children  in  vain  looking  up  to 
her  for  the  common  necessaries  of  lifc.^  In  her 
extremity,  she  resolved  to  apply  to  the  king  him- 
self She  found  an  apology  for  it  in  the  necessity 
of  transmitting  to  Philip  her  husband's  letter  to 
him,  which,  it  seems,  had  been  intrusted  to  her 
care.^  She  apologizes  for  not  sooner  sending 
this  last  and  most  humble  petition  of  her  de- 
ceased lord,  by  the  extreme  wretchedness  of  her 
situation,  abandoned,  as  she  is,  by  all,  far  from 
kindred  and  country .^^  She  trusts  inliis  majesty's 
benignity  and  compassion  ^*  to  aid  her  sons  by  re- 


in 


53  "  Laquelle,  ainsi  qii'elle  cstoit 
en  sa  chambre  et  sur  ces  propos, 
on  luy  vint  annoncer  qu'on  alloit 
t rancher  la  teste  k  son  mary." 
Brantome,  (Euvres,  torn.  I.  p. 
368. 

Under  all  the  circumstances,  one 
cannot  insist  strongly  on  the  prob- 
ability of  the  anecdote. 

^  One  of  her  daughters,  in  a  fit 
of  derangement  brought  on  by  ex- 
cessive grief  for  her  father's  fate, 
attempted  to  make  way  with  her- 
self by  throwing  herself  from  a 
window.  Relacion  de  la  Justi- 
tia,  MS. 

55  This  was  the  duplicate,   no 


doubt,  of  the  letter  given  to  the 
bishop  of  Ypres,  to  whom  Egmont 
may  have  intrusted  a  copy,  with 
the  idea  that  it  would  be  more 
certain  to  reach  the  hands  of  the 
king  than  the  one  sent  to  his  wife. 

^  "  La  miscre  oil  elle  se  trouve, 
<?tant  devenue  veuve  avec  onze 
enfans,  abandonee  de  tous,  hors 
de  son  pays  et  loin  de  scs  parents, 
I'a  cmpechee  d'envoyer  plus  t6t 
au  Roi  la  dernierc  et  tres-humble 
requete  de  son  defunt  mari.**  Cor- 
respondance  de  Philippe  II.,  tonn. 
II.  p.  31. 

57  "  De  la  bdnignitd  et  pitid  do 
Roi.**    Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


i 


Jh.  v.] 


FATE  OF  EGMONT' S  FAMILY. 


303 


ceiving  them  into  his  service  when  they  shall  be  of 
sufficient  age.  This  will  oblige  her,  during  the 
remainder  of  her  sad  days,  and  her  children  after 
her,  to  pray  God  for  the  long  and  happy  life  of 
his  majesty.^  —  It  must  have  given  another  pang 
to  the  heart  of  the  widowed  countess,  to  have  been 
thus  forced  to  solicit  aid  from  the  very  hand  that 
had  smitten  her.  But  it  was  the  mother  pleading 
for  her  children. 

Yet  Philip,  notwithstanding  his  assurances  to 
the  duke  of  Alva,  shoAved  no  alacrity  in  relieving 
the  wants  of  the  countess.  On  the  first  of  Sep- 
tember, the  duke  again  wrote,  to  urge  the  neces- 
sity of  her  case,  declaring  that,  if  it  had  not  been 
for  a  "  small  sum  that  he  had  himself  sent,  she 
and  the  children  would  have  perished  of  hunger ! "  ^ 

The  misfortunes  of  this  noble  lady  excited  com- 
miseration not  only  at  home,  but  in  other  countries 
of  Europe,  and  especially  in  Germany,  the  land  of 
her  birth.^  Her  brother,  the  elector  of  Bavaria, 
wrote  to  Philip,  to  urge  the  restitution  of  her 
husband's   estates   to  his  family.     Other  German 


58  "  Ce  que  m'obligerat,  la  reste 
de  mes  tristes  jours,  et  toute  ma 
posterite,  k  prier  Dieu  pour  la 
lonixue  et  heureuse  vie  de  V.  M.** 
Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 

59  "  S'il  ne  leur  avait  pas  donne 
quelque  argent,  ils  mourraient  de 
faim."    Ibid.,  p.  38. 

60  It  seems  strange  that  Gtithe, 
in  his  trajredv  of  "  Efrniont,"  should 
nave  endeavored  to  excite  what 
aiay  be  truly  called  a  meretricious 


interest  in  the  breasts  of  his  audi- 
ence, by  bringing  an  imaginary 
mistress,  named  Clara,  on  the 
stage,  instead  of  the  noble-hearted 
wife,  so  much  better  qualified  to 
share  the  fortunes  of  her  husband 
and  jnve  dignitv  to  his  suiferinsrs. 
Independently  of  other  considera- 
tions, this  departure  from  historic 
truth  cannot  be  defended  on  any 
true  principle  of  dramatic  effect. 


II 


304   EXECUTION  OF  EGMONT  AND  HOORNE.  [Book  IH 

princes  preferred  the  same  request,  whicli  was 
moreover  formally  made  by  the  emperor,  througl 
his  ambassador  at  Madrid.  Philip  coolly  replied, 
that  "  the  time  for  this  had  not  yet  come."  ^^  A 
moderate  pension,  meanwhile,  was  annually  paid 
by  Alva  to  the  countess  of  Egmont,  who  survived 
her  husband  ten  years, — not  long  enough  to  see 
her  children  established  in  possession  of  their  pat- 
rimony.^ Shortly  before  her  death,  her  eldest 
son,  then  grown  to  man's  estate,  chafing  under 
the  sense  of  injustice  to  himself  and  his  family, 
took  part  in  the  war  against  the  Spaniards. 
Philip,  who  may  perhaps  have  felt  some  com- 
pimction  for  the  ungenerous  requital  he  had  made 
for  the  father's  services,  not  only  forgave  this  act 
of  disloyalty  in  the  son,  but  three  years  later 
allowed  the  young  man  to  resume  his  allegiance, 
and  placed  him  in  full  possession  of  the  honors 
and  estates  of  his  ancestors.^ 

Alva,  as  we  have  seen,  in  his  letters  to  Philip, 


61  Raumer,  Sixteenth  and  Sev- 
enteenth Centuries,  vol.  I.  p.  183. 

®  After  an  annual  grant,  which 
rose  from  eight  to  twelve  thousand 
livres,  the  duke  settled  on  her  a 
pension  of  two  thousand  gulden, 
w^hich  continued  to  the  year  of  his 
death,  in  1 778.  (Arend,  Algemee- 
ne  Geschiedenis  des  Vaderlands, 
D.  n.  St.  V.  bl.  66.)  The  gulden, 
or  guilder,  at  the  present  day,  is 
equivalent  to  about  one  shilling 
and  ninepence  sterling,  or  thirty- 
nine  cents. 


63  Philip,  Count  Egmont,  lived 
to  enjoy  his  ancestral  honors  till 
1590,  when  he  was  slain  at  Ivry, 
fighting  against  Henry  the  Fourth 
and  the  Protestants  of  France. 
He  died  without  issue,  and  was 
succeeded  by  his  brother  Lamoral, 
a  careless  prodigal,  who  with  the 
name  seems  to  have  inherited  few 
of  the  virtues  of  his  illustrious  fa- 
ther. Arend,  Algemeene  Geschie- 
denis des  Vaderlands,  D.  U,  St 
V.  bl.  66. 


Ch.  V.J 


SENTIMENT  OF  THE  PEOPLE. 


305 


had  dwelt  on  the  important  effects  of  Egmont's 
execution.  He  did  not  exaggerate  these  effects. 
But  he  sorely  mistook  the  nature  of  them. 
Abroad,  the  elector  of  Bavaria  at  once  threw  his 
whole  weight  into  the  scale  of  Orange  and  the 
party  of  reform.^  Others  of  the  German  princes 
followed  his  example;  and  Maximilian's  ambas- 
sador at  Madrid  informed  Philip  that  the  execu- 
tion of  the  two  nobles,  by  the  indignation  it  had 
caused  throughout  Germany,  had  w^onderfully 
served  the  designs  of  the  prince  of  Orange  ^ 

At  home  the  effects  were  not  less  striking. 
The  death  of  these  two  illustrious  men,  follow- 
ing so  close  upon  the  preceding  executions, 
spread  a  deep  gloom  over  the  country.  Men 
became  possessed  with  the  idea  that  the  reign  of 
blood  was  to  be  perpetual.^  All  confidence  was 
destroyed,  even  that  confidence  which  naturally 
exists  between  parent  and  child,  between  brother 
and  brother.^'^  The  foreign  merchant  caught  some- 
what of  this  general  distrust,  and  refused  to  send 
his  commodities  to  a  country  where  they  were  ex- 
posed to  confiscation.^  Yet  among  the  inhabit- 
ants indignation  was  greater   than   even   fear   or 


M  Vandervynckt,  Troubles  des 
Pays-Bas,  torn.  H.  p.  259. 

65  "La  mort  des  comtes  d*Eg- 
mont  et  de  Homes,  et  ce  qui  s'est 
passe  avec  I'electeur  de  Treves, 
servent  mervelUeusement  scs  des- 
seins.**  Correspondance  de  Phi- 
lippe II.,  torn.  H.  p.  37. 

^  *'  Les   executions    faites    ont 

VOL.  II.  39 


imprime  dans  les  esprits  unc  ter- 
reur  si  grande,  qu'on  croit  qu'il 
s'agit  de  gouverner  par  le  sang  d 
perpdtuite."     Ibid.,  p.  29. 

6"  "■  II  n'y  a  plus  dc  confiance 
du  frere  au  frcre,  et  du  p6re  au 
fils."     Ibid.,  ubi  supra 

68  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


jii" 


306       EXECUTION  OF  EGMONT  AND  HOORNE     IBook  III 

sorrow ;  ^  and  the  Flemings  who  had  taken  part 
in  the  prosecution  of  Egmont  trembled  before  the 
wrath  of  an  avenging  people.^^  Such  were  the 
effects  produced  by  the  execution  of  men  whom 
the  nation  reverenced  as  martyrs  in  the  cause 
of  freedom.  Alva  notices  these  consequences  in 
his  letters  to  the  king.  But  though  he  could 
discern  the  signs  of  the  times,  he  little  dreamed 
of  the  extent  of  the  troubles  they  portended. 
'•  The  people  of  this  country,"  he  writes,  "  are  of 
so  easy  a  temper,  that,  when  your  majesty  shall 
think  fit  to  grant  them  a  general  pardon,  your 


69  "  Funestum  Egmontii  finem 
(loluere  Belgae  odio  majore,  qukm 
luctu.**  Strada,  De  Bello  Belgico, 
torn.  I.  p.  394. 

"'^  The  Flemish  councillor,  Hes- 
sels,  who,  it  may  be  remembered, 
had  particular  charge  of  the  pro- 
vincial prosecutions,  incurred  still 
greater  odium  by  the  vQ\yon  of  his 
being  employed  to  draft  the  sen- 
tences of  the  two  lords.  He  sub- 
sequently withdrew  from  the  bloody 
tribunal,  and  returned  to  his  na- 
tive province,  where  he  became 
vice-president  of  the  council  of 
Flanders.  This  new  accession  of 
dignity  only  made  him  a  more  con- 
spicuous mark  for  the  public  ha- 
tred. In  1577,  in  a  popular  insur- 
rection which  overturned  the  gov- 
ernment of  Ghent,  Hessels  was 
drajzjred  from  his  house,  and  thrown 
into  prison.  After  lying  there  a 
year,  a  party  of  ruffians  broke  in- 
to the  place,  forced  him  into  a 
varriage,  and,  taking  him  a  short 


distance  from  town,  executed  the 
summary  justice  of  Lynch  law  on 
their  victim  by  hanging  him  to  a 
tree.  Some  of  the  party,  after  the 
murder,  were  audacious  enough  to 
return  to  Ghent,  with  locks  of  the 
gray  hair  of  the  wretched  man  dis- 
played in  triumph  on  their  bonnets. 
Some  years  later,  when  the 
former  authorities  were  reestab- 
lished, the  bones  of  Hessels  were 
removed  from  their  unhallowed 
burial-place,  and  laid  with  great 
solemnity  and  funeral  pomp  in 
the  church  of  St  Michael.  Prose 
and  verse  were  exhausted  in  his 
praise.  His  memory  was  revered 
as  that  of  a  martyr.  Miracles  were 
performed  at  his  tomb;  and  the 
l)opular  credulity  went  so  far,  that 
it  was  currently  reported  in  Ghent 
that  Philip  had  solicited  the  pope 
for  his  canonization  I  See  the  cu- 
nous  particulars  in  Vandervynckt, 
Troubles  des  Pays-Bas,  torn.  IL 
pp.  451-456. 


Ch.  v.] 


SENTIMENT   OF  THE  PEOPLE. 


301 


clemency,  I  trust,  will  make  them  as  prompt  to 
render  you  their  obedience  as  they  are  now  re- 
luctant to  do  it."  ^^  —  The  haughty  soldier,  in  his 
contempt  for  the  peaceful  habits  of  a  burgher  pop- 
ulation, comprehended  as.  little  as  his  master  the 
true  character  of  the  men  of  the  Netherlands. 

'1  "  Este  es  un  pueblo  tan  facil,  que  de  buena  gana  lleven  la  obe- 

que  espero  que  con  ver  la  clemen-  diencia  que  digo,  que  ahora  sufren 

cia  de  V.  M.,  haciendose  el  pardon  de    ma^o."      Correspondance    do 

general,  se  ganardn  los  inimos  i  Pliilippe    I.,  torn.  H.  p.  29. 


w 


Cn.  VI.] 


BERGEN  AND  MONTIGNY. 


309 


CHAPTER    VI. 


SECRET  EXECUTION  OF  MONTIGNY. 

Bergen  and  Montigny.— Their  Situation  in  Spain.— Death  of  Bergen. 
—  Arrest  of  Montigny.  —  Plot  for  his  Escape.  — His  Process.— 
Removal  to  Simancas.  —  Closer  Confinement.  —  Midnight  Execu- 


tion. 


1567-1570. 


Before  bidding  a  long  adieu  to  the  Netherlands, 
it  will  be  well  to  lay  before  the  reader  an  account 
of  a  transaction  which  has  proved  a  fruitful  theme 
of  speculation  to  the  historian,  but  which,  until  the 
present  time,  has  been  shrouded  in  impenetrable 
mystery. 

It  may  be  remembered  that,  in  the  year  1566, 
two  noble  Flemings,  the  marquis  of  Bergen  and 
the  baron  of  Montigny,  were  sent  on  a  mission 
to  the  court  of  Madrid,  to  lay  before  the  king  the 
critical  state  of  affairs,  imperatively  demanding 
some  change  in  the  policy  of  the  government. 
The  two  lords  went  on  the  mission ;  but  they  never 
returned.  Many  conjectures  were  made  respect- 
ing their  fate ;  and  historians  have  concluded  that 
Bergen   possibly,^   and   certainly  Montigny,   came 

1  "  Le  bruit  public  qui  subsiste  encore,  tlivulgue  qu'il  est  mort  eno- 


to  their  end  by  violence.'  But  in  the  want  of 
evidence  it  was  only  conjecture ;  while  the  great- 
est discrepancy  has  prevailed  in  regard  to  details. 
It  is  not  till  very  recently  that  the  veil  has  been 
withdrawn  through  the  access  that  has  been  given 
to  the  Archives  of  Simancas,  that  dread  repository, 
in  which  the  secrets  of  the  Castilian  kings  have 
been  buried  for  ages.  Independently  of  the  in- 
terest attaching  to  the  circumstances  of  the  present 
narrative,  it  is  of  great  importance  for  the  light  it 
throws  on  the  dark,  unscrupulous  policy  of  Philip 
the  Second.  It  has,  moreover,  the  merit  of  rest- 
ino-  on  the  most  authentic  grounds,  the  correspond- 
ence  of  the  king  and  his  ministers. 

Both  envoys  were  men  of  the  highest  consider- 
ation. The  marquis  of  Bergen,  by  his  rank  and 
fortune,  was  in  the  first  class  of  the  Flemish 
aristocracy.^  Montigny  was  of  the  ancient  house 
of  the  Montmorencys,  being  a  younger  brother 
of  the  unfortunate  Count  Hoorne.  He  occupied 
several  important  posts,  — among  others,  that  of 
governor  of  Toumay,  —  and,  like  Bergen,  was  a 


poisonnd."    Vandervynckt,  Trou- 
bles des  Pays-Bas,  torn.  II.  p.  235. 

The   author  himself  does   not 

indorse  the  vulgar  rumor. 

2  I^Ieteren  tells  us  that  Montigny 
was  killed  by  poison,  which  his  page, 
who  afterwards  confessed  the  crime, 
put  in  his  broth.  (Hist  des  Pays- 
Bas,  fol.  60.)  Vandervynckt,  after 
noticing  various  rumors,  dismisses 
them  with  the  remark, ''  On  n*a  pu 


savoir  au  juste  ce  qu'il  ^tait  deve- 
nu.'*  Troubles  des  Pays-Bas,  torn. 
II.  p.  237. 

3  His  revenues  seem  to  have 
been  lai-ger  than  those  of  any 
other  Flemish  lord,  except  Eg- 
mont  and  Orange,  —  amounting  tc 
something  more  than  fifty  thou« 
sand  florins  annually.  Correspon- 
dance  de  Philippe  II.,  tom.  II.  p. 
115. 


310 


SECRET  EXECUTION  OF  MONTIGNY.    [Book  III. 


Ch.  VI] 


BERGEN  AND  MONTIGNY. 


311 


I 


knight  of  the  Golden  Fleece.  In  the  political  dis. 
turbances  of  the  time,  although  not  placed  in 
the  front  of  disaffection,  the  two  lords  had  taken 
part  with  the  discontented  faction,  had  joined 
in  the  war  upon  Granvelle,  and  had  very  gen- 
erally disapproved  of  the  policy  of  the  crown. 
They  had,  especially,  raised  their  voices  against 
the  system  of  religious  persecution,  with  a  manly 
independence,  which  had  secured  for  them  —  it 
seems  undeservedly  —  the  reputation  of  being  the 
advocates  of  religious  reform.  This  was  particu- 
larly the  case  with  Bergen,  who,  to  one  that  asked 
how  heretics  should  be  dealt  with,  replied,  "  If 
they  were  willing  to  be  converted,  I  would  not 
trouble  them.  If  they  refused,  still  I  would  not 
take  their  lives,  as  they  might  hereafter  be  con- 
verted.'* This  saying,  duly  reported  to  the  ears  of 
Philip,  was  doubtless  treasured  up  against  the 
man  who  had  the  courage  to  utter  it.* 

The  purpose  of  their  embassy  was  to  urge  on 
the  king  the  necessity  of  a  more  liberal  and  leni- 
ent policy,  to  which  Margaret,  who  had  not  yet 
broken  with  the  nobles,  was  herself  inclined.  It 
was  not  strange,  that  the  two  lords  should  have 
felt  the  utmost  reluctance  to  undertake  a  mission 
which  was  to  bring  them  so  directly  within  the 
power  of  the  monarch  whom  they  knew  they  had 


<  Ibid.,  Rapport,  p.  xxxvii.  not,  as  may  be  supposed,  to  do 

It  was  reported  to  Philip's  sec-  honor  to  the  author  of  it,  but  to 

tetar}',  Erasso,  by  that  mischievous  ruin  him. 

bigot,  Fray  Lorenzo  Villavicencio ; 


offended,  and  who,  as  they  also  knew,  was  not  apt 
to  forgive  an  offence.  True,  Egmont  had  gone  on 
a  similar  mission  to  Madrid,  and  returned  unin- 
jured to  Brussels.  But  it  was  at  an  earlier  period, 
when  the  aspect  of  things  was  not  so  dangerous. 
His  tine  had  not  yet  come. 

It  was  not  till  after  much  delay  that  the  other 
nobles,  with  the  regent,  prevailed  on  Bergen  and 
Montigny  to  accept  the  trust,  by  urging  on  them 
its  absolute  importance  for  assuring  the  tranquil- 
lity of  the  country.  Even  then,  an  injury  which 
confined  the  marquis  some  weeks  to  his  house 
.  furnished  him  with  a  plausible  excuse  for  not  per- 
forming his  engagement,  of  which  he  w^ould  gladly 
have  availed  himself  But  his  scruples  again  van- 
ished before  the  arguments  and  entreaties  of  his 
friends ;  and  he  consented  to  follow,  as  he  could 
not  accompany,  Montigny. 

The  latter  reached  Madrid  towards  the  middle 
of  June,  1566,  was  graciously  received  by  the 
king,  and  was  admitted  to  repeated  audiences,  at 
which  he  did  not  fail  to  urge  the  remedial  meas- 
ures countenanced  by  Margaret.  Philip  appeared 
to  listen  with  complacency ;  but  declined  giving  an 
answer  till  the  arrival  of  the  other  ambassador, 
who,  having  already  set  out  on  his  journey,  was 
attacked,  on  his  way  through  France,  by  a  fever. 
There  Bergen  halted,  and  again  thought  of  aban- 
doning the  expedition.  His  good  genius  seemed 
ever  willing  to  interpose  to  save  him.  But  his 
evil  genius,  in  the  shape  of  Philip,  who  wrote  to 


310 


SECRET  EXECUTION  OF  MONTIGNY.    [Book  UL 


knight  of  the  Golden  Fleece.  In  the  political  dis. 
turbances  of  the  time,  although  not  placed  in 
the  front  of  disaffection,  the  two  lords  had  taken 
part  with  the  discontented  faction,  had  joined 
in  the  war  upon  Granvelle,  and  had  very  gen- 
erally disapproved  of  the  policy  of  the  crown. 
They  had,  especially,  raised  their  voices  against 
the  system  of  religious  persecution,  with  a  manly 
independence,  which  had  secured  for  them  —  it 
seems  undeservedly  —  the  reputation  of  being  the 
advocates  of  religious  reform.  This  was  particu- 
larly the  case  with  Bergen,  who,  to  one  that  asked 
how  heretics  should  be  dealt  with,  replied,  "If 
they  were  willing  to  be  converted,  I  would  not 
trouble  them.  If  they  refused,  still  I  would  not 
take  their  lives,  as  they  might  hereafter  be  con- 
verted.'' This  saying,  duly  reported  to  the  ears  of 
Philip,  was  doubtless  treasured  up  against  the 
man  who  had  the  courage  to  utter  it.* 

The  purpose  of  their  embassy  was  to  urge  on 
the  king  the  necessity  of  a  more  liberal  and  leni- 
ent policy,  to  which  Margaret,  who  had  not  yet 
broken  with  the  nobles,  was  herself  inclined.  It 
was  not  strange,  that  the  two  lords  should  have 
felt  the  utmost  reluctance  to  undertake  a  mission 
which  was  to  bring  them  so  directly  within  the 
power  of  the  monarch  whom  they  knew  they  had 

*  Ibid.,  Rapport,  p.  xxxvii.  not,  as  may  be  supposed,  to  do 

It  was  reported  to  Philip's  sec-  honor  to  the  author  of  it,  but  to 

retar}',  Erasso,  by  that  mischievous  ruin  him. 

Vigot,  Fray  Lorenzo  Villavicencio ; 


Ch.  VI.] 


BERGEN  AND  MONTIGNY. 


311 


offended,  and  who,  as  they  also  knew,  was  not  apt 
to  forgive  an  offence.  True,  Egmont  had  gone  on 
a  similar  mission  to  Madrid,  and  returned  unin- 
jured to  Brussels.  But  it  was  at  an  earlier  period, 
when  the  aspect  of  things  was  not  so  dangerous. 
His  time  had  not  yet  come. 

It  Avas  not  till  after  much  delay  that  the  other 
nobles,  with  the  regent,  prevailed  on  Bergen  and 
Montigny  to  accept  the  trust,  by  urging  on  them 
its  absolute  importance  for  assuring  the  tranquil- 
lity of  the  country.  Even  then,  an  injury  which 
confined  the  marquis  some  weeks  to  his  house 
.  furnished  him  with  a  plausible  excuse  for  not  per- 
forming his  engage^xx^x^v,  ^  which  he  would  gladly 
have  availed  himself.  But  his  scruples  again  van- 
ished before  the  arguments  and  entreaties  of  his 
friends ;  and  he  consented  to  follow,  as  he  could 
not  accompany,  Montigny. 

The  latter  reached  Madrid  towards  the  middle 
of  June,  1566,  was  graciously  received  by  the 
king,  and  was  admitted  to  repeated  audiences,  at 
which  he  did  not  fail  to  urge  the  remedial  meas- 
ures countenanced  by  Margaret.  Philip  appeared 
to  listen  with  complacency ;  but  declined  giving  an 
answer  till  the  arrival  of  the  other  ambassador, 
who,  having  already  set  out  on  his  journey,  was 
attacked,  on  his  way  through  France,  by  a  fever. 
There  Bergen  halted,  and  again  thought  of  aban- 
doning the  expedition.  His  good  genius  seemed 
ever  willing  to  interpose  to  save  him.  But  his 
evil  genius,  in  the  shape  of  Philip,  who  wrote  to 


312 


SECRET  EXECUTION  OF  MONTIGNY.    [Book  UI 


him,  in  the  most  condescending  terms,  to  hasten 
his  journey,  beckoned  him  to  Madrid.^ 

Besides  the  two  envoys  there  was  another  per- 
son of  consequence  from  the  Low  (Countries  at 
that  time  in  the  capital,  —  Simon  Renard,  once 
Charles's  minister  at  the  English  court,  the  inex- 
orable foe  of  Granvelle.  He  had  been  persuaded 
by  Philip  to  come  to  Spain,  although  to  do  so,  he 
knew,  was  to  put  himself  on  trial  for  his  manifold 
offences  against  the  government.  He  was  arrest- 
ed ;  proceedings  were  commenced  against  him,  and 
he  was  released  only  by  an  illness  which  termi- 
nated in  his  death.  There  seems  to  have  been  a 
mysterious  fascination  possessed  by  Philip,  that 
he  could  thus  draw  within  his  reach  the  very  men 
whom  every  motive  of  self-preservation  should 
have  kept  at  an  immeasurable  distance. 

The  arrival  of  the  marquis  did  not  expedite  the 
business  of  the  missioil.  Unfortunately,  about 
that  period  news  came  to  Madrid  of  the  outbreak 
of  the  iconoclasts,  exciting  not  merely  in  Spain, 
but  throughout  Christendom,  feelings' of  horror  and 
indignation.  There  was  no  longer  a  question  as  to 
a  more  temperate  policy.  The  only  thought  now 
was  of  vengeance.  It  was  in  vain  that  the  Flem- 
ish envoys  interposed  to  mitigate  the  king's  anger, 
and  turn  him  from  those  violent  measures  which 
must  bring  ruin  on  the  country.  Their  remon- 
strances  were  unheeded.     They  found   access   to 

*  Correspondance  de  Philippe  IT.,  torn.  I.  p.  439. 


' 


f 


Ch.  VIJ 


THEIR  SITUATION  IN  SPAIN. 


313 


his  person  by  no  means  so  easy  a  thing  as  before. 
They  felt  that  somewhat  of  the  odium  of  the  late 
transactions  attached  to  them.  Even  the  courtiers, 
with  the  ready  instinct  that  detects  a  sovereign's 
fro\^'n,  grew  cold  in  their  deportment.  The  situ 
at  ion  of  the  envoys  became  every  day  more  un 
comfortable.  Their  mission  was  obviously  at  an 
end,  and  all  they  now  asked  was  leave  to  return 
to  the  Xetheiiands. 

But  the  king  had  no  mind  to  grant  it.  He  had 
been  long  since  advised  by  Granvelle,  and  others 
in  whom  he  trusted,  that  both  the  nobles  had  taken 
a  decided  part  in  fostering  the  troubles  of  the  coun- 
try.^ To  that  country  they  were  never  to  return. 
Philip  told  them  he  had  need  of  their  presence 
for  some  time  longer,  to  advise  with  him  on  the 
critical  state  of  afiairs  in  Flanders.  So  thin  a 
veil  could  not  impose  on  them;  and  they  were 
tilled  with  the  most  serious  apprehensions.  They 
wrote  to  Margaret,  begging  her  to  request  the  king 
to  dismiss  them  ;  otherwise  they  should  have  good 
cause  to  complain  both  of  her  and  of  the  nobles, 
who  had  sent  them  on  a  mission  from  which  they 
would  gladly  have  been  excused.*^     But  Margaret 


6  See  the  letters  of  the  royal 
contadoi'i  Alonzo  del  Canto,  from 
Binissels.  (Ibid.,  torn.  I.  pp.  411, 
425.)  Granvelle,  in  a  letter  from 
Rome,  chimes  in  ^vith  the  same 
tune,  —  though,  as  usual  with  the 
prelate,  in  a  more  covert  manner. 
''  Le  choix  de   Berjrhes  ct  Mon- 


tigny  n*est  pas  mauvais,  si  le  but 
de  leur  mission  est  d'informer  le 
Roi  de  r^tat  des  choses:  car  ils 
sont  ceux  qui  en  ont  le  mieux 
connaissance,  et  qui  peut-ctre  j 
ont  pris  le  plus  de  part.**  Ibid.,  p. 
417. 

7  "  Autrcment,  certes,  Madame, 


VOL.  II. 


40 


3U 


SECRET  EXECUTION  OF  MONTIGNY.     [Bc.ok  III. 


had  already  written  to  her  brother  to  keep  them 
in  Spain  until  the  troubles  in  Flanders  should  be 
ended.^  On  the  reception  of  the  letter  of  her  en- 
voys, however,  she  replied  that  she  had  already 
written  to  the  king,  to  request  leave  for  them  to 
return.^     I  have  found  no  record  of  such  a  letter. 

In  the  spring  of  1567,  the  duke  of  Alva  was 
sent  to  take  command  in  the  Netherlands.  Such 
an  appointment,  at  such  a  crisis,  plainly  intimated 
the  course  to  be  pursued,  and  the  host  of  evils  it 
would  soon  bring  on  the  devoted  country.  The 
conviction  of  this  was  too  much  for  Berjren, 
heightened  as  his  distress  was  by  his  separation, 
at  such  a  moment,  from  all  that  was  most  dear  to 
him  on  earth.  He  fell  ill  of  a  fever,  and  grew  rap- 
idly  worse,  till  at  length  it  was  reported  to  Philip 
that  there  was  no  chance  for  his  recovery  unless 
he  were  allowed  to  return  to  his  native  land.^® 

This  placed  the  king  in  a  perplexing  dilemma. 
He  was  not  disposed  to  let  the  marquis  escape 
from  his  hands  even  by  the  way  of  a  natural  death. 
He  was  still  less  inclined  to  assent  to  his  return 
to  Flanders.     In  this  emergency  he  directed  Ruy 


anrions  juste  occasion  de  nous  do- 
loir  et  de  V.  A.  et  des  seigneurs 
de  par  del^,  pour  nous  avoir  com- 
mande  de  venir  ici,  pour  recevoir 
honte  et  desplaisir,  estantz  forcds 
joumellement  de  veoir  et  oyr  (.ho- 
ses qui  nous  desplaisent  jusques  a 
rSrae,  et  de  veoir  aussy  le  peu  que 
S.  M  se  sert  d«  nous.**  Ibid.,  p. 
498. 


8  This  letter  is  dated  November 
18,  1566.  (Ibid.,  p.  486.)  The 
letter  of  the  two  loixls  was  written 
on  the  last  day  of  the  December 
following. 

9  Her  letter  is  dated  March  5 
1567.     Ibid.,  p.  516. 

W  Ibid.y  p.  585. 


Ch.  VI.J 


DEATH  OF  BERGEN. 


315 


Gomez,  the  prince  of  Eboli,  to  visit  the  sick  noble- 
man, who  was  his  personal  friend.  In  case  Gomez 
found  the  marquis  so  ill  that  his  recovery  was 
next  to  impossible,  he  was  to  give  him  the  king's 
permission  to  return  home.  If,  however,  there 
seemed  a  prospect  of  his  recoverj%  he  was  only  to 
hold  out  the  hope  of  such  a  permission.^^  In 
case  of  the  sick  man's  death,  Gomez  was  to  take 
care  to  have  his  obsequies  performed  in  such  a 
way  as  to  show  the  sorrow  of  the  king  and  his 
ministers  at  his  loss,  and  their  respect  for  the 
lords  of  the  Low  Countries !  ^^  He  was  moreover, 
in  that  event,  to  take  means  to  have  the  marquis's 
property  in  the  Netherlands  sequestrated,  as,  should 
rebellion  be  proved  against  him,  it  would  be  for- 
feited to  the  crown.  —  This  curious,  and,  as  it  must 
be  allowed,  highly  confidential  epistle,  was  writ- 
ten with  the  king's  own  hand.  The  address  ran, 
"  Ruy  Gomez  —  to  his  hands.  Not  to  be  opened 
nor  read  in  the  presence  of  the  bearer." 

Which  part  of  the  royal  instruction  the  minis- 
ter thought  best  to  follow  for  the  cure  of  the 
patient,  —  whether  he  gave  him  an  unconditional 
permission  to  return,  or  only  held  out  the  hope 
that  he  would  do  so,  —  we  are  not  informed.     It 


11  "  De  lui  dire  (mais  seulement 
apres  qu'il  se  sera  assurd  qu'une 
gudrison  est  h.  peu  pr^s  impossible) 
que  le  Roi  lui  permet  de  retoumer 
aux  Pays-Bas :  si,  au  contraire,  il 
lui  paraissait  que  le  marquis  put  se 
•dtablir,  il  se  contenterait  de  lui 


faire    espdrer    eette    permission.* 
Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 

1*^  "  n  sera  bien,  en  eette  occa- 
sion, de  montrer  le  regret  que  le 
Roi  et  ses  ministres  ont  de  sa  mort, 
et  le  cas  qu'ils  font  des  seigneurs 
des  Pays-Bas  ! "     Ibid.,  p.  536 


316 


SECRET  EXECUTION  OF  MONTIGNY.    [Book  HI 


Ch.  VI.] 


HIS  ARREST. 


317 


matters  little,  however.  The  marquis,  it  is  proba 
ble,  had  already  learned  not  to  put  his  trust  in 
princes.  At  all  events,  the  promises  of  the  king 
did  as  little  for  the  patient  as  the  prescriptions  of 
the  doctor.  On  the  twenty-first  of  May  he  died,  — 
justifying  the  melancholy  presentiment  with  which 
he  had  entered  on  his  mission. 

Montigny  was  the  only  victim  that  now  re- 
mained to  Philip;  and  he  caused  him  to  be 
guarded  with  redoubled  vigilance.  He  directed 
Buy  Gomez  to  keep  an  eye  on  all  his  movements, 
and  to  write  to  the  governors  of  Navarre,  Catalonia, 
and  other  frontier  places,  to  take  precautions  to 
intercept  the  Flemish  lord,  in  case  of  his  attempt- 
ing to  fly  the  countr)'.^^  Montigny  was  in  fact 
a  prisoner,  ^vith  Madrid  for  the  limits  of  his  prison. 
Yet,  after  this,  the  regent  could  write  to  him  from 
Brussels,  that  she  was  pleased  to  learn  from  her 
brother  that  he  was  soon  to  give  him  his  conge}^ 
—  If  the  king  said  this,  he  had  a  bitter  mean- 
ing in  his  words,  beyond  what  the  duchess  ap- 
prehended. 

It  was  not  long,  however,  that  Montigny  was 
allowed  to  retain  even  this  degree  of  liberty.  In 
September,  1567,  arrived  the  tidmgs  of  the  arrest 
of  the  Counts  Egmont  and  Hoome.  Orders  were 
instantly  issued  for  the  arrest  of  Montigny.  He 
was  seized  by  a  detachment   of  the  royal  guard, 

*3  Ibid.,  ubi  supra.  son  intention  ^tait  de  lui  donnei 

W  "  Elle  esp^re  le  voir  sous  pen,     bientdt  son  conge."     Ibid.,  p.  558 
puisque  le  Roi  lui  a  fait  dire  que    —  The  letter  is  dated  July  13. 


and  borne  off  to  the  alcazar  of  Segovia.^  He  was 
not  to  be  allowed  to  leave  the  fortress  day  or  night ; 
but  as  much  indulgence  was  shown  to  him  as  was 
compatible  with  this  strict  confinement;  and  he 
was  permitted  to  take  with  him  the  various  re- 
tainers who  composed  his  household,  and  to  main- 
tain his  establishment  in  prison.  But  what  in- 
dulgence could  soften  the  bitterness  of  a  captivity 
far  from  kmdred  and  country,  with  the  conscious- 
ness, moreover,  that  the  only  avenue  from  his 
prison  conducted  to  the  scaffold! 

In  his  extremity,  Montigny  looked  around  for 
the  means  of  efiecting  his  own  escape;  and  he 
nearly  succeeded.  One,  if  not  more,  of  the  Span- 
iards on  guard,  together  with  his  own  servants, 
were  in  the  plot.  It  was  arranged  that  the  pris- 
oner should  file  through  the  bars  of  a  window  in 
his  apartment,  and  lower  himself  to  the  ground 
by  means  of  a  rope  ladder.  Relays  of  horses  were 
provided  to  take  him  rapidly  on  to  the  seaport 
of  Santander,  in  the  north,  whence  he  was  to  be 
transported  in  a  shallop  to  St  Jean  de  Luz. 
The  materials  for  executing  his  part  of  the  work 
were  conveyed  to  Montigny  in  the  loaves  of  bread 
daily  sent  to  him  by  his  baker.  Everything  seemed 
to  promise  success.  The  bars  of  the  window  were 
removed.^^    They  waited  only  for  a  day  when  the 

15  The  order  for  the  arrest,  ad-        i^  This  faet  is  mentioned  in  a 

di-essed  to  the  conde  de  Chinchon,  letter  of  the  aleayde  of  the  fo^ 

abayde  of  the  castle  of  Segovia,  tress,  giving  an  account  of  the  affair 

is  to  b«  found  in  the  Documentos  to  the  king.     Correspondance  d« 

Indditos  torn.  IV.  p.  526.  Philippe  II.,  torn.  II.  p.  33. 


m 


318 


SECRET  EXECUTION  OF  MONTIGNY     [Book  HI 


^h 


alcayde  of  the  castle  would  not  be  likely  to  visi't 
it.  At  this  juncture  the  plot  was  discovered 
through  the  carelessness  of  the  maitre  d  hotel. 

This  person  neglected  to  send  one  of  the  loaves 
to  his  master,  which  contained  a  paper  giving  sun- 
dry, directions  respecting  the  mode  of  escape,  and 
mentioning  the  names  of  several  of  the  parties. 
The  loaf  fell  into  the  hands  of  a  soldier.^"  On 
breaking  it,  the  paper  was  discovered,  and  taken 
by  him  to  the  captain  of  the  guard.  The  j)lot  was 
laid  open ;  the  parties  were  arrested,  and  sentenced 
to  death  or  the  galleys.  The  king  allowed  the 
sentence  to  take  effect  in  regard  to  the  Spaniards. 
He  granted  a  reprieve  to  the  Flemings,  saying  that 
what  they  had  done  was  in  some  sort  excusable,  as 
being  for  the  service  of  their  master.  Besides, 
they  might  be  of  use  hereafter,  in  furnishing  testi- 
mony in  the  prosecution  of  Montigny.^^  On  this 
compound  principle  their  lives  were  spared.  After 
languishing  some  time  in  prison,  they  were  al- 
lowed to  return  to  the  Low  Countries,  bearing 
with  them  letters  from  Montigny,  requesting  his 
friends  to  provide  for  them  in  consideration  of 
their  sacrifices  for  him.     But  they  were  provided 


1^  The  contents  of  the  paper 
secreted  in  the  loaf  are  given  in 
the  Documentos  Ineditos,  torn.  IV. 
pp.  527-533. — The  latter  portion 
of  the  fourth  volume  of  this  val- 
uable collection  is  occupied  with 
docuEhents  relatinj;  to  the  impris- 
onment and  death  of  Montignv, 
drawn  from  the   Archives  of  Si- 


mancas,  and  never  before  commu* 
nicated  to  the  public. 

18  "  n  ne  les  fera  point  ex^u- 
ter,  mais  il  les  retiendra  en  prison, 
car  ils  pcuvent  servir  ^  la  verifica* 
tion  de  quelque  point  du  proces  de 
Montigny  lui-meme."  Correspon 
dance  de  Philippe  II.,  torn.  I] 
p.  37. 


Ch.  VI. 


PLOT  FOR  HIS  ESCAPE. 


31? 


# 


,1 


«s 


I 


for  in  a  much  more  summary  manner  by  Alva, 
who,  on  their  landing,  caused  them  to  be  immedi- 
ately arrested,  and  banished  them  all  from  the 
country,  under  pain  of  death  if  they  returned  to 


fl9 


It  I 

The  greatest  sympathy  was  felt  for  Montigny 
in  the  Netherlands,  where  the  nobles  were  filled 
with  indignation  at  the  unworthy  treatment  their 
envoy  had  received  from  Philip.  His  stepmother, 
the  dowager-countess  of  Hoorne,  was  as  untiring 
in  her  efforts  for  him  as  she  had  been  for  his 
unfortunate  brother.  Thesiie  were  warmly  second- 
ed by  his  wife,  a  daughter  of  the  prince  of  Epinoy, 
to  whom  Montigny  had  been  married  but  a  shorty 
time  before  his  mission  to  Spain.  This  lady  wrote 
a  letter  in  the  most  humble  tone  of  supplication  to 
Philip.  She  touched  on  the  blight  brought  on  her 
domestic  happiness,  spoke  with  a  strong  conviction 
of  the  innocence  of  Montigny,  and  with  tears  and 
lamentations  implored  the  king,  by  the  consider- 
ation of  his  past  services,  by  the  passion  of  the 
blessed  Saviour,  to  show  mercy  to  her  husband.^ 

Several  months  elapsed,  after  the  execution  of 
the  Counts  Egmont  and  Hoorne,  before  the  duke 
commenced  proceedings  against  Montigny;  and  it 


f 


J9  Meteren,  Hist  des  Pays-Bas, 
fol.  60. 

30  "  Et  consommie  en  lannea  et 
pleurs  afin  que,  en  consideration 
des  services  passes  de  sondit  mari, 
de  son  jeune  age  a  elle,  qui  n'a 
^te  en  la  compagnie  de  son  mari 


qu*environ  quatre  mois,  et  de  la 
passion  de  Jesus-Christ,  S.  M. 
veuille  lui  pardonner  les  fautei 
qu'il  pourrait  avoir  commises.**  Cor- 
respondancc  de  Philippe  IL,  ton* 
II.  p.  94. 


320 


SECRET  EXECUTION  OF  MONTIGNY.    [Book  TIL 


Ch.  VI.] 


HIS  PROCESS. 


321 


was  not  till  Februaiy,  1569,  that  the  licentiate 
Sala^ar,  one  of  the  royal  council,  was  sent 
to  Segovia  in  order  to  interrogate  the  prisoner. 
The  charges  were  of  the  same  nature  with  those 
brought  against  Egmont  and  Hoome.  Montigny 
at  first,  like  them,  refused  to  make  any  reply,  — 
standing  on  his  rights  as  a  member  of  the  Golden 
Fleece.  He  was,  however,  after  a  formal  protest, 
prevailed  on  to  waive  this  privilege.  The  ex- 
amination continued  several  days.  The  various 
documents  connected  with  it  are  still  preserved  in 
the  Archives  of  Simancas.  M.  Gachard  has  given 
no  abstmct  of  their  contents.  But  that  sagacious 
inquirer,  after  a  careful  perusal  of  the  papers,  pro- 
'nounces  Montigny s  answers  to  be  "a  victorious 
refutation  of  the  charges  of  the  attoraey.general.''^! 

It  was  not  a  refutation  that  Philip  or  his  vice- 
roy wanted.  Montigny  was  instantly  requiied  to 
appoint  some  one  to  act  as  counsel  in  his  be- 
half But  no  one  was  willing  to  undertake  the 
business,  till  a  person  of  little  note  at  length  con- 
sented, or  was  rather  compelled  to  undertake  it 
by  the  menaces  of  Alva.^  Any  man  might  well 
have  felt  a  disinclination  for  an  office  which  must 
expose  him  to  the  ill-will  of  the  government, 
with  little  chance  of  benefit  to  his  client. 

Even  after  this,  Montigny  was  allowed  to  lan- 
guish another  year  in  prison  before  sentence  was 
passed  on  him  by  his  judges.     The  proceedings 


I 

t 

I 

i 


«i  Ibid.,  p.  123,  note. 


Ibid.,  p.  90. 


of  the  Council  of  Blood  on  this  occasion  were 
marked  by  a  more  flagitious  contempt  of  justice, 
if   possible,   than    its   proceedings    usually   were. 
The  duke,  in  a  letter  of  the  eighteenth  of  March, 
1570,  informed  the  king  of  the  particulars  of  the 
trial.    He  had  submitted  the  case,  not  to  the  whole 
court,  but  to  a  certain  number  of  the  councillors, 
selected  by  him  for  the  purpose.^    He  does  not  tell 
on  what  principle  the  selection  was  made.     Philip 
could  readily  divine  it.    In  the  judgment  of  the  ma- 
jority, Montigny  was  found  guilty  of  high  treason. 
The  duke  accordingly  passed  sentence  of  death  on 
him.     The  sentence  was  dated  March  4,  1570.     It 
was  precisely  of  the  same  import  with  the  sentences 
of  Egmont  and  Hoome.     It  commanded  that  Mon- 
tigny be  taken  from  prison,  and  publicly  beheaded 
with  a  sword.     His  head  was  to  be  stuck  on  a 
pole,  there  to  remain  during  the  pleasure  of  his 
majesty.     His  goods  and  estates  were  to  be  con- 
fiscated to  the  crown.^ 

The  sentence  was  not  communicated  even  to  the 
Council  of  Blood.  The  only  persons  aware  of  its 
existence  were  the  duke's  secretary  and  his  two 
trusty  councillors,  Vargas  and  Del  Rio.  Alva  had 
kept  it  thus  secret  until  he  should  learn  the  will  of 
his  master.^    At  the  same  time  he  intimated  to 


«  « Visto  el  proceso  por  algunos  S4  The  sentence  may  be  found, 

del  Consejo  de  S.  M.  destos  sus  Ibid.,  pp.  535  -  537. 

Estados  per  mf  nombrados  para  el  25  u  Po^que  no  viniese  d  noticia 

rlicho  efecto.**     Documentos  In^-  de  ninguno  de  los  otros  hasta  saber 

d.tos,  torn.  IV.  p.  535.  la  voluntad  de  V.  M."  Ibid.,  p.  53S. 


VOL.   II. 


41 


322 


SECRET  EXECUTION  OF  MONTIGNY.    [Book  III. 


Philip  that  he  might  think  it  better  to  have  the 
execution  take  place  in  Castile,  as  under  exist- 
ing circumstances  more  eligible  than  the  Neth- 
erlands. 

Philip  was  in  Andalusia,  making  a  tour  in  the 
southern  provinces,  when  the  despatches  of  his 
viceroy  reached  him.  He  was  not  altogether 
pleased  with  their  tenor.  Not  that  he  had  any 
misgivings  in  regard  to  the  sentence;  for  he 
was  entirely  satisfied,  as  he  wrote  to  Alva,  of 
Montigny's  guilt.^  But  he  did  not  approve  of  a 
public  execution.  Enough  blood,  it  might  be 
thought  in  the  Netherlands,  had  been  already 
spUt;  and  men  there  might  complain  that,  shut 
up  in  a  foreign  prison  during  his  trial,  Montigny 
had  not  met  with  justice.^^  There  were  certainly 
some  grounds  for  such  a  complaint. 

Philip  resolved  to  defer  taking  any  decisive 
step  in  the  matter  till  his  return  to  the  north. 
Meanwhile  he  commended  Alva's  discretion  in 
keeping  the  sentence  secret,  and  charged  him  on 
no  account  to  divulge  it,  even  to  members  of  the 

council. 

Some  months  elapsed  after  the  king's  return  to 
Madrid  before  he  came  to  a  decision,  —  exhibiting 
the  procrastination  so  conspicuous  a  trait  in  him, 


«  "  Asf  que  constando  tan  claro  ^  "Por  cstar  acd  el  delincuento 

de  sus  culpas  y  delictos,  en  cuanto  que  dijeran  que  se  habia  hecbo 

al  becho  de  la  justicia  no  babia  entre  compadres,  y  como  opreso, 

que  parar  mas  de  mandarla  ejecu-  sin  se    poder  defender   jurfdica- 

tar."    Ibid.,  p.  539.  mente.'     Ibid.,  p.  561. 


Ch.  VL] 


HIS  PROCESS. 


323 


even  among  a  people  with  whom  procrastination 
was  no  miracle.     It  may  have  been  that  he  was 
too  much  occupied  with  an  interesting  affair  which 
pressed  on  him  at  that  moment.     About  two  years 
before,  Philip  had  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  his 
young  and  beautiful  queen,  Isabella  of  the  Peace. 
Her  place  was  now  to  be  supplied  by  a  German 
princess,  Anne  of  Austria,  his   fourth  wife,  stUl 
younger  than  the  one  he  had  lost.     She  was  al- 
ready on  her  way  to  Castile ;    and  the  king  may 
have  been  too  much  engrossed  by  his  preparations 
for  the  nuptial  festivities,  to  have  much  thought  to 
bestow  on  the  concerns  of  his  wretched  prisoner. 
The  problem  to  be  solved  was  how  to  carry  the 
sentence  into  effect,  and  yet  leave  the  impression 
on  the  public  that  Montigny  died  a  natural  death. 
Most  of  the   few  ministers  whom  the  king  took 
into  his  confidence  on  the  occasion  were  of  opin- 
ion  that  it  would  be  best  to  bring  the  prisoner's 
death  about  by  means  of  a  slow  poison  adminis- 
tered   in  his  drink,  or  some   article  of  his  daily 
food.     This  would  give   him  time,  moreover,   to 
provide  for  the  concerns  of  his  soul.^^     But  Philip 
objected   to   this,   as   not  fulfilling  what  he  was 
pleased  to  call  the  ends  of  justice.^    He  at  last 


*  "  Parescia  &  los  mas  que  era 
bien  darle  un  bocado  6  ecbar  algun 
g^nero  de  veneno  en  la  comida  d 
bebida  con  que  se  fuese  muriendo 
poco  i  poco,  y  pudiese  componer 
las  cosas  de  su  dnima  como  enfep- 
ino  "    Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


»  «  Mas  d  S.  M.  parescid  que 
desta  manera  no  se  eumplia  con  la 
jusdcia.'*  Ibid.,  ubi  supra.  —  These 
particulars  are  gathered  from  a 
full  report  of  the  proceedings,  sent, 
by  Philip's  orders,  to  the  duke  of 
Alva,  November  2, 1570. 


» 


324  SECBET  EXECUTIOK  OF  MONTIGNT.    [Book  m. 

decided  on  the  (farrote,  — the  form  of  execution 
used  for  the  meaner  sort  of  criminals  in  Spain,  but 
which,  producing  death  by  suffocation,  would  be 
less  likely  to  leave  its  traces  on  the  body." 

To   accomplish  this,  it  would  be  necessary  to 
remove  Montigny  from  the  town  of  Segovia,  the 
gay  residence  of  the  court,  and  soon  to  be  the 
scene  of  the  wedding  ceremonies,  to  some  more 
remote  and  less  frequented  spot.    Siraancas  was  ac- 
cordingly selected,  whose   stem,  secluded  fortress 
seemed  to  be  a  fitting  place  for  the  perpetration  of 
such  a  deed.     The  fortress  was  of  great  strength, 
and  was  encompassed  by  massive  walls,  and  a  wide 
moat,  across  which  two  bridges  gave  access  to  the 
interior.     It  was  anciently  used  as  a  prison  for 
state  criminals.     Cardinal  Ximenes  first  conceived 
the  idea  of  turning  it  to  the  nobler  purpose  of 
preserving  the  public  archives."    Charles  the  Fifth 
carried  this  enlightened  project  into   execution; 
but  it  was  not  fully  consummated  till  the  time  of 


Ch.  VI.] 


EEMOVAL  TO  SIMANCAS 


325 


30  The  garrote  is  still  used  in 
capital  punishments  in  Spain.    It 
may  be  well  to  mention,  for  the 
information  of  some  of  my  read- 
ers, that  it  is  performed  by  draw- 
ing a  rope  tight  round  the  neck  of 
the  criminal,  so  as  to  produce  suf- 
focation.   This  is  done  by  turning 
a  stick  to  which  the  rope  is  at- 
tached behind  his  head.    Instead 
of  this  apparatus,  an  iron  collar  is 
more  frequently  employed  in  mod- 
em executions. 
31  This  is  established  by  a  letter 


of  the  cardinal  himself,  in  which 
he  requests  the  king  to  command 
all  officials  to  deliver  into  his  hands 
their   registers,   instruments,    and 
public  documents  of  ever>'  descrip- 
tion,—  to  be  placed  iti  these  ar- 
chives, that  they  may  hereafter  be 
preserved  from  injury.     His  bi- 
ographer adds,  that  few  of  these 
documents— such  only  as  could  be 
gleaned  by  the  cardinal's  industry 
—  reach  as  far  back  as  the  reign 
of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.     Quin- 
tinilla,  Vida  de  Ximenes,  p.  264. 


PhUip,  who  prescribed  the  regulations,  and  made 
all  the  necessary  arrangements  for  placing  the  in- 
stitution on   a  permanent   basis,  —  thus   securing 
to  future   historians  the   best   means  for  guiding 
their  steps  through  the  dark  and  tortuous  passa- 
ges  of  his  reign.     But  even  after  this  change  in 
its  destination,  the  fortress  of  Simancas  continued 
to  be  used  occasionally  as  a  place  of  confinement 
for  prisoners  of  state.     The  famous  bishop  of  Za- 
mora,  who  took  so  active  a  part  in  the  war  of  the 
comunidades,  was  there  strangled  by  command  of 
Charles  the  Fifth.     The  quarter  of  the  building  in 
which  he  suffered  is  still  known  by  the  name  of 
''el  mho  del  obispo;' —  ''The  Bishop's  Tower." « 
To   this   strong   place   Montigny  was   removed 
frQm  Segovia,  on  the  nmeteenth  of  August,  1570, 
under  a  numerous  guard  of  alguazUs  and  arque- 
busiers.      For    greater    security   he   was    put    in 
irons,  a  superfluous  piece  of  cruelty,  from  which 
PhUip,  in  a  letter  to  Alva,  thought  it  necessary  to 
vindicate   himself,  as  having   been   done   without 
his   orders.^     We   might   well   imagine   that   the 
last  ray  of  hope  must  have  faded  away  in  Mon- 
tigny's  bosom,  as  he  entered  the  gloomy  portals 


®  M.  Gachard,  who  gives  us 
some  interesting  particulars  of  the 
ancient  fortress  of  Simancas,  in- 
forms us  that  this  tower  was  the 
scene  of  some  of  his  own  labors 
there.  It  was  an  interesting  cir- 
cumstance, that  he  was  thus  ex- 
ploring the  records  of  Montigny's 


sufferings  in  the  very  spot  which 
witnessed  them. 

33  "  Asi  lo  cumplid  poni^ndole 
grillos  para  mayor  seguridad,  aun- 
que  esto  fud  sin  drden,  porque  ni 
esto  era  nienester  ni  quisiera  S. 
M.  que  se  hubiera  hecho."  Doi:u. 
mentos  Ineditos,  torn  IV.  p.  561. 


326 


SECBET  EXECUTION  OF  MONTIGNY.    [Book  UL 


Ch,  VL] 


CLOSER  CONFINEMENT. 


327 


of  his  new  abode.    Yet  hope,  as  we  are  assured, 
did  not  altogether  desert  him.     He  had  learned 
that  Anne  of  Austria  had  expressed  much  sympa- 
thy for  his  sufferings.     It  was  but  natural   that 
the  daughter  of  the  Emperor  Maximilian  should 
take  an  interest  in  the  persecuted  people  of  the 
Netherlands.     It  was  even  said  that  she  promised 
the  wife  and  stepmother  of  Montigny  to  make  his 
liberation  the  first  boon  she  would  ask  of  her  bus- 
band  on  coming  to  Castile.^     And  Montigny  cher- 
ished  the  fond  hope  that  the  influence  of  the  young 
bride  would  turn  the  king  from  his  purpose,  and 
that  her  coming  to  Castile  would  be  the  signal  for 
his  liberation.     That  Anne  should  have  yielded  tc 
such  an  illusion  is  not  so  strange,  for  she  had  never 
seen  Philip ;   but  that  Montigny  should  have  been 
beguiled  by  it  is  more  difficult  to  understand. 

In  his  new  quarters  he  was  treated  with  a  show 
of  respect,  if  not  indulgence.  He  was  even  al- 
lowed  some  privileges.  Though  the  guards  were 
doubled  over  him,  he  was  permitted  to  have  his 
own  servants,  and,  when  it  suited  him,  to  take  the 
fresh  air  and  sunshine  in  the  corridor. 

Early  in  October  the  young  Austrian  princess 
landed  on  the  northern  shores  of  the  kingdom,  at 
Santander.  The  tidmgs  of  this  may  have  mduced 
the  king  to  quicken  his  movements  in  regard  to 
his  prisoner,  willing  perhaps  to  relieve  himself  of 
all  chance  of  unportunity  from  his  bride,  as  well 

34  Meteren,  Hbt,  des  Pays-Bas,  fol.  60. 


as  from  the  awkwardness  of  refusing  the  first 
favor  she  should  request.  As  a  preliminary  step, 
it  would  be  necessary  to  abridge  the  liberty  ^^  hich 
Montigny  at  present  enjoyed,  to  confine  him  to 
his  apartment,  and,  cutting  off  his  communications 
even  with  those  in  the  castle,  to  spread  the  rumor 
of  his  illness,  which  should  prepare  the  minds  ol 
the  public  for  a  fatal  issue. 

To  furnish  an  apology  for  his  close  confinement, 
a  story  was  got  up  of  an  attempt  to  escape,  similar 
to  what  had  actually  occurred  at  Segovia.     Peral- 
ta,  alcayde  of  the  fortress,  a  trustworthy  vassal,  to 
whom  was  committed  the  direction  of  the  affair, 
addressed  a  letter  to  the  king,  inclosing  a  note  in 
Latin,  which  he  pretended  had  been  found  under 
Montigny's  window,  containing  sundry  directions 
for  his  flight.     The  fact   of  such   a   design,   the 
writer  said,  was  corroborated  by  the  appearance  of 
certain  persons  in  the  disguise  of  friars  about  the 
castle.     The  governor,   in  consequence,   had  been 
obliged  to  remove  his  prisoner  to  other  quarters, 
of  greater  security.     He  was  accordingly  lodged  in 
the  Bishop's  Tower,  —  ominous  quarters !  —  where 
he   was  no  longer  allowed  the  attendance  of  his 
own  domestics,  but  placed  in  strict  confinement. 
Montigny  had  taken  this  proceeding  so  ill,  and 
with   such  vehement   complaints   of  its   injustice, 
that  it  had  brought  on  a  fever,  under  which  he 
was  now  labormg.     Peralta  concluded  by  express- 
ing  his  regret  at  being  forced  by  Montigny's  con- 
duct  into   a  course  so  painful  to  himself,   as   he 


328 


SECBET  EXECUTION  OP  MONTIGNY.    [Book  IIL 


Ch.  VI.]         HIS  SENTENCE  ANNOUNCED  TO  HIM. 


329 


would  gladly  have  allowed  him  all  the  indulgence 
compatible  with  his  own  honor.^  —  This  letter, 
which  had  all  been  concocted  in  the  cabinet  at 
Madrid,  was  shown  openly  at  court  It  gained 
easier  credit  from  the  fact  of  Montigny's  former 
attempt  to  escape;  and  the  rumor  went  abroad 
that  he  was  now  lying  dangerously  iU. 

Early  in  October,  the  licentiate  Alonzo  de 
Arellano  had  been  summoned  from  Seville,  and 
installed  in  the  office  of  alcalde  of  the  chancery  oi 
Valladolid,  distant  only  two  leagues  from  Siman- 
cas.  Arellano  was  a  person  in  whose  discretion 
and  devotion  to  himself  Philip  knew  he  could 
confide ;  and  to  him  he  now  intrusted  the  execu- 
tion of  Montigny.  Directions  for  the  course  he 
was  to  take,  as  well  as  the  precautions  he  was 
to  use  to  prevent  suspicion,  were  set  down  in  the 
royal  instructions  with  great  minuteness.  They 
must  be  allowed  to  form  a  remarkable  document, 
such  as  has  rarely  proceeded  from  a  royal  pen. 
The  alcalde  was  to  pass  to  Simancas,  and  take 
with  him  a  notary,  an  executioner,  and  a  priest. 
The  last  should  be  a  man  of  undoubted  piety  and 
learning,  capable  of  dispelling  any  doubts  or  errors 
that  might  unhappily  have  arisen  in  Montigny's 
mind  in  respect  to  the  faith.  Such  a  man  ap- 
peared to  be  Fray  Hernando  del  Castillo,  of  the 
order  of  St.  Dominic,  in  Valladolid;  and  no  bet- 
as This  lying  letter,  dated  at  Si-  may  be  found  in  the  Documen- 
mancas,  October  10,  with  the  scrap  tos  IncSditos,  torn.  IV.  pp  550 
of  mongrel  Latin  which  it  inclosed,     652. 


\ 


A 


ter  person  could  have  been  chosen,  nor  one  more 
open  to  those  feelings  of  humanity  which  are  not 
always  found  under  the  robe  of  the  friar.^ 

Attended  by  these  three  persons,  the  alcalde  left 
Valladolid  soon  after  nightfall  on  the  evening  of 
the  fourteenth  of  October.     Peralta  had  been  ad- 
vised of  his  coming;   and  the  little  company  were 
admitted  into  the  castle  so  cautiously  as  to  attmct 
no  observation.     The  governor  and  the  judge  at 
once  proceeded   to   Montigny's  apartment,  where 
they  found  the  unhappy  man  lying  on  his  pallet,  ill 
not  so  much  of  the  fever  that  was  talked  of,  as  of 
that  sickness  of  the  heart  which  springs  from  hope 
deferred.    When  informed  of  his  sentence  by  Arella- 
no, in  words  as  kind  as  so  cruel  a  communication 
would  permit,  he  was  wholly  overcome  by  it,  and  for 
some  time  continued  in  a  state  of  pitiable  agitation. 
Yet  one  might  have  thought  that  the  warnings  he 
had   already  received   were   such   as   might   have 
prepared  his  mind  in  some  degree  for  the   blow. 
For  he  seems  to  have  been  in  the  condition  of  the 
tenant  of  one  of  those  inquisitorial  cells  in  Venice, 
the  walls   of  which,  we   are   told,  were   so   con- 
structed as  to  approach  each  other  gradually  every 
day,  until  the  wretched  inmate  was  crushed  be- 
tween them.     After  Montigny  had  sufficiently  re- 
covered from  his  agitation  to  give  heed  to  it,  the 
sentence  was  read  to  him  by  the  notary.     He  was 
still  to  be  allowed  a  day  before  the  execution,  in 

*  The  instructions  delivered  to    Arellano  are  given  in  full,  Ibid., 
the    licentiate    Don    Alonzo    de    pp.  542  -  549. 
VOL.  II.  42 


3&0 


SECRET  EXECUTION  OF  MONTIGNY     [Book  IIL 


Ch.  VL] 


HIS  LAST  MCMENTS. 


331 


order  to  gain  time,  as  Philip  had  said,  to  settle  his 
affairs  with  Heaven.  And  although,  as  the  alcalde 
added,  the  sentence  passed  on  him  was  held  by  the 
king  as  a  just  sentence,  yet,  in  consideration  of  his 
quality,  his  majesty,  purely  out  of  his  benignity 
and  clemency,  was  willing  so  far  to  mitigate  it,  in 
rec^ard  to  the  form,  as  to  allow  him  to  be  executed, 
not  in  public,  but  in  secret,  thus  saving  his  honor, 
and  suggesting  the  idea  of  his  having  come  to  his 
end  by  a  natural  deaths  For  this  act  of  grace 
Montigny  seems  to  have  been  duly  grateful.  How 
true  were  the  motives  assigned  for  it,  the  reader 

can  determine. 

Having  thus  discharged  their  painful  office, 
Arellano  and  the  governor  withdrew,  and,  summon- 
ing the  friar,  left  the  prisoner  to  the  spiritual  con- 
solations  he  so  much  needed.  What  followed,  we 
have  from  Castillo  himself.  As  Montigny's  agi- 
tation subsided,  he  listened  patiently  to  the  ex- 
hortations  of  the  good  father  ;  and  when  at  length 
restored  to  something  like  his  natural  composure, 
he  joined  with  him  earnestly  in  prayer.  He  then 
confessed  and  received  the  sacrament,  seeming 
desirous  of  employing  the  brief  space  that  yet 
remained  to  hun  in  preparation  for  the  solemn 
change.     At  mtervals,  when  not  actually  occupied 


57  "  Aunque  S.  M.  tenia  por 
cierto  que  era  muy  juridica,  ha- 
bida  consideracion  d  la  calidad  de 
Bu  persona  y  usando  con  61  de  su 
Real  clemencia  y  benignidad  habia 
tenido  por  bien  de  moderarla  en 


cuanto  A  la  forma  mandando  que 
no  se  ejecutase  en  publico,  sine 
alli  en  secreto  por  su  honor,  y  que 
86  daria  d  entender  haber  muerto 
de  aquella  enferraedad."  Ibid.,  JK 
563. 


r 

i  - 
h 


with  his  devotions,  he  read  the  compositions  of  Fa- 
ther  Luis  de  Granada,  whose  spiritualized  concept 
tions  had  often  solaced  the  hours  of  his  captivity. 

Montigny  was  greatly  disturbed  by  the  rumor  of 
his  having  been  shaken  in  his  religious  principles, 
and  having  embraced  the  errors  of  the  Reformers. 
To  correct  this  impression,  he  briefly  drew  up, 
with  his  own  hand,  a  confession  of  faith,  in  which 
he  avows  as  implicit  a  belief  in  all  the  articles 
sanctioned  by  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and 
its  head,  the  Vicar  of  Christ,  as  Pius  the  Fifth 
himself  could  have  desired.^  Having  thus  re- 
lieved his  mind,  Montigny  turned  to  some  tem- 
poral affairs  which  he  was  desirous  to  settle. 
They  did  not  occupy  much  time.  For,  as  Philip 
had  truly  remarked,  there  was  no  occasion  for 
him  to  make  a  will,  since  he  had  nothing  to  be- 
queath, —  all  his  property  having  been  confis- 
cated to  the  crown.®  If,  however,  any  debt  pressed 
heavily  on  his  conscience,  he  was  to  be  allowed  to 
indicate  it,  as  well  as  any  provision  which  he  par- 
ticularly desired  to  make  for  a  special  purpose. 
This  was  on  the  condition,  however,  that  he  should 
allude  to  himself  as  about  to  die  a  natural  death.^ 


•  The  confession  of  faith  may 
be  found  in  the  Documentos  In^- 
ditos,  torn.  IV.  p.  553. 

»  "  Si  el  dicho  Flores  de  Me- 
morancf  quisiese  ordenar  testa- 
mento  no  habrd  para  que  darse  A 
esto  lugSir,  pues  siendo  confiscados 
todos  sus  bienes  y  por  tales  crimi- 


nes,  n!  puede  testar  ni  tiene  de 
qu^.*'     Ibid.,  p.  548. 

40  "Empero  si  todavia  quisiere 
hacer  alguna  memoria  de  deudas 
d  descargos  se  le  podra  pennitir 
como  en  esto  no  se  haga  mencioa 
alguna  de  la  justicia  y  ejecucion  que 
se  hace,  sino  que  sea  hecho  como 


332 


SECRET  EXECUTION  OF  MONTIGNY     [Book  III. 


Montigny  profited  by  this  to  express  the  wish 
that  masses,  to  the  number  of  seven  hundred, 
might  be  said  for  his  soul,  that  sundry  sums 
might  be  appropriated  to  private  uses,  and  that 
some  gratuities  might  be  given  to  certain  of  his 
faithful  followers.  It  may  interest  the  reader  to 
know  that  the  masses  were  punctually  performed. 
In  regai-d  to  the  pious  legacies,  the  king  wrote  to 
Alva,  he  must  first  see  if  Montigny's  estate  would 
justify  the  appropriation ;  as  for  the  gratuities  to 
servants,  they  were  wholly  out  of  the  question.*^ 

Pne  token  of  remembrance,  which  he  placed  in 
the  hands  of  Castillo,  doubtless  reached  its  destina- 
tion. This  was  a  gold  chain  of  delicate  workman- 
ship, with  a  seal  or  signet  ring  attached  to  it,  bear- 
ing his  arms.  This  little  token  he  requested  might 
be  given  to  his  wife.  It  had  been  his  constant 
companion  ever  since  they  were  married ;  and  he 
wished  her  to  wear  it  in  memory  of  him,  —  express- 
ing at  the  same  time  his  regret  that  a  longer  life 
had  not  been  granted  him,  to  serve  and  honor  her. 
As  a  dying  injunction  he  besought  her  not  to  be 
entangled  by  the  new  doctrines,  or  to  swerve  from 
the  faith  of  her  ancestors.  —  If  ever  Montigny  had 
a  leaning  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation,  it 
could  hardly  have  deepened  into  conviction;  for 
early  habit  and  education  reasserted  their  power 
80   entirely,  at    this    solemn    moment,   that    the 

memorial  de  bombre  enfermo  y  que    a  accord^,  il  n'y  »  pas  lieu  d'y 
K  *emia  morir."    Ibid.,  ubi  supra,     donner  suite.**     Correspondance  de 
W  "  Quant  aux  mercedes  qu'il    Philippe  II.,  torn.  11.  p.  169. 


\ 


Ch.  VI.] 


HIS  LAST  MOMENTS. 


333 


I! 

IV" 


(< 

» 


Dominican  by  his  side  declared  that  he  gave  evi* 
dence  of  being  as  good  and  Catholic  a  Christian 
as  he  could  wish  to  be  himself.*^  The  few  hours 
in  which  Montigny  had  thus  tasted  of  the  bitter- 
ness  of  death  seemed  to  have  done  more  to  wean, 
him  from  the  vanities  of  life  than  the  whole  years 
of  dreary  imprisonment  he  had  passed  within  the 
walls  of  Segovia  and  Simancas.  Yet  we  shall 
hardly  credit  the  friar's  assertion,  that  he  carried 
his  resignation  so  far,  that,  though  insisting  on  his 
own  innocence,  he  admitted  the  sentence  of  his 
judges  to  be  just!** 

At  about  two  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  six- 
teenth of  October,  when  the  interval  allowed  for 
this  solemn  preparation  had  expired.  Father  Cas- 
tillo waited  on  the  governor  and  the  alcalde,  to  in- 
form them  that  the  hour  had  come,  and  that  their 
prisoner  was  ready  to  receive  them.  They  went, 
without  further  delay,  to  the  chamber  of  death, 
attended  by.  the  notary  and  the  executioner. 
Then,  in  their  presence,  while  the  notary  made 
a  record  of  the  proceedings,  the  grim  minister  of 
the  law  did  his  work  on  his  unresisting  victim.^ 


*2  "  En  lo  uno  y  en  lo  otro  tuvo 
las  demostraciones  de  catolico  y 
buen  cristiano  que  yo  deseo  para 
mi.**  See  the  letter  of  Fray  Her- 
nando del  Castillo,  Documentos 
Incites,  torn.  IV.  pp.  554-559. 

^  "Fuele  creciendo  por  boras 
el  desengano  de  la  vida,  la  pacien- 
cia,  el  sufrimiento,  y  la  conformi- 
'lad  con  la  voluntad  de  Dios  y  de 


8u  Rey,  cuya  sentencia  siempre 
alabd  por  justa,  mas  siempre  pro- 
testando  de  su  inocencia.**  Ibid., 
ubi  supra. 

**  "  Y  acabada  su  pldtica  y  de 
encomendarse  &  Dios  todo  el  tiempo 
que  quiso,  el  verdugo  bizo  su  oficio 
ddndole  garrote.**  See  the  account 
of  Montigny's  death  despatched  to 
the  duke  of  Alva.    It  was  written 


\ 


I  I 

il> 


334 


SECRET  EXECUTION  OF  MONTIGNY.    [Book  III 


Ch.  VI] 


HIS  LAST  MOMENTS. 


335 


No  sooner  was  the  breath  out  of  the  body  of 
Montigny,  than  the  alcalde,  the  priest,  and  their 
two  companions  were  on  their  way  back  to  Valla- 
dolid,  reaching  it  before  dawn,  so  as  to  escape 
the  notice  of  the  inhabitants.  All  were  solemnly 
bound  to  secrecy  in  regard  to  the  dark  act  in 
which  they  had  been  engaged.  The  notary  and 
the  hangman  were  still  further  secured  by  the 
menace  of  death,  in  case  they  betrayed  any  knowl- 
edge of  the  matter ;  and  they  knew  full  well  that 
Philip  was  not  a  man  to  shrink  from  the  execu- 
tion of  his  menaces.** 

The  corpse  was  arrayed  in  a  Franciscan  habit, 
which,  coming  up  to  the  throat,  left  the  face  only 
exposed  to  observation.  It  was  thus  seen  by  Mon- 
tigny's  servants,  who  recognized  the  features  of  their 
master,  hardly  more  distorted  than  sometimes  hap 
pens  from  disease,  when  the  agonies  of  death  have 
left  their  traces.  The  story  went  abroad  that  their 
lord  had  died  of  the  fever  with  which  he  had  been 
so  violently  attacked. 

The  funeral  obsequies  were  performed,  accord- 
ing to  the  royal  orders,  with  all  due  solemnity. 
The  vicar  and  beneficiaries  of  the  church  of  St 
Saviour  officiated  on  the  occasion.  The  servants 
of  the  deceased  were  clad  in  mourning,  —  a  token 
of  respect  recommended  by  Philip,  who  remarked, 
the  servants  were  so  few,  that  mourning  might  as 

in  cipher,  and  dated  November  2,    los  dichos  eacribano  y  verdugo  a 
1670.    Ibid.,  p.  560  et  seq.  lo  descnbriesen."    Ibid.,  p.  564. 

^  "  Poniendo  pena  de  muerte  i, 


well  be  given  to  them;*^  and  he  was  willing  to 
take  charge  of  this  and  the  other  expenses  of  the 
funeral,  provided  Montigny  had  not  left  money 
sufficient  for  the  purpose.  The  place  selected 
for  his  burial  was  a  vault  under  one  of  the 
chapels  of  the  building ;  and  a  decent  monument 
indicated  the  spot  where  reposed  the  ashes  of  the 
last  of  the  envoys  who  came  from  Flanders  on  the 
ill-starred  mission  to  Madrid.*^ 

Such  is  a  true  account  of  this  tragical  affair, 
as  derived  from  the  king's  own  letters  and  those 
of  his  agents.  Far  different  was  the  story  put 
in  circulation  at  the  time.  On  the  seventeenth 
of  October,  the  day  after  Montigny's  death,  de- 
spatches were  received  at  court  from  Peralta, 
the  alcayde  of  the  fortress.  They  stated  that, 
after  writing  his  former  letter,  his  prisoner's  fever 
had  so  much  increased,  that  he  had  called  in  the 
aid  of  a  physician ;  and  as  the  symptoms  bebame 
more  alarming,  the  latter  had  entered  into  a  con- 
sultation with  the  medical  adviser  of  the  late 
regent,  Joanna,  so  that  nothing  that  human  skill 
could  afford  should  be  wanting  to  the  patient. 
He  grew  rapidly  worse,  however,  and  as,  happily, 
Father  Hernando  del  Castillo,  of  Valladolid, 
chanced  to  be  then  in  Simancas,  he  came  and 
administered  the  last   consolations  of  religion   to 

«  "Y   no   eeri   inconveniente  zo  de  Areflano,  Ibid.,  p.  542  et 

que    se    d4    luto    d    sus   criados  seq. 

pues  son  pocos.*'    La  o'rden  que  47  ibid.,    p.    549.     Correspon- 

ha  de  tener  el  Licenciado  D  Alon-  dance  de  Philippe  II.,  torn.  II.  p.  1 59 


\l 


336 


SECKET  EXECUTION  OF  MONTIGNY.    [Book  Hi 


m 


the  dying  man.  Having  done  all  that  a  good 
Christian  at  such  a  time  should  do,  Montigny 
expired  early  on  the  morning  of  the  sixteenth, 
manifesting  at  the  last  so  Catholic  a  spirit,  that 
good  hopes  might  be   entertained  of  his    salva- 

tion« 

This  hypocritical  epistle,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to 
say,  like  the  one  that  preceded  it,  had  been  manu- 
factured at  Madrid.  Nor  was  it  altogether  devoid 
of  truth.  The  physician  of  the  place,  named  Viana, 
had  been  called  in;  and  it  was  found  necessary 
to  intrust  him  with  the  secret.  Everj^  day  he  paid 
his  visit  to  the  castle,  and  every  day  returned  with 
more  alarming  accounts  of  the  condition  of  the 
patient;  and  thus  the  minds  of  the  commimity 
were  prepared  for  the  fatal  termination  of  his 
disorder.  Not  that,  after  all,  this  was  unattend- 
ed  with  suspicions  of  foul  play  in  the  matter, 
as  people  reflected  how  opportune  was  the  oc- 
currence of  such  an  event.  But  suspicions  were 
not  proof  The  secret  was  too  well  guarded  for 
any  one  to  penetrate  the  veil  of  mystery;  and 
the  few  who  were  behind  that  veil  loved  their 
lives  too  well  to  raise  it. 

Despatches  written  in  cipher,  and  containing 
a  full  and  true  accoimt  of  the  affair,  were  sent 
to  the  duke  of  Alva.  The  two  letters  of  Peralta, 
which  indeed  were  intended  for  the  meridian  of 
Brussels  rather  than  of  Madrid,  were  forwarded  with 

«  Carta  de  D.  Eugenic  de  Pe-    tubre,  1570,  Documentos  In^dito^ 
r»lta  4  S.  M  ,  Simancas,  17  de  Oc-    torn.  IV.  p.  559. 


Ch.  VL] 


HIS  LAST  MOMENTS. 


337 


1 


them.  The  duke  was  told  to  show  them  inciden- 
tally, as  it  were,  without  obtruding  them  on  any 
one's  notice,*^  that  Montigny's  friends  in  the  Neth- 
erlands might  be  satisfied  of  their  truth. 

In   his   own    private    communication    to   Alva, 
Philip,  in  mentioning  the  orthodox  spirit  manifest 
ed  by  his  victim  in  his  last  moments,  shows  that 
with  the  satisfaction  which  he  usually  expressed 
on   such   occasions  was   mingled  some   degree   of 
scepticism.     "If  his    inner    man,"   he    writes    of 
Montigny,  "was   penetrated  with  as  Christian  a 
spirit  as  he  exhibited  in  the  outer,  and  as  the  friar 
who   confessed   him   has   reported,  God,  we  may 
presume,   will   have   mercy  on   his   soul."^^      In 
the   original   draft   of  the  letter,  as  prepared  by 
the   kings   secretary,  it  is  further  added:  "Yet, 
after  all,  who  can  tell  but  this  was  a  delusion  of 
Satan,  who,  as  we  know,  never  deserts  the  heretic 
in  his  dying  hour."     This  sentence  —  as  appears 
from  the  manuscript  still  preserved  in  Simancas 
—  was  struck  out  by  Philip,  with  the  remark  in 
his  own  hand,  "  Omit  this,  as  we  should  think  no 
evil  of  the  dead!"" 

Notwithstanding   this   magnanimous   sentiment. 


^  "  No  las  mostrando  de  propd- 
sito  sino  descuidadamente  &  las  per- 
sonas  que  paresciere,  para  que  por 
ellas  se  divulgue  haber  fallescido  de 
8U  muerte  natural.**    Ibid.,  p.  564. 

^  "  El  cual  si  en  lo  interior  aea- 
b<5  tan  cristianamente  como  lo  mo- 
itrd  en  lo  exterior  y  lo  ha  referido 
el  fraile  que  le  confesd,  es  de  crecr 

VOL.  II.  43 


que  se  hahri  apiadado  Dios  de  su 
dnima."  Carta  de  S.  M.  al  Duque 
de  Alba,  del  Escurial,  i  3  de  No- 
viembre,  1570,  Ibid.,  p.  565. 

51  "Esto  mismo  borrad  de  la 
cifra,  que  de  los  muertos  no  hay 
que  haeer  sino  buen  juicio."  Ibi<t, 
ubi  supra,  note. 


338 


SECRET  EXECUTION  OF  MONTIGNY.    [Book  HI. 


Ch.  VI.] 


REFLECTIONS. 


TlBffl 


Philip  lost  no  time  in  publishing  Montigny  to 
the  world  as  a  traitor,  and  demanding   the   con- 
fiscation of  his  estates.     The  CouncU  of  Blood 
learned  a  good  lesson  from  the  Holy  Inquisition, 
which  took  care  that  even  Death  should  not  de- 
fraud it  of  its  victims.     Proceedings  were  instituted 
against  the  memory  of  Montigny,  as   had  before 
been  done  against  the  memory  of  the  marquis  of 
Bergen.«*     On  the  twenty-second  of  March,  1571. 
the  duke  of  Alva  pronounced  sentence,  condemning 
the  memory  of  Florence  de  Montmorency,  lord  of 
Montigny,  as  guilty  of  high  treason,  and  confiscat- 
ing his  goods  and  estates  to  the  use  of  the  crown ; 
"it  having  come  to  his  knowledge,"  the  instru- 
ment went  on   to  say,  "that  the  said  Montigny 
had   deceased    by  natural   death  in   the  fortress 
of  Simancas,  where  he  had  of  late  been  held  a 

prisoner!"^ 

The  proceedings  of  the  Council  of  Blood  against 
Montigny  were  characterized,  as  I  bave  already 
said,  by  greater  effrontery  and  a  more  fia  grant 
contempt  of  the  common  forms  of  justice  than 
were  usually  to  be  met  with  even  in  that  tri- 
bunal. A  bare  statement  of  the  facts  is  sufii- 
cient.     The  party  accused  was  put  on  his  trial  — 


339 


M  The  confiscated  estates  of  the 
marquis  of  Bergen  were  restored 
by  Philip  to  that  nobleman's  heirs, 
1577.      See     Vandervynckt, 


in 


Troubles  des  Pajrs-Bas,  torn.  11. 

p.  235. 

H  "  Attendu  que  est  Tenu  k  sa 


notice  que  ledict  de  Montigny  se- 
roit  alW  de  vie  k  trespas,  par  mort 
naturelle,  en  la  forteresse  de  Sy- 
mancques,  oil  il  estoit  demifere- 
ment  detenu  prisonier."  Corre- 
spondance  de  Philippe  11.,  torn.  D. 
p.  171 


if  trial  it  can  be  called  — in  one  country,  while 
he  was  held   in   close   custody  in   another.     The 
court  before  which  he  was  tried  — or  rather  the 
jury,  for  the  council  seems  to  have  exercised  more 
of  the  powers  of  a  jury  than  of  a  judge  —  was 
on  this  occasion  a  packed  body,  selected  to  suit 
the  purposes  of  the  prosecution.     Its  sentence,  in- 
stead of  being  publicly  pronounced,  was  confided 
only   to   the  party  interested   to   obtain   it,  — the 
king.     Even  the  sentence  itself  was  not  the  one 
carried  into  efiect ;   but  another  was   substituted 
m  Its  place,  and  a  public  execution  was  supplant- 
ed by  a  midnight  assassination.     It  would  be  an 
abuse   of  language  to  dignify  such  a  proceeding 
with  the  title  of  a  judicial  murder. 

Yet  Philip  showed  no  misgivings  as  to  his  own 
course  in  the  matter.     He  had  made  up  his  mind 
as  to  the  gunt  of  Montigny.     He  had  been  false 
to  his  king  and   false   to   his   religion;    offences 
which   death   only  could   expiate.     StiU   we   find 
PhUip  resorting  to  a  secret  execution,  although 
Alva,  as  we  have  seen,  had  supposed  that  sentence 
was   to   be   executed   on   Montigny  in   the   same 
open  manner  as  it  had  been  on   the  other  vic- 
tims of  the  bloody  tribunal.     But  the  king  shrunk 
from  exposing  a  deed  to  the  public   eye.  which, 
mdependently   of  its    atrocity   in    other  respects, 
involved  so  flagrant  a  violation  of  good  faith  to- 
wards  the  party  who  had  come,  at  his  sovereign's 
own  desire,  on  a  public  mission  to  Madrid.     With 
this  regard  to  the  opinions  of  Iris  own  age,  it  may 


340 


NOTICE  OF  GACHABD. 


[Book  IH 


;h.  VL] 


GACHABD  AND  GROEN. 


341 


seem  strange  that  Philip  should   not   have   en 
deavored  to  efface  every  vestige  of  his  connection 
with  the  act,  by  destroying  the  records  which 
established   it.     On    the    contrary,  he   not    only 
took  care  that  such  records  should  be  made,  but 
caused  them,  and  all  other  evidence  of  the  affaii-, 
to    be    permanently    preserved    in    the    national 
archives.     There   they  lay  for  the  inspection  of 
posterity,  which  was  one  day  to  sit  in  judgment 
on  his  conduct. 


Is  the  part  of  tWs  History  wMcli  reUtes  to  tlie  Netherlands,  I  have 
been  .neatly  indebted  to  two  eminent  scholars  of  that  country.    The 
fi«t  of  these,  M.  Gachard,  who  has  the  care  of  the  royal  archives  of 
Belgium,  was  commissioned  by  his  government,  in  1844,  to  visit  the  Pe- 
ninsula for  the  purpose  of  collecting  materiaU  for  the  iUustration  of  the 
national  history.     The  most  important  theatre  of  his  lahors  was  bi- 
mancas,  which,  till  the  time  of  his  visit,  had  been  carefully  closed  to 
natives  as  well  as  foi^igner^.    M.  Gachard  profited  by  the  more  hbenU 
arran^mcnts  which,  under  certmn  restrictions,  opened  its  histoncal 
treasu^res  to  the  student.    The  result  of  his  labors  he  b  "ow  giving  to 
the  world  by  the  publication  of  his  "  Correspondance  de  Philippe  11., 
of  which  two  volumes  have  abeady  been  printed.    The  work  is  pub- 
lished  in  a  beautiful  form,  worthy  of  the  auspices  under  which  it  has 
appeared.    It  consists  chiefly  of  the  correspondence  earned  on  by  the 
Spanish  government  and  the  authorities  of  the  Netherlands  in  the  reign 
of  Philip  the  Second, -the  revolutionary  age,  and  of  course  the  most 
eventful  period  of  their  history.     The  official  despatches,  written  in 
French,  ai«,  it  is  true,  no  longer  to  be  found  in  Simancas,  whence  they 
were  removed  to  Brussels  on  the  accession  of  Albert  and  Isabella  to  the 
«,vereignty  of  the  Low  Countries.    But  a  large  °>f»  "^  <f  "«'PJ"^«°?* 
which  ^  between  the  court  of,  Castile  and  the  Netherlands  is  sUU 
preier>ed  in  the  Spanish  arehivc    As  it  is,  for  the  most  part,  of  a 
^nfidential  nature,  containing  strictures  on  men  and  things  intende*. 
,nly  for  the  eyes  of  the  pardcs  to  it,  it  U  of  infinite  value  to  the  histo 


nan.  Not  only  has  it  never  before  been  published,  but,  with  the  except 
tion  of*  a  portion  which  passed  under  the  review  of  the  Italian  Strada, 
it  has  never  been  submitted  to  the  inspection  of  the  scholar.  With  the 
aid  of  this  rich  collection,  the  historian  is  enabled  to  enter  into  many 
details,  hitherto  unknown,  of  a  personal  nature,  relating  to  the  actors 
in  the  great  drama  of  the  revolution,  as  well  as  to  disclose  some  of  the 
secret  springs  of  their  policy. 

M.  (Jachard  has  performed  his  editorial  duties  with  conscientiousness 
and  ability.  In  a  subsequent  volume  he  proposes  to  give  the  entire 
text  of  the  more  important  letters ;  but  in  the  two  already  published 
he  has  confined  himself  to  an  analysis  of  their  contents,  more  or  less  ex- 
tended, according  to  circumstances.  He  has  added  explanatory  notes, 
and  prefixed  to  the  whole  a  copious  dissertation,  presenting  a  view  of 
the  politics  of  the  Castilian  court,  and  of  the  characters  of  the  king  and 
the  great  officers  of  state.  As  the  writer's  information  is  derived  from 
sources  the  most  authentic  as  well  as  the  least  accessible  to  scholars,  his 
prelimmary  essay  deserves  to  be  carefully  studied  by  the  historian  oi 
the  Netherlands. 

M.  Gachard  has  further  claims  to  the  gratitude  of  every  lover  of  let 
ters  by  various  contributions  in  other  forms  which  he  has  made  to  the 
illustration  of  the  national  history.  Among  these  his  "  Correspondance 
de  Guillaume  le  Taeiturne,"  of  which  three  volumes  in  octavo  have  al- 
ready appeared,  has  been  freely  used  by  me.  It  consists  of  a  collection 
of  William's  correspondence,  industriously  gathered  from  various  quar- 
ters. The  letters  differ  from  one  another  as  widely  in  value  as  might 
naturally  be  expected  in  so  large  and  miscellaneous  a  collection. 

The  other  scholar  by  whose  editorial  labors  I  have  profited  in  this 
part  of  my  work  is  M.  Groen  van  Prinsterer.  His  voluminous  publi- 
cation, "  Archives  de  la  Maison  d'Orange-Nassau,**  the  first  series  of 
which  embraces  the  times  of  William  the  Silent,  is  derived  from  the  pri- 
vate collection  of  the  king  of  Holland.  The  contents  are  various,  but 
consist  chiefly  of  letters  from  persons  who  took  a  prominent  part  in 
the  conduct  of  affairs.  Their  correspondence  embraces  a  miscellaneous 
range  of  topics,  and  with  those  of  public  interest  combines  others  strictly 
personal  in  their  details,  thus  bringing  into  strong  relief  the  characters 
of  the  most  eminent  actors  on  the  great  political  theatre.  A  living  in- 
terest attaches  to  this  correspondence,  which  we  shall  look  for  in  v^n 
in  the  colder  pages  of  the  historian.  History  gives  us  the  acts,  but  let- 
ters like  these,  in  which  the  actors  speak  for  themselves,  give  us  the 
flioughts,  of  the  individual. 

M.  Groen  has  done  his  part  of  the  work  well,  adhering  to  the  original 


342 


GROEN  AND  HEIFFENBERG. 


[Book  UI 


text  ^ith  scruptiloiis  fidelity,  and  presenting  us  the  letters  in  the  van. 
0U8  languages  in  which  they  were  written.    The  interstices,  so  to  speak, 
between  the  different  parts  of  the  correspondence,  are  skiUuUy  filled  up 
by  the  editor,  so  as  to  connect  the  incongruous  materials  into  a  well- 
compacted  fabric.    In  conducting  what,  as  far  as  he  is  concerned,  may 
be  termed  the  original  part  of  his  work,  the  editor  has  shown  much  dis- 
cretion,  gathering  information  from  collateral,  contemporary  sources ; 
and,  by  the  side-lights  he  has  thus  throws  over  the  path,  has  greatly  fa- 
ciUtated  the  progress  of  the  student,  and  enabled  him  to  take  a  survey 
of  the  whole  historical  ground.    The  editor  is  at  no  pains  to  conceal  hia 
own  opinions ;  and  we  have  no  difficulty  in  determining  the  religious 
sect  to  which  he  belongs.    But  it  is  not  the  less  true,  that  he  is  ready  to 
render  justice  to  the  opinions  of  others,  and  that  he  is  entitled  to  the 
praise  of  having  executed  his  task  with  impartiality. 

One  may  notice  a  peculiarity  in  the  criticisms  of  both  Groen  and 
Gachard,  the  more  remarkable  considering  the  nations  to  which  they 
beloncr ;  that  is,  the  soHcitude  they  manifest  to  place  the  most  favorable 
construction  on  the  conduct  of  Philip,  and  to  vindicate  his  memory  from 
the  wholesale  charges  so  often  brought  against  him,  of  a  systematic  at- 
tempt  to  overturn  the  liberties  of  the  Netheriands.  The  reader,  even 
should  he  not  always  feel  the  cogency  of  their  arguments,  will  not  re- 
fuse  his  admiration  to  the  candor  of  t^e  critics. 

There  is  a  third  publication,  recently  issued  from  the  press  in  Brus- 
sels, which  contains,  in  the  compass  of  a  single  volume,  materials  of 
much  importance  for  the  history  of  the  Netheriands.  This  is  the  "  Cor- 
respondance  de  Marguerite  d' Autriche,**  by  the  late  Baron  Reiffenberg. 
It  18  a  part  of  the  French  correspondence  which,  as  I  have  mentioned 
above,  was  transferred,  in  the  latter  part  of  Philip  the  Second's  reign, 
from  Shnancas  to  Brussels ;  but  which,  instead  of  remaining  there,  was 
removed,  after  the  country  had  passed  under  the  Austrian  sceptre,  to 
the  imperial  library  of  Vienna,  where  it  exists,  in  aU  probability,  at  the 
present  day.  Some  fragments  of  this  correspondence  escaped  the  fate 
which  attended  the  bulk  of  it;  and  it  is  gleanings  from  these  which 
Reiffenberg  has  given  to  the  world. 

That  country  is  fortunate  which  can  command  the  services  of  such 
men  as  these  for  the  illustration  of  ite  national  annals,— men  who  with 
sincrular  enthusiasm  for  their  task  combine  the  higher  qualifications  of 
scholarship,  and  a  talent  for  critical  analysis.  By  their  persevering  la- 
bors the  rich  ore  has  been  drawn  from  the  mines  where  it  had  lain  in 
darkness  for  ages.  It  now  waits  only  for  the  hand  of  the  artist  to  con. 
rert  it  into  coin  and  give  it  a  popular  currency. 


'"  \  1 


BOOK    IV. 


CHAPTER    I. 


THE  OTTOMAN  EMPIRE. 


Condition  of  Turkey. — African  Corsairs. — Expedition  agjunst  TripoU 
—  War  on  the  Barbary  Coast. 

1559  - 1563. 

There  are  two  methods  of  writing  history ;  — 
one  by  following  down  the  stream  of  time,  and 
exhibiting  events  in  their  chronological  order; 
the  other  by  disposing  of  these  events  according 
to  their  subjects.  The  former  is  the  most  obvious  ; 
and  where  the  action  is  simple  and  continuous,  as 
in  biography,  for  the  most  part,  or  in  the  nar- 
rative of  some  grand  historical  event,  which  con- 
centrates the  interest,  it  is  probably  the  best. 
But  when  the  story  is  more  complicated,  covering 
a  wide  field,  and  embracing  great  variety  of  in- 
cident, the  chronological  system,  however  easy 
for  the  writer,  becomes  tedious  and  unprofitable 
to  the  reader.  He  is  hurried  along  from  one 
scene  to  another  without  fully  apprehending  any ; 
and  as  the  thread  of  the  narrative  is  perpetuaUj 


344 


THE  OTTOMAN  EMPIBB. 


[Book  IV 


Ch.  I.] 


CONDITION  OF  TURKEY. 


345 


broken  by  sudden  transition,  he  carries  off  only 
such  scraps  m  his  memory  as  it  is  hardly  possible 
to  weave  into  a  connected  and  consistent  whole. 
Yet  this  method,  as  the  most  simple  and  natural, 
is  the  one  most  affected  by  the  early  writers,— 
by  the  old  Castilian  chroniclers  more  particularly, 
who  form  the  principal  authorities  in  the  pres- 
ent  work.  Their  wearisome  pages,  mindful  of  no 
order  but  that  of  time,  are  spread  over  as  miscel- 
laneous a  range  of  incidents,  and  having  as  little 
relation  to  one  another,  as  the  columns  of  a  news- 
paper. 

To  avoid  this  inconvenience,  historians  of  a 
later  period  have  preferred  to  conduct  their  story 
on  more  philosophical  principles,  having  regard 
rather  to  the  nature  of  the  events  described,  than 
to  the  precise  time  of  their  occurrence.  And  thus 
the  reader,  possessed  of  one  action,  its  causes  and 
its  consequences,  before  passing  on  to  another, 
is  enabled  to  treasure  up  in  his  memory  distinct 
impressions  of  the  whole. 

In  conformity  to  this  plan,  I  have  detained  the 
reader  in  the  Netherlands  until  he  had  seen  the 
close  of  Margaret's  administration,  and  the  policy 
which  marked  the  commencement  of  her  suc- 
cessor's. During  this  period,  Spain  was  at  peace 
with  her  European  neighbors,  most  of  whom  were 
too  much  occupied  with  their  domestic  dissensions 
to  have  leisure  for  foreign  war.  France,  in  par- 
ticular, was  convulsed  by  religious  feuds,  in  which 
Philip,  as  the  champion  of  the  Faith,  took  not  only 


the  deepest  interest,  but  an  active  part.     To  this 
I  shall  return  hereafter. 

But  while  at  peace  with  her  Christian  brethren, 
Spam  was  engaged  in  perpetual  hostilities  with  the 
Moslems,  both  of  Africa  and  Asia.  The  relations 
of  Europe  with  the  East  were  altogether  differ- 
ent in  the  sixteenth  century  from  what  they  are  in 
our  day.  The  Turkish  power  lay  like  a  dark  cloud 
on  the  Eastern  horizon,  to  which  every  eye  was 
turned  with  apprehension;  and  the  same  people 
for  whose  protection  European  nations  are  now 
willing  to  make  common  cause  were  viewed  by 
them,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  in  the  light  of  a 
common  enemy. 

It  was  fortunate  for  Islamism  that,  as  the  stand- 
ard of  the  Prophet  was  falling  from  the  feeble 
grasp  of  the  Arabs,  it  was  caught  up  by  a  nation 
like  the  Turks,  whose  fiery  zeal  urged  them  to 
bear  it  still  onward  in  the  march  of  victory.  The 
Turks  were  to  the  Arabs  what  the  Romans  were 
to  the  Greeks.  Bold,  warlike,  and  ambitious, 
they  had  little  of  that  love  of  art  which  had  been 
the  dominant  passion  of  their  predecessors,  and 
still  less  of  that  refinement  which,  with  the  Arabs, 
had  degenerated  into  eflFeminacy  and  sloth.  Their 
form  of  government  was  admirably  suited  to  their 
character.  It  was  an  unmixed  despotism.  The 
sovereign,  if  not  precisely  invested  with  the  theo- 
crat'v  character  of  the  caliphs,  was  hedged  round 
with  so  much  sanctity,  that  resistance  to  his  au- 
thority was  an  offence  against  religion  as  well  as 


VOL.  II. 


44 


ill 


346 


THE  OTTOMAN  EMPIRE. 


[Book  IV. 


Ch.  I.] 


CONDITION  OF  TURKEY. 


347 


law.  He  was  placed  at  an  immeasurable  distance 
above  his  subjects.  No  hereditary  aristocracy  was 
allowed  to  soften  the  descent,  and  interpose  a 
protecting  barrier  for  the  people.  All  power  wa^ 
derived  from  the  sovereign,  and,  on  the  death  of 
its  proprietor,  returned  to  him.  In  the  eye  of  the 
sultan,  his  vassals  were  all  equal,  and  all  equally 

his  slaves. 

The  theory  of  an   absolute  government  would 
seem  to  imply  perfection  in  the  head  of  it.     But 
as  perfection  is  not  the  lot  of  humanity,  it  was 
prudently  provided  by  the   Turkish   constitution 
that  the    sultan    should    have   the   benefit    of  a 
council   to   advise  him.     It  consisted  of  three  or 
four  great  officers,  appointed  by  himself,  with  the 
grand-vizier  at  their  head.     This  functionary  was 
possessed  of  an  authority  far  exceeding  that  of  the 
prime-minister  of  any  European  prince.      All  the 
business   of  state   may  be    said   to    have   passed 
through  his  hands.     The  persons  chosen  for  this 
high    office  were   usually  men    of  capacity   and 
experience ;   and  in  a  weak  reign  they  served  by 
their  large  authority  to  screen  the  incapacity  of 
the  sovereign  from  the  eyes  of  his  subjects,  while 
they  preserved  the  state  from  detriment.     It  might 
be  thought  that  powers  so  vast  as  those  bestowed 
on  the  vizier  might  have  rendered  him  formidable, 
if  not  dangerous,  to  his  master.     But  his  master 
was  placed  as  far  above  him  as  above  the  meanest 
of  his  subjects.     He  had  unlimited  power  of  life 
and  death ;   and  how  little  he  was  troubled  with 


scruples  in  the  exercise  of  this  power  is  abun- 
dantly shown  in  history.  The  bow-string  was 
too  often  the  ojily  warrant  for  the  deposition  of 
a  minister. 

But  the  most  remarkable  of  the  Turkish  institu- 
tions, the  one  which  may  be  said  to  have  formed 
the  keystone  of  the  system,  was  that  relating  to  the 
Christian  population  of  the  empire.     Once  in  five 
years  a  general  conscription  was  made,  by  means 
of  whicli  all  the  children  of  Christian  parents  who 
had  reached  the  age  of  seven,  and  gave  promise  of 
excellence  in  mind  or  body,  were  taken  from  their 
homes   and   brought   to   the  capital.     They  were 
then  removed  to  dififerent  quarters,  and  placed  in 
seminaries  where  they  might  receive  such  instruc- 
tion as  would  fit  them  for  the  duties  of  life.     Those 
giving  greatest  promise  of  strength  and  endurance 
were   sent   to   places   prepared  for  them  in  Asia 
Minor.     Here    they  were   subjected   to   a   severe 
training,  to  abstinence,  to  privations  of  every  kind, 
and  to  the  strict  discipline  which  should  fit  them 
for  the  profession  of  a  soldier.     From  this  body 
was  formed  the  famous  corps  of  the  janizaries. 

Another  portion  were  placed  in  schools  in  the 
capital,  or  the  neighboring  cities,  where,  under  the 
eye  of  the  sultan,  as  it  were,  they  were  taught 
various  manly  accomplishments,  with  such  a  smat- 
tering of  science  as  Tui'kish,  or  rather  Arabian, 
scholarship  could  supply.  When  their  education 
was  finished,  some  went  into  the  sultan's  body- 
guard, where  a  splendid   provision  was  made  foi 


ii  11 


348 


THE  OTTOMAN  EMPIRE.         •      [Book  IV 


Ch.  L] 


CONDITION  OF  TURKEY. 


349 


their  maintenance.  Others,  intended  for  civil 
life,  entered  on  a  career  which  might  lead  to  the 
highest  offices  in  the  state.  • 

As  all  these  classes  of  Christian  youths  were 
taken  from  their  parents  at  that  tender  age  when 
the  doctrines  of  their  own  faith  could  hardly  have 
taken  root  in  their  minds,  they  were,  without  diffi- 
culty,  won  over  to  the  faith  of  the  Koran ;  which 
was  further  commended  to  their  choice  as  the  re- 
ligion of  the  state,  the  only  one  which  opened  to 
them  the  path  of  preferment.  Thus  set  apart 
from  the  rest  of  the  community,  and  cherished  by 
royal  favor,  the  new  converts,  as  they  rallied 
round  the  throne  of  their  sovereign,  became  more 
stanch  in  their  devotion  to  his  interests,  as  well 
as  to  the  interests  of  the  religion  they  had  adopted, 
than  even  the  Turks  themselves. 

This  singular  institution  bore  hard  on  the  Chris- 
tian population,  who  paid  this  heavy  tax  of  their 
own  offspring.  But  it  worked  well  for  the  mon- 
archy, which,  acquiring  fresh  vigor  from  the  con- 
stant infusion  of  new  blood  into  its  veins,  was 
slow  in   exhibiting   any   signs   of  decrepitude  or 

decay. 

The  most  important  of  these  various  classes 
was  that  of  the  janizaries,  whose  discipline  was 
far  from  terminating  with  the  school.  Indeed, 
their  whole  life  may  be  said  to  have  been  passed 
in  war,  or  in  preparation  for  it.  Forbidden  to 
marry,  they  had  no  families  to  engage  their  af- 
fections, which,  as  with  the  monks  and  friars  in 


Christian  countries,  were  concentrated  on  theii 
own  order,  whose  prosperity  was  inseparably  con- 
nected with  that  of  the  state.  Proud  of  the 
privileges  which  distinguished  them  from  the  rest 
of  the  army,  they  seemed  desirous  to  prove  their 
title  to  them  by  their  thorough  discipline,  and 
by  their  promptness  to  execute  the  most  dan- 
gerous and  difficult  services.  Their  post  was  al- 
ways the  post  of  danger.  It  was  their  proud 
vaunt,  that  they  had  never  fled  before  an  enemy. 
Clad  in  their  flowing  robes,  so  little  suited  to  the 
warrior,  armed  with  the  arquebuse  and  the  scym- 
itar,  —  in  their  hands  more  than  a  match  for  the 
pike  or  sword  of  the  European,  —  with  the  her- 
on's plume  waving  above  their  heads,  their  dense 
array  might  ever  be  seen  bearing  down  in  the 
thickest  of  the  fight ;  and  more  than  once,  when 
the  fate  of  the  empire  trembled  in  the  balance,  it 
was  this  invincible  corps  that  turned  the  scale, 
and  by  their  intrepid  conduct  decided  th6  fortune 
of  the  day.  Gathering  fresh  reputation  with  age, 
so  long  as  their  discipline  remained  unimpaired, 
they  were  a  match  for  the  best  soldiers  of  Europe. 
But  in  time  this  admirable  organization  experi- 
enced a  change.  One  sultan  allowed  them  to 
marry ;  another,  to  bring  their  sons  into  the  corps ; 
a  third  opened  the  ranks  to  Turks  as  well  as 
Christians ;  until,  forfeiting  their  peculiar  charac- 
ter, the  janizaries  became  confounded  with  the 
militia  of  the  empire.  These  changes  occurred  in 
the  time  of  Philip  the  Second ;  but  their  conse- 


350 


THE  OTTOMAN  EMPIRE. 


[Book  IV. 


quences  were  not  fcilly  unfolded  tUl  the  following 
century.^ 

It  was  fortunate  for  the  Turks,  considering  the 
unlimited   power  lodged   in   the   hands    of    their 
rulers,  that  these  should  have  so  often  been  pos- 
sessed of  the  courage   and  capacity  for  using  it 
for  the  advancement  of  the  nation.     From  Othman 
the  First,  the  founder  of  the  dynasty,  to  Solyman 
the  Magnificent,  the  contemporary  of  Philip,  the 
Turkish  throne  was  filled  by  a  succession  of  able 
princes,  who,  bred  to  war,  were  every  year  enlar- 
ging the  boundaries  of  the   empire,  and   adding 
to  its  resources.     By  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century,   besides   their   vast    possessions   in   Asia, 
they  held  the  eastern  portions  of  Africa.     In  Eu- 
rope, together  with  the  countries  at  this  day  ac- 
knowledging their  sceptre,  they  were  masters  of 
Greece;  and  Solyman,   overrunning   Transylvania 
and   Hungary,   had   twice   carried   his    victorious 
banners  up  to  the  walls  of  Vienna.     The  battle- 
ground of  the  Cross  and  the  Crescent  was  trans- 
ferred from  the  west  to  the  east  of  Europe ;  and 
Germany  in  the   sixteenth   century  became   what 
Spain  and  the  Pyrenees  had  been  in  the  eighth, 
the  bulwark  of  Christendom. 


1  For  the  preceding  pages  I  have 
been  indebted,  among  other  sour- 
ces, to  Sagredo,  **  Memorias  Histo- 
rieas  de  los  Monarcas  Othomanos,** 
(trad.  Cast,  Madrid,  1684,)  and  to 
Ranke,  "  Ottoman  and  Spanish 
Empires ; "  to  the  latter  in  partic- 
llar     The  work  of  thb  eminent 


scholar,  resting  as  it  mainly  does  on 
the  contemporary  reports  of  the 
Venetian  ministers,  is  of  the  most 
authentic  character ;  while  he  has 
the  rare  talent  of  selecting  facts  so 
sif^nificant  for  historical  illustration, 
that  they  serve  the  double  purpose 
of  both  facts  and  reflections. 


Ch.  I] 


AFRICAN  CORSAIRS. 


351 


Nor  was  the  power  of  Turkey  on  the  sea  less 
formidable  than  on  the  land.  Her  fleet  rode  un- 
disputed mistress  of  the  Levant  ;  for  Venice, 
warned  by  the  memorable  defeat  at  Prevesa,  in 
1538,  and  by  the  loss  of  Cyprus  and  other  terri- 
tories, hardly  ventured  to  renew  the  contest.  That 
wily  republic  found  that  it  was  safer  to  trust  to 
diplomacy  than  to  arms,  in  her  dealings  with  the 
Ottomans. 

The  Turkish  navy,  sweeping  over  the  Mediter- 
ranean, combined  with  the  corsairs  of  the  Barbary 
coast,  —  who,  to  some  extent,  owed  allegiance  to 
the  Porte,  —  and  made  frequent  descents  on  the 
coasts  of  Italy  and  Spain,  committing  worse  rav- 
ages than  those  of  the  hurricane.  From  these 
ravages  France  only  was  exempt ;  for  her  princes, 
mth  an  unscrupulous  policy  which  caused  general 
scandal  in  Christendom,  by  an  alliance  with  the 
Turks,  protected  her  territories  somewhat  at  the 
expense  of  her  honor. 

The  northern  coast  of  Africa,  at  this  time,  was 
occupied  by  various  races,  who,  however  they  may 
have  differed  in  other  respects,  all  united  in  obe- 
dience to  the  Koran.  Among  them  was  a  large 
infusion  of  Moors  descended  from  the  Arab  tribes 
who  had  once  occupied  the  south  of  Spain,  and 
who,  on  its  reconquest  by  the  Christians,  had  fled 
that  country  rather  than  renounce  the  religion  of 
their  fathers.  Many  even  of  the  Moors  then  liv- 
ing were  among  the  victims  of  this  religious  perse- 
cution ;  and  they  looked  with  longing  eyes  on  the 


■^'  ^-^ 


fit' 


352 


THE  OTTOMAN  EMPIEE. 


[Book  IV 


Ch.  L] 


AFRICAN  CORSAIRS. 


853 


ni^ 


beautiful  land  of  their  inheritance,  and  with  feel- 
ings  of  unquenchable  hatred  on  the  Spaniards 
who  had  deprived  them  of  it. 

The  African  shore  was  studded  with  towns,— 
some  of  them,  like  Algiers,  Tunis,  Tripoli,  having 
a  large  extent  of  territory  adjacent,  — which  owned 
the  sway  of  some  Moslem  chief,  who  ruled  them 
in  sovereign  state,  or,  it  might  be,  acknowledging, 
for  the  sake  of  protection,  a  qualified  allegiance 
to   the  Sultan.     These   rude   chiefs,   profiting  by 
their  maritime  position,  followed  the  dreadful  trade 
of  the  corsair.      Issuing  from  their  strong-holds, 
they  fell  on  the  unprotected  merchantmen,  or,  de- 
scending on  the  opposite  coasts  of  Andalusia  and 
Valencia,  sacked  the  villages,  and  swept  off  the 
wretched  inhabitants  into  slavery. 

The  Castilian  government  did  what  it  could  for 
the  protection  of  its  subjects.  Fortified  posts  were 
established  along  the  shores.  Watch-towers  were 
raised  on  the  heights,  to  give  notice  of  the  ap- 
proach of  an  enemy.  A  fleet  of  galleys,  kept  con- 
stantly on  duty,  rode  off  the  coasts  to  intercept 
the  corsairs.  The  war  was  occasionally  carried 
into  the  enemy's  country.  Expeditions  were  fitted 
out,  to  sweep  the  Barbary  shores,  or  to  batter 
down  the  strong-holds  of  the  pirates.  Other  states, 
whose  territories  bordered  on  the  Mediterranean, 
joined  in  these  expeditions ;  among  them  Tuscany, 
Home,  Naples,  Sicily,  —  the  two  last  the  dependen- 
cies  of  Spam,  —  and  above  all  Genoa,  whose  hardy 
seamen  did   good  service  in  these  maritime  wars. 


To  these  should  be  added  the  Knights  of  St.  John, 
whose  little  island  of  Malta,  with  its  iron  defences, 
boldly  bidding  defiance  to  the  enemy,  was  thrown 
into  the  very  jaws,  as  it  were,  of  the  African  coast. 
Pledged  by  their  vows  to  perpetual  war  with  the 
infidel,  these  bmve  knights,  thus  stationed  on  the 
outposts  of  Christendom,  were  the  first  to  sound 
the  alarm  of  an  invasion,  as  they  were  foremost 
to  repel  it. 

The   Mediterranean,   in   that   day,   presented  a 
very  different    spectacle    from   what    it  shows   a<- 
present,  —  swarming,   as   it   does,  with   the   com- 
merce of  many  a  distant  land,  and  its  shores  glit- 
tering  with  towns   and  villages,  that  echo  to  the 
sounds  of  peaceful  and  protected  industry.     Long 
tracts  of  deserted  territory  might  then  be  seen  on 
its  borders,  with  the  blackened  ruins  of  many  a 
hamlet,  proclaiming  too  plainly  the  recent  presence 
of  the  corsair.     The  condition  of  the  peasantry  of 
the  south  of  Spain,  in  that  day,  was  not  unlike 
that  of  our  New  England  ancestors,  whose  rural 
labors  might,  at  any  time,  be  broken  by  the  war 
whoop  of  the  savage,  as  he  burst  on  the  peaceful  . 
settlement,   sweeping  off  its  wretched  inmates  — 
those  whom  he  did  not  massacre  —  to  captivity  in 
the  wilderness.     The   trader,   instead   of  pushing 
out  to  sea,  crept   timidly  along  the  shore,  under 
the  protecting  wings  of  its  fortresses,  fearful  lest 
the  fierce   enemy  might   dart   on   him  unawares, 
and  bear  him   off  to    the    dungeons    of  Africa. 
Or,  if  he  ventured  out  into  the  open  deep,  it  was 


▼OL.  II. 


45 


354 


THE  OTTOMAN  EMPIRE. 


[Book  IV. 


under  a  convoy  of  well-armed  galleys,  or,  aimed  to 
the  teeth  himself,  prepared  for  war. 

Scarcely  a  day  passed    without    some    conflict 
between   Christian   and   Moslem  on  the  Mediter- 
ranean  waters.     Not   unfrequently,   instead   of  a 
Moor,  the  command  was  intrusted  to  some  Chris- 
tian renegade,  who,  having  renounced  his  country 
and  his  religion  for  the  roving  life   of  a  corsair, 
felt,  like  most  apostates,  a  keener  hatred  than  even 
its  natural  enemies  for  the  land  he  had  abjured.' 
In  these  encounters,  there  were  often  displayed,  on 
both  sides,  such  deeds  of  heroism  as,  had  they  been 
performed   on   a   wider   theatre   of  action,  would 
have    covered    the    actors   with    immortal    glory. 
By  this   perpetual  warfare   a  race  of  hardy  and 
experienced  seamen  was  formed,  in  the  countries 
bordering  on  the  Mediterranean;   and  more  than 
one  name  rose  to  eminence  for  nautical  science  as 
well  as  valor,  with  which   it  would  not  be  easy 
to  find  a  parallel  in  other  quarters  of  Christendom. 
Such   were   the   Dorias  of  Genoa,  —  a  family  to 
whom  the  ocean  seemed  their  native  element ;  and 
whose  brilliant  achievements  on  its  waters,  through 
successive  generations,  shed  an  undying  lustre  on 
th3  arms  of  the  republic. 

The  corsair's  life  was  full  of  maritime  adventure. 


«  Cervantes,  in  his  story  of  the 
Captive's  adventures  in  Don  Quix- 
ote, tells  us  that  it  was  common 
with  a  renegado  to  obtjun  a  certifi- 
cate from  some  of  the  Christian 
captives  of  his  desire  to  return  to 


Spain ;  so  that,  if  he  were  taken  in 
arms  against  his  countrymen,  his 
conduct  would  be  set  down  to  com- 
pulsion, and  he  would  thus  escape 
the  fangs  of  th<j  Inquisition. 


Ch.  I.] 


AFRICAN  COBSAIRS. 


35o 


Many  a  tale  of  tragic  interest  was  told  of  his  ex^ 
ploits,  and  many  a  sad  recital  of  the  sufferings  of 
the  Christian  captive,  tuggmg  at  the  oar,  or  pining 
in  the  dungeons  of  Tripoli  and  Algiers.  Such  tales 
formed  the  burden  of  the  popular  minstrelsy  of  the 
period,  as  well  as  of  more  elegant  literature,— 
the  drama,  and  romantic  fiction.  But  fact  was 
stranger  than  fiction.  It  would  have  been  diflS- 
cult  to  exaggerate  the  number  of  the  Christian 
captives,  or  the  amount  of  their  suffeiings.  On 
the  conquest  of  Tunis  by  Charles  the  Fifth,  in 
1535,  ten  thousand  of  these  unhappy  persons,  as 
we  are  assured,  walked  forth  from  its  dungeons, 
and  knelt,  with  tears  of  gratitude  and  joy,  at  the 
feet  of  their  liberator.  Charitable  associations 
were  formed  in  Spain,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  rais- 
ing  funds  to  ransom  the  Barbary  prisoners.  But 
the  ransom  demanded  was  frequently  exorbitant, 
and  the  efforts  of  these  benevolent  fratemities 
made  but  a  feeble  impression  on  the  whole  num 
ber  of  captives. 

Thus  the  war  between  the  Cross  and  the  Cres- 
cent was  still  carried  on  along  the  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean,  when  the  day  of  the  Crusades  was 
past  in  most  of  the  other  quarters  of  Christen- 
dom. The  existence  of  the  Spaniard  —  as  I  have 
often  had  occasion  to  remark  —  was  one  long 
crusade;  and  in  the  sixteenth  century  he  was 
still  doing  battle  with  the  infidel,  as  stoutly  as 
in  the  heroic  days  of  the  Cid.  The  furious  con- 
tests with  the  petty  pirates  of  Barbary  engendered 


356 


THE  OTTOMAN  EMPIBE. 


[Book  Tf» 


It 


in  his  bosom  feelings  of  even  keener  hostility  than 
that  which  grew  up  in  his  contests  with  the  Arabs, 
where  there  was  no  skulking,  predatory  foe,  but 
army  was  openly  arrayed  against  army,  and  they 
fought  for  the  sovereignty  of  the  Peninsula.     The 
feeling  of  religious  hatred  rekindled  by  the  Moors 
of  Africa  extended  in  some  degree  to  the  Morisco 
population,  who  still  occupied  those  territories  on 
the  southern  borders  of  the  monarchy  which  had 
belonged   to   their  ancestors,  the  Spanish  Arabs. 
This  feeling  was  increased  by  the  suspicion,  not 
altogether  without  foundation,  of  a  secret  corre- 
spondence  between  the  Moriscos  and  their  brethren 
on  the  Barbary  coast.     These  mingled  sentiments 
of  hatred  and  suspicion  sharpened  the  sword  of 
persecution,   and   led   to   most    disastrous    conse- 
quences, which  before   long  will  be  unfolded  to 
the  reader. 

Among   the   African   corsairs   was   one  by  the 
name    of    Dragut,   distinguished   for    his    daring 
spirit,  and   the  pestilent   activity  with  which  he 
pursued  the  commerce  of  the  Spaniards.     In  early 
life  he  had  been  made  prisoner  by  Andrew  Doria ; 
and  the  four  years  during  which  he  was  chained 
to  the  oar  in  the  galleys  of  Genoa  did  not  serve 
to  mitigate  the  feelings  of  hatred  which  he  had 
always  borne  to  the  Christians.     On  the  recovery 
of  his  freedom,  he  resumed  his  desperate  trade  of 
a  corsair  with   renewed   activity.     Having  made 
himself   master   of  Tripoli,  he   issued   out,   with 
his   galleys,   from   that   strong-hold,   fell   on    the 


Ch.  I.] 


EiCPEDITION  AGAINST  TRtPOLL 


357 


defenceless  merchantman,  ravaged  the  coasts,  en 
gaged  boldly  in  fight  with  the  Christian  squad- 
rons, and  made  his  name  as  terrible,  throughout 
the  Mediterranean,  as  that  of  Barbarossa  had  been 
in  the  time  of  Charles  the  Fifth. 

The  people  of  the  southern  provinces,  smarting 
under  their  sufferings,  had  more  than  once  be- 
sought PhUip  to  send  an  expedition  against  Trip- 
oli,  and,  if  possible,  break  up  this  den  of  thieves, 
and  rid  the  Mediterranean  of  the  formidable  cor- 
sair. But  Philip,  who  was  in  the  midst  of  his 
\ictorious  campaigns  against  the  French,  had  nei- 
ther the  leisure  nor  the  resources,  at  that  time,  for 
such  an  enterprise.  In  the  spring  of  1559,  how- 
ever, he  gave  orders  to  the  duke  of  Medina  Celi, 
viceroy  of  Sicily,  to  fit  out  an  armament  for  the 
purpose,  to  obtain  the  cooperation  of  the  Italian 
states,  and  to  take  command  of  the  expedition. 

A  worse  choice  for  the  command  could  not  have 
been  made ;  and  this  not  so  much  from  the  duke's 
inexperience ;  for  an  apprenticeship  to  the  sea  was 
not  deemed  necessary  to  form  a  naval  commander, 
in  an  age  when  men  passed  indifferently  from  the 
land-service  to  the  sea-service.  But,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  personal  courage,  the  duke  of  Medina 
Celi  seems  to  have  possessed  none  of  the  qualities 
requisite  in  a  commander,  whether  by  land  or  sea. 

The  different  Italian  powers  —  Tuscany,  Rome, 
Naples,  Sicily,  Genoa — all  furnished  their  respect- 
ive quotas.  John  Andrew  Doria,  nephew  of  the 
great  Andrew,  and  worthy  of  the  name  he  bore. 


* 


\ 


358 


THE  OTTOMAN  EMPIRE 


[Book  IV. 


had    command    of   the   galleys   of   the   republic. 
To    these  was    added    the   reinforcement   of   the 
grand-master  of  Malta.     The  whole  fleet  amount- 
Id   to   more    than   a   hundred   sail,   fifty-four   of 
which  were  galleys ;  by  much  the  larger  part  be- 
ing  furnished  by  Spain  and  her  Italian  provinces. 
Fourteen  thousand  troops  embarked  on  board  the 
squadron.     So  much  time  was  consumed  in  prep- 
aration,  that  the  armament  was  not  got  ready  for 
sea  till  late  in  October,  1559,  — too  late  for  act- 
ing  with  advantage  on  the  stormy  African  coast. 
This  did  not  deter  the  viceroy,  who,  at  the  head 
of  the  combined  fleet,  sailed  out  of  the  port  of 
Syracuse   in   November.     But   the   elements   con- 
spired  against  this  ill-starred  expedition.     Scarcely 
had  the  squadron  left  the  port,  when  it  was  as- 
saUed  by  a  tempest,  which  scattered  the  vessels, 
disabled  some,  and  did  serious  damage  to  others. 
To  add  to  the  calamity,  an  epidemic  broke  out 
among  the  men,  caused  by  the  bad  quality  of  the 
provisions  furnished  by  the  Genoese  contractors. 
In  his  distress,  the  duke  of  Medina  Cell  put  m  at 
the  island  of  Malta.     He  met  with  a  hospitable 
reception  from  the  grand-master;    for  hospitality 
was  one  of  the  obligations  of  the  order.     Full  two 
months  elapsed  before  the  duke  was  in  a  condition 
to  reembark,  with  his  force   reduced  nearly  one 
third  by  disease  and  death. 

Meanwhile  Dragut,  having  ascertained  the  ob- 
ject  of  the  expedition,  had  made  every  effort  to 
put  Tripoli  in  a  posture  of  defence.     At  the  samo 


:h.  I.] 


EXPEDITION  AGAINST  TRIPOLI. 


359 


time  he  sent  to  Constantinople,  to  solicit  the  aid 
of  Solyman.     The  Spanish  admiral,  in  the  crippled 
condition   of  his  armament,  determined   to   post- 
pone the  attack  on  Tripoli  to  another  time,  and 
to    direct  his  operations  for   the   present  against 
the  island  of  Jerbah,  or,  as  it  was  called  by  the 
Spaniards,  Gelves.      This  place,  situated  scarcely 
a  league  from  the  African  shore,  in  the  neighbor 
hood  of  Tripoli,  had  long  been  known  as  a  nest 
of  pirates,  who  did  great  mischief  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean.    It  was  a  place  of  ill-omen  to  the  Span 
iards,  whose  arms  had  met  there  with  a  memorable 
reverse  in  the  reign  of  Ferdinand  the  Catholic* 
The  duke,  however,  landing  with  his  whole  force, 
experienced  little  resistance  from  the  Moors,  and 
soon  made  himself  master  of  the  place.     It  was 
defended  by  a  fortress  fallen  much  out  of  repair : 
and,  as  the  Spanish  commander  proposed  to  leave 
a  garrison  there,  he  set  about  restoring  the  forti- 
fications,   or   rather   constructing   new   ones.      In 
this  work  the  whole  army  actively  engaged ;  but 
nearly  two  months  were  consumed  before  it  was 
finished.     The   fortress   was   then   mounted    with 
artillery,  and  provided  with  ammunition,  and  what- 
ever was  necessary  for  its  defence.     Finally,  a  gar- 
rison was  introduced  into  it,  and  the  command  in- 
trusted to  a  gallant  officer,  Don  Alonzo  de  Sande. 

Scarcely  had  these  arrangements  been  complet- 
ed, and  the  troops  prepared  to  reembark,  when 

3  See  the  Histor}-  of  the  Reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  vcl.  IIL 
j»art  ii.  chap.  21. 


\dM 


360 


THE  OTTOMAN  EMPIRE. 


[Book  IV 


advices  reached  the   duke   that   a  large  Turkish 
fleet  was  on  its  way  from  Constantinople  to  the 
assistance  of  Dragut.     The  Spanish  admiral  called 
a  council  of  war  on  board  of  his  ship.     Opinions 
were   divided.     Some,   among    whom   was   Doria, 
considering  the  crippled  condition  of  their  squad- 
ron, were  for  making  the  best  of  their  way  back 
to  Sicily.     Others,  regarding  this  as  a  course  un- 
worthy of  Spaniards,  were  for  standing  out  to  sea, 
and  giving  battle  to  the  enemy.     The  duke,  per 
plexed  by  the  opposite  opinions,  did  'not  come  to 
a  decision.     He  was  soon  spared  the  necessity  of 
it  by  the  sight  of  the  Ottoman  fleet,  under  full 
sail,  bearing  rapidly  down  on  him.     It  consisted 
of  eighty-six  galleys,  each  carrying  a  hundred  jan- 
izaries;   and   it  was  commanded  by  the  Turkish 
admiral,  Piali,  a  name  long  dreaded  in  the  Med- 
iterranean. 

At  the  sight  of  this  formidable  armament,  the 
Christians  were  seized  with  a  panic.  They  scarcely 
ofiered  any  resistance  to  the  enemy ;  who,  dashing 
into  the  midst  of  them,  sent  his  broadsides  to  the 
right  and  left,  sinking  some  of  the  ships,  disabling 
others,  while  those  out  of  reach  of  his  guns  shame- 
fully sought  safety  in  flight.  Seventeen  of  the 
combined  squadron  were  sunk ;  four  and  twenty, 
more  or  less  injured,  struck  their  colors;  a  few  suc- 
ceeded in  regaining  the  island,  and  took  shelter 
under  the  guns  of  the  fortress.  Medina  Cell  and 
Doria  were  among  those  who  thus  made  their  way 
to  the  shore ;  and  under  cover  of  the  darkness,  or 


Ch.  I.J 


EXPEDITION  AGAINST  TRIPOLI 


361 


I 


the  following  night,  they  effected  their  escape  in 
a  frigate,  passing,  as  by  a  miracle,  without  notice, 
through  the  enemy's  fleet,  and  thus  securing  their 
retreat  to  Sicily.  Never  was  there  a  victory  more 
humiliating  to  the  vanquished,  or  one  which  re- 
flected less  glory  on  the  victors.* 

Before  embarking,  the  duke  ordered  Sande  to 
defend  the  place  to  the  last  extremity,  promising 
him  speedy  assistance.  The  garrison,  thus  left  to 
carry  on  the  contest  with  the  whole  Turkish  army, 
amounted  to  about  five  thousand  men  ;  its  original 
strength  being  considerably  augmented  by  the  fu 
gitives  from  the  fleet. 

On  the  following  morning,  Piali  landed  with 
his  whole  force,  and  instantly  proceeded  to  open 
trenches  before  the  citadel.  When  he  had  estab- 
lished his  batteries  of  cannon,  he  sent  a  summons 
to  the  garrison  to  surrender.  Sande  returned  for 
answer,  that,  "  if  the  place  were  won,  it  would  not 
be,  like  Piali's  late  victory,  without  bloodshed." 
The  Turkish  commander  waited  no  longer,  but 
opened  a  lively  cannonade  on  the  ramparts,  which 
he  continued  for  some  days,  till  a  practicable 
breach  was  made.  He  then  ordered  a  general  as- 
sault. The  janizaries  rushed  forward  with  their 
usual  impetuosity,  under  a  murderous  discharge  of 
artillery  and  small  arms  from  the  fortress  as  well 
as  from  the  shipping,  which  was  so  situated  as  to 


'I 


*  Ferreras,     Hist     d'Espagne,  18.  —  Cabrera,    Filipe    Scgfondo, 

torn.  IX.  p.   415  et  seq.  —  Her-  lib.  V.  cap.  8. —  Segrad(»,  Monar 

rera,  Ilistoria  General,  lib.  V.  cap.  cas  Othomanos,  p.  234  et  se^ 

VOL.  II.  46 


362 


THE  OTTOMAN  EJ^IPIRE. 


[Book  IV 


I 


support  the  fire  of  the  besieged.     Nothing  daunt- 
ed, the  brave  Moslems   pushed  forward  over  the 
bodies  of  their  fallen  comrades;    and,  scrambling 
across   the  ditch,   the  leading  files   succeeded  in 
throwing   themselves  into  the  breach.     But  here 
they  met  with   a   spirit    as   determined   as   their 
own,  from  the  iron  array  of  warriors,  armed  with 
pike   and   arquebuse,   who,   with   Sande  at   their 
head,  formed  a  wall  as  impenetrable  as  the  ram 
parts  of  the  fortress.     The  contest  was  now  car- 
ried on  man  against  man,  and  in  a  space  too  nar- 
row  to  allow  the  enemy  to  profit  by  his  superior 
numbers.      The    besieged,   meanwhile,   from    the 
battlements,   hurled   down   missiles   of   every   de- 
scription   on   the  heads   of   the   assailants.      The 
struggle  lasted  for  some  hours.     But  Spanish  valor 
triumphed  in  the  end,  and  the  enemy  was  driven 
back  in  disorder  across  the  moat,  while  his  rear 
files  were  sorely  galled,  in  his  retreat,  by  the  in- 
cessant fire  of  the  fortress. 

Incensed  by  the  failure  of  his  attack  and  the 
slaughter  of  his  brave  followers,  Piali  thought  it 
prudent  to  wait  till  he  should  be  reinforced  by  the 
arrival  of  Dragut  with  a  fresh  supply  of  men  and 
of  battering  ordnance.  The  besieged  profited  by 
the  interval  to  repair  their  works,  and  when 
Dragut  appeared  they  were  nearly  as  well  pre- 
pared for  the  contest  as  before. 

On  the  corsaii-'s  arrival,  Piali,  provided  with  a 
heavier  battering  train,  opened  a  more  effective 
fire  on  the  citadel.     The  works  soon   gave  way, 


1 


Ch.  I.] 


DESPERATE  DEFENCE  OF  GELVES. 


.^63 


and  the  Turkish  commander  promptly  returned  to 
the  assault.  It  was  conducted  with  the  same  spir- 
it, was  met  with  the  same  desperate  courage,  and 
ended,  like  the  former,  in  the  total  discomfiture 
of  the  assailants,  who  withdrew,  leaving  the  fosse 
choked  up  with  the  bodies  of  their  slaughtered 
comrades.  Again  and  again  the  attack  was  re- 
newed, by  an  enemy  whose  numbers  allowed  the 
storming  parties  to  relieve  one  another,  while  the 
breaches  made  by  an  unintermitting  cannonade 
gave  incessant  occupation  to  the  besieged  in  re- 
pairing them.  Fortunately,  the  number  of  the 
latter  enabled  them  to  perform  this  difficult 
service;  and  though  many  were  disabled,  and 
there  were  few  who  were  not  wounded,  they  still 
continued  to  stand  to  their  posts,  wdth  the  same 
spirit  as  on  the  first  day  of  the  siege. 

But  the  amount  of  the  garrison,  so  serviceable 
in  this  point  of  \iew,  was  fatal  in  another.  The 
fortress  had  been  provisioned  with  reference  to  a 
much  smaller  force.  The  increased  number  of 
mouths  was  thus  doing  the  work  of  the  enemy. 
Notwithstanding  the  strictest  economy,  there  was 
already  a  scarcity  of  provisions  ;  and,  at  the  end 
of  six  weeks,  the  garrison  was  left  entirely  with- 
out food.  The  water  too  had  failed.  A  soldier 
had  communicated  to  the  Spanish  commander  an 
ingenious  process  for  distilling  fresh  water  from 
salt.^     This    afforded   a   most    important    supply, 

5  *'  Hallo  Don  Alvaro  un  rerae-    parte  ayudd  i  la  neeessidad,  y  fu^, 
die  para  la  falta  del  agua  que  en    que  uno  de  su  campo  le  mo^ird^ 


;!; 

m 

1 

t 

T'  r] 

■  A 


364 


THE  OTTOMAN  EMPIRE. 


[Booit  IV 


thoigh  in  a  very  limited  quantity.  But  the  wood 
which  furnished  the  fuel  necessary  for  the  process 
was  at  length  exhausted,  and  to  hunger  was  added 
the  intolerable  misery  of  thirst. 

Thus  reduced  to  extremity,  the  brave  Sande  was 
not  reduced  to  despair.  Calling  his  men  together, 
he  told  them  that  liberty  was  of  more  value  than 
life.  Anything  was  better  than  to  surrender  to 
such  an  enemy.  And  he  proposed  to  them  to 
sally  from  the  fortress  that  very  night,  and  cut 
their  way,  if  possible,  through  the  Turkish  aimy, 
or  fall  in  the  attempt.  The  Spaniards  heartily  re- 
sponded to  the  call  of  their  heroic  leader.  They 
felt,  like  him,  that  the  doom  of  slavery  was  more 
terrible  than  death. 

That  night,  or  rather  two  hours  before  dawn  on 
the  twenty-ninth  of  June,  Don  Alvaro  sallied  out 
of  the  fortress,  at  the  head  of  all  those  who  were 
capable  of  bearing  aims.  But  they  amounted  to 
scarcely  more  than  a  thousand  men,  so  greatly 
had  the  garrison  been  diminished  by  death,  or 
disabled  by  famine  and  disease.  Under  cover  of 
the  darkness,  they  succeeded  in  passing  through 
the  triple  row  of  intrenchments,  without  alarm- 
ing the  slumbering  enemy.  At  length,  roused 
by  the  cries  of  their  sentinels,  the  Turks  sprang 
to  their  arms,  and,  gathering  in  dark  masses  round 


qae  el  agna  salada  se  podia  desti-  lena,  de  que  tenian  falta."    Hei^ 

lar  por  alambique,  y  aunque  salid  rera,  Historia  General,  torn.  I.  p 

buena,  y  se  bevia,  no  se  bazia  tan-  434. 
ta  que  bastasse,  y  se  gastava  mucha 


:h.  I.] 


DESPERATE  DEFENCE  OF  GELVES. 


365 


the  Christians,  presented  an  impenetrable  bar- 
rier  to  their  advance.  The  contest  now  became 
furious ;  but  it  was  short.  The  heroic  little  band 
were  too  much  enfeebled  by  their  long  fatigues, 
and  by  the  total  want  of  food  for  the  last  two  days, 
to  make  head  against  the  overwhelming  number  ot 
their  assailants.  Many  fell  under  the  Turkish 
scymitars,  and  the  rest,  after  a  fierce  struggle,  were 
forced  back  on  the  path  by  which  they  had  come, 
and  took  refuge  in  the  fort.  Their  dauntless  lead- 
er, refusing  to  yield,  succeeded  in  cutting  his  way 
through  the  enemy,  and  threw  himself  into  one 
of  the  vessels  in  the  port.  Here  he  was  speedily 
followed  by  such  a  throng  as  threatened  to  sink 
the  bark,  and  made  resistance  hopeless.  Yielding 
up  his  sword,  therefore,  he  was  taken  prisoner,  and 
led  off  in  triumph  to  the  tent  of  the  Turkish 
commander. 

On  the  same  day  the  remainder  of  the  garrison, 
unable  to  endure  another  assault,  surrendered  at 
discretion.  Piali  had  now  accomplished  the  ob- 
ject of  the  expedition;  and,  having  reestablished 
the  Moorish  authorities  in  possession  of  the  place, 
he  embarked,  with  his  whole  army,  for  Constanti- 
nople. The  tidings  of  his  victory  had  preceded 
him ;  and,  as  he  proudly  sailed  up  the  Bosphorus, 
he  was  greeted  with  thunders  of  artillery  from  the 
seraglio  and  the  heights  surrounding  the  capital. 
First  came  the  Turkish  galleys,  in  beautiful  order, 
with  the  banners  taken  from  the  Christians  igno- 
miniously  trailing  behind  them  through  the  water. 


366 


THE  OTTOMAN  EMPIRE. 


[Book  IV 


I 


Then  followed  their  pri2es,  — the  seventeen  ves- 
sels  taken  in  the  action,  —  the  battered  condition  of 
which  formed  a  striking  contrast  to  that  of  their 
conquerors.     But  the  prize  greater  than  all  was 
the  prisoners,  amounting  to  nearly  four  thousand, 
who,   manacled    like   so   many   malefactors,   were 
peedily  landed,  and  driven  through  the  streets, 
amidst  the  shouts  and  hootings  of  the  populace, 
to  the  slave-market  of  Constantinople.    A  few  only, 
of  the   higher   order,   were   reserved  for   ransom. 
Among  them  were  Don  Alvaro  de  Sande  and  a 
son  of  Medina  Celi.     The   young  nobleman   did 
not  long  survive  his  captivity.     Don  Alvaro  recov- 
ered his  freedom,  and  lived  to  take  ample  ven- 
geance for  all  he  had  suffered  on  his  conquerors. 
Such  was  the  end  of  the  disastrous  expedition 
against  Tripoli,  which  left  a  stain  on  the  Spanish 
arms  that  even  the    brave  conduct  of  the  garri 
son  at  Gelves  could  not  wholly  wipe  away.     The 
Moors  were  greatly  elated  by  the  discomfiture  of 
their  enemies ;  and  the  Spaniards  were  filled  with 
a  proportionate  degree   of  despondency,   as   they 
reflected   to   what   extent   their   coasts   and  their 
commerce  would  be  exposed  to  the  predatory  m- 
cursions   of  the   corsairs.     Philip   was    especially 
anxious  in  regard  to  the  safety  of  his  possessions 


•  For  the  account  of  tlie  heroic 
defence  of  Gelves,  see  —  and  rec- 
oncile, if  the  reader  can — Herrera, 
ubi  supra;  Ferreras,  Hist  d'Es- 
pagne,tom.lX.  pp. 416-421  \  Leti, 
Filippo  n.,  torn.  I.  pp.  849-352 ; 


Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  Y 
cap.  11,  12  ;  Campana,  Vita  di  Fi- 
lippo II.,  par.  II.  lib.  12;  Se- 
trrado,  Monarcas  Othomanos,  p. 
237  et  seq.  —  Sepulveda,  De  Re- 
bus Gestb  Philippi  11.,  pp.  63-87 


Ch.  I.J 


WAR  ON  THE  BARBARY  COAST. 


367 


on  the  African  coast.  The  two  principal  of  these 
were  Oran  and  Mazarquivir,  situated  not  far  to 
the  west  of  Algiers.  They  were  the  conquests  of 
Cardinal  Ximenes.  The  foimer  place  was  won  by 
an  expedition  fitted  out  at  his  own  expense.  The 
enterprises  of  this  remarkable  man  were  conduct- 
ed on  a  gigantic  scale,  which  might  seem  better 
suited  to  the  revenues  of  princes.  Of  the  two 
places  Oran  was  the  more  considerable ;  yet  hardly 
more  important  than  Mazarquivir,  which  pos- 
sessed an  excellent  harbor,  —  a  thing  of  rare  oc- 
currence on  the  Barbary  shore.  Both  had  been 
cherished  with  care  by  the  Castilian  government, 
and  by  no  monarch  more  than  by  Philip  the  Sec- 
ond, who  perfectly  understood  the  importance  of 
these  possessions,  both  for  the  advantages  of  a 
commodious  harbor,  and  for  the  means  they  gave 
him  of  bridling  the  audacity  of  the  African  cruis- 
ers.^ 

In  1562,  the  king  ordered  a  squadron  of  four 
and  twenty  galleys,  under  the  command  of  Don 
Juan  de  Mendoza,  to  be  got  ready  in  the  port  of 
Malaga,  to  carry  supplies  to  the  African  colonies. 
But  in  crossing  the  Mediterranean,  the  ships  were 
assailed  by  a  furious  tempest,  which  compelled 
them  to  take  refuge  in  the  little  port  of  Herradura. 
The  fury  of  the  stoim,  however,  continued  to 
increase;  and  the  vessels,  while  riding  at  anchor, 

7  <(  Qiicsta  sola  utilitk  ne  cava  gran  sorama  di  denari  delle  sue 
il  Re  di  quei  luoghi  per  conserva-  entrate.**  Relatione  de  Sonano, 
tionc  de  quail  speude  ogni  anno     1560,  MS. 


368 


THE  OTTOMAN  EMPIRE. 


[Book  IV. 


Ch.  L] 


WAR  ON  THE  BARBAE  r  COAST. 


369 


dashed   against   one   another  with  such  violence, 
that  many  of  them  foundered,  and  others,  parting 
their  cables,  drifted  on  shore,  which  was  covered 
far  and  wide  with  the  dismal  wrecks.     Two  or 
three  only,  standing  out  to  sea,  and  braving  the 
hurricane  on   the   deep,  were  so  fortunate  as  to 
escape.     By  this  frightful  shipwreck,  four   thou- 
sand men,  including  their  commander,  were  swal- 
lowed up  by  the  waves.     The  southern  provinces 
were  filled  with  consternation  at  this  new  calamity, 
coming  so  soon   after  the   defeat  at  Gelves.      It 
seemed  as  if  the  hand  of  Providence  was   lifted 
against  them  in  their  wars  with  the  Mussulmans.* 
The  Barbary  Moors,  encoui-aged  by  the  losses 
of  the  Spanish  navy,  thought  this  a  favorable  time 
for  recovering   their    ancient   possessions   on   the 
coast.     Hassem,  the  dey  of  Algiers,  in  particular, 
a  warlike  prince,  who  had  been  engaged  in  more 
than  one  successful  encounter  with  the  Christians, 
set  on  foot  an  expedition  against  the  territories  of 
Oran  and  Mazarquivir.     The  government  of  these 
places  was  intrusted,  at  that  time,  to  Don  Alonzo 
de  C6rdova,  count  of  Alcaudete.     In  this  post  he 
had  succeeded  his  father,  a  gallant  soldier,  who, 
five  years  before,  had  been  slain  in  battle  by  this 
very  Hassem,  the  lord  of  Algiers.     Eight  thousand 
Spaniards  had  fallen  with  him  on  the  field,  or  had 
been  made  prisoners  of  war.^     Such  were  the  sad 

«  Ferreras,  Hist.  d'Espagne,  torn.  »  The  details  of  the  battle  were 
nC  p.  426.—  Sepulveda,  De  Re-  given,  in  a  letter  dated  September 
»U8  Gestis  Philippi  II.,  p.  90.  5,  1558,  by  Don  Alonzo  to  the 


auspices  under  which  the  reign  of  Philip  the  Sec- 
ond  began,  in  his  wars  with  the  Moslems.^^ 

Oran,  at  this  time,  was  garrisoned  by  seventeen 
hundred  men ;  and  twenty-seven  pieces  of  artillerj- 
were  mounted  on  its  walls.  Its  fortifications  were 
in  good  repair ;  but  it  was  in  no  condition  to  stand 
a  siege  by  so  formidable  a  force  as  that  which 
Hassem  was  mustering  in  Algiers.  The  count  of 
Alcaudete,  the  governor,  a  soldier  worthy  of  the 
illustrious  stock  from  which  het  sprang,  lost  no 
time  in  placing  both  Oran  and  Mazarquivir  in 
the  best  state  of  defence  which  his  means  allowed, 
and  in  acquainting  Philip  with  the  peril  in  which 
he  stood. 

Meanwhile,  the  Algerine  chief  was  going  brisk- 
ly forward  with  his  preparations.  Besides  his  own 
vassals,  he  summoned  to  his  aid  the  petty  princes 


king.  His  father  fell,  it  seems,  in 
an  attempt  to  rescue  his  younger 
son  from  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 
Though  the  father  died,  the  son 
was  saved.  It  was  the  same  Don 
Martin  de  Cordova  who  so  stoutly 
defended  Mazarquivir  against  Has- 
sem afterwards,  as  mentioned  in 
the  text.  Carta  de  Don  Alonso 
de  Cdrdova  al  Rey,  de  Toledo,  MS. 

*®  The  tidings  of  this  sad  dis- 
aster, according  to  Cabrera,  has- 
tened the  death  of  Charles  the 
Fifth,  (FUipe  Segundo,  lib.  IV. 
cap.  13.)  But  a  letter  from  the 
imperial  secretary,  Graztclu,  informs 
us  that  care  was  taken  that  the 
tidings  should  not  reach  the  ear  of 

VOL.  II.  47 


his  dying  master.  "  La  muerte  del 
conde  de  Alcaudete  y  su  desbarato 
se  entendid  aqui  por  carta  de  Dn 
Alonso  su  hijo  que  despachd  un 
eorreo  desde  Toledo  con  la  nueva 
y  por  ser  tan  ruyn  y  estar  S. 
Magd.  en  tal  disposicion  no  se  le 
dixo,  y  se  tendra  cuydado  de  que 
tampoco  la  sepa  hasta  que  plazca  & 
Dios  est^  libre ;  porque  no  s4  yo  si 
hay  ninguno  en  cuyo  tiempo  haya 
sucedido  tan  gran  desgracia  como 
esta,**  Carta  de  Martin  de  Gaz- 
telu  al  Secretario  Molina,  de 
Yuste,  Set.  12,  1558,  MS.  — The 
original  of  this  letter,  like  that  of 
the  preceding,  is  in  the  ArchiTM 
of  Simancas. 


f 


370 


THE  OTTOMAN  EMPIRE. 


[Book  IV. 


of  the  ntighboring  countrj^ ;  and  in  a  short  time 
he  had  assembled  a  host  in  which  Moors,  Arabs, 
and  Turks  were  promiscuously  mingled,  and  which, 
m  the  various  estimates  of  the  Spaniards,  rose 
from  fifty  to  a  hundred  thousand  men. 

Little  reliance  can  be  placed  on  the  numerical 
estimates  of  the  Spaniards  in  their  wars  with  the 
mfidel.     The   gross  exaggeration  of  the  numbers 
brought  by  the  enemy  into  the  field,  and  the  num- 
bers  "he  was  sure  to  leave  there,  with  the  corre- 
sponding diminution  of  their  own  in  both  particu 
lars,  would  seem  to  infer  that,  in  these  religious 
wars,  they  thought  some  miracle  was  necessary  to 
show   that   Heaven   was   on   their   side,   and   the 
greater  the  miracle  the  greater  the  glory.     This' 
hyperbolical  tone,  characteristic  of  the  old  Span- 
iards,  and  said  to  have  been  imported  from  the 
East,  is  particularly  visible  in  the  accounts  of  their 
struggles   with   the   Spanish   Arabs,   where   large 
masses  were  brought  into  the  field  on  both  sides, 
and  where  the  reports  of  a  battle  took  indeed  the 
coloring  of  an  Arabian  tale.     The  same  taint  of 
exaggeration,  though  somewhat  mitigated,  contin- 
ued to  a  much  later  period,  and  may  be  observed 
in  the  reports  of  the  contests  with  the  Moslems, 
whether  Turks  or  Moors,  in  the  sixteenth  centurj\ 
On  the  fifteenth  of  March,  1563,  Hassem  left 
Algiers,  at  the  head  of  his  somewhat  miscellaneous 
array,  sending  his  battering  train  of  artillery  round 
by  water,  to  meet  him  at  the  port  of  Mazarquivir. 
He  proposed  to  begin  by  the  siege  of  this  place, 


H.   I.l 


WAR  ON  THE  BARBARY  COAST. 


371 


which,  while  it  would  afford  a  convenient  harbor 
for  his  navy,  would,  by  its  commanding  position, 
facilitate  the  conquest  of  Oran.  Leaving  a  strong 
body  of  men,  therefore,  for  the  investment  of  the 
latter,  he  continued  his  march  on  Mazarquivir,  sit- 
uated at  only  two  leagues'  distance.  The  defence 
of  this  place  was  intrusted  by  Alcaudete  to  his 
brother,  Don  Martin  de  Cordova.  Its  fortifica- 
tions were  in  good  condition,  and  garnished  with 
near  thirty  pieces  of  artillery.  It  was  garrisoned 
by  five  hundred  men,  was  well  provided  with  am- 
munition, and  was  victualled  for  a  two  months' 
siege.  It  was  also  protected  by  a  detached  fort, 
called  St.  Michael,  built  by  the  coimt  of  Alcau- 
dete, and,  from  its  commanding  position,  now  des- 
tined to  be  the  first  object  of  attack.  The  fort 
was  occupied  by  a  few  hundred  Spaniards,  who, 
as  it  was  of  great  moment  to  gain  time  for  the 
arrival  of  succors  from  Spain,  were  ordered  to 
maintain  it  to  the  last  extremity. 

Hassem  was  not  long  in  opening  trenches. 
Impatient,  however,  of  the  delay  of  his  fleet, 
which  was  detained  by  the  weather,  he  deter- 
mined not  to  wait  for  the  artillery,  but  to  attempt 
to  carry  the  fort  by  escalade.  In  this  attempt, 
though  conducted  with  spirit,  he  met  with  so 
decided  a  repulse,  that  he  abandoned  the  project 
of  further  operations  till  the  arrival  of  his  ships. 
No  sooner  did  this  take  place,  than,  landing  his 
heavy  guns,  he  got  them  into  position  as  speedily 
as  poji^'ible,  and  opened  a  lively  cannonade  on  the 


372 


THE  OTTOMAN  EMPIRE. 


[Book  IV 


waUs  of  the  fortress.  The  walls  were  of  no  great 
strength.  A  breach  was  speedily  made ;  and  Has- 
sem  gave  orders  for  the  assault. 

No   sooner  was   the   signal  given,  than  Moor, 
Turk,  Arab,  — the  various  races  in  whose  veins 
glowed  the  hot  blood  of  the  south,  —  sprang  im- 
petuously forward.     In  vain  the  leading  files,  as 
they  came  on,  were  swept  away  by  the  artillery 
of  the  fortress,  while  the  guns  of  Mazarquivir 
did  equal  execution    on    their  flank.     The    tide 
rushed   on,   with   an  enthusiasm   that   overleaped 
every   obstacle.     Each    man    seemed    emulous    of 
his  comrade,  as  if  desirous  to  show  the  superiority 
of  his  own  tribe  or  race.     The  ditch,  choked  up 
with  the  debris  of  the  rampart   and  the  fascines 
that  had  been  thro^vn  into  it,  was  speedily  crossed; 
and  while  some  sprang  fearlessly  into  the  breach, 
others  endeavored  to  scale  the  walls.     But  every- 
Where  they  were  met  by  men  as  fresh  for  action 
as  themselves,  and  possessed  of  a  spirit  as  intrepid. 
The  battle  raged  along  the  parapet,  and  m  the 
breach,  where  the  struggle  was  deadliest.     It  was 
the  old  battle,  so  often  fought,  of  the  Crescent  and 
the  Cross,  the  fiery  African  and  the  cool,  mdom- 
itable  European.     Arquebuse  and  pike,  sabre  and 
scymitar,    clashed  fearfully   against    each    other; 
while  high   above  the  din  rose  the  war-cries  of 
"Allah!"   and   "St.   Jago!"   showing  the  creeds 
and  countries  of  the  combatants. 

At  one  time  it  seemed  as  if  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  Moslems  would  prevail ;  and  twice  the  stand- 


Ch.  I.] 


WAR  ON  THE  BARBARY  COAST. 


373 


ftrd  of  the  Crescent  was  planted  on  the  walls. 
But  it  was  speedily  torn  down  by  the  garrison, 
and  the  bold  adventurers  who  had  planted  it 
thrown  headlong  into  the  moat. 

Meanwhile  an  incessant   fire   of  musketry  was 
kept   up  from  the  ramparts;    and  hand-grenades, 
mingled    with    barrels    of   burning    pitch,    were 
hurled    down    on    the    heads    of    the    assailants, 
whose    confusion    was    increased,    as    their    sight 
was  blinded  by  the  clouds   of  smoke  which  rose 
from  the  fascines  that  had  taken  fire  in  the  ditch. 
But  although  their  efforts  began  to  slacken,  they 
were  soon  encouraged  by  fresh   detachments  sent 
to  their  support  by  Hassem,  and  the  fight  was  re- 
newed with  redoubled  fury.     These   efforts,  how- 
ever, proved  equally  ineffectual.     The  Moors  were 
driven  back  on  all  points ;  and,  giving  way  before 
the    invincible    courage    of   the    Spaniards,    they 
withdrew  in  such  disorder  across  the  fosse,  now 
bridged  over  with   the  bodies  of  the  slain,  that, 
if  the  garrison  had  been  strong  enough  in   num- 
bers,  they  might   have   followed   the   foe   to   his 
trenches,  and  inflicted   such   a   blow  as  would  at 
once  have  terminated  the  siege.     As  it  was,  the 
loss  of  the  enemy  was  fearful ;  while  that  of  the 
Spaniards,   screened   by  their  defences,  was   com- 
paratively   light.     Yet    a    hundred    lives    of    the 
former,    so    ovenv^helming    were    thek    numbers, 
were  of  less  account  than  a  single  life  among  the 
latter.     The  heads  of  fifty  Turks,  who  had  fallen 
in   the   breach   or  in  the  ditch,  were  cut   ofl^   as 


] 


374 


THE  OTTOMAN  EMPIBE. 


[Book  IV. 


Ch.  LJ 


WAR  ON  THE  BARBARY  COAST. 


375 


we  are  told,  by  the  garrison,  and  sent,  as  the 
grisly  trophies  of  their  victory,  to  Oran ; "  show- 
ing the  feelings  of  bitter  hatred  —  perhaps  of 
fear  —  with  which  this  people  was  regarded  by  the 
Christians. 

The   Moorish   chief,    chafing    under    this    loss, 
iTopened  his   fire    on    the    fortress   with    greater 
fury  than  ever.     He  then  renewed  the  assault,  but 
with  no  better  success.     A  third  and  a  fourth  time 
he  returned  to  the  attack,  but  in  vain.     In  vain 
too  Hassem  madly  tore  off  his  turban,  and,  bran- 
dishing his  scymitar,  with  imprecations  on  his  men, 
drove  them  forward  to  the  fight.     There  was  no 
lack  of  spirit  in  his  followers,  who   poured   out 
their  blood  like  water.     But  it  could  not  shake 
the   constancy   of  the    Spaniards,   which    seemed 
even  to  grow  stronger   as   their   situation   became 
more  desperate ;  and  as  their  defences  were  swept 
away,  they  threw  themselves  on  their  knees,  and 
from  behind   the   ruins   still  poured   down   their 
volleys  of  musketry  on  the  assailants.  ■ 

Yet  they  could  not  have  maintained  their 
cyround  so  long,  but  for  a  seasonable  reinforce- 
ment received  from  Mazarquivir.  But,  however 
high  the  spirit,  there  is  a  limit  to  the  powers  of 
endurance ;  and  the  strength  of  the  garrison  was 
rapidly  giving  way  under  incessant  vigils  and  want 
of  food.  Their  fortifications,  moreover,  pierced 
through  and  through  by  the  enemy's  shot,  were  no 

11  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  VI.  cap.  10 


longer  tenable;  and  a  mine,  which  Hassem  was 
now  prepared  to  run  under  the  ramparts,  would 
complete  the  work  of  destruction.  They  had 
obeyed  their  orders,  and  stood  to  their  defence 
gallantly  to  the  last;  and  they  now  obtained 
leave  to  abandon  the  fort.  On  the  seventh  of 
May,  after  having  sustained  eight  assaults  and  a 
siege  of  three  weeks,  from  a  host  so  superior  to 
them  in  numbers,  the  garrison  marched  out  of 
the  fortress  of  St.  Michael.  Under  cover  of  the 
guns  of  Mazarquivir,  they  succeeded  in  rejoining 
their  comrades  there  with  but  little  loss,  and  were 
gladly  welcomed  by  their  commander,  Don  Martin 
de  Cordova,  who  rendered  them  the  honor  due  to 
their  heroic  conduct.  That  same  day  Hassem  took 
possession  of  the  fortress.  He  found  only  a  heap 
of  ruins.^ 

The  Moorish  prince,  stung  with  mortification 
at  the  price  he  had  paid  for  his  victory,  and 
anxious,  moreover,  to  anticipate  the  arrival  of 
succors  from  Spain,  now  eagerly  pressed  forward 
the  siege  of  Mazarquivir.  With  the  assistance 
of  his  squadron,  the  place  was  closely  invested  by 
sea  and  land.  Batteries  of  heavy  gims  were 
raised   on   opposite  sides   of  the  castle;    and  for 


il 


12  For  this  siege,  the  particulars 
of  which  are  given  in  a  manner 
sufficiently  confused  by  most  of  the 
writera,  see  Ferreras,  Hist  d'Es- 
pagne,  torn.  IX.  p.  431  etseq.;  Ca- 
brera, Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  VI.  cap. 
1 0 ;   Sepulveda,  De  Rebus  Gestis 


Philippi  II.,  p.  94  ;  Salazar  de 
Mendoza,  Monarquia  de  Espana, 
(Madrid,  1770,)  tom.  II.  p.  127; 
Miniana,  Historia  de  Espana,  pp. 
341,  342  ;  Caro  de  Torres,  liisto- 
ria  de  las  Ordenes  Militares,  fol 
154. 


\ 


376 


THE  OTTOMAN  EMPIRE. 


[Book  IV 


tH.  I.J 


WAR  ON  THE  BAKBARY  COAST. 


377 


m 


ten  days  they  thundered,  without  interruption,  on 
its  devoted  walls.  When  these  had  been  so  far 
shaken  as  to  afford  an  opening  to  the  besiegers, 
Hassem,  willing  to  spare  the  further  sacrifice  of 
his  men,  sent  a  summons  to  Don  Martin  to  sur- 
render, intimating,  at  the  same  time,  that  the 
works  were  in  too  ruinous  a  condition  to  be 
defended.  To  this  the  Spaniard  coolly  replied, 
that,  "  if  they  were  in  such  a  condition,  Hassem 
might  come  and  take  them." 

On  the  signal  from  their  chief,  the  Moors  moved 
rapidly  forward  to  the  attack,  and  were  soon 
brought  face  to  face  with  their  enemy.  A  bloody 
conflict  followed,  in  the  breach  and  on  the  ram- 
parts. It  continued  more  than  five  hours.  The 
assailants  found  they  had  men  of  the  same  met- 
tle to  deal  with  as  before,  and  with  defences  yet 
stronger  than  those  they  had  encountered  in  the 
fortress  of  St.  Michael.  Here  again  the  ardor  of 
the  African  proved  no  match  for  the  cool  and 
steady  courage  of  the  European;  and  Hassem's 
forces,  repulsed  on  every  quarter,  withdrew  in  so 
mangled  a  condition  to  their  trenches,  that  he 
was  in  no  state  for  several  days  to  renew  the 
assault.^^ 

It  would  be  tedious  to  rehearse  the  operations 
of  a  siege  so  closely  resembling  in  its  details  that 
of  the  fortress  of  St.  Michael.     The  most  conspic- 

13  According  to  Cabrera,  (Filipe  sion,  and  only  ten  Christians;  a 
Sogundo,  lib.  VI.  cap.  12,)  two  fair  proportion  for  a  Christian  his- 
thousand  infidels  fell  on  thb  occa-    torian  to  allow.    Ex  uno^  etc. 


uous  figure  in  the  bloody  drama  was  the  com- 
mander of  the  garrison,  Don  Martin  de  Cor- 
dova. Freely  exposing  himself  to  hardship  and 
danger  with  the  meanest  of  his  followers,  he 
succeeded  in  infusing  his  own  unconquerable  spirit 
into  their  bosoms.  On  the  eve  of  an  assault  he 
might  be  seen  passing  through  the  ranks  with  a 
crucifix  in  his  hand,  exhortmg  his  men,  by  the 
blessed  sign  of  their  redemption,  to  do  their  duty, 
and  assuring  them  of  the  protection  of  Heaven.^* 
Every  soldier,  kindling  with  the  enthusiasm  of 
his  leader,  looked  on  himself  as  a  soldier  of  the 
Cross,  and  felt  assured  that  the  shield  of  the  Al- 
mighty must  be  stretched  over  those  who  were 
thus  fighting  the  battles  of  the  Faith.  The  women 
caught  somewhat  of  the  same  generous  ardor,  and, 
instead  of  confining  themselves  to  the  feminine  oc- 
cupations of  nursing  the  sick  and  the  wounded, 
took  an  active  part  in  the  duties  of  the  soldiers, 
and  helped  to  lighten  their  labors. 

Still  the  condition  of  the  garrison  became  daily 
more  precarious,  as  their  strength  diminished,  and 
their  defences  crumbled  around  them  under  the 
incessant  fire  of  the  besiegers.  The  count  of 
Alcaudete  in  vain  endeavored  to  come  to  their 
relief,  or  at  least  to  effect  a  diversion  in  their 
favor.  Sallying  out  of  Oran,  he  had  more  than 
one  sharp  encounter  with  the  enemy.  But  the 
odds  against  him   were   too   great ;    and   though 

i*  Ferreras,  Hist  d'Espagne,  torn.  IX  p.  455. 

VOL.  II.  48 


378 


THE  OTTOMAN  EMPIRE. 


[Book  IV. 


Cu.  L] 


WAR  ON  THE  BARBARY  COAST. 


379 


he  spread  carnage  among  the  Moslem  ranks,  he 
could  ill  afford  the  sacrifice  of  life  that  it  cost  him. 
In  the  mean  time,  the  two  garrisons  were  assailed 
by  an  enemy  from  within,  more  inexorable  than 
the  enemy  at  their  gates.     Famine  had  begun  to 
show  itself  in  some  of  its  hideous  forms.     They 
were  already  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  devouring 
the  flesh  of  their  horses  and  asses ;  ^^  and  even  that 
was  doled  out  so  scantily,  as  too  plainly  intimated 
that  this  sustenance,  wretched  as  it  was,  was  soon 
to   fail   them.     Under  these   circumstances,   their 
spirits  would  have  sunk,  had  they  not  been  sus- 
tained  by  the  expectation  of  succor  from  Spain; 
and  they  cast  many  a  wistful  glance  on  the  Med- 
iterranean,    straining    their    eyes    to   the   farthest 
verge   of  the  horizon,  to   see   if  they  could  not 
descry  some  friendly  sail  upon  the  waters. 

But  Philip  was  not  unmindful  of  them.  In- 
dependently of  the  importance  of  the  posts,  he 
felt  his  honor  to  be  deeply  concerned  in  the  pro- 
tection of  the  brave  men,  who  were  battling  there, 
for  the  cause  not  merely  of  Castile,  but  of  Christen- 
dom. No  sooner  had  he  been  advised  by  Alcau- 
dete  of  the  peril  in  which  he  stood,  than  he  gave 
orders  that  a  fleet  should  be  equipped  to  go  to  his 
relief  But  such  orders,  in  the  disabled  condition 
of  the  navy,  were  more  easily  given  than  executed. 
Still,  efforts  were  made  to  assemble  an  aimament, 
and  get  it  ready  in  the  shortest  possible  time 

1»  Campana,  Vita  di  Filippo  U.,  torn.  U.  p.  188. 


Even  the  vessels  employed  to  convoy  the  India 
galleons  were  pressed  into  the  service.  The  young 
cavaliers  of  the  southern  provinces  eagerly  em- 
barked as  volunteers  in  an  expedition  which  af- 
forded them  an  opportunity  for  avenging  the 
insults  offered  to  the  Spanish  arms.  The  other 
states  bordering  on  the  Mediterranean,  which  had, 
in  fact,  almost  as  deep  an  interest  in  the  cause 
as  Spain  herself,  promptly  furnished  their  con- 
tingents. To  these  were  to  be  added,  as  usual, 
the  galleys  of  the  Knights  of  Malta,  always  fore- 
most to  unfurl  the  banner  in  a  war  with  the 
infidel.  In  less  than  two  months  an  armament 
consisting  of  forty-two  large  galleys,  besides  small- 
er vessels,  well  manned  and  abundantly  supplied 
with  provisions  and  military  stores,  was  assembled 
in  the  port  of  Malaga.  It  was  placed  under  the 
command  of  Don  Antonio  de  Mendoza;  who,  on 
the  sixth  of  June,  weighed  anchor,  and  steered 
directly  for  the  Barbary  coast. 

On  the  morning  of  the  eighth,  at  early  dawn, 
the  sentinels  on  the  ramparts  of  Mazarquivir  de- 
scried the  fleet  like  a  dark  speck  on  the  distant 
waters.  As  it  drew  nearer,  and  the  rising  sun, 
glancing  on  the  flag  of  Castile,  showed  that  the 
long-promised  succor  was  at  hand,  the  exhausted 
garrison,  almost  on  the  brink  of  despair,  gave  them- 
selves up  to  a  delirium  of  joy.  They  embraced  one 
another,  like  men  rescued  from  a  terrible  fate, 
and,  with  swelling  hearts,  offered  up  thanksgivings 
to  the  Almighty  for  their  deliverance.     Soon  the 


380 


THE  OTTOMAN  E3kIPIRE. 


[Book  IV. 


Cm,  I.] 


WAR  ON  THE  BARBARY  COAST. 


381 


IB 


cannon  of  Mazarquivir  proclaimed  the  glad  tidings 
to  the  garrison  of  Oran,  who  replied,  from  their 
battlements,  in  thunders  which  carried  dismay 
into  the  hearts  of  the  besiegers.  If  Hassem  had 
any  doubt  of  the  cause  of  these  rejoicings,  it  was 
soon  dispelled  by  several  Moorish  vessels,  which, 
scudding  before  the  enemy,  like  the  smaller  birds 
before  the  eagle,  brought  report  that  a  Spanish 
fleet  under  full  sail  was  standing  for  Mazarquivir. 

No  time  was  to  be  lost.  He  commanded  his 
ships  lying  in  the  harbor  to  slip  their  cables  and 
make  the  best  of  their  way  to  Algiers.  Orders  were 
given  at  once  to  raise  the  siege.  Everything  was 
abandoned.  Whatever  could  be  of  service  to  the 
enemy  was  destroyed.  Hassem  caused  his  guns  to 
be  overcharged,  and  blew  them  to  pieces.^^  He  dis- 
encumbered himself  of  whatever  might  retard  his 
movements,  and,  without  further  delay,  began  his 

retreat. 

No  sooner  did  Alcaudete  descry  the  army  of  the 
besiegers  on  its  march  across  the  hills,  than  he 
sallied  out,  at  the  head  of  his  cavalry,  to  annoy 
them  on  their  retreat.  He  was  soon  joined  by  his 
brother  from  Mazarquivir,  with  such  of  the  gar- 
rison as  were  in  condition  for  service.  But  the 
enemy  had  greatly  the  start  of  them.  When  the 
Spaniards  came  up  with  his  rear-guard,  they 
found  it  entirely  composed  of  janizaries ;  and  this 
valiant    corps,  maintaining    its    usual    discipline, 

M  Fenreras,  Hist  d'Espagne,  torn.  IX.  p.  461. 


faced  about  and  opposed  so  determined  a  front 
to  the  assailants,  that  Alcaudete,  not  caring  to 
risk  the  advantages  he  had  already  gained,  drew 
off  his  men,  and  left  a  free  passage  to  the  enemy. 
The  soldiers  of  the  two  garrisons  now  mingled 
together,  and  congratulated  one  another  on  theii 
happy  deliverance,  recoimting  their  exploits,  and 
the  perils  and  privations  they  had  endured ;  while 
Alcaudete,  embracing  his  heroic  brother,  could 
hardly  restrain  his  tears,  as  he  gazed  on  his  wan, 
emaciated  countenance,  and  read  there  the  story 
of  his  sufferings. 

The  tidings  of  the  repulse  of  the  Moslems  were 
received  with  unbounded  joy  throughout  Spain. 
The  deepest  sympathy  had  been  felt  for  the  brave 
men  who,  planted  on  the  outposts  of  the  empire, 
seemed  to  have  been  abandoned  to  their  fate.  The 
king  shared  in  the  public  sentiment,  and  showed 
his  sense  of  the  gallant  conduct  of  Alcaudete 
and  his  soldiers,  by  the  honors  and  emoluments 
he  bestowed  on  them.  That  nobleman,  besides 
the  grant  of  a  large  annual  revenue,  was  made 
viceroy  of  Navarre.  His  brother,  Don  Martin  de 
Cordova,  received  the  encomienda  of  Homachos, 
with  the  sum  of  six  thousand  ducats.  Officers  of 
inferior  rank  obtained  the  recompense  due  to  their 
merits.  Even  the  common  soldiers  were  not  for- 
gotten ;  and  the  government,  vsdth  politic  liberality, 
settled  pensions  on  the  wives  and  children  of  those 
who  had  perished  in  the  siege." 

^7  n)id.,  p.  442  et  seq. — Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  VL  cap.  18.— 


I 


382 


THE  OTTOMAN  EMPIRE. 


[Book  IV. 


Ch.  1.1 


WAR  ON  THE  BARBARY  COAST. 


383 


Philip  now  determined  to  follow  up  his  success ; 
and,  instead  of  confining  himself  to  the  defensive, 
he  prepared  to  carry  the  war  into  the  enemy's 
country.  His  first  care,  however,  was  to  restore 
the  fortifications  of  Mazarquivir,  which  soon  rose 
from  their  ruins  in  greater  strength  and  solidity 
than  before.  He  then  projected  an  expedition 
against  Peiion  de  Velez  de  la  Gomera,  a  place 
situated  to  the  west  of  his  own  possessions  on  the 
Barbary  coast.  It  was  a  rocky  island  fortress, 
which  from  the  great  strength  of  its  defences, 
as  well  as  from  its  natural  position,  was  deemed 
impregnable.  It  was  held  by  a  fierce  corsair, 
whose  name  had  long  been  terrible  in  these  seas. 
In  the  summer  of  1564,  the  king,  with  the  aid  of  his 
allies,  got  together  a  powerful  armament,  and  sent 
it  at  once  against  Peiion  de  Velez.  This  fortress 
did  not  make  the  resistance  to  have  been  expected ; 
and,  after  a  siege  of  scarcely  a  week's  duration,  the 
garrison  submitted  to  the  superior  valor  —  or  num- 
bers —  of  the  Christians.^® 

This  conquest  was  followed  up,  the  ensuing  year, 


Campana,  Vita  di  Filippo  11.,  torn. 
I.  pp.  137-139.— Herrera,  Hist 
General,  lib.  X.  cap.  4. 

The  last  historian  closes  his  ac- 
count of  the  siege  of  Mazarquivir 
with  the  following  not  inelegant 
and  certainly  not  parsimonious  trib- 
ute to  the  heroic  conduct  of  Don 
Martin  and  his  followers:  "  De- 
epues  de  noventa  y  dos  dias  que  so- 
Btuvo  este  terrible  cerco,  y  se  em- 
barcd  para  Espana,  quedando  para 


siempre  glorioso  con  los  soldados 
que  con  el  se  hallaron,  ellos  por 
aver  sido  tan  obedientes,  y  por  las 
hazanas  que  hizieron,  y  el  por  el 
valor  y  prudencia  con  que  los  go- 
vem<5 :  por  lo  qual  es  comparado 
i.  qualquiera  de  los  mayores  Capi- 
tanes  del  mundo."  Historia  Ge- 
neral, lib.  X.  cap.  4. 

18  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib. 
VI.  cap.  18.  —  Herrera,  Hist  Ge 
neral,  torn.  1.  p.  559  et  seq. 


by  an  expedition  under  Don  Alvaro  Bazan,  the 
first  marquis  of  Santa  Cruz,  —  a  name  memorable 
in  the  naval  annals  of  Castile.     The  object  of  the 
expedition  was  to  block  up  the  entrance  to  the 
river  Tetuan,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  late  con- 
quest.     The- banks  of  this  river  had  long  been  the 
refuge   of  a   horde  of  pestilent  marauders,   who, 
swarming  out  of  its  mouth,  spread  over  the  Med- 
iterranean, and  fell  heavily  on  the  commerce  of 
the  Christians.     Don  Alvaro  accomplished  his  ob- 
ject in  the  face  of  a  desperate  enemy,  and,  after 
some   hard   fighting,    succeeded  in   sinking    nine 
brigantines  laden  with  stones  in  the  mouth  of  the 
river,    and    thus    effectually   obstructed  its  navi- 
gation.^^ 

These  brilliant  successes  caused  universal  re- 
joicing through  Spain  and  the  neighboring  coim- 
tries.  They  were  especially  important  for  the  in- 
fluence they  exerted  on  the  spuits  of  the  Christians, 
depressed  as  these  had  been  by  a  long  series  of 
maritime  reverses.  The  Spaniards  resumed  their 
ancient  confidence,  as  they  saw  that  victory  had 
once  more  returned  to  their  banner;  and  their 
ships,  which  had  glided  like  spectres  under  the 
shadow  of  the  coast,  now,  losing  their  apprehen- 
sions of  the  corsair,  pushed  boldly  out  upon  the 


W  The  affair  of  the  Rio  de  Te-  mander  is  still  preserved  in  the 

tuan  is  given  at  length  in  the  de-  family  archives  of  the  marquis  of 

Bpatches  of  Don   Alvaro  Bazan,  Santa  Cruz,  from  which  the  copies 

4ated  at  Ceuta,  March  10,  1565.  in  my  possession  were  taken 
The  correspondence  of  this  com- 


T, 


S84 


THE  OTTOMAN  EMPIRE. 


[Book  IV 


deep.  The  Moslems,  on  the  other  hand,  as  the> 
beheld  their  navies  discomfited,  and  one  strong 
place  after  another  wrested  from  their  grasp,  lost 
heart,  and  for  a  time,  at  least,  were  in  no  condi- 
tion  for  active  enterprise. 

But  while  the  arms  of  Spain  were  thus  success- 
ful in  chastising  the  Barbary  corsairs,  rumors 
reached  the  country  of  hostile  preparations  going 
forward  in  the  East,  of  a  more  formidable  charac- 
ter than  any  on  the  shores  of  Africa.  The  object 
of  these  preparations  was  not  Spain  itself,  but 
Malta.  Yet  this  little  island,  the  bulwark  of 
Christendom,  was  so  intimately  connected  with 
the  fortunes  of  Spain,  that  an  account  of  its  mem- 
orable siege  can  hardly  be  deemed  an  episode  in 
the  history  of  Philip  the  Second. 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE   KNIGHTS  HOSPITALLERS  OF    ST.  JOHN. 

Masters  of  Rhodes.  —  Driven  from  Rhodes.  —  Established  at  Malta. - 
Menaced  by  Solyman— La  Valette.— His  Preparations  for  Defence. 

1565. 

The  order  of  the  Knights  of  Malta  traces  its 
origm  to  a  remote  period,  — to  the  time  of  the 
first  crusade,  in  the  eleventh  century.     A  religious 
association  was  then  formed   in  Palestine,  under 
the  title  of  HospitaUers  of  St.  John  the  Baptist, 
the  object  of  which,  as  the  name  imports,  was  to 
minister  to  the  wants  of  the  sick.     There  was  a 
good  harvest  of  these  among   the   poor   pilgrims 
who  wandered  from  all  parts   of  Europe  to  the 
Holy  Land.     It  was  not  long  before  the  society 
assumed   other  duties,   of  a  military  nature,  de- 
signed for  the  defence  of  the  pilgrim  no  less  than 
his  relief;  and  the  new  society,  under  the  name 
of  the  Knights  Hospitallers  of  St.  John,  besides 
the  usual  monastic  vows,  pledged  themselves  to 
defend  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  and  to  maintain  per 
petual  war  against  the  infideL^ 


1  Helyot,  Hist  des  Ordres  Rdligieux  et  Militaires,  (Parii,   17$ J, 
VOL.  n.  4S 


m 


386 


THE  KNIGHTS  OF  ST.  JOHN. 


[Book  IV 


Oh.  IIJ 


MASTERS  OF  RHODES. 


381 


In  its  new  form,  so  consonant  with  the  spirit 
of  the  age,  the  institution  found  favor  with  the 
bold  crusaders,  and  the  accession  of  members  from 
different  parts  of  Christendom  greatly  enlarged  its 
power  and  political  consequence.  It  soon  rivalled 
the  fraternity  of  the  Templars,  and,  like  that  body, 
became  one  of  the  principal  pillars  of  the  throne 
of  Jerusalem.  After  the  fall  of  that  kingdom, 
and  the  expulsion  of  the  Christians  from  Palestine, 
the  Knights  of  St.  John  remained  a  short  while 
in  Cyprus,  when  they  succeeded  in  conquering 
Rhodes  from  the  Turks,  and  thus  secured  to  them- 
selves a  permanent  residence. 

Placed  in  the  undisputed  sovereignty  of  this 
little  island,  the  Knights  of  Rhodes,  as  they  were 
now  usually  called,  found  themselves  on  a  new  and 
independent  theatre  of  action,  where  they  could 
display  all  the  resources  of  their  institutions,  and 
accomplish  their  glorious  destinies.  Thrown  into 
the  midst  of  the  Mussulmans,  on  the  borders  of 
the  Ottoman  Empire,  their  sword  was  never  in  the 
scabbard.  Their  galleys  spread  over  the  Levant, 
and,  whether  alone  or  with  the  Venetians,  —  the 
rivals  of  the  Turks  in  those  seas,  —  they  faith- 
fully fulfilled  their  vow  of  incessant  war  with 
the  infidel.  Every  week  saw  their  victorious  gal- 
leys returning  to  port  with  the  rich  prizes  taken 
from  the  enemy;  and  every  year  the  fraternity 
received  fresh   accessions   of   princes  and  nobles 


4to,)  torn.  in.  pp.  74-78.  —  Ver^    ta,  (Eng.  trans.,  London,  1 728,  fol.,) 
tot,  History  of  the  Knights  of  Mai-    vol.  II.  pp.  18  -  24. 


from  every  part  of  Christendom,  eager  to  obtain 
admission  into  so  illustrious  an   order.     Many  of 
these  were  possessed  of  large  estates,  which,  on 
their  admission,   were   absorbed   in   those  of  the 
community.     Their  manors,  scattered  over  Europe, 
far  exceeded  in  number  those  of  their  rivals,  the 
Templars,   in   their  most  palmy  state.^     And  on 
the  suppression  of  that  order,  such  of  its  vast  pos- 
sessions as  were  not  seized  by  the  rapacious  princes 
in  whose  territories  they  were  lodged,  were  suffered 
to  pass  into  the  hands  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John. 
The  commanderies  of  the  latter  —  those  convents 
ual  establishments   which   faithfully   reflected  the 
parent  institution  in  their  discipline  —  were  so  pru- 
dently administered,  that  a  large  surplus  from  their 
revenues  was  annually  remitted  to  enrich  the  treas- 
ury  of  the  order. 

The  government  of  this  chivalrous  fraternity,  as 
provided  by  the  statutes  which  formed  its  writ- 
ten  constitution,  was  in  its  nature  aristocratical. 
At  the  head  was  the  grand-master,  elected  bv 
the  knights  from  their  own  body,  and,  like  the 
doge  of  Venice,  holding  his  office  for  life,  with 
an  authority  scarcely  larger  than  that  of  this  dig- 
nitary. The  legislative  and  judicial  functions  were 
vested  in  councils,  in  which  the  grand-master  en- 
joyed no  higher  privilege  than  that  of  a  double 

«  Boisgelin,  on  the  authority  of  rope,  while  the  Templara  had  but 

Matthew  Paris,  says  that,  in  1224,  9,000.    Ancient  and  Modem  Mai. 

the  Knights  of  St  John  had  19,000  ta,  (London,  1805, 4to,)  yol.  IL  p 

manors  in  different  parts  of  Eu-  19. 


388 


THE  KNIGHTS  OF  ST.  JOHN.  [Book  IV. 


•Jh.  n.] 


MASTERS  OF  RHODES. 


38S 


vote.  But  his  patronage  was  extensive,  for  he 
had  the  nomination  to  the  most  important  offices, 
both  at  home  and  abroad.  The  variety  and  high- 
sounding  titles  of  these  offices  may  provoke  a 
smile  in  the  reader,  who  might  fancy  himself  oc- 
cupied with  the  concerns  of  a  great  empire,  rather 
than  those  of  a  little  brotherhood  of  monks.  The 
grand-master,  indeed,  in  his  manner  of  living, 
affected  the  state  of  a  sovereign  prince.  He  sent 
his  ambassadors  to  the  principal  European  courts ; 
and  a  rank  was  conceded  to  him  next  to  that 
of  crowned  heads,  —  above  that  of  any  ducal  po- 
tentate.^ 

He  was  enabled  to  maintain  this  position  by  the 
wealth  which,  from  the  sources  already  enumer- 
ated,  flowed  into  the  exchequer.  Great  sums  were 
spent  in  placing  the  island  in  the  best  state  of 
defence,  in  constructing  public  works,  palaces  for 
the  grand-master,  and  ample  accommodations  for 
the  various  languages,  —  a  technical  term,  denoting 
the  classification  of  the  members  according  to  their 
respective  nations ;  finally,  in  the  embellishment  of 
the  capital,  which  vied  in  the  splendor  of  its  archi- 
tecture with  the  finest  cities  of  Christendom. 

Yet,  with  this  show  of  pomp  and  magnifi- 
cence, the  Knights  of  Rhodes  did  not  sink  into 
the  enervating  luxury  which  wa^  charged  on  the 

3  For  an  account  of  the  institu-  New  Statutes,  appended  to  vol.  H. 

Jiona  of  the  oi^er  of  St.  John,  see  of  Vertot's  History  of  the  Knighy 

Ifelyot,  Ordres  Religieux,  torn.  U.  of  Malta, 
p.  58   et  seq.;  also  the  Old  and 


Templars,  nor  did  they  engage  in  those  worldly, 
ambitious  schemes  which  provoked   the  jealousy 
of  princes,  and  brought  ruin  on  that  proud  order. 
In  prosperity  as  in  poverty,  they  were  still  true  to 
the  principles  of  their  institution.     Their  galleys 
still   spread    over    the    Levant,   and    came    back 
victorious    from    their   caravans,   as   their   cruises 
against   the  Moslems  were  teimed.     In  every  en- 
terprise   set    on    foot    by    the    Christian    powers 
against  the  enemies  of  the  Faith,  the  red  banner 
of  St.  John,  with  its  eight-pointed  cross  of  white, 
was   still   to   be   seen   glittering   in   the   front  of 
battle.     There  is  no  example  of  a  military  institu- 
tion having  religion  for  its  object  which,  under 
every  change  of  condition,  and  for  so  many  centu- 
ries,  maintained   so   inflexibly   the   purity   of  its 
principles,  and  so  conscientiously  devoted  itself  to 
the  great  object  for  which  it  was  created. 

It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  a  mighty  power, 
like  that  of  the  Turks,  would  patiently  endure  the 
existence  of  a  petty  enemy  on  its  borders,  which,  if 
not  formidable  from  extent  of  population  and 
empire,  like  Venice,  was  even  more  annoying  by 
its  incessant  hostilities,  and  its  depredations  on  the 
Turkish  commerce.  More  than  one  sultan,  ac- 
cordingly, hoping  to  rid  themselves  of  the  annoy- 
ance, fitted  out  expeditions  against  the  island, 
with  the  design  of  crushing  the  hornets  in  their 
nest.  But  in  every  attempt  they  were  foiled  by 
the  valor  of  this  little  band  of  Christian  chiv- 
airy.     At  length,  in    1522,  Solyman   the   Second 


V  '.,■•  ■' 


"  !'    I 


t 


390 


THE  KNIGHTS  OF  ST.  JOHN. 


[Book  IV 


led  an  expedition  in  person  against  Khodes.  For 
six  months  the  brave  knights,  with  their  own  good 
swords,  unaided  by  a  single  European  power,  with- 
stood the  whole  array  of  the  Ottoman  Empire; 
and  when  at  length  forced  to  surrender,  they 
obtained  such  honorable  terms  from  Solyman  as 
showed  he  knew  how  to  respect  valor,  though  in 
a  Christian  foe. 

Once  more  without  a  home,  the  Knights  of 
St.  John  were  abroad  on  the  world.  The  Eu- 
ropean princes,  affecting  to  consider  the  order 
as  now  extinct,  prepared  to  confiscate  whatever 
possessions  it  had  in  their  several  dominions. 
From  this  ruin  it  was  saved  by  the  exertions  of 
L'Isle  Adam,  the  grand-master,  who  showed,  at 
this  crisis,  as  much  skill  in  diplomacy  as  he  had 
before  shown  prowess  in  the  field.  He  visited 
the  principal  courts  in  person,  and  by  his  in- 
sinuating  address,  as  well  as  arguments,  not  only 
turned  the  sovereigns  from  their  purpose,  but 
secured  effectual  aid  for  his  unfortunate  brethren. 
The  pope  offered  them  a  temporary  asylum  in  the 
papal  territory ;  and  Charles  the  Fifth  was  induced 
to  cede  to  the  order  the  island  of  Malta,  and  its 
dependencies,  with  entire  jurisdiction  over  them, 
for  their  permanent  residence. 

Malta,  which  had  been  annexed  by  Charles's 
predecessors  to  Sicily,  had  descended  to  that  mon- 
arch as  part  of  the  dominions  of  the  crown  of 
Aragon.  In  thus  ceding  it  to  the  Knights  of  St. 
John,  the  politic  prince  consulted  his  own  inter- 


CK*n.] 


ESTABLISHED  AT  MALTA. 


391 


ests  quite  as  much  as  those  of  the  order.  He  drew 
no  revenue  from  the  rocky  isle,  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, was  charged  with  its  defence  against  the 
Moorish  corsairs,  who  made  frequent  descents  on 
the  spot,  wasting  the  country,  and  dragging  off  the 
miserable  people  into  slavery.  By  this  transfer  of 
the  island  to  the  military  order  of  St.  John,  he 
not  only  relieved  himself  of  all  further  expense 
on  its  account,  but  secured  a  permanent  bulwark 
for  the  protection  of  his  own  dominions. 

It  was  wise  in  the  emperor  to  consent  that  the 
gift  should  be  burdened  with  no  other  condition 
than  the  annual  payment  of  a  falcon  in  token  of 
his  feudal  supremacy.  It  was  also  stipulated,  that 
the  order  should  at  no  time  bear  arms  against 
Sicily;  a  stipulation  hardly  necessary  with  men 
who,  by  their  vows,  were  pledged  to  fight  in  de 
fence  of  Christendom,  and  not  ae^ainst  it* 

In  October,  1530,  Lisle  Adam  and  his  brave 
associates  took  possession  of  their  new  domain. 
Their  hearts  sunk  within  them,  as  their  eyes  wan- 
dered over  the  rocky  expanse,  forming  a  sad  con- 
trast to  the  beautiful  "  land  of  roses "  which  had 
so  long  been  their  abode.*  But  it  was  not  very 
long  before  the  wilderness  before  them  was  to 
blossom  like   the   rose,  under  their  diligent  cul- 

1  The  original  deed  of  cession,  referred    by  etymologists  to    the 

in  I-Atin,  is  publibhed  by  Vertot,  great  quantity  of  roses  which  grew 

Knights  of  ^lalta,  vol  II.,  p.  157  wild  on  the  island.     The  name  of 

et  seq.  Malta  (Melita)  is  traced  to  the  wild 

5  "  Rhodes,"    from    the   Greek  honey,  /x/Xt,  of  most  excellent  fla 

}6dov.     The  origin  of  the  name  is  vor,  found  amonp;  its  rocks. 


892 


THE  KNIGHTS  OF  ST.  JOHN. 


[Book  IV 


^^ 


ture.*'  Earth  was  brought  in  large  quantities,  and  at 
great  cost,  from  Sicily.  Terraces  to  receive  it  were 
hewn  in  the  steep  sides  of  the  rock ;  and  the  soil, 
quickened  by  the  ardent  sun  of  Malta,  was  soon 
clothed  with  the  glowing  vegetation  of  the  South. 
Still,  it  did  not  raise  the  grain  necessary  for  the 
consumption  of  the  island.  This  was  regularly 
imported  from  Sicily,  and  stored  in  large  pits  or 
caverns,  excavated  in  the  rock,  which,  hermetically 
closed,  preserved  their  contents  unimpaired  for 
years.  In  a  short  time,  too,  the  island  bristled 
with  fortifications,  which,  combined  with  its  nat- 
ural defences,  enabled  its  garrison  to  defy  the  at- 
tacks of  the  corsair.  To  these  works  was  added 
the  construction  of  suitable  dwellings  for  the  ac- 
commodation of  the  order.  But  it  was  long  after, 
and  not  until  the  land  had  been  desolated  by  the 
siege  on  which  we  are  now  to  enter,  that  it  was 
crowned  with  the  stately  edifices  that  eclipsed 
those  of  Ehodes  itself,  and  made  Malta  the  pride 
of  the  Mediterranean."^ 


•  A  recent  traveller,  after  visit- 
ing both  Rhodes  and  Malta,  thus 
alludes  to  the  change  in  the  rela- 
tive condition  of  the  two  islands. 
"We  are  told  that,  when  L*Isle 
Adam  and  his  brave  companions 
first  landed  on  this  shore,  their 
spirits  sank  within  them  at  the 
contrast  its  dry  and  barren  surface 
presented  to  their  delicious  lost 
Rhodes;  I  have  qualified  myself 
for  adjudging  that  in  most  respects 
the  tables  are  now  turned  between 


the  two  islands,  and  they  certainly 
afford  a  very  decisive  criterion  of 
the  results  of  Turkish  and  Chris- 
tian dominion."  The  Earl  of  Cai « 
lisle's  Diary  in  Turkish  and  Greek 
Waters,  (Boston,  1855,)  p.  204; 
—  an  unpretending  volume,  which 
bears  on  every  page  evidence  of 
the  wise  and  tolerant  spirit,  the 
various  scholarship,  and  the  sensi- 
bility to  the  beautiful,  so  charac- 
teristic of  its  noble  author. 
7  For  the  account  of  Malta  1  am 


Oil.  n.] 


ESTABLISHED  AT  MALTA. 


39;^ 


In  their  new  position  the  knights  were  not  very 
differently  situated  from  what  they  had  been  in 
the  Levant.     They  were  still  encamped  amongst 
the  infidel,  with  the  watch-fires  of  the  enemy  blaz- 
ing around  them.     Again  their  galleys  sailed  forth 
to  battle  with  the  corsairs,  and  returned  laden  with 
the  spoils  of  victory.     Still  the  white  cross  of  St. 
John  was  to  be  seen  in  the  post  of  danger.     In 
all  the  expeditions  of  Charles  the  Fifth  and  Philip 
the  Second  against  the  Barbary  Moors,  from  the 
siege  of  Tunis  to  the  capture  of  Pefion  de  Velez, 
they  bore  a  prominent  part.     With  the  bravery  of 
the  soldier,  they  combined  the  skill  of  the  mari- 
ner ;  and  on  that  disastrous  day  when  the  Chris- 
tian navy  was  scattered  before  Algiers,  the  Mal- 
tese galleys  were  among  the  few  that  rode  out  the 
tempest.^    It  was  not  long  before  the  name  of  the 


much  indebted  to  Boisgelin,  "  An- 
cient and  Modern  Malta."  This 
work  gives  the  most  complete 
view  of  Malta,  both  in  regard  to 
the  natural  history  of  the  island 
and  the  military  and  political  his- 
tory of  the  order,  that  is  to  be 
found  in  any  book  with  which  I 
am  acquainted.  It  is  a  large 
repository  of  facts  crudely  put  to- 
gether, with  little  to  boast  of  on  the 
score  of  its  literary  execution.  It 
is  interesting  as  tlie  production  of 
a  Knight  of  St.  John,  one  of  the 
unhappy  few  who  survived  to  wit- 
ness the  treachery  of  his  brethren 
and  the  extinction  of  his  order. 
The  last  of  the  line,  he  may  well 
YOh.  II.  50 


be  pardoned,  if,  in  his  survey  of  the 
glorious  past,  he  should  now  and 
then  sound  the  trumpet  of  glorifica- 
tion somewhat  too  loudly. 

8  "The  galleys  of  the  order 
alone  resisted  the  fury  of  the  waves ; 
and  when  Charles  the  Fifth  was  told 
that  some  vessels  appeared  still  to 
live  at  sea,  he  exclaimed,  *They 
must,  indeed,  be  Maltese  galleys 
which  can  outride  such  a  tem- 
pest!' The  high  opinion  he  had 
formed  of  this  fleet  was  fully  justi- 
fied ;  for  the  standard  of  the  order 
was  soon  in  sight.**  Boisgelin,  An- 
cient and  Modern  Malta,  vol.  IL 
p.  34. 


'   I 


394 


THE  KNIGHTS  OF  ST.  JOHN. 


[Book  IV. 


I 


1i 

'1: 


Knights  of  Malta  became  as  formidable  on  the 
southern  shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  as  that  of 
the  Knights  of  Rhodes  had  been  in  the  East. 

Occasionally  their  galleys,  sweeping  by  the 
mouth  of  the  Adriatic,  passed  into  the  Levant, 
and  boldly  encountered  their  old  enemy  on  his 
own  seas,  even  with  odds  greatly  against  them.® 
The  Moors  of  the  Barbary  coast,  smarting  under 
the  losses  inflicted  on  them  by  their  indefatigable 
foe,  more  than  once  besought  the  Sultan  to  come 
to  their  aid,  and  avenge  the  insults  offered  to  his 
religion  on  the  heads  of  the  offenders.  At  this 
juncture  occurred  the  capture  of  a  Turkish  galleon 
in  the  Levant.  It  was  a  huge  vessel,  richly  laden, 
and  defended  by  twenty  guns  and  two  hundred 
janizaries.  After  a  desperate  action,  she  was  taken 
by  the  Maltese  galleys,  and  borne  off,  a  welcome 
prize,  to  the  island.  She  belonged  to  the  chief 
eunuch  of  the  imperial  harem,  some  of  the  fair 
inmates  of  which  were  said  to  have  had  an  inter- 
est in  the  precious  freight.^^  These  persons  now 
joined  with  the  Moors  in  the  demand  for  ven- 
geance. Solyman  shared  in  the  general  indigna- 
tion at  the  insult  offered  to  him  under  the  walls. 


•  Ibid.f  p.  61,  et  alibi. 

i<»  The  value  of  the  freight  was 
estimated  at  more  than  80,000  du- 
cats. —  "  Se  estimo  la  presa  mas  de 
ochenta  mil  ducados,  de  sedas  de 
levante,  y  alombras  y  otras  cosas, 
cada  uno  piense  lo  que  se  diria  en 
la  corte  del  Turco,  sobre  la  perdi- 


da  destn  nave  tan  poderosa,  y  tan 
rica."  La  Verdadera  Relacion 
de  todo  lo  que  el  Ano  de  M.  D. 
LXV.  ha  succedido  en  la  Isla  de 
Malta,  por  Francisco  Balbi  de  Cor- 
reggio,  en  todo  el  Sitio  Soldado, 
(Barcelona,  1568,)  fol.  19. 


Ch.  II.] 


LA  VALETTE. 


395 


as  it  were,  of  his  own  capital ;  and  he  resolved  to 
signalize  the  close  of  his  reign  by  driving  the 
knights  from  Malta,  as  he  had  the  commencement 
of  it  by  driving  them  from  Ehodes. 

As  it  was  not  improbable  that  the  Christian 
princes  would  rally  in  support  of  an  order  which 
had  fought  so  many  battles  for  Christendom,  Soly- 
man made  his  preparations  on  a  formidable  scale. 
Rumors  of  these  spread  far  and  wide;  and,  as 
their  object  was  unknown,  the  great  powers  on 
the  Mediterranean,  each  fancying  that  its  own 
dominions  might  be  the  point  of  attack,  lost  no 
time  in  placing  their  coasts  in  a  state  of  defence. 
The  king  of  Spain  sent  orders  to  his  viceroy  in 
Sicily  to  equip  such  a  fleet  as  would  secure  the 
safety  of  that  island. 

Meanwhile,  the  grand-master  of  Malta,  by  means 
of  spies  whom  he  secretly  employed  in  Constanti- 
nople, received  intelligence  of  the  real  purpose  of 
the  expedition.     The  post  of  grand-master,  at  this 
time,  was  held  by  Jean  Parisot  de  la  Valette,  a 
man  whose  extraordinary  character,  no  less  than 
the  circumstances  in  which  he   was   placed,   has 
secured  him  an  imperishable  name  on  the  page  of 
history.     He  was  of  an  ancient  family  from  the 
south  of  France,  being  of  the  language  of  Provence. 
He  was  now  in  the  sixty-eighth  year  of  his  age.^^ 
In   his   youth  he  had   witnessed   the   memorable 
siege    of   Rhodes,   and    had    passed    successively 


I 


n  Ibid.,foLl7. 


396 


THE  KNIGHTS  OF  ST.  JOHN. 


[Book  I> 


Ch.  n.] 


PKEPARATIONS  FOR  DEFENCE. 


397 


through  every  post  in  the  order,  from  the  humblest 
to  the  highest,  which  he  now  occupied.  With 
large  experience  he  combined  a  singular  discretion, 
and  an  inflexible  spirit,  founded  on  entu^e  devotion 
to  the  great  cause  in  which  he  was  engaged.  It 
was  the  conviction  of  this  self-devotion  which,  in 
part,  at  least,  may  have  given  La  Valette  that  as- 
cendency over  the  minds  of  his  brethren,  which 
was  so  important  at  a  crisis  like  the  present.  It 
may  have  been  the  anticipation  of  such  a  crisis 
that  led  to  his  election  as  grand-master  in  1557, 
when  the  darkness  coming  over  the  waters  showed 
the  necessity   of  an  experienced  pilot  to  weather 

the  storm. 

No  sooner  had  the  grand-master  learned  the 
true  destination  of  the  Turkish  armament,  than 
he  sent  his  emissaries  to  the  different  Christian 
powers,  soliciting  aid  for  the  order  in  its  extremity. 
He  summoned  the  knights  absent  in  foreign  lands 
to  return  to  Malto,  and  take  part  with  their  breth- 
ren  in  the  coming  struggle.  He  imported  large 
supplies  of  provisions  and  military  stores  from 
Sicily  and  Spain.  He  drilled  the  militia  of  the 
island,  and  formed  an  effective  body  of  more  than 
three  thousand  men;  to  which  was  added  a  still 
greater  number  of  Spanish  and  Italian  troops, 
raised  for  him  by  the  knights  who  were  abroad. 
This  force  was  augmented  by  the  extraordinary 
addition  of  five  hundred  galley-slaves,  whom  La 
Valette  withdrew  from  the  oar,  promising  to  give 
them  their  freedom  if  they  8er\^ed  him  faithfully. 


Lastly,  the  fortifications  were  put  in  repair, 
strengthened  with  outworks,  and  placed  in  the 
best  condition  for  resisting  the  enemy.  All  classes 
of  the  inhabitants  joined  in  this  work.  The 
knights  themselves  took  their  part  in  the  toilsome 
drudgery;  and  the  grand-master  did  not  disdain 
to  labor  with  the  humblest  of  his  followers.  He 
not  only  directed,  but,  as  hands  were  wanted,  he 
set  the  example  of  carrying  his  own  orders  into 
execution.  Wherever  his  presence  was  needed, 
he  was  to  be  found,  —  ministering  to  the  sick, 
cheering  the  desponding,  stimulating  the  indiffer- 
ent, chiding  the  dilatory,  watching  over  the  inter 
ests  of  the  Utile  community  intrusted  to  his  care 
with  parental  solicitude. 

While  thus  employed.  La  Valette  received  a 
visit  from  the  Sicilian  viceroy,  Don  Garcia  de 
Toledo,  the  conqueror  of  Peilon  de  Velez.  He 
came,  by  Philip's  orders,  to  concert  with  the  grand- 
master the  best  means  of  defence.  He  assured  the 
latter  that,  so  soon  as  he  had  assembled  a  fleet, 
he  would  come  to  his  relief;  and  he  left  his  nat- 
ural son  with  him,  to  learn  the  art  of  war  under 
so  experienced  a  commander.  La  Valette  was 
comforted  by  the  viceroy's  promises  of  succor. 
But  he  well  knew  that  it  was  not  to  the  prom- 
ises of  others  he  was  to  trust,  in  his  present 
exigency,  but  to  his  own  efforts  and  those  of  his 
brave  companions. 

The  knights,  in  obedience  to  his  call,  had  for 
the  most  part  now  arrived,  each  bringing  with  him 


*■•'■  * 


■I 


398 


THE  KNIGHTS  OF  ST.  JOHN. 


[Book  IV 


a  number  of  servants  and  other  followers.  Some 
few  of  the  more  aged  and  infirm  remained  be- 
hind; but  this  not  so  much  from  infirmity  and 
age,  as  from  the  importance  of  having  some  of  its 
members  to  watch  over  the  interests  of  the  com- 
munity at  foreign  courts.  La  Valette  was  touched 
by  the  alacrity  with  which  his  brethren  repaired 
to  their  posts,  to  stand  by  their  order  in  the 
dark  hour  of  its  fortunes.  He  tenderly  embraced 
them;  and  soon  afterwards,  calling  them  togeth- 
er, he  discoursed  with  them  on  the  perilous  posi- 
tion in  which  they  stood,  with  the  w^hole  strength 
of  the  Moorish  and  Turkish  empires  mustering 
against  them.  "It  was  the  great  battle  of  the 
Cross  and  the  Koran,"  he  said,  "  that  was  now  to 
be  fought.  They  were  the  chosen  soldiers  of  the 
Cross ;  and,  if  Heaven  required  the  sacrifice  of 
their  lives,  there  could  be  no  better  time  than 
this  glorious  occasion."  The  grand-master  then 
led  the  way  to  the  chapel  of  the  convent,  where 
he  and  his  brethren,  after  devoutly  confessing, 
partook  of  the  sacrament,  and,  at  the  foot  of  the 
altar,  solemnly  renewed  their  vows  to  defend  the 
Church  against  the  infidel.  With  minds  exalted 
by  these  spiritual  exercises,  all  worldly  interests 
seemed,  from  that  moment,  says  their  historian, 
to  lose  their  hold  on  their  affections.  They  stood 
like  a  company  of  martyrs,  —  the  forlorn  hope  of 
Christendom,  prepared,  as  their  chief  had  said,  to 
offer  up  their  lives  a  sacrifice  to  the  great  cause 
in  which  they  were  engaged.     Such  were  the  feel- 


ch.  n.] 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  DEFENCE. 


399 


ings  with  which  La  Valette  and  his  companions, 
having  completed  their  preparations,  now  calmly 
awaited  the  coming  of  the  enemy.^ 

w  Vertot,  Knights  of  Malta,  vol.  73.  —  De  Thou,  Hist  Universelle, 

II.  pp.  192-195.  — Sagredo,  Mo-  torn.  V.  pp.  51-53.  — J.  M.  Cal- 

narcas  Othomanos,  p.  244.  — Bal-  dei-on  de  la  Barca,  Gloriosa  De- 

bi,  Verdadera  Relacion,  fol.  26  et  fensa  de  Malta,  (Madrid,   1796,) 

seq.  —  Boisgelin,     Ancient    and  p.  28. 
Modem  Malta,  vol.  IL  pp.  71- 


Ill' 


CHAPTER    III. 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


Condition  of  Malta.  —  Arrival  of  the  Turks.  —  They  reconnoitre  the 
Island.  —  Si^  of  St  Ehno.  —  Its  Heroic  Defence. — Its  Fall 

1565. 

Before  entering  on  the  particulars  of  this  mem- 
orable siege,  it  will  be  necessary  to  make  the  read- 
er somewhat  acquainted  with  the  country  which 
was  the  scene  of  operations.  The  island  of  Malta 
is  about  seventeen  miles  long  and  nine  broad.  At 
the  time  of  the  siege  it  contained  some  twelve 
thousand  inhabitants,  exclusive  of  the  members  of 
the  order.  They  were  gathered,  for  the  most  part, 
into  wretched  towns  and  villages,  the  principal  one 
of  which  was  defended  by  a  wall  of  some  strength, 
and  was  dignified  with  the  title  of  Civita  Notable, 
— "Illustrious  City."  As  it  was  situated  in  the 
interior,  near  the  centre  of  the  island,  the  knights 
did  not  take  up  their  residence  there,  but  pre- 
ferred the  northeastern  part  of  Malta,  looking 
towards  Sicily,  and  affording  a  commodious  harbor 
for  their  galleys. 

The  formation  of  the  land,  in  this  quarter  is 
very  remarkable.      A   narrow,  rocky  promontory 


(^<^i:ruc  uf  0)L»cKitiauG,^  ^ 


■'4 


/■'■r/Y>vi\'/f*  i/t\it/rii/  ,■/'/•////'/•  '//.-  .I'.v.//,/. 


Vn.  m.]  CONDITION  OF  THE  ISLAND. 


401 


Stretches  out  into  the  ^Mediterranean,  dividing  its 
waters  into  two  small*  gulfs,  —  that   on  the  west 
being   caUed   Marza  Musiette,  or  Port   Musiette, 
and   that  towards  the  east,  which  now  bears  the 
name  of  Valetta  harbor,   being   then   known   as 
the  Great  Port.     The  extreme  point  of  the  prom- 
ontory  was   crowned  by  the  Castle  of  St.   Elmo, 
built  by  the  order,  soon   after  its   arrival  in  the 
island,  on  the  spot  which  commanded  the  entmnce 
into  both  harbors.     It  was  a  fortress  of  consid- 
erable strength,  for  which  it  was  chiefly  indebted 
to  its  position.      Planted  on  the  solid  rock,  and 
washed,  for  the  greater  part  of  its  circuit,  by  the 
waters  of  the  Mediterranean,  it  needed  no  other 
defence  on  that  quarter.     But  towards  the  land  it 
was  more  open  to  an  enemy ;  and,  though  protect- 
ed  by   a  dry  ditch  and  a   counterscarp,   it   was 
thought  necessary  to   secure   it   still  further,  by 
means   of  a  ravelin  on  the  southwest,  which  La 
Valette  had  scarcely  completed  before  the  arrival 
of  the  Turks. 

Port  Musiette,  on  the  west,  is  that  in  which  ves- 
sels now  perform  quarantine.  The  Great  Port  was 
the  most  important ;  for  round  that  was  gathered 
the  little  community  of  knights.  Its  entrance, 
which  is  not  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in 
mdth,  is  commanded  by  two  headlands,  one  of 
them  crested,  as  above  mentioned,  by  the  fort  of 
St.  Elmo.  The  length  of  the  harbor  may  be 
nearly  two  miles ;  and  the  water  is  of  suflicient 
depth  for  ships  of  the  greatest  burden  to  ride  there 


VOL.  ir. 


51 


402 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV. 


Ch.  III.] 


CONDITION  OF  THE  ISLAND. 


4oa 


in  security,  sheltered  within   the  encircling  arms 
of  the  coast  from   the   storms   of  the  Mediterra- 

nean. 

From  the  eastern  side  of  this  basin  shoot  out 
two  projecting  headlands,  forming  smaller  harbors 
within  the  Great  Port.  The  most  northerly  of 
these  strips  of  land  was  defended  by  the  Castle  of 
St.  Angelo,  round  which  clustered  a  little  town, 
called  by  way  of  eminence  II  Borgo,  "  The  Burgh," 

—  now  more  proudly  styled  "  The  Victorious  City." 
It  was  here  that  the  order  took  up  its  residence, 

—  the  grand-masters  establishing  themselves  in 
the  castle ;  and  great  pains  were  taken  to  put  the 
latter  in  a  good  state  of  defence,  while  the  town 
was  protected  by  a  wall.  On  the  parallel  strip  of 
land,  known  as  the  island  of  La  Sangle,  from  a 
grand-master  of  that  name,  stood  a  fort,  called 
the  fort  of  St.  Michael,  with  a  straggling  popula- 
tion  gathered  around  it,  now  busily  employed  in 
strengthening  the  defences.  Between  the  two 
headlands  lay  the  Port  of  Galleys,  serving,  as 
its  name  imports,  as  a  haven  for  the  little 
navy  of  the  order.  This  port  was  made  more 
secure  by  an  iron  chain  dra^vn  across  its  en- 
trance, from  the  extreme  point  of  one  headland 
to  the  other. 

Such  were  the  works  constructed  by  the  knights 
in  the  brief  period  during  which  they  had  occu- 
pied the  island.  They  were  so  far  imperfect, 
that  many  a  commanding  eminence,  which  the 
security  of  the   country  required  to   be   strongly 


fortified,  still  remained  as  naked  and  exposed  as 
at  the  time  of  their  arrival.  This  imperfect  state 
of  its  defences  presented  a  strong  contrast  to  the 
present  condition  of  Malta,  bristling  all  over  with 
fortifications,  which  seem  to  form  part  of  the  liv- 
ing rock  out  of  which  they  spring,  and  which,  in 
the  hands  of  a  power  that  holds  possession  of  the 
sea,  might  bid  defiance  to  the  world. 

The  whole  force  which  La  Valette  could  muster 
in  defence  of  the  island  amounted  to  about  nine 
thousand    men.      This    included    seven    hundred 
knights,  of  whom  about  six  hundred  had  already 
arrived.     The  remainder  were  on  their  way,  and 
joined  him  at  a  later  period  of  the  siege.     Between 
three  and  four  thousand  were  Maltese,  irregularly 
trained,  but  who  had  already  gained  some  expe- 
rience of  war  in  their  contests  with  the  Barbary 
corsairs.     The  rest  of  the  army,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  five  hundred  galley  slaves,  already  noticed, 
and  the  personal  followers   of  the   knights,  was 
made  up  of  levies  from  Spain  and  Italy,  who  had 
come  over  to  aid  in  the  defence.     The  useless  part 
of  the  population  —  the   infirm   and   the  aged  — 
had  for  the  most  part  been  shipped  off  to  Sicily. 
There  still  remained,  however,  numbers  of  women 
and  children ;  and  the  former,  displaying  the  he- 
roic constancy  which,  in  times  of  trouble,  so  often 
distinguishes  the  sex,  did  good  service  during  the 
siege,  by  tending  the  sick  and  by  cheering   the 
flagging  spirits  of  the  soldier.^ 

1  Vertot,  Knights  of  Malta,  vol.  II.  p.  197.— Balbi,  Verdadera  Be* 


\\ 


404 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV. 


Ch.  m.j 


ARRIVAL  OF  THE  TURKS. 


4oa 


This  little  army  La  Valette  distributed  on  the 
several  stations,  assigning  each  to  some  one  of  the 
languages,  or  nations,  that  the  spirit  of  emulation 
might  work  its  effects  on  the  chivalry  of  the  order. 
The  castle  of  St.  Elmo  was  the  point  of  first  im- 
portance.     It   covered   so   contracted  a  piece   of 
ground,   that  it  scarcely  afforded  accommodation 
for   a   thousand  men;    and  not  more  than  eight 
hundred   were   shut   up   within  its   walls   at   the 
commencement  of  the  siege.^     Its  dimensions  did 
not  admit  of  its  being  provided   with   magazines 
capable   of   holding  any   large   quantity   of   pro- 
visions,  or  military  stores,  for  which  it  was   un- 
fortunately obliged  to  rely  on  its  communication 
with  II  Borgo,  the  town  across  the  harbor.     The 
masonry   of  the    fort    was    not   in   the   best  re- 
pute ;  though  the  works  were  lined  with  at  least 
thirty  pieces  of  artillery,  looking  chiefly  towards 
the  land.     Its  garrison,  which  usually  amounted 
to  sixty  soldiers,  was  under  the  command  of  an 
aged    knight,    named  De   Broglio.     The    grand- 
master reinforced   this   body   with   sixty   knights 
under    the    bailiff    of   Negropont,    a   veteran    in 
whose   well-tried  valor   La  Valette  placed   entire 
confidence.     He  was  strengthened  by  two  compa- 


lacion,  fol.  28.  —  The  latter  chron- 
icler, who  gives  a  catalogue  of  the 
forces,  makes  the  total  amount  of 
fishtins:  men  not  exceed  six  thou- 
sand  one  hundred.  He  speaks, 
however,  of  an  indefinite  number 
besides  these,  including  a  thousand 
Javes,  who  in  various  ways  con- 


tributed to  the  defence  of  the  isl- 
and. 

9  "  De  modo  que  quado  los  tup- 
cos  llegaron  sobre  sant  Ermo,  ha- 
uia  ochocientos  hombres  dentro 
para  pelear.**  Balbi,  Verdadera 
Relacion,  fol   37. 


nies   of  foreign  levies,  under  the  command   of  a 
Spanish  cavalier  named  La  Cerda.^ 

Various  other  points  were  held  by  small  de- 
tachments, with  some  one  of  the  order  at  the 
head  of  each.  But  the  strength  of  the  force,  in- 
cluding nearly  all  the  remainder  of  the  knights, 
was  posted  in  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo  and  in  the 
town  at  its  base.  Here,  La  Valette  took  his  own 
station,  as  the  spot  which,  by  its  central  position, 
would  enable  him  to  watch  over  the  interests  of 
the  whole.  All  was  bustle  in  this  quarter,  as  the 
people  were  busily  employed  in  strengthening  the 
defences  of  the  town,  and  in  razing  buildings 
in  the  suburbs,  which  the  grand-master  feared 
might  afford  a  lodgement  to  the  enemy.  In  this 
work  their  labors  were  aided  by  a  thousand 
slaves,  taken  from  the  prison,  and  chained  together 
.in  couples.* 

On  the  morning  of  the  eighteenth  of  May, 
1565,  the  Turkish  fleet  was  descried  by  the  sen- 
tinels of  St.  Elmo  and  St.  Angelo,  about  thirty 
miles  to  the  eastward,  standing  directly  for  Malta. 
A  gun,  the  signal  agreed  on,  was  fired  from  each 
of  the  forts,  to  warn  the  inhabitants  of  the  coun- 
try to  withdraw  into  their  villages.  The  fleet 
amounted  to  one  hundred  and  thirty  royal  galleys, 

3  n)id.,  fol.  31. — Vcrtot,  Knights  quando  los  sacauan  a  trabajar  a  lai 

of  Malta,  vol.  II.  p.  1 98.  postas  adonde  se  trabajaua,  los  sar 

*  "  En  este  tiempo  ya  todos  los  cauan  de  dos  en  dos,  asidos  de  vni 

csclauos  assi  de  sant  Juan  como  de  cadena.**    Balbi,  Verdadera  Reli^ 

particulares  cstauan  en  la  carcel,  cion,  foi.  3  7. 
quf    seria  bieji  mil  esclauos.     Y 


406 


filEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV. 


with  fifty  of  lesser  size,  besides  a  number  of  trans- 
ports with  the  cannon,  ammunition,  and  other  mil- 
itary stores.^  The  breaching  artillery  consisted 
of  sixty-three  guns,  the  smallest  of  which  threw 
a  ball  of  fifty-six  pounds,  and  some  few,  termed 
basilicas,  carried  marble  bullets  of  a  hundred  and 
twelve  pounds'  weight.^  The  Turks  were  celebrat- 
ed for  the  enormous  calibre  of  their  guns,  from  a 
very  early  period ;  and  they  continued  to  employ 
those  pieces  long  after  they  had  given  way,  in  the 
rest  of  Europe,  to  cannon  of  more  moderate  and 
manageable  dimensions. 

The  number  of  soldiers  on  board,  independent- 
ly  of  the  mariners,  and  including  six  thousand 
janizaries,  was  about  thirty  thousand,  —  the  flow- 
er of  the  Ottoman  armyJ  Their  appointments 
were  on  the  most  perfect  scale,  and  everything 
was  provided  requisite  for  the  prosecution  of  the 
siege.  Never,  probably,  had  there  been  seen  so 
magnificent  an  armament  in  the  waters  of  the 
Mediterranean.  It  was  evident  that  Solyman  was 
bent  on  the  extermination  of  the  order  which  he 
had  once  driven  into  exile,  but  which  had  now 
renewed  its  strength,  and  become  the  most  formida- 
ble enemy  of  the  Crescent. 


a  Ibid.,  fol.  23. 

c  n)id.,  fol.  21.  —  Vertot  says, 
of  a  hundred  and  sixty  pounds' 
weight,  (Knights  of  Malta,  vol. 
n.  p.  202.)  Yet  even  this  was  far 
surpassed  by  the  mammoth  cannon 
employed  by  Mahomet  at  the  siege 
«f  Constantinople,  in  the  preceding 


century,  which,  accord'ng  to  Gib- 
bon, threw  stone  bullets  of  six  hun- 
dred pounds. 

7  Balbi,  Verdadera  ReWion,  fol. 
26.  —  The  old  soldier  goes  into  the 
composition  of  the  Turkish  force,  in 
tKe  general  estimate  of  which  he 
does  not  differ  widely  from  Vertot 


Ch.  in.]         THEY  RECONNOITRE  THE  ISLAND. 


407 


The  command  of  the  expedition  was  intrusted 
to  two  officers.  One  of  these,  Piali,  was  the  same 
admiral  who  defeated  the  Spaniards  at  Gelves. 
He  had  the  direction  of  the  naval  operations. 
The  land  forces  were  given  to  Mustapha,  a  veteran 
nearly  seventy  years  of  age,  whose  great  experi- 
nce,  combined  with  military  talents  of  a  high 
order,  had  raised  him  to  the  head  of  his  profession. 
Unfortunately,  his  merits  as  an  officer  were  tar 
nished  by  his  cruelty.  Besides  the  command  of  the 
army,  he  had  a  general  authority  over  the  whole 
expedition,  which  excited  the  jealousy  of  Piali, 
who  thought  himself  injured  by  the  preference 
given  to  his  rival.  Thus  feelings  of  mutual  dis 
trust  arose  in  the  bosoms  of  the  two  chiefs, 
which  to  some  extent  paralyzed  the  operations  of 
each. 

The  Turkish  armada  steered  for  the  south- 
eastern quarter  of  the  island,  and  cast  anchor  in 
the  port  of  St.  Thomas.  The  troops  speedily 
disembarked,  and  spread  themselves  in  detached 
bodies  over  the  land,  devastating  the  coimtry,  and 
falling  on  all  stragglers  whom  they  met  in  the 
fields.  Mustapha,  with  the  main  body  of  the 
army,  marching  a  short  distance  into  the  interior, 
occupied  a  rising  ground,  only  a  few  miles  from 
II  Borgo.  It  was  with  difficulty  that  the  in- 
habitants could  be  prevented  from  issuing  from 
the  gates,  in  order  to  gaze  on  the  show  presented 
by  the  invaders,  whose  magnificent  array  stretched 
far  beyond   the  hills,  with  their  bright  arms  and 


I: 


r\ 


408 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV 


Ch.  raj  OPERATIONS  AGAINST  ST.  ELMO. 


409 


banners  glittering  in  the  sun,  and  their  warlike 
music  breathing  forth  notes  of  defiance  to  the 
Christians.  La  Valette,  in  his  turn,  caused  the 
standard  of  St.  John  to  be  unfurled  from  the 
ramparts  of  the  castle,  and  his  trumpets  to  answer 
in  a  similar  strain  of  defiance  to  that  of  the 
enemy.® 

Meanwhile  the  grand  marshal,  Coppier,  had 
sallied  from  the  town  at  the  head  of  a  small 
troop,  and  fallen  upon  some  of  the  detachments 
which  were  scouring  the  coimtry.  The  success  of 
his  arms  was  shown  by  the  gory  heads  of  the 
slaughtered  Turks,  which  he  sent  back  to  II 
Borgo  as  the  trophies  of  victory.^  La  Va- 
lette's  design,  in  permitting  these  encounters, 
was  to  familiarize  his  men  with  the  novel  as- 
pect and  peculiar  weapons  of  their  enemies,  as 
well  as  with  the  fierce  war-cries  which  the  Turks 
raised  in  battle.  But  the  advantages  gained  in 
these  skirmishes  did  not  compensate  the  losses, 
however  light,  on  the  part  of  the  Christians  ;  and 
after  two  knights  and  a  number  of  the  common 
file  had  been  slain,  the  grand-master  ordered  his 
followers  to  remain  quietly  within  the  walls  of 
the  town. 

It  was  decided,  in  the  Turkish  council  of  war, 
to  begin  operations  with  the  siege  of  the  castle  of 
St.  Elmo;  as  the  possession  of  this  place  was 
necessary  to  secure  a  safe  harbor  for  the  Turkish 


•  Balbi,  Verdadera  Relacion,  fol.  84. 


'  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


fleet.  On  the  twenty-fourth  of  May,  the  trenches 
were  opened,  —  if  that  can  be  said  where,  from  the 
rocky,  impenetrable  nature  of  the  ground,  no 
trenches  could  be  dug,  and  the  besiegers  were 
obliged  to  shelter  themselves  behind  a  breastwork 
formed  of  planks,  having  the  space  between  them 
filled  with  earth  brought  from  a  distance,  and 
held  together  by  straw  and  rushes.  At  certain 
intervals  Mustapha  indicated  the  points  for  bat- 
teries. The  principal  of  these  was  a  battery 
where  ten  guns  were  mounted,  some  of  them  of 
the  largest  calibre ;  and  although  artillery  practice 
was  very  different  from  what  it  is  in  our  times, 
with  so  much  greater  experience  and  more  man- 
ageable engines,  yet  masonry  stronger  than  that 
of  St.  Elmo  might  well  have  crumbled  under  the 
masses  of  stone  and  iron  that  were  now  hurled 
against  it. 

As  the  works  began  to  give  way,  it  seemed 
clear  that  the  garrison  must  rely  more  on  their 
own  strength  than  on  that  of  their  defences.  It 
was  resolved,  therefore,  to  send  to  the  grand-master 
and  request  reinforcements.  The  Chevalier  de  la 
Cerda  was  intrusted  with  the  mission.  Crossing 
over  to  II  Borgo,  he  presented  himself  before  La 
Valette,  and  insisted  on  the  necessity  of  further 
support  if  the  fort  was  to  be  maintained  against 
the  infidel.  The  grand-master  listened,  with  a  dis- 
pleasure which  he  could  not  conceal,  to  this  ap- 
plication for  aid  so  early  in  the  siege ;  especially  as 
it  was  made  in  the  presence  of  many  of  the  knights, 


VOL.  II. 


52 


410 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV. 


who  miglit  well  be  disheartened  by  it.  He  coldly 
asked  La  Cerda  what  loss  the  garrison  had  suffered. 
The  knight,  evading  the  question,  replied,  that  St. 
Elmo  was  in  the  condition  of  a  sick  man  who 
requires  the  aid  of  the  physician.  "  I  will  be  the 
physician,"  said  La  Valette,  "  and  will  bring  such 
aid  that,  if  I  cannot  cure  your  fears,  I  may  at  least 
hope  to  save  the  place  from  falling  into  the  hands 
of  the  enemy."  So  impressed  was  he  with  the  im- 
portance of  maintaining  this  post  to  the  last  ex- 
tremity, if  it  were  only  to  gain  time  for  the  Sicilian 
succors,  that  he  was  prepared,  as  he  said,  to  throw 
himself  into  the  fortress,  and,  if  need  were,  to  bury 
himself  in  its  ruins. 

From  this  desperate  resolution  he  was  dissuaded 
by  the  unanimous  voice  of  the  knights,  who  repre- 
sented to  him  that  it  was  not  the  duty  of  the  com- 
mander-in-chief to  expose  himself  like  a  common 
soldier,  and  take  his  place  in  the  forlorn  hope. 
The  grand-master  saw  the  justice  of  these  remon- 
strances ;  and,  as  the  knights  contended  with  one 
another  for  the  honor  of  assuming  the  post  of 
danger,  he  allowed  fifty  of  the  order,  together 
with  two  companies  of  soldiers,  to  return  with 
La  Cerda  to  the  fort.  The  reinforcement  was 
placed  under  command  of  the  Chevalier  de  Me- 
dran,  a  gallant  soldier,  on  whose  constancy  and 
courage  La  Valette  knew  he  could  rely.  Before 
its  departure,  the  strength  of  the  force  was  in- 
creased by  the  arrival  of  several  knights  from 
Sicily,  who   obtained  the   grand-master's  leave  to 


Zh.  m.]  OPERATIONS  AGAINST  ST.  ELMO. 


411 


share  the  fortunes  of  their  brethren  in  St.  Elmo. 
The  troops  were  sent  across  the  harbor,  together 
with  supplies  of  food  and  ammunition,  in  open 
boats,  under  cover  of  a  heavy  fire  from  the  guns  of 
St.  Angelo.  A  shot  happened  to  fall  on  a  stone  near 
the  trenches,  in  which  Piali,  the  Turkish  admiral, 
was  standing ;  and,  a  splinter  striking  him  on  the 
head,  he  was  severely,  though  not  mortally  wound- 
ed. La  Valette  took  advantage  of  the  confusion 
created  by  this  incident  to  despatch  a  galley  to 
Sicily,  to  quicken  the  operations  of  the  viceroy, 
and  obtain  from  him  the  promised  succors.  To 
this  Don  Garcia  de  Toledo  replied  by  an  assurance 
that  he  should  come  to  his  relief  by  the  middle  of 
June.^^ 

It  was  now  the  beginning  of  that  month.  Scarce- 
ly had  De  Medran  entered  St.  Elmo,  when  he  head- 
ed a  sally  against  the  Turks,  slew  many  in  the 
trenches,  and  put  the  remainder  to  flight.  But  tbey 
soon  returned  in  such  overwhelming  force  as  com 
pelled  the  Christians  to  retreat  and  take  refuge  with- 
in their  works.  Unfortunately,  the  smoke  of  the 
musketry,  borne  along  by  a  southerly  breeze,  drift- 
ed in  the  direction  of  the  castle ;  and  under  cover 
of  it,  the  Turks  succeeded  in  getting  possession  of 
the  counterscarp.  As  the  smoke  cleared  away,  the 
garrison  were  greatly  dismayed  at  seeing  the  Mos- 
lem standard  planted  on  their  own  defences.     It 

1®  Balbi,  Verdadera  Kelacion,  deron,  Gloriosa  Defensa  de  Malta, 
fol.  37  et  seq.  —  Vertot,  Knights  of  p.  42.  —  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo, 
Malta,  vol.  II.  pp.  200  -  202.—  Cal-    lib.  VI.  cap.  24. 


il2 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IT 


Cm  m.] 


HEROIC  DEFENCE  OF  ST.  ELMO. 


413 


was  in  vain  they  made  every  effort  to  recover 
them.  The  assailants,  speedily  intrenching  them- 
selves behind  a  parapet  formed  of  gabions,  fascines, 
and  wool-sacks,  established  a  permanent  lodgement 
on  the  counterscarp. 

From  this  point,  they  kept  up  a  lively  discharge 
of  musketry  on  the  ravelin,  killing  such  of  its 
defenders  as  ventured  to  show  themselves.  An 
untoward  event  soon  put  them  in  possession  of 
the  ravelin  itself.  A  Turkish  engineer,  reconnoi- 
tring that  outwork  from  the  counterscarp,  is  said  to 
have  perceived  a  sentinel  asleep  on  his  post.  He 
gave  notice  to  his  countrymen;  and  a  party  of 
janizaries  succeeded,  by  means  of  their  ladders, 
in  scaling  the  walls  of  the  ravelin.  The  guard, 
though  few  in  number  and  taken  by  surprise,  still 
endeavored  to  maintain  the  place.  A  sharp  skir- 
mish ensued.  But  the  Turks,  speedily  reinforced 
by  their  comrades,  who  flocked  to  their  support, 
overpowered  the  Christians,  and  forced  them  to 
give  w^ay.  Some  few  succeeded  in  effecting  their 
retreat  into  the  castle.  The  janizaries  followed 
close  on  the  fugitives.  For  a  moment  it  seemed 
as  if  Moslem  and  Christian  would  both  be  hurried 
along  by  the  tide  of  battle  into  the  fort  itself. 
But  fortunately  the  bailiff  of  Negropont,  De  Me- 
dran,  and  some  other  cavaliers,  heading  their  follow- 
ers, threw  themselves  on  the  enemy,  and  checked 
the  pursuit.  A  desperate  struggle  ensued,  in  which 
science  was  of  no  avail,  and  victorj^  waited  on  the 
strongest.     In  the  end  the  janizaries  were  forced  tc 


retreat  in  their  turn.  Every  inch  of  ground  was 
contested ;  until  the  Turks,  pressed  hard  by  their 
adversaries,  fell  back  into  the  ravelin,  where,  with 
the  aid  of  their  comrades,  they  made  a  resolute 
stand  against  the  Christians.  Two  cannon  of  the 
fortress  were  now  brought  to  bear  on  the  outwork. 
But,  though  their  volleys  told  with  murderous 
effect,  the  Turks  threw  themselves  into  the  midst 
of  the  fire,  and  fearlessly  toiled,  until,  by  means  of 
gabions,  sand-bags,  and  other  materials,  they  had 
built  up  a  parapet  which  secured  them  from  annoy- 
ance. All  further  contest  was  rendered  useless; 
and  the  knights,  abandoning  this  important  out- 
work to  the  assailants,  sullenly  withdrew  into  the 
fortress.^^ 

While  this  was  going  on,  a  fresh  body  of  Turks, 
bursting  into  the  ditch  through  a  breach  in  the 
counterscarp,  endeavored  to  carry  the  fortress  by  es 
calade.  Fortunately,  their  ladders  were  too  short; 
and  the  garrison,  plying  them  with  volleys  of 
musketry,  poured  down,  at  the  same  time,  such  a 
torrent  of  missiles  on  their  heads  as  soon  strewed 
the  ditch  with  mangled  limbs  and  carcasses.  At 
this  moment  a  party,  sallying  from  the  fort,  fell  on 


U  In  Vertot*s  account  of  this  af- 
fair, much  is  said  of  a  nondescript 
outwork,  termed  a  cavalier^  —  con- 
veying a  different  idea  from  what 
la  understood  by  that  word  in  mod- 
sm  fortifications.  It  stood  without 
the  walls,  and  was  connected  with 
the  ravelin  by  a  bridge,  the  pos- 
session of  which  was  hotly  con- 


tested by  the  combatants.  Balbi, 
the  Spanish  soldier,  so  often  quot- 
ed, —  one  of  the  actors  in  the 
siege,  though  stationed  at  the  fort 
of  St.  Michael,  —  speaks  of  the 
fight  as  being  carried  on  in  the 
ditch.  His  account  has  the  merit 
of  being  at  once  the  briefest  and 
the  most  intelligible. 


ill 


414 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  FV 


the  enemy  with  great  slaughter,  and  drove  them 
—  such  as  were  in  condition  to  fly  —  back  into 
their  trenches. 

The  engagement,  brought  on,  as  we  have  seen, 
by  accident,  lasted  several  hours.  The  loss  of  the 
Turks  greatly  exceeded  that  of  the  garrison,  which 
amounted  to  less  than  a  hundred  men,  twenty  of 
whom  were  members  of  the  order.  But  the 
greatest  loss  of  the  besieged  was  that  of  the 
counterscarp  and  ravelin.  Thus  shorn  of  its  out- 
works, the  castle  of  St  Elmo  stood  like  some  bare 
and  solitary  trunk  exposed  to  all  the  fury  of  the 
tempest.^ 

The  loss  of  the  ravelin  gave  the  deepest  concern 
to  La  Valette,  which  was  not  mitigated  by  the 
consideration  that  it  was  to  be  charged,  in  part 
at  least,  on  the  negligence  of  its  defenders.  It 
made  him  the  more  solicitous  to  provide  for  the 
security  of  the  castle ;  and  he  sent  his  boats  over 
to  remove  the  wounded,  and  replace  them  by  an 
equal  number  of  able-bodied  knights  and  soldiers. 
It  was  his  intention  that  the  garrison  should  not 
be  encumbered  with  any  who  were  unable  to 
assist  in  the  defence.  Among  the  new  recruits 
was  the  Chevalier  de  Miranda,  —  one  of  the  most 
illustrious  members  of  the  order,  who  had  lately 


^2  Balbi,   Verdadera    Belacion,  Monarcas   Othomanos,  p.  245.— 

fol.  40,  41.  —  Vertot,  Knights  of  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  VI 

Malta,   vol.   11.  pp.   203-205. —  cap.  24.  —  Herrera,  Historia  G« 

Calderon,    Gloriosa    Defensa    de  neral,  lib.  XII.  cap.  4. 
Malta,  p.  48  et  seq.  —  Sagredo, 


Ch.  m. 


HEROIC  DEFENCE  OF  ST.  ELMO. 


415 


arrived  from  Sicily,  —  a  soldier  whose  personal 
authority,  combined  with  great  military  knowledge, 
proved  eminently  viseful  to  the  garrison. 

The  loss  which  the  besiegers  had  sustained  in 
the  late  encounter  was  more  than  counterbalanced 
by  the  arrival,  at  this  time,  of  Dragut,  the  famous 
pasha  of  Tripoli,  with  thirteen  Moorish  galleys 
He  was  welcomed  by  salvos  of  artillery  and  the 
general  rejoicing  of  the  army;  and  this  not  so 
much  on  account  of  the  reinforcement  which  he 
brought  —  the  want  of  which  was  not  then  felt 
—  as  of  his  reputation ;  for  he  was  no  less  cele- 
brated as  an  engineer  than  as  a  naval  commander. 
The  sultan,  who  had  the  highest  opinion  of  his 
merits,  had  ordered  his  generals  to  show  him  the 
greatest  deference ;  and  they,  at  once,  ad\ised 
with  him  as  to  the  best  means  of  prosecuting  the 
siege.  The  effect  of  his  counsel  was  soon  seen 
in  the  more  judicious  and  efficient  measures  that 
were  adopted.  A  battery  of  four  culverins  was 
established  on  the  western  headland  command- 
ing the  entrance  of  Port  Musiette.  It  was  de- 
signed to  operate  on  the  western  flank  of  the 
fortress ;  and  the  point  of  land  on  which  it  stood 
is  still  known  by  the  name  of  the  redoubtable 
corsair. 

Another  battery,  much  more  formidable  from 
the  number  and  size  of  the  pieces,  was  raised  on 
an  eminence  to  the  south  of  St.  Elmo,  and  played 
both  upon  that  fort  and  upon  the  castle  of  St 
Angelo.     The  counterscarp  of  the  former  fortress 


416 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV. 


was  shaved  away,  so  as  to  allow  a  free  range  to 
the  artillery  of  the  besiegers  ;^^  and  two  cannon 
were  planted  on  the  ravelm,  which  directed  a 
searching  fire  on  the  interior  of  the  fortress,  com- 
pelling the  garrison  to  shelter  themselves  behind 
retrenchments  constructed  under  the  direction  ot 
Miranda.^* 

The  artillery  of  the  Turks  now  opened  with 
dreadful  effect,  as  they  concentrated  their  fire  on 
the  naked  walls  of  St.  Elmo.  No  masonry  could 
long  withstand  the  tempest  of  iron  and  ponderous 
marble  shot  which  was  hurled  from  the  gigantic 
engines  of  the  besiegers.  Fragments  of  the  wall 
fell  off  as  if  it  had  been  made  of  plaster ;  and  St. 
Elmo  trembled  to  its  foundations  under  the  thun- 
ders of  the  terrible  ordnance.  The  heart  of  the 
stoutest  warrior  might  well  have  faltered  as  he 
saw  the  rents  each  day  growing  wider  and  wider, 
as  if  gaping  to  give  entrance  to  the  fierce  multitude 
that  was  swarming  at  the  gates. 

In  this  extremity,  with  the  garrison  wasted  by 
the  constant  firing  of  the  enemy,  worn  doAvn  by 
excessive  toil,  many  of  the  knights  wounded,  all 
of  them  harassed  by  long-protracted  vigils,  it  was 
natural  that  the  greater  part  should  feel  they  had 
done  all  that  duty  required  of  them,  and  that, 
without  loss  of  honor,  they  might  retire  from  a 


*' Balbi,   Verdadera   Relacion,  46.  —  Be  Thou,  Hist.  Universelle, 

fol.  89.  torn.  V.  p.  58.  —  Vertot,  Knights 

M  Ibid,  fol.  39-42.  — Calde-  of  Malta,  vol.  II.  p.  204.  — Mini- 
on, Gloriosa  Dcfensa  de  Malta,  p.  ana,  Hist,  de  Espana,  p.  350. 


Cn.  Ill]  HEROIC  DEFENCE  OF   ST.  ELMO. 


417 


post  that  was  no  longer  tenable.  They  accordingly 
resolved  to  apply  to  the  grand-master,  to  send  his 
boats  at  once  to  transport  them  and  the  rest  of  the 
garrison  to  II  Borgo.  The  person  whom  they 
chose  for  the  mission  was  the  Chevalier  de  Me- 
dran,  who,  as  La  Valette  would  know,  was  not 
likely  to  exaggerate  the  difficulties  of  their  sit- 
uation. 

De  Medran  accordingly  crossed  the  harbor,  and, 
in  an  interview  with  the  grand-master,  explained 
the  purpose  of  his  visit.  He  spoke  of  the  dilapi- 
dated state  of  the  fortifications,  and  dwelt  on  the 
forlorn  condition  of  the  garrison,  which  was  only 
to  be  sustained  by  constant  reinforcements  from  II 
Borgo.  But  this  was  merely  another  mode  of  con- 
suming the  strength  of  the  order.  It  would  be 
better,  therefore,  instead  of  prolonging  a  desperate 
defence,  which  must  end  in  the  ruin  of  the  defend- 
ers, to  remove  them  at  once  to  the  town,  where 
they  could  make  common  cause  with  their  breth- 
ren against  the  enemy. 

La  Valette  listened  attentively  to  De  Medran's 
arguments,  which  were  well  deserving  of  consid- 
eration. But,  as  the  affair  was  of  the  last  impor- 
tance to  the  interests  of  his  little  communitv,  he 
chose  to  lay  it  before  the  council  of  Grand  Cross- 
es,—  men  who  filled  the  highest  stations  in  the 
order.  They  were  unanimously  of  the  same  opin- 
ion as  De  Medran.  Not  so  was  La  Valette.  He 
felt  that  with  the  maintenance  of  St.  Elmo  was 
connected  the  very  existence  of  the  order.     The 


VOL.  ir. 


53 


418 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV. 


Ch.  III.]  HEROIC  DEFENCE  OF  ST.  ELMO. 


419 


viceroy  of  Sfcily,  he  told  his  brethren,  had  de- 
clared that,  if  this  strong  post  were  in  the  hands 
of  the  enemy,  he  would  not  hazard  his  master's 
fleet  there  to  save  the  island.  And,  next  to  their 
own  good  swords,  it  was  on  the  Sicilian  succors 
that  they  must  rely.  The  knights  must  maintain 
the  post  at  all  hazards.  The  viceroy  could  not 
abandon  them  in  their  need.  He  himself  would 
not  desert  them.  He  would  keep  them  well  sup- 
plied with  whatever  was  required  for  their  de- 
fence ;  and,  if  necessary,  would  go  over  and  take 
the  command  in  person,  and  make  good  the  place 
against  the  infidel,  or  die  in  the  breach. 

The  elder  knights,  on  learning  the  grand-mas- 
ter's decision,  declared  their  resolution  to  abide  by 
it.  They  knew  how  lightly  he  held  his  life  in 
comparison  with  the  cause  to  which  it  was  con- 
secrated ;  and  they  avowed  their  determination  to 
shed  the  last  drop  of  their  blood  in  defence  of 
the  post  intrusted  to  them.  The  younger  breth- 
ren were  not  so  easily  reconciled  to  the  decision 
of  their  superiors.  To  remain  there  longer  was 
a  wanton  sacrifice  of  life,  they  said.  They  were 
penned  up  in  the  fort,  like  sheep,  tamely  waiting 
to  be  devoured  by  the  fierce  wolves  that  were 
thirsting  for  their  blood.  This  they  could  not  en- 
dure ;  and,  if  the  grand-master  did  not  send  to 
take  them  off"  at  once,  they  would  sally  out  against 
the  enemy,  and  find  an  honorable  death  on  the 
field  of  battle.  A  letter  signed  by  fifty  of  the 
knights,  expressing  their  determination,   was   ac- 


cordingly  despatched  by  one  of  their  number  to 
II  Borgo. 

La  Valette  received  the  communication  with 
feelings  in  which  sorrow  was  mmgled  with  indig- 
nation. It  was  not  enough,  he  said,  for  them  to 
die  the  honorable  death  which  they  so  much  cov- 
eted. TJiey  must  die  in  the  manner  he  prescribed. 
They  were  bound  to  obey  his  commands.  He  re- 
minded them  of  the  vows  taken  at  the  time  of 
their  profession,  and  the  obligation  of  every  loyal 
knight  to  sacrifice  his  life,  if  necessary,  for  the 
good  of  the  order.  Nor  would  they  gain  any- 
thing, he  added,  by  abandoning  their  post  and  re- 
turning to  the  town.  The  Turkish  army  would 
soon  be  at  its  gates,  and  the  viceroy  of  Sicily 
would  leave  them  to  their  fate. 

That  he  might  not  appear,  however,  to  pass 
too  lightly  by  theb  remonstrances.  La  Valette 
determined  to  send  three  commissioners  to  inspect 
St.  Elmo,  and  report  on  its  condition.  This 
would  at  least  have  the  advantage  of  gaining 
time,  when  every  hour  gained  was  of  importance. 
He  also  sent  to  Sicily  to  remonstrate  on  the  tar- 
diness of  the  viceroy's  movements,  and  to  urge  the 
necessity  of  immediate  succors  if  he  would  save 
the  castle. 

The  commissioners  were  received  Avith  joy  by 
the  refractory  knights,  whom  they  found  so  intent 
on  their  departure  that  they  were  already  begin- 
ning to  throw  the  shot  into  the  wells,  to  prevent 
its  falling  into   the  hands  of  the  Turks.     They 


420 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA- 


[Book  IV 


eagerly  showed  the  commissioners  every  part  of 
the  works,  the  ruinous  condition  of  which,  indeed, 
spoke  more  forcibly  than  the  munnurs  of  the  garri- 
son. Two  of  the  body  adopted  the  views  of  the  dis- 
affected party,  and  pronounced  the  fort  no  longer 
tenable.  But  the  third,  an  Italian  cavalier,  named 
Castriot,  was  of  a  different  way  of  thinking.  The 
fortifications,  he  admitted,  were  in  a  bad  state ;  but 
it  was  far  from  a  desperate  one.  With  fresh  troops 
and  the  materials  that  could  be  furnished  from 
the  town,  they  might  soon  be  put  in  condition  to 
hold  out  for  some  time  longer.  Such  an  opinion, 
so  boldly  avowed,  in  opposition  to  the  complaints 
of  the  knights,  touched  their  honor.  A  hot  dis- 
pute arose  between  the  parties;  and  evil  conse- 
quences might  have  ensued,  had  not  the  com- 
mander, De  Broglio,  and  the  bailiff  of  Negropont, 
to  stop  the  tumult,  caused  the  alarm-bell  to  be 
rung,  which  sent  every  knight  to  his  post. 

Castriot,  on  his  return,  made  a  similar  report 
to  the  grand-master,  and  boldly  offered  to  make 
good  his  words.  K  La  Valette  would  allow  him 
to  muster  a  force,  he  would  pass  over  to  St.  Elmo, 
and  put  it  in  condition  still  to  hold  out  against 
the  Ottoman  arms. 

La  Valette  readily  assented  to  a  proposal  which 
he  may  perhaps  have  originally  suggested.  No 
compulsion  was  to  be  used  in  a  service  of  so  much 
danger.  But  volunteers  speedily  came  forward, 
knights,  soldiers,  and  inhabitants  of  both  toAvn 
and  country.     The  only  difficulty  was  in  making 


Ch.  m.] 


HEROIC  DEFENCE  OF  ST.  ELMO. 


421 


the  selection.     All  eagerly  contended  for  the  glory 
of  being  enrolled  in  this  little  band  of  heroes. 

La  Valette  was  cheered  by  the  exhibition  of 
this  generous  spirit  in  his  followers.  It  gave  as- 
surance of  success  stronger  than  was  to  be  derived 
from  any  foreign  aid.  He  wrote  at  once  to  the 
discontented  knights  in  St.  Elmo,  and  informed 
them  of  what  had  been  done.  Their  petition  was 
now  granted.  They  should  be  relieved  that  very 
evening.  They  had  only  to  resign  their  posts  to 
their  successors.  "  Return,  my  brethren,"  he  con- 
cluded, "  to  the  convent.  There  you  will  be  safe 
for  the  present ;  and  I  shall  have  less  apprehen 
sion  for  the  fate  of  the  fortress,  on  which  the  pres- 
ervation of  the  island  so  much  depends.'* 

The  knights,  who  had  received  some  intimation 
of  the  course  the  affair  was  taking  in  II  Borgo, 
were  greatly  disconcerted  by  it.  To  surrender  to 
others  the  post  committed  to  their  own  keeping, 
would  be  a  dishonor  they  could  not  endure.  When 
the  letter  of  the  grand-master  arrived,  their  mor- 
tification was  extreme ;  and  it  was  not  diminished 
by  the  cool  and  cutting  contempt  but  thinly  veiled 
under  a  show  of  solicitude  for  their  personal  safety. 
They  implored  the  bailiff  of  Negropont  to  write 
in  their  name  to  La  Valette,  and  beseech  him  not 
to  subject  them  to  such  a  disgrace.  They  avowed 
their  penitence  for  the  course  they  had  taken,  and 
only  asked  that  they  might  now  be  allowed  to  glrr» 
Ruch  proofs  of  devotion  to  the  cause  as  should 
atone  for  their  errors. 


422 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV 


The  letter  was  despatched  by  a  swimmer  across 
the  harbor.  But  the  grand-master  coldly  answered, 
that  veterans  without  subordination  were  in  his 
eyes  of  less  worth  than  raw  recruits  who  sub- 
mitted to  discipline.  The  wretchedness  of  the 
knights  at  this  repulse  was  unspeakable;  for  in 
their  eyes  dishonor  was  far  worse  than  death. 
In  their  extremity  they  addressed  themselves  again 
to  La  Valette,  renewing  their  protestations  of  sor- 
row for  the  past,  and  in  humble  terms  requesting 
his  forgiveness.  The  chief  felt  that  he  had  pushed 
the  matter  far  enough.  It  was  perhaps  the  point 
to  which  he  had  intended  to  bring  it.  It  would 
not  be  well  to  drive  his  followers  to  despair.  He 
felt  now  they  might  be  trusted.  He  accordingly 
dismissed  the  le\'ies,  retaining  only  a  part  of  these 
bmve  men  to  reinforce  the  garrison;  and  with 
them  he  sent  supplies  of  ammunition,  and  materials 
for  repairing  the  battered  works.^^ 

During  this  time,  the  Turkish  commander  was 
pressing  the  siege  with  vigor.  Day  and  night,  the 
batteries  thundered  on  the  ramparts  of  the  devoted 
fortress.  The  ditch  was  strewed  with  fragments 
torn  from  the  walls  by  the   iron  tempest;  and  a 


15  For  the  preceding  pages,  set- 
dns  fortli  the  embassies  to  La  Va- 
lette,  and  exhibiting  in  such  bold  re- 
lief the  character  of  the  grand-mas- 
ter, I  have  been  chiefly  indebted 
to  Vertot,  (Knights  of  Malta,  vol. 
n.  pp.  309  -  3 1 2.)  The  same  story- 
IP  told,  more  concisely,  by  Calde- 


ron,  Gloriosa  Defonsa  de  Malta 
pp.  60-67;  Cabrera,  Filipe  Se- 
gundo,  lib.  VI.  cap.  25  ;  De  Thou, 
Hist.  Universelle,  torn.  V.  p.  61 
Campana,  Filippo  Secondo,  par. 
II.  p.  159  ;  Baibi,  Verdadera  Re- 
lacion,  fol.  44,  45. 


Ch.  III.] 


HEROIC  DEFENCE  OF  ST.  ELMO. 


423 


yawning  chasm,  which  had  been  gradually  opening 
on  the  southwestern  side  of  the  castle,  showed  that 
a  practicable  breach  was  at  length  effected.  The 
uncommon  vivacity  with  which  the  guns  played 
through  the  whole  of  the  fifteenth  of  June,  and 
the  false  alarms  with  which  the  garrison  was 
harassed  on  the  following  night,  led  to  the  be- 
lief that  a  general  assault  was  immediately  in- 
tended. The  supposition  was  correct.  On  the 
sixteenth,  at  dawn,  the  whole  force  of  the  be- 
siegers was  under  arms.  The  appointed  signal 
was  given  by  the  discharge  of  a  cannon ;  when  a 
numerous  body  of  janizaries,  formed  into  column, 
moved  swiftly  forward  to  storm  the  great  breach 
of  the  castle. 

Meanwhile  the  Ottoman  fleet,  having  left  its 
anchorage  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  island,  had 
moved  round,  and  now  lay  off  the  mouth  of  the 
Great  Port,  where  its  heavy  guns  were  soon  brought 
to  bear  on  the  seaward  side  of  St.  Elmo.  The  bat- 
tery on  Point  Dragut  opened  on  the  western  flank 
of  the  fortress ;  and  four  thousand  musketeers  in 
the  trenches  swept  the  breach  with  showers  of 
bullets,  and  picked  off  those  of  the  garrison  who 
showed  their  heads  above  the  parapet. 

The  guns  of  the  besieged,  during  this  time,  were 
not  idle.  They  boldly  answered  the  cannonade  of 
the  vessels ;  and  on  the  land  side  the  play  of  artil- 
lery and  musketry  Avas  incessant.  The  besieged 
now  concentrated  their  aim  on  the  formidable 
body  of  janizaries,  who,  as  already  noticed,  were. 


I 


n 


» 


424 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV. 


huiTjing  forward  to  the  assault.  Theii*  leading  files 
were  mowed  down,  and  their  flank  cruelly  torn, 
by  the  cannon  of  St.  Angelo,  at  less  than  half  a 
mile's  distance.  But  though  staggered  by  this 
double  fire  on  front  and  flank,  the  janizaries  were 
not  stayed  in  their  career,  nor  even  thrown  into 
disarray.  Heedless  of  those  who  fell,  the  dark 
column  came  steadily  on,  like  a  thunder-cloud; 
while  the  groans  of  the  dying  were  drowned  in  the 
loud  battle-cries  with  Avhich  their  comrades  rushed 
to  the  assault.  The  fosse,  choked  up  with  the  ruins 
of  the  ramparts,  afforded  a  bridge  to  the  assail- 
ants, who  had  no  need  of  the  fascines  with  which 
their  pioneers  were  prepared  to  fill  up  the  chasm. 
The  approach  to  the  breach,  however,  was  some- 
what steep;  and  the  breach  itself  was  defended 
by  a  body  of  knights  and  soldiers,  who  poured  vol- 
leys of  musketry  thick  as  hail  on  the  assailants. 
Still  they  pushed  forward  through  the  storm, 
and,  after  a  fierce  struggle,  the  front  rank  found 
itself  at  the  summit,  face  to  face  with  its  ene- 
mies. But  the  strength  of  the  Turks  was  near- 
ly exhausted  by  theii*  efforts.  They  were  hewn 
down  by  the  Christians,  who  came  fresh  into  ac- 
tion. Yet  others  succeeded  those  who  fell;  till, 
thus  outnumbered,  the  knights  began  to  lose 
ground,  and  the  forces  were  more  equally  matched. 
Then  came  the  struggle  of  man  against  man, 
where  each  party  was  spurred  on  by  the  fury  of 
religious  hate,  and  Christian  and  Moslem  looked 
to   paradise   as   the   reward   of  him  who  fell   in 


Ch.  III.] 


HEROIC  DEFENCE  OF  ST.  ELMO. 


425 


battle  against  the  infidel.  No  mercy  was  asked, 
none  was  shown;  and  long  and  hard  was  the 
conflict  between  the  flower  of  the  Moslem  soldiery 
and  the  best  knights  of  Christendom.  In  the 
heat  of  the  fight  an  audacious  Turk  planted  his 
standard  on  the  rampart.  But  it  was  speedily 
wrenched  away  by  the  Chevalier  de  Medran,  who 
cut  down  the  Mussulman,  and  at  the  same  moment 
received  a  mortal  wound  from  an  arquebuse.^^  As 
the  contest  lasted  far  into  the  day,  the  heat  became 
intense,  and  added  sorely  to  the  distress  of  the 
combatants.  Still  neither  i)arty  slackened  their 
efforts.  Though  several  times  repulsed,  the  Turks 
returned  to  the  assault  with  the  same  spirit  as  be- 
fore ;  and  when  sabre  and  scymitar  were  broken, 
the  combatants  closed  with  their  daggers,  and 
rolled  down  the  declivity  of  the  breach,  struggling 
in  mortal  confiict  with  each  other. 

While  the  work  of  death  was  going  on  in  this 
quarter,  a  vigorous  attempt  was  made  in  another 
to  carry  the  fortress  by  escalade.  A  body  of  Turks, 
penetrating  into  the  fosse,  raised  their  ladders 
against  the  walls,  and,  pushed  forward  by  their 
comrades  in  the  rear,  endeavored  to  force  an  as- 
cent, under  a  plunging  fire  of  musketry  from  the 


16  The  remains  of  Medran  were 
brought  over  to  II  Borgo,  where 
La  Valette,  from  respect  to  his 
memory,  caused  them  to  be  laid 
among  those  of  the  Grand  Crosses. 
—  "  El  gran  Maestro  lo  mando  en- 


terrar  en  una  sepultura,  adonde  se 
entierran  los  cavalleros  dela  jrran 
Cruz,  porque  esta  era  la  mayor 
honra,  que  en  tal  tiempo  le  podia 
hazer,  y  el  muy  bien  la  merecia.* 
Balbi,  Verdadera  Relacion,  fol.  51 


VOL.  II. 


54 


426 


THE  SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV. 


garrison.  Fragments  of  rock,  logs  of  wood,  pon- 
derous iron  shot,  were  rolled  over  the  parapet, 
mingled  with  combustibles  and  hand-grenades, 
which,  exploding  as  they  descended,  shattered 
the  ladders,  and  hurled  the  mangled  bodies  of 
the  assailants  on  the  rocky  bottom  of  the  ditch. 
In  this  contest  one  invention  proved  of  singular 
use  to  the  besieged.  It  was  furnished  them  by 
La  Valette,  and  consisted  of  an  iron  hoop,  wound 
round  with  cloth  steeped  in  nitre  and  bituminous 
substances,  which,  when  ignited,  bunied  with  inex- 
tinguishable fury.  These  hoops,  thrown  on  the  as- 
sailants, inclosed  them  in  their  fiery  circles.  Some- 
times two  were  thus  imprisoned  in  the  same  hoop ; 
and,  as  the  flowing  dress  of  the  Turks  favored  the 
conflagration,  they  were  speedily  wrapped  in  a 
blaze  which  scorched  them  severely,  if  it  did  not 
burn  them  to  death.^^  This  invention,  so  simple, 
—  and  rude,  as  in  our  day  it  might  be  thought,  — 
was  so  disastrous  in  its  effects,  that  it  was  held  in 
more  dread  by  the  Turks  than  any  other  of  the 
fireworks  employed  by  the  besieged. 

A  similar  attempt  to  scale  the  walls  was  made 
on  the  other  side  of  the  castle,  but  was  defeated 
by  a  well-directed  fire  from  the  guns  of  St.  Ange- 
lo  across  the  harbor,  —  which  threw  their  shot 
with  such  precision  as  to  destroy  most  of  the 
storming  party,  and  compel  the  rest  to  abandon 

"  The  invention  of  this  missile  Balbi  refers  it  to  a  brother  of  the 
Vertot  claims  for  La  Valette.  Order,  named  Ramon  Fortunil 
(Knights  of  Malta,  vol.  IL  p.  215.)     (Verdadera  Relacion,  p.  48.) 


Ch.  m.]     HEROIC  DEFENCE  OF  ST.  ELMO. 


421 


their  design.^^  Indeed,  during  the  whole  of  the 
assault,  the  artillery  of  St.  Angelo,  St.  Michael,  and 
11  Borgo  kept  up  so  irritating  a  fire  on  the  ex 
posed  flank  and  rear  of  the  enemy  as  greatly  em 
barrassed  his  movements,  and  did  good  service  to 
the  besieged. 

Thus  the  battle  raged  along  the  water  and  on 
the  land.  The  whole  circuit  of  the  Great  Port 
was  studded  with  fire.  A  din  of  hideous  noises 
rose  in  the  air;  the  roar  of  cannon,  the  rattle 
of  musketry,  the  hissing  of  fiery  missiles,  the 
crash  of  falling  masonry,  the  shrieks  of  the  dying, 
and,  high  above  all,  the  fierce  cries  of  those  who 
struggled  for  mastery !  To  add  to  the  tumult,  in 
the  heat  of  the  fight,  a  spark  falling  into  the  mag- 
azine of  combustibles  in  the  fortress,  it  blew  up 
with  a  tremendous  explosion,  drowning  every  other 
noise,  and  for  a  moment  stilling  the  combat.  A 
cloud  of  smoke  and  vapor,  rising  into  the  air,  set- 
tled heavily,  like  a  dark  canopy,  above  St.  Elmo. 
It  seemed  as  if  a  volcano  had  suddenly  burst  from 
the  peaceful  waters  of  the  Mediterranean,  belching 
out  volumes  of  fire  and  smoke,  and  shaking  the 
island  to  its  centre ! 

The  fight  had  lasted  for  some  hours ;  and  still 
the  little  band  of  Christian  warriors  made  good 

J8  Tlie  first  shot  was  not  so  sue-  a  mano  drecha,  que   no  deviera 

cessful,  killing  eight  of  their  own  pues  de  aquel  tiro  mato  ochode  los 

side ! "  Mas  el  artillero,  o  fuesse  nuestros    que    defendian    aquella 

!a  prissa,  o  fuesse  la  turbacion  que  posta."     Balbi,  Verdadera  Rela^ 

9n  semejantes  casos  suele  sobre  ve-  cion,  fol.  50. 
nir  en  los  hombres  el  se  tuvo  mas 


428 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV 


Ch.  m.] 


HEROIC  DEFENCE  OF  ST.  ELMO. 


429 


J' 


Hi 


their  stand  against  the  overwhelming  odds  of  num- 
bers. The  sun  had  now  risen  high  in  the  heav- 
ens, and  as  its  rays  beat  fiercely  on  the  heads  of 
the  assailants,  their  impetuosity  began  to  slacken. 
At  length,  faint  with  heat  and  excessive  toil, 
and  many  staggering  under  wounds,  it  was  with 
difficulty  that  the  janizaries  could  be  brought 
back  to  the  attack ;  and  Mustapha  saw  with  cha- 
grin that  St.  Elmo  was  not  to  be  won  that  day. 
Soon  after  noon,  he  gave  the  signal  to  retreat; 
and  the  Moslem  host,  drawing  off  under  a  galling 
fire  from  the  garrison,  fell  back  in  sullen  silence 
into  theu-  trenches,  as  the  tiger,  baffled  in  his  ex- 
pected prey,  takes  refuge  from  the  spear  of  the 
hunter  in  his  jungle.^^ 

As  the  Turks  withdrew,  the  garrison  of  St. 
Elmo  raised  a  shout  of  \ictory  that  reached  across 
the  waters,  and  was  cheerily  answered  from  both 
St.  Angelo  and  the  town,  whose  inhabitants  had 
watched  with  intense  interest  the  current  of  the 
figrht,  on  the  result  of  which  their  own  fate  so 
much  depended. 

The  number  of  Moslems  who  perished  in  the 
assault  can  only  be  conjectured.  But  it  must  have 
been  very  large.  That  of  the  garrison  is  stated  as 
high  as  three  hundred  men.  Of  these,  seventeen 
were  knights  of  the  order.     But  the  common  sol 


W  Ibid.,  fol.    49-51.  — Calde-  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  VL 

ron,  Gloriosa  Defensa  de  Malta,  p.  cap.     25.  —  Sagredo,     Moiiarcas 

72  et  seq.  —  Vertot,  Knights  of  Othomanos,    p.    245.  —  Herrcra, 

Malta,  vol.  II.  pp.  214-216.—  Ilistoria  General,  lib.  XII.  cap.  6. 


dier,  it  was  observed,  did  his  duty  as  manfully 
throughout  the  day  as  the  best  knight  by  whose 
side  he  fought.^  Few,  if  any,  of  the  survivors  es- 
caped without  wounds.  Such  as  were  badly  injured 
were  transferred  at  once  to  the  town,  and  an  equal 
number  of  able-bodied  troops  sent  to  replace  them, 
together  with  supplies  of  ammunition,  and  mate 
rials  for  repairing,  as  far  as  possible,  the  damage  to 
the  works.  Among  those  who  suffered  most  from 
their  wounds  was  the  bailiff  of  Negropont.  He 
obstinately  refused  to  be  removed  to  the  town; 
and  when  urged  by  La  Valette  to  allow  a  substi 
tute  to  be  sent  to  relieve  him,  the  veteran  an 
swered,  that  he  was  ready  to  yield  up  his  com- 
mand to  any  one  who  should  be  appointed  in  his 
place;  but  he  trusted  he  should  be  allowed  still 
to  remain  in  St.  Elmo,  and  shed  the  last  drop  of 
his  blood  in  defence  of  the  Faith.^^ 

A  similar  heroic  spirit  was  shown  in  the  com- 
petition of  the  knights,  and  even  of  the  Maltese 
soldiers,  to  take  the  place  of  those  who  had  fallen 
in  the  fortress.  It  was  now  not  merely  the  post 
of  danger,  but,  as  might  be  truly  said,  the  post  of 
death.     Yet  these   brave   men   eagerly  contended 


20  "  En  estc  assalto  y  en  todos 
me  ban  dicho  cavalleros,  que  pele- 
aro  no  solamente  ellos,  y  los  solda- 
dos,  mas  que  los  for^ados,  bonas 
vollas,  y  Maltescs  muneron  con 
tanto  animo,  como  qualquiera  otra 
persona  de  mayor  estima."  Balbi, 
Verdadcra  Relacion,  fol.  51. 


2^  "  Que  si  su  senoria  Illustris- 
sima  tenia  otra  persona,  para  tal 
cargo  mejor,  q  la  embiasse,  quel  lo 
obedeceria  como  a  tal,  mas  quel 
queria  quedar  en  sant  Ermo,  como 
privjido  cavallero,  y  por  sa  reli- 
gion sacrificar  su  cuerpo.**  Ibid, 
fol.  44. 


Ml 


430 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA.  ' 


[Book  IV 


for  it,  as  for  the  palm  of  gloiy ;  and  La  Valette 
was  obliged  to  refuse  the  application  of  twelve 
knights  of  the  language  of  Italy,  on  the  ground 
that  the  complement  of  the  garrison  was  full. 

The  only  spark  of  hope  now  left  was  that  of 
receiving  the  succors  from  Sicily.  But  the  vice- 
roy, far  from  quickening  his  movements,  seemed 
willing  to  play  the  part  of  the  matador  in  one  of 
his  national  bull-fights,  —  allowing  the  contending 
parties  in  the  arena  to  exhaust  themselves  in  the 
struggle,  and  reserving  his  own  appearance  till  a 
single  thrust  from  his  sword  should  decide  the 
combat. 

Still,  some  chance  of  prolonging  its  existence 
remained  to  St.  Elmo  while  the  communication 
could  be  maintained  w^ith  St.  Angelo  and  the  town, 
by  means  of  which  the  sinking  strength  of  the 
garrison  was  continually  renewed  with  the  fresh 
life-blood  that  was  poured  into  its  veins.  The 
Turkish  commander  at  length  became  aware  that, 
if  he  would  end  the  siege,  this  communication 
must  be  cut  off.  It  would  have  been  well  for 
him  had  he  come  to  this  conclusion  sooner. 

By  the  advice  of  Dragut,  the  investment  of  the 
castle  was  to  be  completed  by  continuing  the  lines 
of  intrenchment  to  the  Great  Port,  where  a  battery 
mounted  with  heavy  guns  w^ould  command  the  point 
of  debarkation.  While  conducting  this  work,  the 
Moorish  captain  was  wounded  on  the  head,  by 
the  splinter  from  a  rock  struck  by  a  cannon-shot, 
which  laid  him  senseless  in  the  trenches.     Mus- 


Ch.  III.]  IIEROIC  DEFENCE  OF  ST.  ELMO. 


431 


,.i 


tapha,  commanding  a  cloak  to  be  thrown  over  the 
fallen  chief,  had  him  removed  to  his  tent.  The 
wound  proved  mortal;  and  though  Dragut  sur- 
vived to  learn  the  fate  of  St.  Elmo,  he  seems  to 
have  been  in  no  condition  to  aid  the  siege  by  his 
counsels.  The  loss  of  this  able  captain  was  the 
severest  blow  that  could  have  been  inflicted  on  the 
besiegers. 

While  the  intrenchments  were  in  progress,  the 
enemy  kept  up  an  unintermitting  fire  on  the  tot- 
tering ramparts  of  the  fortress.  This  was  accom- 
panied by  false  alarms,  and  by  night  attacks,  in 
which  the  flaming  missiles,  as  they  shot  through 
the  air,  cast  a  momentary  glare  over  the  waters, 
that  showed  the  dark  outlines  of  St.  Elmo  tower- 
ing in  ruined  majesty  above  the  scene  of  desolation. 
The  artillery-men  of  St.  Angelo,  in  the  obscurity 
of  the  night,  were  guided  in  their  aim  by  the  light 
of  the  enemy's  fireworks.^  These  attacks  were 
made  by  the  Turks,  not  so  much  in  the  expecta- 
tion of  carrying  the  fort,  though  they  were  often 
attended  with  a  considerable  loss  of  life,  as  for  the 
purpose  of  wearmg  out  the  strength  of  the  garrison. 
And  dreary  indeed  was  the  condition  of  the  lat- 
ter; fighting  by  day,  toiling  through  the  live- 
long  night  to  repair  the  ravages  in  the  works, 
they  had  no  power  to  take  either  the  rest  or  the 

82  "  La  escuridad  de  la  noche,  en  san  Miguel,  veyamos  muy  cla- 
fue  luego  muy  clara,  por  la  grade  ramente  sant  Ermo,  y  los  artilleros 
Eatidad  deles  fuegos  artificiales,  que  de  sant  Angel  y  de  otras  partes 
de  ambas  partes  se  arojavan,  y  «Je  apuntavan,  a  la  lumbre  de  los  fa- 
tal manera  que  los  que  estavainos  egos  enemigos.'*    Ibid.,  fol.  48. 


i'\ 


432 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV 


Ch.  III.]  HEROIC  DEFENCE  OF  ST.  ELMO. 


43 


m 


I 


! 


ii 


I 


I 


nourishment  necessary  to  recruit  their  exhausted 
strength.  To  all  this  was  now  to  be  added  a 
feeling  of  deeper  despondency,  as  they  saw  the 
iron  band  closing  around  them  which  was  to 
sever  them  for  ever  from  their  friends. 

On  the  eighteenth  of  the  month,  the  work  of 
investment  was  completed,  and  the  extremity  of 
the  lines  was  garnished  with  a  redoubt  mounting 
two  large  guns,  which,  with  the  musketry  from 
the  trenches,  would  sweep  the  landing-place,  and 
effectually  cut  off  any  further  supplies  from  the 
other  side  of  the  harbor.  Thus  left  to  their 
own  resources,  the  days  of  the  garrison  were 
numbered. 

La  Valette,  who  had  anxiously  witnessed  these 
operations  of  the  enemy,  had  done  all  he  could  to 
retard  them,  by  firing  incessantly  on  the  laborers  in 
the  hope  of  driving  them  from  the  trenches.  When 
the  work  was  completed,  his  soul  was  filled  with 
anguish;  and  his  noble  features,  which  usually 
wore  a  tinge  of  melancholy,  were  clouded  with 
deeper  sadness,  as  he  felt  he  must  now  abandon 
his  brave  comrades  to  their  fate. 

On  the  twentieth  of  the  month  was  the  festival 
of  Corpus  Christi,  which,  in  happier  days,  had 
been  always  celebrated  with  great  pomp  by  the 
Hospitallers.  They  did  not  fail  to  observe  it. 
even  at  this  time.  A  procession  was  formed,  with 
the  grand-master  at  its  head;  and  the  knights 
walked  clad  in  the  dark  robes  of  the  order,  em- 
broidered  with   the  white  cross  of  Malta.     They 


were  accompanied  by  the  whole  population  of  the 
place,  men,  women,  and  childi'en.  They  made 
the  circuit  of  the  town,  taking  the  direction  least 
exposed  to  the  enemy's  fire.  On  reaching  the 
church,  they  prostrated  themselves  on  the  ground, 
and,  with  feelings  rendered  yet  more  solemn  bv 
their  own  situation,  and  above  all  by  that  of  their 
brave  comrades  in  St.  Elmo,  they  implored  the 
Lord  of  Hosts  to  take  pity  on  their  distress,  and 
not  to  allow  his  enemies  to  triumph  over  the  true 
soldiers  of  the  Cross.'^ 

During  the  whole  of  the  twenty-first,  the  fire 
of  the  besiegers  was  kept  up  with  more  than  usual 
severity,  until  in  some  places  the  crumbling  wall 
was  shot  away,  down  to  the  bare  rock  on  which 
it  stood.2^  Their  pioneers,  who  had  collected  loads 
of  brushwood  for  the  purpose,  filled  up  the  ditch 
with  their  fascines ;  which,  as  they  were  covered 
with  wet  earth,  defied  the  efforts  of  the  garrison 
to  set  them  on  fire.  Throughout  the  following 
night  a  succession  of  false  alarms  kept  the  soldiers 
constantly  under  arms.  All  this  prognosticated 
a  general  assault.     It  came  the  next  day. 

With  the  earliest  streak  of  light,  the  Turkisli 
troops  were  in  motion.  Soon  they  came  pouring 
in  over  the  fosse,  which,  choked  up  as  it  was, 
offered  no  impediment.  Some  threw  themselves 
on  the  breach.  The  knights  and  their  followers 
were  there  to  receive   them.     Others   endeavored 

'-^  Balbi,    Verdadera   Relacion,        24  Vertot,  Knights  of  Malta,  toL 
fol.  53.  II.  p.  214. 

VOL.  II.  55 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV. 


to  scale  the  rami^arts,  but  were  driven  back  by 
showers  of  missiles.  The  musketry  was  feeble,  for 
ammunition  had  begun  to  fail.  But  everywhere 
the  assailants  were  met  with  the  same  uncon- 
querable spirit  as  before.  It  seemed  as  if  the 
defenders  of  St.  Elmo,  exhausted  as  thev  had  been 
by  their  extraordinary  sufferings,  had  renewed  their 
strength,  as  by  a  miracle.  Thrice  the  enemy 
returned  to  the  assault ;  and  thrice  he  was  re- 
pulsed. The  carnage  was  terrible ;  Christian  and 
Mussulman  grappling  fiercely  together,  until  the 
ruins  on  which  they  fought  were  heaped  with  the 
bodies  of  the  slain.  « 

The  combat  had  lasted  several  hours.  Amazed 
at  the  resistance  which  he  met  with  from  this 
handful  of  warriors,  Mustapha  felt  that,  if  he 
would  stop  the  waste  of  life  in  his  followers,  he 
must  defer  the  possession  of  the  place  for  one  day 
longer.  Stunned  as  his  enemies  must  be  by  the 
blow  he  had  now  dealt,  it  would  be  beyond  the 
powers  of  nature  for  them  to  stand  another  assault. 
He  accordingly  again  gave  the  signal  for  retreat ; 
and  the  victors  again  raised  the  shout  —  a  feeble 
shout  —  of  triumph  ;  while  the  banner  of  the  or- 
der, floating  from  the  ramparts,  proclaimed  that 
St.  Elmo  was  still  in  the  hands  of  the  Christians ! 
It  was  the  last  triumph  of  the  garrison.^ 

They  were  indeed  reduced  to  extremity;  with 


25  Ihid.,  pp.  216,  217.  — Balbi,    Malta,    p.   80   et  seq.  —  Cabrera, 
Verdadera    Relation,    fol.    54. —    Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  VI.  cap.  25. 
Calderon,    Gloriosa    Defensa    de 


Ch.  m.] 


HEROIC  DEFENCE  OF  ST.  ELMO. 


435 


their  ammunition  nearly  exhausted ;  their  weapons 
battered  and  broken;  their  fortifications  yawning 
with  breaches,  like  some  tempest-tost  vessel  with 
its  seams  opening  in  every  direction,  and  ready  tc 
founder ;  the  few  survivors  covered  with  wounds ; 
and  many  of  them  so  far  crippled  as  to  be  scarcely 
able  to  drag  their  enfeebled  bodies  along  the  ram 
parts.  One  more  attack,  and  the  scene  would  be 
closed. 

In  this  deplorable  state,  they  determined  to 
make  an  effort  to  communicate  with  their  friends 
on  the  other  side  of  the  harbor,  and  report  to 
them  their  condition.  The  distance  was  not  great ; 
and  among  the  Maltese  were  many  excellent  swim- 
mers, who,  trained  from  childhood  to  the  sea,  took 
to  it  as  to  their  native  element.  One  of  these 
offered  to  bear  a  message  to  the  grand-master. 
Diving  and  swimming  long  under  water,  he  was 
fortunate  enough  to  escape  the  enemy's  bullets, 
and  landed  safe  on  the  opposite  shore. 

La  Valette  was  deeply  affected  by  his  storj 
though  not  surprised  by  it.  With  the  rest  of  the 
knights,  he  had  watched  with  straining  eyes  the 
course  of  the  fight ;  and  though  marvelling  that, 
in  spite  of  odds  so  great,  victory  should  have  re- 
mained with  the  Christians,  he  knew  how  dearly 
they  must  have  bought  it.  Though  with  little 
confidence  in  his  success,  he  resolved  to  an- 
swer their  appeal  by  making  one  effort  to  aid 
them.  Five  large  barges  were  instantly  launched, 
and  furnished  with  a  reinforcement  of  troops  and 


436 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV. 


Ch.  III.] 


HEROIC  DEFENCE  OF  ST.  ELMO. 


437 


supplies  for  the  garrison.  The  knights  thronged 
to  the  quay,  each  eagerly  contending  for  the  peril 
ous  right  to  embark  in  them.  They  thought  only 
of  their  comrades  in  St.  Elmo. 

It  turned  out  as  La  Valette  had  foreseen.  The 
landing-place  was  commanded  by  a  batteiy  of 
heavy  guns,  and  by  hundreds  of  musketeers,  men- 
acing instant  death  to  whoever  should  approach 
the  shore.  But  the  knights  were  not  allowed  to 
approach  it ;  for  the  Turkish  admiral,  lying  off  the 
entrance  of  the  Great  Port,  and  aware  of  the  prep- 
arations that  were  making,  sent  a  flotilla  of  his 
lighter  vessels  into  the  harbor,  to  intercept  tl^e 
convoy.  And  so  prompt  were  their  movements, 
that,  unless  the  Christians  had  put  back  again 
with  all  speed,  they  would  have  been  at  once  sur- 
rounded and  captured  by  the  enemy. 

The  defenders  of  St.  Elmo,  who  had  watched 
from  the  ramparts  the  boats  coming  to  their  assist- 
ance, saw  the  failure  of  the  attempt ;  and  the  last 
i-ay  of  hope  faded  away  in  their  bosoms.  Their 
doom  was  sealed.  Little  more  was  left,  but 
calmlv  to  await  the  stroke  of  the  executioner. 
Yet  they  did  not  abandon  themselves  to  an  un- 
manly despair ;  but,  with  heroic  constancy,  they 
prepared  to  die  like  martyrs  for  the  good  cause  to 
which  they  had  consecrated  their  lives. 

That  night  was  passed,  not  in  vain  efforts  to 
repair  the  defences,  with  the  hope  of  protracting 
existence  some  few  hours  longer,  but  in  the 
solemn  preparation   of  men  who  felt   themselves 


standing  on  the  brink  of  eternity.  They  prayed, 
confessed,  received  the  sacrament,  and,  exhorting 
one  another  to  do  their  duty,  again  renewed  thei** 
vows,  which  bound  them  to  lay  down  their  lives, 
if  necessary,  in  defence  of  the  Faith.  Some,  among 
whom  Miranda  and  the  bailiff  of  Negropont  were 
especially  noticed,  went  about  encouraging  and 
consoling  their  brethren,  and,  though  covered  with 
wounds  themselves,  administering  such  comfort  as 
they  could  to  the  sick  and  the  djing ;  —  and  the 
dying  lay  thick  around,  mingled  with  the  dead, 
on  the  ruins  which  were  soon  to  become  their  com- 
n^on  sepulchre.^ 

Thus  passed  away  the  dreary  night ;  when,  ten- 
derly embracing  one  another,  like  friends  who  part 
for  ever,  each  good  knight  repaired  to  his  post,  pre- 
pared to  sell  his  life  as  dearly  as  he  could.  Some 
of  the  more  aged  and  infirm,  and  those  crippled 
bv  their  wounds,  were  borne  in  the  aims  of  their 
comrades  to  the  spot,  where,  seated  on  the  ruins, 
and  wielding  their  ineffectual  swords,  they  pre- 
pared, like  true  and  loyal  knights,  to  die  upon  the 
breach. 

They  did  not  wait  long.  The  Turks,  so  often 
balked  of  their  prey,  called  loudly  to  be  led  to 
the  assault.     Their  advance  was  not  checked  by 


*  "  Ellos  como  aquellos  q  la  ma- 
fiana  havia  de  ser  su  postrer  dia 
en  este  mudo,  unos  con  otros  se 
Eonfessavan,  y  rogavan  a  nuestro 
*enor  que  por  su  infinitJi  misericor- 
dia,  la  tuviessa  de  sus  am.**as,  pues 


le  costaron  su  preciossissima  sangre 
para  redemirlas."  Balbi,  Verda- 
dera  Relacion,  fol.  54. 

See  also  Vertot,  Knights  of  Mai 
ta,  vol.  II.  pp.  217,  218;— Cabif^ 
ra,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  VI.  cap.  25 


» 


» 


438 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV. 


the  feeble  volleys  thrown  at  random  against  them 
from  the  fortress;  and  they  were  soon  climbing 
the  ascent  of  the  breach,  still  slippery  with  the 
carnage  of  the  preceding  day.  But  with  all  their 
numbers,  it  was  long  before  they  could  break  the 
little  line  of  Maltese  chivalry  which  was  there 
to  receive  them.  Incredible  as  it  may  seem,  the 
struggle  lasted  for  some  hours  longer,  while  the 
fate  of  St.  Elmo  hung  suspended  in  the. balance. 
At  length,  after  a  short  respite,  the  Turkish  host 
rallied  for  a  last  assault ;  and  the  tide  of  battle, 
pouring  through  the  ample  breach  with  irresistible 
fury,  bore  down  cavalier  and  soldier,  leaving  no 
living  thing  upon  the  ramparts.  A  small  party  of 
the  knights,  escaping  in  the  tumult,  threw  them- 
selves into  the  chapel ;  but,  finding  that  no  quar- 
ter was  given  to  those  who  surrendered,  they 
rushed  out,  and  perished  on  the  swords  of  the  en- 
emy. A  body  of  nine  cavaliers,  posted  near  the 
end  of  the  fosse,  not  far  from  the  ground  occupied 
by  Dragut's  men,  surrendered  themselves  as  pris- 
oners of  war  to  the  corsairs ;  and  the  latter,  who, 
in  their  piratical  trade,  had  learned  to  regard  men 
as  a  kind  of  merchandise,  happily  refused  to  de- 
liver up  the  Christians  to  the  Turks,  holding  them 
for  ransom.  These  were  the  only  members  of  the 
order  who  survived  the  massacre.*^     A  few  Mal- 

^  Vertot,  whose  appetite  for  the  Elmo.      (Knights  of  Malta,  vol. 

marvellous  sometimes  carries  him  II.  p.  219.)     If  that  were  so,  one 

into  the  miraculous,  gives  us  to  un-  would  like  to  know  how  the  histo- 

derstand  that  not  one  of  the  garri-  rian  got  his  knowledge  of  what  was 

•on  survived  the  storming  of  St.  doing  in  the  fortress,  the  day  and 


Ch.  III.] 


FALL  OF  ST.  ELMO. 


4*^ 


tese  soldiers,  however,  experienced  swimmers,  suc- 
ceeded, amidst  the  tumult,  in  reaching  the  oppo- 
site side  of  the  harbor,  where  they  spread  the  sad 
tidings  of  the  loss  of  St.  Elmo.  This  was  speedily 
confirmed  by  the  volleys  of  the  Turkish  ordnance ; 
and  the  standard  of  the  Crescent,  planted  on  the 
spot  so  lately  occupied  by  the  banner  of  St.  John, 
showed  too  plainly  that  this  strong  post,  the  key 
of  the  island,  had  passed  from  the  Christians  into 
the  hands  of  the  infidel.^ 

The  Ottoman  fleet,  soon  afterward,  doubling  the 
point,  entered  Port  Musiette,  on  the  west,  with 
music  playing,  and  gay  with  pennons  and  stream- 
ers ;  while  the  rocks  rang  with  the  shouts  of  the 
Turkish  soldiery,  and  the  batteries  on  shore  replied 
in  thunders  to  the  artillery  of  the  shipping. 

The  day  on  which  this  occurred,  the  twenty- 
third  of  June,  was  that  of  the  festival  of  St.  John 
the  Baptist,  the  patron  of  the  order.  It  had 
been  always  celebrated  by  the  knights  with  greater 
splendor  than  any  other  anniversary.  Now,  alas ! 
it  was  to  them  a  day  of  humiliation  and  mourning, 


ni'rht  previous  to  the  assault  The 
details  quoted  above  from  Balbi 
account  for  this  knowledge,  and 
carry  with  them  an  air  of  prob- 
ability.   (Vei-dadera  llelacion,  fol. 

65.) 

98  "  Luego  que  entraron  los  Tur- 
cos  en  sant  Ermo,  abatieron  el  es- 
tadarte  de  san  Juan,  y  en  su  lugar 
plantaron  una  vandera  del  gran 
Turco,  y  en  todo  aquel  dia  no  hizi- 
eron  otra  cosa,  que  plantar  vade- 


ras,  y  vanderillas  per  la  muralla, 
se^Tin  su   costumbre."     Ibid.,  fol. 

55. 

See  also,  for  the  storming  of  St. 
Elmo,  Calderon,  Gloriosa  Dcfensa 
de  Malta,  pp.  81-84;  Miniana, 
Hist,  de  Espana,  p.  351 ;  Cabrera, 
Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  VI.  cap.  25; 
Campana,  Filippo  Secondo,  par.  II. 
p.  159 ;  Sagredo,  Monarcas  Otho- 
manos,  p.  245 ;  Vertot,  Knights  ol 
J^ialta,  vol.  II.  p.  219  et  seq. 


440 


SIEGE   OF  MALTA. 


[Boow   IV. 


while  they  had  the  additional  mortification  to  see 
it  observed  as  a  day  of  triumphant  jubilee  by  the 
enemies  of  the  Faith.^ 

To  add  to  their  distress,  Mustapha  sullied  his 
victory  by  some  brutal  acts,  which  seem  to  1  ave 
been  in  keeping  with  his  character.     The  heads  of 
four  of  the  principal  knights,  among  them  those  of 
Miranda  and  the  bailifi*  of  Negropont,  were  set  high 
on  poles  looking  towards  the  town.     A  spectacle 
yet  more  shocking  was  presented  to  the  eyes  of 
the   besieged.      The  Turkish  general   caused  the 
bodies  of  several  cavaliers  —  some  of  them,  it  is 
said,  while  life  was  still  palpitating  within  them  — 
to  be  scored  on  the  bosoms  with  gashes  in  the 
fonn  of  a  cross.     Thus  defaced,  they  were  lashed 
to   planks,  and  thrown   into    the  water.     Several 
of  them  drifted  to  the  opposite  shore,  w^here  they 
were  easily  recognized  by  their  brethren ;   and  La 
Valette,  as  he  gazed  on  the  dishonored  remains  of 
his  dear  companions,  w^as  melted  to   tears.     But 
grief  soon  yielded  to  feelings  of  a  sterner  nature. 
He  commanded  the  heads  of  his  Turkish  prisoners 
to  be  struck  oif,  and  shot  from  the   large  guns 
into  the  enemy's  lines,  —  by  way  of  teaching  the 
Moslems,  as   the   chronicler  tells  us,  a  lesson  of 
humanity !  ^ 

The  number  of  Christians  who  fell  in  this  siege 

»  "A  todos  nos  pesava  en  el  avogado."     Balbi,  Verdadera  Re- 

Rnima  porque  aquellas  emn  fiestas  lacion,  fol.  55. 
que  ?oHan  liazor  los  cavalleros  en  30  ibid.,      fol.      58.  —  Vertot, 

tal  dia,  para  honor  deste  su  santo  Knights  of  Malta,  vol.  II.  p.  220. 


ch.  ni.] 


FALL  OF  ST.  ELMO. 


441 


amounted  to  about  fifteen  hundred.  Of  these  one 
hundred  and  twenty-three  were  members  of  the 
order,  and  among  them  several  of  its  most  il- 
lustrious warriors.^^  The  Turkish  loss  is  esti- 
mated at  eight  thousand,  at  the  head  of  whom 
stood  Dragut,  of  more  account  than  a  legion  of 
the  common  file.  He  was  still  living,  though 
speechless,  when  the  fort  was  stormed.  He  was 
roused  from  his  lethargy  by  the  shouts  of  victory, 
and  w^hen,  upon  turning  with  inquiring  looks  to 
those  around,  he  was  told  the  cause,  he  raised  his 
eyes  to  Heaven,  as  if  in  gratitude  for  the  event, 
and  expired.®* 

The  Turkish  commander,  dismantling  St.  Elmo, 
—  which,  indeed,  was  little  better  than  a  heap  of 
Puins,  —  sent  some  thirty  cannon,  that  had  lined 
the  w^orks,  as  the  trophies  of  victory,  to  Con- 
stantinopla^ 

Thus  ended  the  memorable  siege  of  St.  Elmo, 
in  which  a  handful  of  warriors  withstood,  for  the 
space  of  a  month,  the  whole  strength  of  the 
Turkish  army.  Such  a  result,  while  it  proves  the 
unconquerable  valor  of  the  garrison,  intimates  that 
the  Turks,  however  efficient  they  may  have  been 
in  field  operations,  had  little  skill  as  engineers, 
and  no  acquaintance  with  the  true  principles  of 
conducting  a  siege.     It  must  have  been  obvious, 

31  Balbi  has  given  a  catalogue  of  ^  Vertot,  Knights  of  Malta,  vol. 

the  knights  who  fell  in  the  siege,  II.  p.  219. 

with  the  names  of  the  countries  to  ^  Balbi,    Verdadera  Relacion, 

ivhich  they  respectively  belonged,  fol.  88. 
Verdadera  Relacion,  fol.  56. 


VOL   n. 


56 


II 


442 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  1\  . 


from  the  first,  that,  to  bring  the  siege  to  a  speedy 
issue,  it  was  necessary  to  destroy  the  communica- 
tions of  St.  Elmo  with  the  town.  Yet  this  was 
not  attempted  till  the  arrival  of  Dragut,  who 
early  recommended  the  construction  of  a  battery 
for  this  purpose  on  some  high  land  on  the  op- 
posite side  of  the  Great  Port.  In  this  he  was 
overruled  by  the  Turkish  commander.  It  was 
not  till  some  time  later  that  the  line  of  invest- 
ment, at  the  corsair's  suggestion,  was  continued 
to  the  water's  edge,  —  and  the  fate  of  the  for- 
tress was  decided. 

St.  Elmo  fell.  But  precious  time  had  been  lost, 
—  an  irreparable  loss,  as  it  proved,  to  the  besieg- 
ers ;  while  the  place  had  maintained  so  long  and 
gallant  a  resistance  as  greatly  to  encourage  the 
Christians,  and  in  some  degree  to  diminish  the 
confidence  of  the  Moslems.  "  What  will  not  the 
parent  cost,"  exclaimed  Mustapha,  —  alluding  to 
St.  Angelo,  — "  when  the  child  has  cost  us  so 
dear ! "  ^ 


3*  The  two  principal  authorities 
on  whom  I  have  relied  for  the  siege 
of  Malta  are  Balbi  and  Vertot. 
The  former  was  a  soldier,  who 
served  through  the  siege,  his  ac- 
count of  which,  now  not  easily  met 
with,  was  printed  shortly  after- 
wards, and  in  less  than  three 
years  went  into  a  second  edition, 
—  being  that  used  in  the  present 
work.  As  Balbi  was  both  an  eye- 
witness and  an  actor,  on  a  theatre 
•0  limited  that  nothing  could  be 


well  hidden  from  view,  and  as  he 
wrote  while  events  were  fresh  in 
his  memory,  his  testimony  is  of  the 
highest  value.  It  loses  nothing  by 
the  temperate,  homebred  style  in 
which  the  book  is  written,  like  that 
of  a  man  anxious  only  to  tell  the 
truth,  and  not  to  magnify  the  cause 
or  the  party  to  which  he  is  at- 
tached. In  this  the  honest  soldier 
forms  a  contrast  to  his  more  accom- 
plished rival,  the  Abbe  de  Vertot 
This  eminent  writer  was  invited 


Ch.  III.) 


VERTOT. 


445 


to  compose  the  history  of  the  or- 
der, and  its  archives  were  placed 
by  the  knights  at  his  disposal  for 
this  purpose.  He  accepted  the 
task ;  and  in  performing  it  he  has 
sounded  the  note  of  panegyric  with 
as  hearty  a  good  will  as  if  he  had 
been  a  knight  hospitaller  himself 
This  somewhat  detracts  from  the 
value  of  a  work  which  must  be  ad- 
mitted to  rest,  in  respect  to  mate- 
rials, on  the  soundest  historical 
basis.    The  abbe's  turn  for  the  ro- 


mantic has  probably  aided,  instead 
of  hurting  him,  with  the  generality 
of  readers.  His  clear  and  some- 
times eloquent  style,  the  interest  o( 
his  story,  and  the  dramatic  skill 
with  which  he  brings  before  the 
eye  the  peculiar  traits  of  his  actors, 
redeem,  to  some  extent,  the  prolix- 
ty  of  his  narrative,  and  have  com- 
bined, not  merely  to  commend  the 
book  to  popular  favor,  but  to  make 
it  the  standard  work  on  the  sub- 
ject. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 

n  Borgo  invested.  —  Storming  of  St  Michael.  —  Slaughter  of  the 
Turks.  —  Incessant  Cannonade. —  General  Assault  —  The  Turks 
repulsed.  —  Perilous  Condition  of  II  Borgo.  —  Constancy  of  La 
Valette. 

1565. 

The  strength  of  the  order  was  now  concentrated 
on  the  two  narrow  slips  of  land  which  run  out 
from  the  eastern  side  of  the  Great  Port.  Although 
some  account  of  these  places  has  been  given  to 
the  reader,  it  will  not  be  amiss  to  refresh  his 
recollection  of  what  is  henceforth  to  be  the  scene 
of  operations. 

The  northern  peninsula,  occupied  by  the  town 
of  II  Borgo,  and  at  the  extreme  point  by  the  castle 
of  St.  Angelo,  was  defended  by  works  stronger 
and  in  better  condition  than  the  fortifications  of 
St.  Elmo.  The  care  of  them  was  divided  amons: 
the  different  languages^  each  of  which  gave  its  own 
name  to  the  bastion  it  defended.  Thus  the  Span- 
ish knights  were  intrusted  with  the  bastion  of 
Castile,  on  the  eastern  comer  of  the  peninsula, 
—  destined  to  make  an  important  figure  in  the 
ensuing  siege. 


Ch.  iv.j      pkeparations  of  the  besieged. 


445 


The  parallel  slip  of  land  was  crowned  by  the 
fort  of  St.  Michael,  —  a  work  of  narrower  dimen- 
sions than  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  —  at  the  base 
of  which  might  be  seen  a  small  gathering  of 
houses,  hardly  deserving  the  name  of  a  town. 
This  peninsula  was  surrounded  by  fortifications 
scarcely  yet  completed,  on  which  the  grand-mas- 
ter La  Sangle,  who  gave  his  name  to  the  place, 
had  generously  expended  his  private  fortune.  The 
works  were  terminated,  on  the  extreme  point,  by 
a  low  bastion,  or  rather  demi-bastion,  called  the 
Spur. 

The  precious  interval  gained  by  the  long  deten- 
tion of  the  Turks  before  St.  Elmo  had  been  dili 
gently  employed  by  La  Valette  in  putting  the 
defences  of  both  La  Sangle  and  II  Borgo  in  the 
best  condition  possible  under  the  circumstances. 
In  this  good  work  all  united,  —  men,  women,  and 
children.  All  were  animated  by  the  same  patri- 
otic feeling,  and  by  a  common  hatred  of  the  infi- 
del. La  Valette  ordered  the  heavy  guns  to  be 
taken  from  the  galleys  which  were  lying  at  anchor, 
and  placed  on  the  walls  of  the  fortresses.  He 
directed  that  such  provisions  as  were  in  the  hands 
of  individuals  should  be  delivered  up  for  a  fair 
compensation,  and  transferred  to  the  public  mag- 
azines.^    Five  companies  of  soldiers,  stationed  in 


'  I 


I  By  another  ordinance,  La  Ya-  sons  by  night,  and  ate  their  provis- 

lette  caused  all  the  dogs  in  La  ions  by  day.     Balbi,  Verdadera 

Santrle  and  II  Borgo  to  be  killed,  Relacion,  fol.  29. 
because  they  disturbed  the  garri- 


U6 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV 


the  Notable  City,  in  the  interior  of  the  island,  he 
now  ordered  to  II  Borgo,  where  their  services 
would  be  more  needed.  Finally,  as  there  were  no 
accommodations  for  prisoners,  who,  indeed,  could 
not  be  maintained  without  encroaching  on  the 
supplies  necessary  for  the  garrison.  La  Valette 
commanded  that  no  prisoners  should  be  made,  but 
that  all  who  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  victors 
should  be  put  to  the  sword.^  It  was  to  be  on 
both  sides  a  war  of  extermination. 

At  this  juncture.  La  Valette  had  the  satisfac- 
tion of  recei\ing  a  reinforcement  from  Sicily, 
which,  though  not  large,  was  of  great  importance 
in  the  present  state  of  affairs.  The  viceroy  had, 
at  length,  so  far  yielded  to  the  importunities  of 
the  Knights  of  St.  John  who  were  then  at  his 
court,  impatiently  waiting  for  the  means  of  joining 
their  brethren,  as  to  fit  out  a  squadron  of  four 
galleys,  —  two  of  his  own,  and  two  belonging  to 
the  order.  They  had  forty  knights  on  board,  and 
seven  hundred  soldiers,  excellent  troops,  drawn 
chiefly  from  the  Spanish  garrisons  in  Italy.  The 
vessels  were  placed  under  command  of  Don  Juan 
de  Cardona,  who  was  instructed  to  return  without 
attempting  to  land,  should  he  find  St.  Elmo  in  the 
hands  of  the  enemy.  Cardona,  who  seems  to  have 
had  a  good  share  of  the  timid,  vacillating  policy 
of  his  superior,  fearful  of  the  Ottoman  fleet,  stood 
off  and  on  for  some  days,  without  approaching  the 

*  Vertot,  Enigbts  of  ISIalta,  toL  UL  p.  S. 


Ch.  IV.]        PREPAKATIONS  OF  THE  BESIEGED. 


447 


island.  During  this  time  St.  Elmo  was  taken. 
Cardona,  ignorant  of  the  fact,  steered  towards  the 
south,  and  finally  anchored  off  Pietra  Negra,  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  island.  Here  one  of  the 
knights  was  permitted  to  go  on  shore  to  coUect 
information.  He  there  learned  the  fate  of  St. 
Elmo  ;  but,  as  he  carefully  concealed  the  tidings, 
the  rest  of  the  forces  were  speedily  landed,  and 
Cardona,  with  his  galleys,  was  soon  on  the  way 

to  Sicily. 

The  detachment  was  under  the  command  of  the 
Chevalier  de  Robles,  a  brave  soldier,  and  one  of 
the  most  illustrious  men  of  the  order.  Under 
cover  of  night,  he  passed  within  gun-shot  of  the 
Turkish  lines  without  being  discovered,  and  was  so 
fortunate  as  to  bring  his  men  in  safety  to  the  side 
of  the  English  harbor  opposite  to  II  Borgo,  which 
it  washes  on  the  north.  There  he  found  boats 
awaiting  his  arrival.  They  had  been  provided  by 
the  grand-master,  who  was  advised  of  his  move- 
ments. A  thick  fog  lay  upon  the  waters;  and 
under  its  friendly  mantle  Robles  and  his  troops 
crossed  over  in  safety  to  the  town,  where  they 
were  welcomed  by  the  knights,  who  joyfully  greet- 
ed the  brave  companions  that  had  come  to  share 
with  them  the  perils  of  the  siege.^ 

While  this  was  going  on,  Mustapha,  the  Turk- 
ish commander,  had  been  revolving  in  his  mind, 

3  Ibid.,  p.  4.— Balbl,  Verdadera    Sagredo,  Monarcas  Othomanos,  p 
Relacion,  fol.  64.  —  Calderon,  Glo-    296 . 
riosa  Defensa  de  Malta,  p.  94. — 


448 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV 


Ch.  IV.] 


IL  BORGO  INVESTED. 


449 


whether  it  were  not  possible  to  gain  his  ends  by 
negotiation  instead  of  war,  and  thus  be  spared  the 
waste  of  life  which  the  capture  of  St.  Elmo  had 
cost  him.  He  flattered  himself  that  La  Valette, 
taking  warning  by  the  fate  of  that  fortress,  might 
be  brought  to  capitulate  on  fair  and  honorable 
terms.  He  accordingly  sent  a  messenger  with  a 
summons  to  the  grand-master  to  deliver  up  the 
island,  on  the  assurance  of  a  free  passage  for  him- 
self and  his  followers,  with  all  their  efflects,  to 
Sicily. 

The  envoy  chosen  was  a  Greek  slave,  —  an  old 
man,  w^ho  had  lived  from  boyhood  in  captivity. 
Under  protection  of  a  flag  of  truce,  the  slave 
gained  admission  into  St.  Angelo,  and  was  con- 
ducted blindfold  to  the  presence  of  the  grand- 
master. He  there  delivered  his  message.  La  Va- 
lette calmly  listened,  but  without  deigning  to  re- 
ply; and  when  the  speaker  had  ended,  the  stem 
chief  ordered  him  to  be  taken  from  his  presence, 
and  instantly  hanged.  The  wretched  man  threw 
himself  at  the  feet  of  the  grand-master,  beseeching 
him  to  spare  his  life,  and  protesting  that  he  was 
but  a  poor  slave,  and  had  come,  against  his  will, 
in  obedience  to  the  commands  of  the  Turkish  gen- 
eral. La  Valette,  who  had  probably  no  intention 
from  the  first  to  have  his  order  carried  into  exe- 
cution, afi'ected  to  relent,  declaring,  "however,  that, 
should  any  other  messenger  venture  hereafter  to 
insult  him  with  the  like  proposals,  he  should  not 
escape  so  easily.     The  terrified  old  man  was  then 


dismissed.  As  he  left  the  presence,  he  was  led 
through  long  files  of  the  soldiery  drawn  up  in 
imposing  array,  and  was  shown  the  strong  works 
of  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo.  "  Look,"  said  one  of 
the  officers,  pointing  to  the  deep  ditch  which  sur- 
rounded the  fortress,  "there  is  all  the  room  yvi 
can  afford  your  master;  but  it  is  deep  enough 
to  bury  him  and  his  followers!"  The  slave, 
though  a  Christian,  could  not  be  persuaded  to  re- 
main and  take  his  chance  with  the  besieged.  They 
must  be  beaten  in  the  end,  he  said,  and,  when  re- 
taken by  the  Turks,  his  case  would  be  w^orse  than 

ever.* 

There  was  now  no  alternative  for  Mustapha  but 
to  fight ;  and  he  had  not  lost  a  moment  since  the 
fall  of  St.  Elmo  in  pushing  forward  his  prepara- 
tions. Trenches  had  been  opened  on  the  heights 
at  the  foot  of  Mount  Coradin,  at  the  southern 
extremity  of  the  Great  Port,  and  continued  on  a 
line  that  stretched  to  Mount  St.  Salvador.  Where 
the  soil  was  too  hard  to  be  readily  turned  up,  the 
defences  were  continued  by  a  wall  of  stone.  Along 
the  heights,  on  different  points  of  the  line,  bat- 
teries were  established,  and  mounted  mth  guns  of 
the  heaviest  calibre.  Batteries  were  also  raised 
on  the  high  ground  which,  under  the  name  of 
Mount  Sceberras,  divides'  Port  Musiette  from  the 

4  Calderon,GloriosaDefensade    —Cabrera,  Filipe   Segundo,  lib. 
Malta,  p.  91.  —  Vertot,  Knights  of    VI.  cap.  26.—  Sagredo,  Monarcaa 
Malta,  vol.  III.  p.  3.  — De  Thou,    Othomanos,  p.  246. 
ICstoire  Universelle,  torn.  V.  p.  67. 

VOL.  II.  *7 


I 


450 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA, 


[Book  IV 


Ch.  IV.J 


STORMING  OF  ST.  MICHAEL. 


451 


Great  Port,  terminating  in  the  point  of  land 
crowned  by  St.  Elmo.  A  few  cannon  were  even 
planted  by  the  Turks  on  the  ruins  of  this  castle. 
Thus  the  Christian  fortresses  were  menaced  on 
every  point ;  and  while  the  lines  of  the  besiegers 
cut  off  all  communication  on  the  land  side,  a 
detachment  of  the  fleet,  blocking  up  the  entrance 
to  the  great  port,  effectually  cut  off  intercourse 
by  sea.     The  investment  by  land  and  by  sea  was 

complete. 

Early  in  July  the  wide  circle  of  batteries,  mount- 
ing between  sixty  and  seventy  pieces  of  artillery, 
opened  their  converging  fire  on  the  fortresses,  the 
towns,  and  the  shipping,  which  lay  at  anchor  in 
the  Port  of  Galleys.  The  cannonade  was  returned 
with  spirit  by  the  guns  of  St.  Angelo  and  St. 
Michael,  well  served  by  men  acquainted  with  their 
duty.  So  soon  as  the  breaches  were  practica- 
ble, Mustapha  proposed  to  begin  by  storming 
St.  Michael,  the  weaker  of  the  two  fortresses; 
and  he  determined  to  make  the  assault  by  sea 
as  well  as  by  land.  It  would  not  be  possible, 
however,  to  bring  round  his  vessels  lying  in  Port 
Musiette  into  the  Great  Port,  without  exposing 
tliem  to  the  guns  of  St.  Angelo.  He  resorted, 
therefore,  to  an  expedient  startling  enough,  but 
not  new  in  the  annals  of  warfare.  He  caused 
a  large  number  of  boats  to  be  dragged  across  the 
high  land  which  divides  the  two  harbors.  This 
toilsome  work  was  performed  by  his  Christian 
slaves ;    and   the   garrison  beheld  with   astonish- 


ment the  Turkish  flotilla  descending  the  rugged 
slopes  of  the  opposite  eminence,  and  finally 
launched  on  the  waters  of  the  inland  basin.  No 
less  than  eighty  boats,  some  of  them  of  the  largest 
size,  were  thus  transported  across  the  heights. 

Having   completed  this  great  work,  Mustapha 
made   his   preparations   for  the  assault.     At  this 
time,  he  was  joined  by  a  considerable  reinforce- 
ment  imder   Hassem,  the   Algerme   corsair,  who 
commanded  at  the  memorable  sieges  of  Oran  and 
Mazarquivir.     Struck  with  the  small  size  of  the 
castle  of  St.  Elmo,  Hassem  intimated  his  surprise 
that  it  should  have  held  out  so  long  against  the 
Turkish   arms;    and   he   besought   Mustapha    to 
intrust  him  with  the  conduct  of  the  assault  that 
was  to  be  made  on  Fort  St.  Michael.     The  Turk- 
ish general,  not  unwilling  that  the  presumptuous 
young   chief    should    himself   prove    the    temper 
of   the    Maltese    swords,    readily    gave    him    the 
command,  and  the  day  was  fixed  for  the  attack. 
Fortunately,  at  this  time,  a  deserter,  a  man  of 
some  consequence  in   the  Turkish  army,   crossed 
over  to  II  Borgo,  and  acquainted  the  grand-master 
with  the  designs  of  the  enemy.     La  Sangle  was  de- 
fended  on  the  north,  as  already  noticed,  by  a  strong 
iron  chain,  which,  stretching  across  the  Port  of 
Galleys  at  its  mouth,  would  prevent  the  approach 
of  boats  in  that  direction.     La  Valette  now  caused 
a  row  of  palisades  to  be  sunk  in  the  mud,  at  the 
bottom  of  the  harbor,  in  a  line  extending  from 
the  extreme  point  of  La  Sangle  to  the  foot  of 


I 


152 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV. 


Ch.  IV.] 


STORMING  OF  ST.  MICHAEL. 


453 


Mount  Coradin.  These  were  bound  together  by 
heavy  chains,  so  well  secured  as  to  oppose  an 
effectual  barrier  to  the  passage  of  the  Turkish 
flotilla.  The  length  of  this  barricade  was  not 
o-reat.  But  it  was  a  work  of  much  difficulty,  — 
not  the  less  so  that  it  was  necessary  to  perform 
it  in  the  night,  in  order  to  secure  the  work 
men  from  the  enemy's  guns.  In  little  more  than 
a  week,  it  was  accomplished.  Mustapha  sent  a 
small  body  of  men,  excellent  swimmers,  armed 
with  axes,  to  force  an  opening  in  the  barrier. 
They  had  done  some  mischief  to  the  work,  when 
a  party  of  Maltese,  swimming  out,  with  their 
swords  between  their  teeth,  fell  on  the  Turks, 
beat  them  off,  and  succeeded  in  restoring  the 
palisades.^ 

Early  in  the  morning,  on  the  fifteenth  of  July, 
two  cannon  in  the  Ottoman  lines,  from  opposite 
sides  of  the  Great  Port,  gave  the  signal  for  the 
assault.  Hassem  prepared  to  lead  it,  in  per- 
son, on  the  land  side.  The  attack  by  water  he 
intrusted  to  an  Algerine  corsair,  his  lieutenant. 
Before  the  report  of  the  cannon  had  died  away, 
a  great  number  of  boats  were  seen  by  the  garrison 
of  St.  Michael  putting  off  from  the  opposite  shore. 
They  were  filled  with  troops,  and  among  these,  to 
judge  from  their  dress,  were  many  persons  of  con- 

5  Balbi,VerdaderaRelacion,fol.  pp.  4  -  7.  —  Cabrera,  Filipe   Se- 

61,  62,  68. — Calderon,  Gloriosa  gundo,  lib.  VL  cap.   26.  —  Her- 

IWensa  de  Malta,  pp.  95  - 100. —  rera,  Historia  General,  lib.  XII 

Vertot,  Knights  of  l^Ialta,  vol.  III.  cap.  7. 


dition.  The  account  is  given  by  the  old  soldier 
so  often  quoted,  who,  stationed  on  the  bastion  of 
the  Spur,  had  a  full  view  of  the  enemy.  It  was  a 
gay  spectacle,  these  Moslem  chiefs,  in  their  rich 
Oriental  costumes,  with  their  gaudy-colored  tur- 
bans, and  their  loose,  flowing  mantles  of  crimson 
or  of  cloth  of  gold  and  silver ;  the  beams  of  the 
rising  sun  glancing  on  their  polished  weapons,  — 
their  bows  of  delicate  workmanship,  their  scymitars 
from  the  forges  of  Alexandria  and  Damascus,  their 
muskets  of  Fez.«  "It  was  a  beautiful  sight  to 
see,"  adds  the  chronicler  with  some  naivete,  "if 
one  could  have   looked  on  it  without  danger  to 

himself" ' 

In  advance  of  the  squadron  came  two  or  three 
boats,  bearing  persons  whose  venerable  aspect  and 
dark-colored  robes  proclaimed  them  to  be  the  re- 
ligious men  of  the  Moslems.  They  seemed  to  be 
reciting  from  a  volume  before  them,  and  mutter- 
ing what  might  be  prayers  to  Allah,  —  possibly 
invoking  his  vengeance  on  the  infidel.  But  these 
soon  dropped  astern,  leaving  the  way  open  for 
the  rest  of  the  flotilla,  which  steered  for  the  pal- 
isades, with  the  intention  evidently  of  forcing  a 
passage.     But  the  barrier  proofed  too  strong  for 

«  «  No  avia  hombre  que  no  tru-  bantes.**    Balbi,  Verdadera  Relar 

xesse  aljuba,  el  que  menos  de  gra-  cion,  fol.  70. 

na,  muchos  de  tela  de  oro,  y  de  7  **  Cargadas  de  gente  muy  lu- 

plata,  y  damasco  carmesi,  y  muy  zida,  vista  por  cierto  muy  linda. 

buenas  escopetas  de  fez,  cimitaras  sino  fuera  tan  peligrosa."    Ibid, 

de  Alexandria,  y  de  Damasco,  ar-  ubi  supra. 
eos  muy  finos,  y  muy  ricos  tur- 


I 


I 


454 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV, 


their  efforts ;  and,  chafed  by  the  musketry  which 
now  opened  on  them  from  the  bastion,  the  Alge- 
rine  commander  thi'ew  himself  into  the  water, 
which  was  somewhat  above  his  girdle,  and,  fol- 
lowed by  his  men,  advanced  boldly  towards  the 
shore. 

Two  mortars  were  mounted  on  the  rampart. 
But,  through  some  mismanagement,  they  were 
not  worked ;  and  the  assailants  were  allowed  to 
reach  the  foot  of  the  bastion,  which  they  prepared 
to  carry  by  escalade.  Applyuig  their  ladders,  they 
speedily  began  to  mount ;  when  they  were  assailed 
by  showers  of  stones,  hand-grenades,  and  combusti- 
bles of  various  kinds ;  while  huge  fragments  of  rock 
were  rolled  over  the  parapet,  crushing  men  and 
ladders,  and  scattering  them  in  ruin  below.  The 
ramparts  were  covered  with  knights  and  soldiers, 
among  whom  the  stately  form  of  Antonio  de  Zano- 
guerra,  the  commander  of  the  post,  was  conspicu- 
ous, towering  above  his  comrades,  and  cheering 
them  on  to  the  fight.  Meantime  the  assailants, 
mustering  like  a  swarm  of  hornets  to  the  attack, 
were  soon  seen  replacing  the  broken  ladders,  and 
again  clambering  up  the  walls.  The  leading  files 
were  pushed  upward  by  those  below ;  yet  scarcely 
had  the  bold  adventurers  risen  above  the  parapet,  . 
when  they  were  pierced  by  the  pikes  of  the 
soldiers,  or  struck  down  by  the  swords  and  battle- 
tixes  of  the  knights.  At  this  crisis,  a  spark  unfor- 
tunately falling  into  the  magazine  of  combustibles, 
it  took  fire,  and  blew  up  with  a  terrific  explosion, 


•jh.  I  v.]  STomnNG  or  st.  michael.  455 

kiUing  or  maiming  numbers  of  the  garrison,  and 
rolling  volumes  of  blinding  smoke  along  the  has- 
tion.     The  besiegers  profited  by  the  confusion  tc 
gain   a  footing  on  the  ramparts;    and,  when  the 
clouds  of  vapor  began  to  dissipate,  the   garrison 
were  astonished  to  find  their  enemies  at  their  side, 
and  a  number  of  small  banners,  such  as  the  Turks 
usually  bore  into  the  fight,  planted  on  the  walls. 
The  contest  now  raged  fiercer  than  ever,  as  the  par- 
ties fought  on  more  equal  terms;  — the  Mussul 
mans  smarting  under  their  wounds,  and  the  Chris- 
tians  fired  with  the  recollection  of  St.  Elmo,  and 
the  desire  of  avenging  their  slaughtered  brethren. 
The  struggle  continued  long  after  the  sun,  rismg 
high  in  the  heavens,  poured  down  a  fiood  of  heat 
on  the  combatants ;    and  the  garrison,  pressed  by 
superior  numbers,  weary  and  faint  with  wounds, 
were  hardly  able  to   keep   their  footing   on   the 
slippery  ground,  saturated  with  their  own  blood 
'and   that    of   their    enemies.     Still    the   cheering 
battle-cry  of  St.  John  rose  in  the  air;    and  their 
brave    leader,   Zanoguerra,   at    the    head    of  his 
knights,  was  to  be  seen  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight. 
There  too  was  Brother  Robert,  an  ecclesiastic  of 
the  order,  with  a  sword  in  one  hand  and  a  crucifix 
in  the   other,  though  wounded  himself,   rushing 
among  the  ranks,  and  exhorting  the  men  "  to  fight 
for  the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  die  in  ite 
defence."  ® 


h  "Nuestro  prcdicador  fray  Ruberto,  el  qual  en  todo  el  assalt* 


456 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV 


Ch.  IV.] 


SLAUGHTER  OF  THE  TURKS. 


451 


At  this  crisis  the  commander,  Zanoguerra,  though 
clad  in  armor  of  proof,  was  hit  by  a  random  musket- 
shot,  which  stretched  him  lifeless  on  the  rampart. 
At  his  fall  the  besiegers  set  up  a  shout  of  triumph, 
and  redoubled  their  efforts.     It  would  now  have 
gone  hard  with  the  garrison,  had  it  not  been  for  a 
timely  reinforcement  which  arrived  from  II  Borgo. 
It  was  sent  by  La  Valctte,  who  had  learned  the 
perUous  state  of  the  bastion.     He  had,  not  long 
before  this,  caused  a  floating  bridge  to  be  laid  across 
the  Port  of  Galleys,  —  thus  connecting  the  two 
peninsulas  with  each  other,  and  affording  a  much 
readier  means   of  communication  than  before  ex- 
isted. 

While  this  w^as  going  on,  a  powerful  reinforce- 
ment was  on  its  way  to  the  support  of  the  assail- 
ants.    Ten    boats    of  the   largest   size,   having   a 
thousand  janizaries  on  board,  were  seen  advancinir 
across  the  Great  Harbor  from  the  opposite  shore. 
Taking  warning  by  the  fate  of  their  countrymen, 
they  avoided  the  palisades,  and,  pursuing  a  more 
northerly  course,  stood  for  the  extreme  point  of 
the  Spur.     By  so  domg,  they  exposed  themselves 
to  the  fire  of  a  batteiy  in  St.  Angelo,  sunk  down 
almost  to  the  water's  level.     It  was  this  depressed 
condition   of  the  work  that  secured  it  from  the 
notice  of  the  Turks.     The  battery,  mounted  with 
five  guns,  was   commanded  by  the  Chevalier  de 

yva  per  todas  las  postas  con  un  bien  morir,  y  pelear  per  la  fe  de 
cpucifixo  en  la  una  mano,  y  la  lesu  Christo :  y  fue  herido  esto  di? 
espada  en  la  otra :  animandonos  a .  su  paternidad.*'    Ibid.,  fol  78. 


Guiral,  who  coolly  waited  until  the  enemy  had 
come  within  range  of  his  shot,  when  he  gave 
the  word  to  fire.  The  pieces  were  loaded  with 
heavy  balls,  and  with  bags  filled  with  chain  and 
bits  of  iron.  The  effect  of  the  discharge  was 
terrible.  Nine  of  the  barges  were  shattered  to 
pieces,  and  immediately  sunk.^  The  water  was 
covered  with  the  splinters  of  the  vessels,  with 
mutilated  trunks,  dissevered  limbs,  fragments  of 
clothes,  and  quantities  of  provisions ;  for  the  enemy 
came  prepared  to  take  up  their  quarters  perma- 
nently in  the  fortress.  Amidst  the  dismal  wreck 
a  few  wretches  were  to  be  seen,  struggling  with  the 
waves,  and  calling  on  their  comrades  for  help. 
But  those  in  the  surviving  boat,  when  they  had 
recovered  from  the  shock  of  the  explosion,  had 
no  mind  to  remain  longer  in  so  perilous  a  position, 
but  made  the  best  of  their  way  back  to  the  shore, 
leaving  their  companions  to  their  fate.  Day 
after  day  the  wav6s  threw  upon  the  strand  the 
corpses  of  the  drowned  men ;  and  the  Maltese 
divers  long  continued  to  drag  up  from  the  bottom 
rich  articles  of  wearing-apparel,  ornaments,  and 
even  purses  of  money,  which  had  been  upon  the 
persons  of  the  janizaries.  Eight  hundred  are  said 
to  have  perished  by  this  disaster,  which  may,  not 
improbably,  have  decided  the  fate  of  the  fortress ; 
for  the  strength  of  the  reinforcement  would  have 

'  "Echo   nueve   barcas    delas    ninguno,  y  ijana,  en  esias  barca:* 
mayores  a  fondo  que  no  se  salvo    ochocientos  Turcos."    Ibid.,  foL  72 
VOL.  II.  58 


'^1 

It 

I. 


)    1 


■I 


458 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV 


Cii.  IV.] 


SLAUGHTER  OF  THE  TURKS. 


459 


been  more  than  a  match  for  that  sent  by  La  Valette 
to  the  support  of  the  garrison.^^ 

Meanwhile  the  succors  detached  by  the  grand 
master  had  no  sooner  entered  the  bastion,  than, 
seeing  their  brethren  so  hard  beset,  and  the 
Moslem  flags  planted  along  the  parapet,  they 
cried  their  war-cry,  and  fell  furiously  on  the 
enemy.  In  this  they  were  well  supported  by 
the  garrison,  who  gathered  strength  at  the  sight 
of  the  reinforcement.  The  Turks,  now  pressed 
on  all  sides,  gave  way.  Some  succeeded  in 
making  their  escape  by  the  ladders,  as  they 
had  entered.  Others  were  hurled  down  on  the 
rocks  below.  Most,  turning  on  their  assailants, 
fell  fighting  on  the  rampart  which  they  had  so 
nearly  won.  Those  who  escaped  hurried  to  the 
shore,  hoping  to  gain  the  boats,  which  lay  off  at 
some  distance;  when  a  detachment,  sallying  from 
the  bastion,  intercepted  their  flight.  Thus  at  bay 
they  had  no  alternative  but  to  fight.  But  their 
spuit  was  gone ;  and  they  were  easily  hewed  down 
by  their  pursuers.  Some,  throwing  themselves  on 
their  knees,  piteously  begged  for  mercy.  "  Such 
mercy,"  shouted  the  victors,  "as  you  showed  at 
St.   Elmo ! " "  and  buried  their  daggers  in  their 

bodies. 

AVhile  this  bloody  work  was  going  on  below,  the 

W  This  seems  to  have  been  Bal-  ya  dichas  echavan  su  gete  en  tier- 

\A*a  opinion.  —  "  En  conclusion,  la  ra,  no  les  pudieramos  rcsistir  en 

casamatadelcomendadorGuiralfue  ninguna  manera.**    Ibid.,  fol.  73. 
este  dia  a  juyzio  de  todos  la  salva-        n  Vertot,  Knights  of  Malta,  voL 

cion  de  la  Isla,  porque  si  las  barcas  III.  p.  13. 


knights  and  soldiers,  gathered  on  the  exposed 
points  of  the  bastion  above,  presented  an  obvious 
mark  to  the  Turkish  guns  across  the  water,  which 
had  not  been  worked  during  the  assault,  for  fear  of 
injuring  the  assailants.  Now  that  the  Turks  had 
vanished  from  the  ramparts,  some  heavy  shot  were 
thrown  among  the  Christians,  with  fatal  efiect. 
Among  others  who  were  slain  was  Frederic  de 
Toledo,  a  son  of  the  viceroy  of  Sicily.  He  w^as  a 
young  knight  of  great  promise,  and  was  under  the 
especial  care  of  the  grand-master,  who  kept  him 
constantly  near  his  person.  But  when  the  gen- 
erous  youth  learned  the  extremity  to  which  his 
brethren  in  La  Sangle  were  reduced,  he  secretly 
joined  the  reinforcement  which  was  going  to  their 
relief,  and  did  his  duty  like  a  good  knight  in  the 
combat  which  followed.  While  on  the  rampart, 
he  ^yas  struck  down  by  a  cannon-shot;  and  a 
splinter  from  his  cuirass  mortally  wounded  a  com- 
rade to  whom  he  was  speaking  at  the  time. 

While  the  fight  was  thus  going  on  at  the  Spur, 
Hassem  was  storming  the  breach  of  Fort  St.  Mi- 
chael, on  the  opposite  quarter.  The  storming- 
party,  consisting  of  both  Moors  and  Turks,  rushed 
to  the  assault  with  their  usual  intrepidity.  But 
they  found  a  very  different  enemy  from  the  spec- 
tral forms  which,  wasted  by  toil  and  suffering,  had 
opposed  so  ineffiectual  a  resistance  in  the  last  days 
of  St.  Elmo.  In  vain  did  the  rushing  tide  of  as- 
sailants endeavor  to  force  an  opening  through  the 
stem  array  of  warriors,  which,  like  a  wall  of  iron, 


^i>l 


i 


M 


160 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV 


Ch.  IV.l 


INCESSANT  CANNONADE. 


461 


now  filled  up  the  breach.  EecoQing  in  confu- 
sion, the  leading  files  fell  back  upon  the  rear, 
and  all  was  disorder.  But  Hasseni  soon  re- 
formed his  ranks,  and  again  led  them  to  the 
charge.  Again  they  were  repulsed  with  loss ;  but 
as  fresh  troops  came  to  their  aid,  the  little  gar- 
rison must  have  been  borne  down  by  numbers, 
had  not  their  comrades,  flushed  with  their  recent 
victory  at  the  bastion,  hurried  to  their  support, 
and,  sweeping  like  a  whirlwind  through  the  breach, 
driven  the  enemy  with  dreadful  carnage  along  the 
slope,  and  compelled  him  to  take  refuge  m  his 
trenches. 

Thus  ended  the  first  assault  of  the  besiegers  since 
the  fall  of  St.  Elmo.  The  success  of  the  Christians 
was  complete.  Between  three  and  four  thousand 
Mussulmans,  includmg  those  who  were  drowned, 
—  according  to  the  Maltese  statements,  —  fell  in 
the  two  attacks  on  the  fortress  and  the  bastion. 
But  the  arithmetic  of  an  enemy  is  not  apt  to  be 
exact.^  The  loss  of  the  Christians  did  not  exceed 
two  hundred.  Even  this  was  a  heavy  loss  to  the 
besieged,  and  included  some  of  their  best  knights, 
to  say  nothing  of  others  disabled  by  their  w  ounds. 
Still  it  was  a  signal  victory ;  and  its  influence  was 
felt  in  raising  the  spirits  of  the  besieged,  and  in 
inspiring  them  with  confidence.     La  Valette  was 

W  Compare  Vertot,  Knights  of  der,  raises  the  sum  total  of  the 

Malta,  vol.  III.  p.  13,  and  Balbi,  killed  to  a  somewhat  higher  figure 

Verdadera    Relaeion,  fol.    73.—  than  the  abbd,  —  calling  it  full  foui 

Ihe  latter  chronicler,  for  a  won-  thousand. 


careful  to  cherish  these  feelings.  The  knights, 
followed  by  the  whole  population  of  II  Borgo, 
went  in  solemn  procession  to  the  great  church  of 
St.  Lawrence,  where  Te  Deum  was  chanted,  while 
the  colors  taken  from  the  infidel  were  suspended 
from  the  walls  as  glorious  trophies  of  the  vic- 
tory.^^ 

Mustapha  now  found  that  the  spirit  of  the  be- 
sieged, far  from  being  broken  by  their  late  rever 
ses,  was  higher  than  ever,  as  their  resources  were 
greater,  and  their  fortifications  stronger,  than  those 
of  St.  Elmo.  He  saw  the  necessity  of  proceeding 
with  greater  caution.  He  resolved  to  level  the 
defences  of  the  Christians  with  the  ground,  and 
then,  combining  the  whole  strength  of  his  forces, 
make  simultaneous  assaults  on  II  Borgo  and  St. 
Michael.  His  first  step  was  to  continue  his  line 
of  intrenchments  below  St.  Salvador  to  the  water's 
edge,  and  thus  cut  off  the  enemy's  communication 
with  the  opposite  side  of  the  English  Port,  by 
means  of  which  the  late  reinforcement  from  Sicily 
had  reached  him.  He  further  strengthened  the 
battery  on  St.  Salvador,  arming  it  with  sixteen 
guns,  —  two  of  them  of  such  enormous  calibre,  as 


13  The  particulars  of  the  as- 
saults on  St.  Michael  and  the 
Spur  are  given  by  Balbi,  Verda- 
dera Relacun,  fol.  61-74;  and 
with  more  or  less  inaccuracy  by 
Vertot,  Knights  of  Malta,  vol.  HI. 
pp.  8  - 13 ;  Calderon,  Gloriosa  De- 
fensa  de  Malta,  pp.  110  - 116 ;  De 


Thou,  Histoire  Universelle,  torn. 
V.  pp.  72  -  74 ;  Cabrera,  Filipe 
Segundo,  lib.  V.  cap.  26 ;  Herrera, 
Historia  General,  lib.  XII.  cap.  7 ; 
Sagredo,  Monarcas  Othomanos,  p. 
246 ;  Campana,  Vita  di  Filippo 
Secondo,  torn.  II.  p.  160. 


' '  r 


i? 


i62 


SIEGE  OF  IVLAXTA. 


[Book  IV. 


to  throw  stone  bullets  of  three  hundred  i)oimds' 

weight. 

From  this  ponderous  battery  he  now  opened  a 
crushing  fire  on  the  neighboring  bastion  of  Castile, 
and  on  the  quarter  of  II  Borgo  lying  nearest  to  it. 
The  stoim  of  marble  and  metal  that  fell  upon  the 
houses,  though  these  were  built  of  stone,  soon  laid 
many  of  them  in  ruins;  and  the  shot,  sweeping 
the  streets,  killed  numbers  of  the  inhabitants,  in- 
cluding women  and  children.  La  Valette  caused 
barriers  of  solid  masonry  to  be  raised  across  the 
streets  for  the  protection  of  the  citizens.  As  this 
was  a  work  of  great  danger,  he  put  his  slaves  upon 
it,  trusting,  too,  that  the  enemy  might  be  induced 
to  mitigate  his  fire  from  tenderness  for  the  lives  of 
his  Moslem  brethren.  But  m  such  an  expectation 
he  greatly  erred.  More  than  five  hundred  slaves 
fell  under  the  incessant  volleys  of  the  besiegers ; 
and  it  was  only  by  the  most  severe,  indeed  cruel 
treatment,  that  these  unfortunate  beings  could  be 
made  to  resume  their  labors.^* 

La  Valette,  at  this  time,  in  order  to  protect  the 
town  against  assault  on  the  side  of  the  English 
Port,  caused  a  number  of  vessels  laden  with  heavy 
stones  to  be  sunk  not  far  from  shore.     They  Avere 


M  Cruel  indeed,  according  to 
tlie  report  of  Balbi,  who  tells  us 
tliat  the  Christians  cut  off  the  ears 
jf  the  more  refractory,  and  even 
put  some  of  them  to  death,  —  pour 
encourager  les  autres.  —  "  Han  mu- 
erto  en  esta  jomada   al  trabajo 


mas  de  quinientos  esclavos ;  mas  los 
pobres  Uegaron  atal  de  puros  can- 
sados  y  acabados  del  trabajo  con- 
tin  ao,  que  no  podian  estar  en  pic, 
y  se  dexavan  cortar  las  orejas  y 
matar,  por  no  poder  trabajar  mas." 
Balbi,  Venb'lera  Relacion,  fol.  66 


Ch.  IV.] 


INCESSANT  CANNONADE. 


463 


further  secured  by  anchors  bound  to  one  another 
with  chains,  forming  altogether  an  impenetrable 
barrier  against  any  approach  by  water. 

The  inhabitants  of  II  Borgo,  as  well  as  the 
soldiers,  were  now  active  in  preparations  for  de- 
fence. Some  untwisted  large  ropes  and  cables  to 
get  materials  for  making  bags  to  serve  as  gabi- 
ons. Some  were  busy  with  manufacturing  differ- 
ent sorts  of  fireworks,  much  relied  on  as  a  means 
of  defence  by  the  besieged.  Others  were  employed 
in  breaking  up  the  large  stones  from  the  ruined 
buildings  into  smaller  ones,  which  proved  efficient 
missiles  when  hurled  on  the  heads  of  the  assail- 
ants below.  But  the  greatest  and  most  incessant 
labor  was  that  of  repairing  the  breaches,  or  of 
constructing  retrenchments  to  defend  them.  The 
sound  of  the  hammer  and  the  saw  was  every- 
where to  be  heard.  The  fires  of  the  forges  were 
never  suffered  to  go  out.  The  hum  of  labor  was 
as  unintermitting  throughout  the  city  as  in  the  sea- 
son of  peace ;  —  but  with  a  very  different  end.^^ 

Over  all  these  labors  the  grand-master  exercised 
a  careful  superintendence.  He  was  always  on  the 
spot  Avhere  his  presence  was  needed.  His  eye 
seemed  never  to  slumber.  He  perfoimed  many 
of  the  duties  of  a  soldier,  as  well  as  of  a  com- 
mander. He  made  the  rounds  constantly  in  the 
night,  to  see  that  all  was  well,  and  that  the  sen- 
tinels were  at  their  posts.     On  these  occasions  he 

15  Ibid.,  fol.  67,   77.  —  Vertot,     Campana,  Vita  di  Filippo  Secon* 
Knights  of  Malta,  vol.  III.  p.  18.  —    do,  torn.  II.  p.  160. 


*n\ 


!» 


1 


464 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV. 


Ch.  IV.] 


CONDUCT  OF  THE  VICEROY. 


465 


if. 


freely  exposed  himself  to  danger,  showing  a  care- 
lessness of  his  own  safety  that  called  forth  more 
than  once  the  remonstrances  of  his  brethren.  He 
was  indeed  watchful  over  all,  says  the  old  chroni- 
cler who  witnessed  it ;  showing  no  sign  of  appre- 
hension in  his  valiant  countenance,  but  by  his  no- 
ble presence  giving  heart  and  animation  to  his  fol- 
lowers.^* 

Yet  the  stoutest  heart  which  witnessed  the 
scene  might  well  have  thrilled  with  apprehension. 
Far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  the  lines  of  the  Mos- 
lem army  stretched  over  hill  and  valley ;  while  a 
deafening  roar  of  artillery  from  fourteen  batteries 
shook  the  solid  earth,  and,  home  across  the  waters 
for  more  than  a  hundred  miles,  sounded  to  the  in- 
habitants of  Syracuse  and  Catania  like  the  mut- 
terings  of  distant  thunder.^"  In  the  midst  of  this 
turmoil,  and  encompassed  by  the  glittering  lines  of 
the  besiegers,  the  two  Christian  fortresses  might  be 
dimly  discerned  amidst  volumes  of  fire  and  smoke, 
which,  rolling  darkly  round  their  summits,  almost 
hid  from  \'iew  the  banner  of  St.  John,  proudly  wav- 
ing in  the  breeze,  as  in  defiance  of  the  enemy. 

But  the  situation  of  the  garrison,  as  the  works 


16  »*  En  fin  era  in  todo  diligente, 
vigilante  y  animoso,  y  jamas  se  co- 
noscio  en  su  valeroso  semblante 
ninguna  senal  de  temor,  antes  con 
8U  presencia  dava  esfuenjo  y  ani- 
mo  k  sus  cavalleros  y  soldados." 
Balbi,  Verdadera  Relacion,  fol.  77. 

^7  »*  Luego  que  todas  estas  bate- 
rias  comen^aron  de  batir,  y  todas 


en  un  tiempo,  era  tanto  el  niydo 
y  temblor  que  parecia  quererse 
acabar  el  mudo,  y  puedese  bien 
creer  que  el  ruydo  fuesse  tal,  pues 
se  sentia  may  claramente  dende 
Carag09a,  y  dende  Catania,  que  ay 
ciento  y  veynte  millas  de  Malta  a 
estas  dos  ciudades.**    Ibid.,  fol.  78. 


crumbled  under  the  stroke  of  the  bullet,  became 
every  day  more  critical.  La  Valette  contrived  to 
send  information  of  it  to  the  viceroy  of  Sicily, 
urging  him  to  delay  his  coming  no  longer,  if  he 
Avould  save  the  island.  But,  strange  to  say,  such 
was  the  timid  policy  that  had  crept  into  the 
viceroy's  councils,  that  it  was  seriously  discussed 
whether  it  was  expedient  to  send  aid  at  all  to  the 
Knierhts  of  Malta !  Some  insisted  that  there  was 
no  obligation  on  Spain  to  take  any  part  in  the 
quarrel,  and  that  the  knights  should  be  left  to 
fight  out  the  battle  with  the  Turks  in  Malta,  as 
they  had  before  done  in  Rhodes.  Others  remon- 
strated against  this,  declaring  it  would  be  an  eter- 
nal blot  on  the  scutcheon  of  Castile,  if  she  should 
desert  in  their  need  the  brave  chivalry  who  for  so 
many  years  had  been  fighting  the  battles  of  Chris- 
tendom. The  king  of  Spain,  in  particular,  as  the 
feudatory  sovereign  of  the  order,  was  bound  to 
protect  the  island  from  the  Turks,  who,  moreover, 
once  in  possession  of  it,  would  prove  the  most  ter- 
rible scourge  that  ever  fell  on  the  commerce  of  the 
Mediterranean.  The  more  generous,  happily  thf* 
more  politic,  counsel  prevailed ;  and  the  viceroy 
contrived  to  convey  an  assurance  to  the  grand- 
master, that,  if  he  could  hold  out  till  the  end  of 
the  following  month,  he  would  come  with  sixteen 
thousand  men  to  his  relief.^ 

But  this  was  a  long  period  for  men  in  extremity 

18  Vertot,  Knights  of  Malta,  vol.  m.  pp.  21,  22. 
▼OL.  II.  59 


V 


/I 

■If 


1 

H 

'  -'I 


466 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV. 


Jh.  IV.] 


GENERxVL  ASSAULT. 


467 


to  wait.     La  Valette  saw   with  grief  liow   much 
deceived  he  had  been  in  thus  leaning  on  the  vice- 
roy.    He  determined  to  disappoint  his  brethren  no 
longer  by  holding  out  delusive  promises  of  succor. 
"  The  only  succor  to  be  relied  on,"  he  said,  "  was 
that   of  Almighty   God.      He   who   has   hitherto 
preserved  his  children  from  danger  will  not  now 
abandon  them."  ^^     La  Valette  reminded  his  fol- 
lowers, that   they  were   the   soldiers   of  Heaven, 
fighting    for    the    Faith,    for    liberty    and    life. 
"Should   the   enemy  prevail,"  he   added,  with    a 
politic   suggestion,  "the  Christians  could  expect 
no   better   fate   than   that   of  their    comrades    in 
St.   Elmo."     The   grand-mastef  s   admonition   was 
not  lost  upon  the  soldiers.     "  Every  man  of  us," 
says    Balbi,   "resolved    to    die    rather    than   sur- 
render, and  to  sell  his  life  as  dearly  as  possible. 
From  that  hour  no  man  talked  of  succors."  -^ 

One  of  those  spiritual  weapons  from  the  papal 
armory,  which  have  sometimes  proved  of  singular 
efficacy  in  times  of  need,  came  now  most  season- 
ably to  the  aid  of  La  Valette.  A  bull  of  Pius 
the  Fourth  granted  plenary  indulgence  for  all 
sins  which  had  been  committed  by  those  engaged 


W  "Dlxo  publicamente,  que  e. 
i^  aguardava  socorro  ya  sino  era 
del  omnipotente  Dios  el  qual  era 
el  soccorro  verdadero,  y  el  que 
hasta  entonces  nos  havia  librado,  y 
que  ni  mas  ni  menos  nos  libraria 
per  el  avenir,  delas  manos  delos 
enemisos  de  su  santa  fee.'*  Balbi, 
Verdadera  Relacion,  fol.  81. 


20  *'  Esta  habla  del  gran  Maes- 
tre  luego  fue  divulgada,  y  asi  toda 
la  gente  se  determino  de  primero 
morir  que  venir  a  manos  de  turcos 
vivos,  pero  tambien  se  determino 
de  vender  muy  bien  sus  vidas,  y 
asi  ya  no  se  tratava  de  socorro." 
Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


in  this  holy  war  against  the  Moslems.  "  There 
were  few,"  says  the  chronicler,  "  either  women 
or  men,  old  enough  to  appreciate  it,  who  did  not 
strive  to  merit  this  grace  by  most  earnest  devo 
tion  .  to  the  cause,  and  who  did  not  have  entire 
faith  that  all  who  died  in  the  good  work  would 
be  at  once  received  into  glory."  ^^ 

More  than  two  weeks  had  elapsed  since  the  at- 
tempt, so  disastrous  to  the  Turks,  on  the  fortress 
of  St.  Michael.  During  this  time  they  had  kept 
up  an  unintermitting  fire  on  the  Christian  fortifi- 
cations; and  the  effect  was  visible  in  more  than 
one  fearful  gap,  which  invited  the  assault  of  the 
enemy.  The  second  of  August  was  accordingly 
fixed  on  as  the  day  for  a  general  attack,  to  be 
made  on  both  Fort  St.  Michael,  and  on  the  bastion 
of  Castile,  which,  situated  at  the  head  of  the  Eng- 
lish Port,  eastward  of  II  Borgo,  flanked  the  line  of 
defence  on  that  quarter.  Mustapha  was  to  con- 
duct in  person  the  operations  against  the  fort ;  the 
assault  on  the  bastion  he  intrusted  to  Piali ;  —  a 
division  of  the  command  by  which  the  ambition  of 
the  rival  chiefs  would  be  roused  to  the  utmost. 

Fortunately,  La  Valette  obtained  notice,  through 
some  deserters,  of  the  plans  of  the  Turkish  com- 
manders, and  made  his  preparations  accordingly. 
On  the  morning  of  the  second,  Piali's  men,  at 
the  appointed  signal,  moved  briskly  forward  to  the 

*i  "  No  quedo  bombre  ni  mugcr  muy  firme  esperamja  y  fe  de  yr  ala 
de  edad  para  ello  que  no  lo  ganas-  gloria,  muriendo  en  la  jomada.* 
le  con  devocion  grandissima,  y  con    Ibid.,  fol.  71. 


468 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV, 


Cu.  IV.] 


GENERAL  ASSAULT. 


469 


w 


assault.     They  soon  crossed  the  ditch,  but  partially 
filled  with  the  ruins  of  the  rampart,  scaled  the 
ascent  in  face  of  a  sharp  fire  of  musketry,  and 
stood  at  length,  with  ranks  somewhat  shattered, 
on  the  summit  of  the  breach.     But  here  they  were 
opposed  by  retrenchments  within,  thrown  up  by 
the  besieged,  from  behind  which  they  now  poured 
such  heav)'  volleys  among  the  assailants  as  stag- 
gered the  front  of  the  column,  and  compelled  it 
to   fall   back  some  paces  in  the  rear.     Here    it 
was  encountered  by  those  pushing  forward  from 
below    and   some   confusion    ensued.     This   was 
increased  by  the  vigor  with  which   the   garrison 
now   plied    their    musketry   from    the    ramparts, 
hurling  down  at  the  same  time  heavy  logs,  hand- 
grenades,  and  torrents  of  scalding  pitch   on   the 
heads  of  the  assailing  column,  which,  blinded  and 
staggering  under  the  shock,  reeled  to  and  fro  like 
a  drunken  man.     To  add  to  their  distress,  the  feet 
of  the   soldiers  were   torn   and  entangled  among 
the  spikes  which  had  been  thickly  set  in  the  rums 
of  the  breach  by  the  besieged.     Woe  to  him  who 
feU '     His  writhing  body  was  soon  trampled  under 
the  press.     In  vain  the  Moslem  chiefs  endeavored 
to  restore  order.     Their  voices  were  lost  m   the 
wild  uproar  that  raged  around.     At  this  crisis 
the  knights,  charging   at  the  head  of  their  fol- 
lowers, cleared  the  breach,  and  drove  the  enemy 
with  loss  into  his  trenches. 

There  the  broken  column  soon  reformed,  and, 
strengthened  by  fresh  troops,  was  agam  brought 


to  the  attack.  But  this  gave  a  respite  to  the 
garrison,  which  La  Valette  improved  by  causing 
refreshments  to  be  served  to  the  soldiers.  By  his 
provident  care,  skins  containing  wine  and  water, 
with  rations  of  bread,  were  placed  near  the  points 
of  attack,  to  be  distributed  among  the  men.^  The 
garrison,  thus  strengthened,  were  enabled  to  meet 
the  additional  forces  brought  against  them  by  the 
enemy ;  and  the  refreshments  on  the  one  side 
were  made,  in  some  sort,  to  counterbalance  the 
reinforcements  on  the  other.  Vessels  filled  with 
salt  and  water  were  also  at  hand,  to  bathe  the 
w^ounds  of  such  as  were  injured  by  the  fireworks. 
"Without  these  various  precautions,"  says  the 
chronicler,  "  it  would  have  been  invpossible  for  so 
few  men  as  we  were  to  keep  our  ground  against 
such  a  host  as  now  assailed  us  on  every  quar- 
ter." 23 

Again  and  again  the  discomfited  Turks  gathered 
strength  for  a  new  assault,  and  as  often  they  were 
repulsed  with  the  same  loss  as  before ;  till  Piali 
drew  off"  his  dispirited  legions,  and  abandoned  all 
further  attempts  for  that  day. 

It  fared  no  better  on  the  other  quarter,  where 
the  besiegers,  under  the  eye  of  the  commander-in- 
chief,  were  storming  the  fortress  of  St.  MichaeL 


89  "  Tenia  mandado,  que  en  to- 
dos  los  dias  de  assalto  se  llevassen 
por  todas  las  postas  adonde  se  pe- 
leasse,  muchos  buyvelos  de  vino 
aguado,  y  pan  para  refrescar  su 
gente,  pues  de  gente  no  podia." 
Ibid.,  fol.  91. 


23  "  Si  todas  estas  buenas  orde- 
nes  no  uviera,  no  bastaran  fuer^as 
humanas  para  resistir  a  tanta  fu- 
ria  pertinacia,  principalmeto  siendo 
nosotros  tan  pocos,  y  ellos  tantoB.* 
Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


no 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV 


On  every  point  the  stout-hearted  chivalry  of  St. 
John  were  victorious.  But  victory  was  bought  at 
a  heavy  price. 

The  Turks  returaed  to  the  attack  on  the  day 
following,  and  on  each  succeeding  day.  It  was 
evidently  their  purpose  to  profit  by  their  superior 
numbers  to  harass  the  besieged,  and  reduce  them 
to  a  state  of  exhaustion.  One  of  these  assaults 
was  near  being  attended  with  fatal  consequences. 

A  mine  which  ran  under  the  bastion  of  Castile 
was  sprung,  and  brought  down  a  wide  extent  of 
the  rampart.  The  enemy,  prepared  for  the  event, 
mounting  the  smoking  ruins,  poured  through  the 
undefended  breach,  —  or  defended  only  by  a  hand- 
ful of  the  garrison,  who  were  taken  unawares. 
The  next  minute,  the  great  standard  of  the  Otto- 
mans was  planted  on  the  walls.  The  alarm  was 
raised.  In  a  few  moments  the  enemy  would  have 
been  in  the  heart  of  the  town.  An  ecclesiastic  of 
the  order,  Brother  William  by  name,  terrified  at 
the  sight,  made  all  haste  to  the  grand-master,  then 
at  his  usual  station  in  the  public  square.  Kushing 
into  his  presence,  the  priest  called  on  him  to  take 
refuge,  while  he  could,  in  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo, 
as  the  enemy  had  broken  into  the  town.  But  the 
dauntless  chief,  snatching  up  his  pike,  w^ith  no 
other  protection  than  his  helmet,  and  calling  out 
to  those  around  him,  "  Now  is  the  time !  let  us  die 
together ! "  ^  hurried  to  the  scene  of  action,  where, 

••  "El  gran  Maestre  sin  mu-    todos  cavalleros,  q  oy  es  el  dia. 
darse,  ni  alterarse  de  su  semblante    Ibid.,  fol.  90. 
Taleroso,  dixo,  Vamos  a  morir  alia 


Za.  IV.] 


THE  TURKS  REPULSED. 


47  J 


rallying  his  followers,. he  fell  furiously  on  the  en 
emy.  A  sharp  struggle  ensued.  More  than  one 
knight  was  struck  down  by  La  Valette's  side.  He 
himself  was  wounded  in  the  leg  by  the  splinter 
of  a  hand-grenade.  The  alarm-bell  of  the  city 
rang  violently.  The  cry  was  raised  that  the  grand- 
master was  in  danger.  Knights,  soldiers,  and 
townsmen  came  rushing  to  the  spot.  Even  the 
sick  sprang  from  their  beds,  and  made  such  haste 
as  they  could  to  the  rescue.  The  Moslems,  pressed 
on  all  sides,  and  shaken  by  the  resolute  charge, 
fell  back  slowly  on  the  breach. 

The  cavaliers  would  now  fain  have  persuaded 
the  grand-master,  who  was  still  standing  among  a 
heap  of  the  slain,  to  retii-e  to  some  place  of  safety, 
and  leave  the  issue  of  the  battle  to  his  compan- 
ions. But,  fixing  his  eye  on  the  Ottoman  stand- 
ard, still  floating  above  the  walls,  he  mournfully 
shook  his  head,  in  token  of  his  resolution  to  re- 
main. The  garrison,  spurred  on  by  shame  and 
indignation,  again  charged  the  Moslems,  with 
greater  fury  than  before.  The  colors,  wrenched 
from  the  ramparts,  were  torn  to  shreds  in  the 
struggle.  The  Christians  prevailed ;  and  the  Turks, 
quailing  before  their  invincible  spirit,  were  com- 
pelled, after  a  long  and  bloody  contest,  to  aban- 
don the  works  they  had  so  nearly  won. 

Still  the  grand-master,  far  from  retiring,  took 
up  his  quarters  for  the  night  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  breach.  He  had  no  doubt  that  the  enemy 
would  return  under  cover  of  the   darkness,  and 


A 


472 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV 


renew  the  assault  before  the  garrison  had  time  to 
throw  up  retrenchments.  It  was  in  vain  his  com- 
panions besought  liim  to  withdraw,  to  leave  the 
fight  to  them,  and  not  to  risk  a  life  so  precious  to 
the  community.  "  And  how  can  an  old  man  like 
me,"  he  said,  "  end  his  life  more  gloriously,  than 
when  surrounded  by  his  brethren  and  fighting  the 
battles  of  the  Cross  ?  "  '^ 

La  Valette  was  right  in  his  conjecture.  No 
sooner  had  the  darkness  fallen,  than  the  Turkish 
host,  again  under  arms,  came  surging  on  across 
the  ruins  of  the  rampart  towards  the  breach.  But 
it  was  not  under  cover  of  the  darkness ;  for  the 
whole  bay  was  illumined  by  the  incessant  flash  of 
artillery,  by  the  blaze  of  combustibles,  and  the 
fiery  track  of  the  missiles  darting  through  the  air. 
Thus  the  combat  was  carried  on  as  by  the  light 
of  day.  The  garrison,  prepared  for  the  attack, 
renewed  the  scenes  of  the  morning,  and  again 
beat  off  the  assailants,  who,  broken  and  dispirited, 
could  not  be  roused,  even  bv  the  blows  of  their 
officers,  to  return  to  the  assault.^ 


\\- 


n 


25  Vertot,  Knights  of  Malta,  vol. 
III.  p.  24. 

*  Vertot  speaks  of  this  last  at- 
tack as  having  been  made  on  the 
eighteenth  of  August  His  chro- 
nology may  be  corrected  by  that  of 
Balbi,  whose  narrative,  taking  the 
form  of  a  diarv,  in  which  the  trans- 
actions  of  each  day  are  separately 
noted,  bears  the  stamp  of  much 
greater  accuracy.  Balbi  gives 
the  seventh  of  August  as  the  date. 


For  the  preceding  pages  see  Bal- 
bi, Verdadera  Relacion,  fol.  89  - 
93;  Vertot,  Knights  of  Malta,  vol. 
III.  pp.  18-24;  Calderon,  Glori- 
osa  Defensa  de  Malta,  pp.  146- 
150;  De  Thou,  Histoire  Univer- 
selle,  torn.  V.  p.  83  et  seq. ;  Cabre- 
ra, Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  VI.  cap. 
27  ;  Campana,  Vita  di  Filippc 
Secondo,  tom.  II.  p.  16;  Leti,  Vi- 
ta di  Filippo  II.,  tom.  I.  p.  450. 


Ch.  IV.] 


THE  TURKS  REPULSED. 


473 


On  the  following  morning.  La  Valette  caused 
Te  Deum  to  be  sung  in  the  church  of  St.  Law- 
rence, and  thanks  to  be  offered  at  the  throne  of 
grace  for  their  deliverance.  And  if  the  ceremo- 
nies were  not  conducted  \vith  the  accustomed 
pomp  of  the  order  of  St.  John,  they  were  at  least 
accompanied,  says  the  chronicler,  who  bore  his 
part  in  them,  by  the  sacrifice  of  contrite  hearts,  — 
as  was  shown  by  the  tears  of  many  a  man,  as  well 
as  woman,  in  the  procession.-' 

There  was  indeed  almost  as  much  cause  for  sor- 
row as  for  joy.  However  successful  the  Christians 
had  been  in  maintaining  their  defence,  and  how- 
ever severe  the  loss  they  had  inflicted  on  the 
enemy,  they  had  to  mourn  the  loss  of  some 
of  their  most  illustrious  knights,  while  others 
lay  disabled  in  their  beds.  Among  the  latter 
was  De  Monti,  admiral  of  the  order,  now  Ijing 
seriously  ill  of  wounds  received  in  the  defence 
of  St.  Michael,  of  which  he  was  commander. 
Among  the  deaths  was  one  which  came  home 
to  the  bosom  of  La  Valette.  A  young  cavalier, 
his  nephew,  had  engaged  in  a  perilous  enter- 
prise with  a  comrade  of  his  own  age.  The  hand- 
some person  and  gilded  armor  of  the  younger  La 
Valette  made  him  a  fatal  mark  for  the  enemy ;  ^ 

87  "  Y  sino  solenne  como  en  esta  as  u  y  como  el  comendador  era 

reli<^on  se  suele  hazer,  alomenos  hombre  de  linda  disposicion,  y  ar- 

ootrita  a  lo  que  las  lagrimas  de  mado  de  unas  armas  doradas  y  ri- 

muchos  hombres  y  mugeres  davan  cas,  los  turcos  tiraron  todos  a  el." 

«enal."      Balbi,  Verdadera  Rela-  Ibid.,  fol.  76. 
cion,  fol.  94. 

VOL.  II.  6^ 


m 


1 

I 


474 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV. 


and  he  fell,  together  with  his  friend,  in  the  ditch 
before  the  bastion,  under  a  shower  of  Turkish 
bullets.  An  obstinate  struggle  succeeded  between 
Christians  and  Turks  for  the  bodies  of  the  slain. 
The  Christians  were  victorious;  and  La  Valette 
had  the  melancholy  satisfaction  of  rendering  the 
last  offices  to  the  remains  of  his  gallant  kins- 
man. The  brethren  would  ha\e  condoled  with 
him  on  his  loss.  But  his  generous  nature  shrank 
from  the  indulgence  of  a  selfish  sorrow.  "  All  are 
alike  dear  to  me,"  he  said ;  "  all  of  you  I  look  on 
as  my  children.  I  mourn  for  Polastra  "  (the  friend 
of  the  young  La  Valette)  "  as  I  do  for  my  own 
nephew,  j^nd  after  all,  it  matters  little.  They 
have  gone  before  us  but  for  a  short  time."^ 

It  was  indeed  no  season  for  the  indulgence  of 
private  sorrows,  when  those  of  a  public  nature 
pressed  so  heavily  on  the  heart.  Each  day  the 
condition  of  the  besieged  was  becoming  more  crit- 
ical. The  tottering  defences  both  of  II  Borgo  and 
La  Sangle  were  wasting  away  under  the  remorse- 
less  batteries  of  the  besiegers.  Great  numbers, 
not  merely  of  the  knights  and  the  soldiers,  but  of 
the  inhabitants,  had  been  slain.  The  women  of 
the  place  had  shown,  throughout  the  whole  siege, 
the  same  heroic  spirit  as  the  men.  They  not  only 
discharged  the  usual  feminine  duties  of  tending 
and  relieving  the  sick,  but  they  were  often  present 
in  the  battle,  supplying  the  garrison  with  refresh- 


»  Ibid.,  ubi  supra.— Vertot,  Knights  of  Malta,  vol  HI.  p.  14 


Ch.  IV 


CONSTANCY  OF  LA  VALETTE 


475 


ments,  or  carrying  the  ammunition,  or  removing 
the  wounded  to  the  hospital.  Thus  sharing  in 
the  danger  of  their  husbands  and  fathers,  they 
shared  too  in  their  fate.  Many  perished  by 
the  enemy's  fire ;  and  the  dead  bodies  of  women 
lay  mingled  among  those  of  the  men,  on  the  ram- 
parts and  in  the  streets.^  The  hospitals  were 
filled  with  the  sick  and  wounded,  though  fortu- 
nately no  epidemic  had  as  yet  broken  out  to  swell 
the  bills  of  mortality.  Those  of  the  garrison  who 
were  still  in  a  condition  to  do  their  duty  were  worn 
by  long  vigils  and  excessive  toil.  To  fight  by  day, 
to  raise  intrenchments  or  to  repair  the  crumbling 
works  by  night,  was  the  hard  duty  of  the  soldier. 
Brief  was  the  respite  allowed  him  for  repose, — 
a  repose  to  be  broken  at  any  moment  by  the 
sound  of  the  alarm-bell,  and  to  be  obtained  only 
amidst  so  wild  an  uproar,  that  it  seemed,  in  the 
homely  language  of  the  veteran  so  often  quoted, 
"  as  if  the  world  were  coming  to  an  end."  ^^ 

Happily,  through  the  provident  care  of  the 
grand-master,  there  was  still  a  store  of  provisions  in 
the  magazines.  But  the  ammunition  was  already 
getting  low.  Yet  the  resolution  of  the  besieged 
did  not  fail  them.  Their  resolution  had  doubt- 
less been  strengthened  by  the  cruel  conduct  of  the 
Turks  at  St.  Elmo,  which  had  shown  that  from 
such  a  foe  there  was  no  mercy  to  be  expected.  The 
conviction  of  this  had  armed  the  Christians  with 


5f 


30  BaTbi,  Verdadera  Relacion,  fol.  66,  82. 

31  Ibid.,  fol.  78. 


I 


476 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV. 


the  courage  of  despair.  On  foreign  succor  they 
no  longer  relied.  Their  only  reliance  was  where 
their  chief  had  taught  them  to  place  it,  —  on  the 
protection  of  Heaven;  and  La  Valette,  we  are 
assured,  went  every  day  during  the  siege  to  the 
church  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  there  solemnly  in- 
voked that  protection  for  the  brave  men  who, 
alone  and  unaided,  were  thus  fighting  the  battles 
of  the  Faith.«2 

The  forlorn  condition  of  the  defences  led,  at 
length,  the  council  of  Grand  Crosses,  after  much 
deliberation,  to  recommend  to  La  Valette  to  aban- 
don II  Borgo,  and  to  withdraw  with  the  troops  and 
the  inhabitants  into  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo.  The 
grand-master  saw  at  once  the  disastrous  conse- 
quences of  such  a  step,  and  he  rejected  it  without 
a  moment's  hesitation.  To  withdraw  into  the  cas- 
tle, he  said,  would  be  to  give  up  all  communication 
with  St.  Michael,  and  to  abandon  its  brave  garrison 
to  their  fate.  The  inhabitants  of  the  town  would 
fare  no  better.  The  cistern  which  supplied  St. 
Angelo  with  water  would  be  wholly  inadequate 
to  the  demands  of  such  a  midtitude;  and  they 
would  soon  be  reduced  to  extremity.  "  No,  my 
brethren,"  he  concluded  ;  "  here  we  must  make  our 
stand ;  and  here  we  must  die,  if  we  cannot  main- 
tain ourselves  against  the  infidel."^ 


Ill .. 

yi  k 


*  "  Muchas  vezes  solo  se  yva  do  se  tenia  algun  sosiego."    Ibid^ 

a  san  Lorenzo,  y  alii  en  su  apar-  fol.  84. 

tamiento  hazia  ?us  oraclones.    Y        ^  Vertot,  Knights  of  Malta,  vol 

eneste  exercicio  se  occupava  quan-  III.  p.  29. 


Ch.  IV.] 


CONSTANCY  OF  LA  VALETTE. 


477 


He  would  not  even  consent  to  have  the  sacred 
relics,  or  the  archives  of  the  order,  removed  thither, 
as  to  a  place  of  greater  security.  It  would  serve  to 
discourage  the  soldiers,  by  leading  them  to  sup* 
pose  that  he  distrusted  their  power  of  maintain- 
ing the  town  against  the  enemy.  On  the  contrary, 
he  caused  a  bridge  communicating  with  the  castle 
to  be  broken  down,  after  calling  off  the  greater  part 
of  the  garrison  to  assist  in  the  defence  of  II  Borgo. 
By  these  measures,  he  proclaimed  his  unalterable 
determination  to  maintain  the  town  to  the  last, 
and,  if  need  were,  to  die  in  its  defence.^ 


•^  "  Lo  qual  sabido  por  el  gran 
liiaestre  como  aquel  que  jamas 
penso  si  no  morir  el  primo  por  su 
religion,  y  por  quitar  toda  sospe- 
cha  despues  de  aver  heeho  Uevar 
en  sant  Angel  todas  las  reliquias  y 
cosas  de  mas  valor,  mando  quitar 
la  puente,  dando  a  entender  a  todo 


el  mundo  que  enel  no  avia  retirar, 
sino  morir  en  el  Burgo,  o  defen- 
derlo."  Balbi,  Verdadera  Rela- 
eion,  fol.  94. 

See  also  Vertot,  Knights  oF  Mal- 
ta, vol.  in.  p.  29  ;  Calderoii,  Glo- 
riosa  Defensa  de  Malta,  p.  167  et 
seq. 


r 


CHAPTER    V. 


SIEGE   OF   MALTA. 


f 
It 


The  Turks  dispirited.  —  Reinforcement  from  Sicily. —  Siege  raised.— 
Mustapha  defeated.  —  Rejoicings  of  the  Christians.  —  Mortification 
of  Solyman.  —  Review  of  the  Siege.  —  Subsequent  History  of  La 
Valette. 

1565. 

While  the  affairs  of  the  besieged  wore  the 
gloomy  aspect  depicted  in  the  last  chapter,  those 
of  the  besiegers  were  not  much  better.  More  than 
half  their  original  force  had  perished.  To  the 
bloody  roll  of  those  who  had  fallen  in  the  im- 
merous  assaults  were  now  to  be  added  the  daily 
victims  of  pestilence.  In  consequence  of  the  great 
heat,  exposure,  and  bad  food,  a  dysentery  had 
broken  out  in  the  Moslem  army,  and  was  now 
sweeping  off  its  hundreds  in  a  day.  Both  am- 
munition and  pro^dsions  were  running  low.  Ships 
bringing  supplies  were  constantly  intercepted  by 
the  Sicilian  cruisers.  Many  of  the  heavy  guns  were 
so  much  damaged  by  the  fire  of  the  besieged,  as 
to  require  to  be  withdrawn  and  sent  on  board,  the 
fleet,  —  an  operation  performed  with  a  silence  that 
contrasted  strongly  with   the  noisy  shouts   with 


Ch.  V.J 


THE  TURKS  DISPIRITED. 


479 


which  the  batteries  had  been  raised.^  But  these 
movements  could  not  be  conducted  so  silently  as 
to  escape  the  notice  of  the  garrison,  whose  spirits 
were  much  revived  by  the  reports  daily  brought  in 
by  deserters  of  the  condition  of  the  enemy. 

Mustapha  chafed  not  a  little  under  the  long- 
protracted  resistance  of  the  besieged.  He  looked 
with  apprehension  to  the  consequences  of  a  failure 
in  an  expedition  for  which  preparations  had  been 
made  on  so  magnificent  a  scale  by  his  master,  and 
with  so  confident  hopes  of  success.  He  did  not 
fail  to  employ  every  expedient  for  effecting  his 
object  that  the  military  science  of  that  day  —  at 
least  Turkish  science  —  could  devise.  He  ordered 
movable  wooden  towers  to  be  built,  such  as  were 
used  under  the  ancient  system  of  besieging  fortified 
places,  from  which,  when  brought  near  to  the 
works,  his  musketeers  might  send  their  volleys 
into  the  town.  But  the  besieged,  sallying  forth, 
set  fire  to  his  towers,  and  burned  them  to  the 
ground.  He  caused  a  huge  engine  to  be  made, 
of  the  capacity  of  a  hogshead,  filled  with  com- 
bustibles, and  then  swung,  by  means  of  machinery, 
on  the  rampart  of  the  bastion.  But  the  garrison 
succeeded  in  throwing  it  back  on  the  heads  of  the 
inventors,  where  it  exploded  with  terrible  effect. 
Mustapha  ran  his  mines  under  the  Christian  de- 


I 


1  "  Ya  seles  conocia,  que  les  fal-  alaridos  que   davan    al  principio 

tavan  muchas  piecjas  que  avian  em-  quando    las    plantaron.**      Balbi, 

barcado,  y  cada  noche  se  sentia  Verdadera  Relacion,  fol.  101. 
como  las  retiravan,  ala  sorda  sin  los 


480 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV 


^ 


I 


fences,  until  the  ground  was  perforated  like  a 
honey-comb,  and  the  garrison  seemed  to  be  tread- 
ing on  the  cmst  of  a  volcano.  La  Valette  counter- 
mined in  his  tuiTi.  The  Christians,  breaking  into 
the  galleries  of  the  Turks,  engaged  them  boldly 
underground ;  and  sometimes  the  mine,  exploding, 
buried  both  Turk  and  Christian  under  a  heap  of 

ruins. 

Baffled  on  every  point,  with  their  ranks  hourly 
thinned  by  disease,  the  Moslem  troops  grew  sullen 
and  dispirited ;  and  now  that  the  bastion  of  Cas- 
tile, with  its  dilapidated  works,  stood  like  some 
warrior  stripped  of  his  armor,  his  defenceless  con- 
dition inviting  attack,  they  were  in  no  heart  to 
make  it.  As  their  fire  slackened,  and  their  as- 
saults became  fewer  and  more  feeble,  the  confi- 
dence of  the  Christians  was  renewed ;  until  they 
even  cherished  the  hope  of  beating  oif  the  enemy 
without  the  long-promised  succors  from  Sicily. 
Fortunately  for  the  honor  of  Spain,  the  chivalry 
of  St.  John  were  not  driven  to  this  perilous  at- 
tempt. 

Yielding,  at  length,  to  the  solicitations  of  the 
knights  and  the  enthusiasm  of  the  army,  the  viceroy, 
Don  Garcia  de  Toledo,  assembled  his  fleet  in  the 
port  of  Syracuse,  and  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  August 
weighed  anchor.  The  fleet  consisted  of  twenty- 
eight  galleys,  and  carried  eleven  thousand  troops, 
chiefly  Spanish  veterans,  besides  two  hundred 
knights  of  the  order,  who  had  arrived  from  other 
lands,  in  time  to  witness  the  closing  scene  of  the 


Ch.  v.] 


REINFORCEMENT  FROM  SICILY. 


481 


drama.  There  was  also  a  good  number  of  adven- 
turers from  Spain,  Fmnce,  and  Italy,  many  of 
them  persons  of  rank,  and  some  of  high  military 
renown,  who  had  come  to  oflfcr  their  services  to 
the  knights  of  Malta,  and  share  in  their  glorious 
defence. 

Unfortunately,  in  its  short  passage,  the  fleet  en- 
countered a  violent  gale,  which  did  so  much  dam- 
age, that  the  viceroy  was  compelled  to  return  to 
Sicily,  and  repair  his  galleys.  He  then  put  to  sea 
again,  with  better  fortune.  He  succeeded  in  avoid- 
ing the  notice  of  the  enemy,  part  of  whose  arma- 
ment  lay   off  the   mouth   of  the  Great  Port,  to 

prevent  the  arrival  of  succors  to  the  besieged, 

and  on  the  sixth  of  September,  under  cover  of  the 
evening,  entered  the  Bay  of  Melecca,  on  the  west- 
em  side  of  the  island.^ 

The  next  morning,  having  landed  his  forces, 
with  their  baggage  and  military  stores,  the  vice- 
roy sailed  again  for  Sicily,  to  bring  over  an  addi- 
tional reinforcement  of  four  thousand  troops,  then 
waiting  in  Messina.  He  passed  near  enough  to 
the  beleaguered  fortresses  to  be  descried  by  the 
garrisons,  whom  he  saluted  with  three  salvos  of 
artillery,  that  sent  joy  into  their  hearts.^    It  had 


4l| 


3  Ibid.,  fol.  106  et  seq.  — Ver- 
tot,  Knights  of  Malta,  vol.  III.  p. 
33.  —  Calderon,  Gloriosa  Defensa 
de  Malta,  pp.  172-176.  —  De 
Thou,  Histoire  Universelle,  torn. 
V.  p.  88.  — Cabrera,  Filipe  Se- 
gundo,  lib.  YI.   cap.    28.  —  Cam- 

VOL.  ir.  61 


pana,    Vita  di  Filippo    Secondo, 
torn.  II.  p.  166. 

3  "  Como  nucstra  armada  estu- 
vo  en  parte  q  la  descubriamos  cla- 
ramente,  cada  galera  tiro  tres  ve- 
zes."  Balbi,  Verdadera  Relacion, 
fol.  104. 


i 


482 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV 


Ch.  v.] 


SIEGE  RAISED. 


483 


a   very   different    effect   on   the  besiegers.     They 
listened   with   nervous  credulity  to   the   exagger- 
ated    reports    that    soon    reached    them,    of    the 
strength  of  the  reinforcement   landed  in  the  isl- 
and, "by  which  they  expected  to  be  speedily  as- 
saulted  in  their  trenches.     AVithout   delay,  Mus- 
tapha  made  preparations  for  his  departure.     His 
heavy  guns  and  camp  equipage  were  got  on  board 
the  galleys  and  smaller  vessels,  lying  off  the  en- 
trance  of  the  Great   Port,  — and   all   as   silently 
and   expeditiously   as   possible.     La   Valette   had 
hoped   that   some   part  of  the  Spanish  remforce- 
ment  would  be  detached  during  the  night  to  the 
aid  of  the   garrison,  when  he  proposed  to  sally 
on  the   enemy,   and,   if  nothing   better   came   of 
it    to   get   possession   of  their   cannon,  so   much 
needed  for  his  own  fortifications.     But  no   such 
aid  arrived ;  and,  through  the  long  night,  he  im- 
patiently listened  to  the  creaking  of  the  wheels 
that  bore  off  the  artillery  to  the  ships.* 

With  the  first  light  of  morning  the  whole  Otto- 
man  force  was  embarked  on  board  the  vessels,  which, 
weighing  anchor,  moved  round  to  Port  Musictte,  on 
the  other  side  of  St.  Elmo,  where  the  Turkish  fleet, 
the  greater  part  of  which  lay  there,  was  now  bus- 
ily preparing  for  its  departure.  No  sooner  had 
.  the  enemy  withdrawn,  than  the  besieged  poured 

4  «.  En  el  retirar  su  artilleria,  tan  va,  porque  siempre  tuvo  e^eranija 

calladamente  que  no  se  sentia  sino  de  ganarle  P^f^^/;"^^^^^^ 

el  chillldo  de  las  niedas,  y  Dios  ro  se  descubnera.      Ibid.,  fol.  105. 
labe  lo  que  al  gran  Maestre  pesa- 


out  into   the  deserted   trenches.     One  or  two  of 
those  huge  pieces  of  ordnance,  which,  from  their 
unwieldy  size,  it  was  found  impossible  to  remove, 
had  been  abandoned  by  the  Turks,  and  remained 
a  memorable  trophy  of  the  siege.^     The  Christians 
were  not  long  in  levelling  the  Moslem  intrcnch- 
ments;  and  very  soon  the  fiag  of  St.  John  was 
seen  cheerily  waving  in  the  breeze,  above  the  ruins 
of  St.   Elmo.      The  grand-master  now  called  his 
brethren  together  to   offer  up  their  devotions  in 
the  same  church  of  St.  Lawrence  where  he  had 
so  often  invoked  the  protection  of  Heaven  during 
the  siege.     "  Never  did  music  sound  sweeter  to 
human  ears,"  exclaims  Balbi,  "  than  when  those 
bells  summoned  us  to  mass,  at  the  same  hour  at 
which,  for  three  months  past,  they  had  sounded 
the  alarm  against  the  enemy."  ^     A  procession  was 
formed  of  all  the  members  of  the  order,  the  sol- 
diers, and  the  citizens.      The  services  were  per- 
formed with  greater  solemnity,  as  well  as  pomp, 
than  could  be  observed  in  the  hurry  and  tumult 
of  the  siege;   and,  with  overflowing  hearts,  the 


5  The  annory,  in  the  govern- 
ment palace  of  Valetta,  still  con- 
tains a  quantity  of  weapons,  sabres, 
arquebuses,  steel  bows,  and  the  like, 
taken  at  different  times  from  the 
Turks.  Among  others  is  a  cannon 
»f  singular  workmanship,  but  very 
inferior  in  size  to  the  two  pieces 
of  ordnance  mentioned  in  the  text. 
(See  Bigelow*s  Travels  in  Malta 
and  Sicily,  p.  226.)  Those  glori- 
ous trophies  of  the   great  siege 


should  have  found  a  place  among 
the  national  relics. 

6  '*  Yo  no  creo  que  musica  jamas 
consolasse  humanos  sentidos,  como 
d  nosotros  consolo  el  son  de  nue- 
stras  campanas,  alos  ocho,  dia  dela 
Natividad  de  nuestra  seiiora.  Por- 
que el  gran  Maestre  las  hizo  tocar 
todas  ala  hora  que  se  solia  tocar  al 
arma,  y  avia  tres  meses  que  no  las 
ai-iamos  oydo  sino  para  arma." 
Balbi,  Verdadera  Relacion,  fol.  105. 


484 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA, 


[Book  IV. 


Cu.  v.] 


MUSTAPIIA  DEFEATED. 


485 


:^- 


i 


multitude  joined  in  the  Te  Deum,  and  offered  up 
thanks  to  the  Almighty  and  the  Blessed  Virgin 
for  their  deliverance  from  theii-  enemiesJ  It  was 
the  eighth  of  September,  the  day  of  the  Nativity 
of  the  Virgin,  —  a  memorable  day  in  the  annals 
of  Malta,  and  still  observed  by  the  inhabitants 
as  their  most  glorious  anniversary. 

Hardly  had  the  Turkish  galleys,  with  Mustapha 
on  board,  joined  the  great  body  of  the  fleet  in 
Port  Musiette,  than  that  commander  received  such 
intelligence  as  convinced  him  that  the  report  of 
the  Spanish  numbers  had  been  greatly  exagger- 
ated.    He  felt  that  he  had  acted  precipitately,  thus, 
without  a  blow,  to  abandon  the  field  to  an  enemy 
his  inferior  in  strength.     His  head  may  well  have 
ti-embled  on  his  shoulders,  as  he  thought  of  re- 
turning  thus  dishonored   to   the  presence  of  his 
indignant  master.     Piali,  it  is  said,  was  not  dis- 
pleased  at  the  mortification  of  his  rival.    The  want 
of  concert  between  them  had,  in  more  than  one 
instance,  interfered  with  the  success  of  their  oper- 
ations.    It   was  now,  however,  agreed  that  Mus- 
tapha should  disembark,  with  such  of  the  troops 
as  were  in  fighting  order,  and  give  battle  to  the 
Spaniards.     Piali,  meanwhile,  would  quit  the  port, 
which  lay  exposed  to  St.  Elmo,  — now  in  his  ene- 
my's hands,  — and  anchor  farther   west,  in  the 
roads  of  St.  Paul. 

7  «  Esta  manana  pues  tocaron  la  sefior  Dios,  y  d  su  bendita  madm 

nussa,  la  cual  se  canto  muy  de  ma-  por  las  gracias  que  nos  avian  be- 

flana,  y  en  pontifical,  muy  solem-  cho."    Ibid,  ubi  supra. 
nemente,  dando  gracias  d  nuestro 


The  troops  from  Sicily,  during  this  time,  had 
advanced  into  the  interior,  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Citta  Notable^  —  or,  as  it  is  now  called,  Cltta 
Vecchia,  They  were  commanded  by  Ascanio  de 
la  Corila,  an  officer  who  had  gained  a  name  in 
the  Italian  wars.  Alvaro  de  Sande  was  second  in 
command,  the  same  ca[)tain  who  made  so  heroic 
a  defence  in  the  isle  of  Gclves  against  the  Turks. 
The  chivalrous  daring  of  the  latter  officer  was  well 
controlled  by  the  circumspection  of  the  former. 

La  Valette,  who  kept  a  vigilant  eye  on  the 
movements  of  the  Turks,  was  careful  to  advise 
Don  Ascanio  that  they  had  again  disembarked, 
and  were  on  their  march  agamst  him.  The  Span- 
ish general  took  up  a  strong  position  on  an  emi- 
nence, the  approach  to  which  was  rugged  and 
difficult  in  the  extreme.  Thus  secured,  the  prudent 
chief  proposed  to  await  the  assault  of  the  Moslems. 
But  the  knights  of  St.  John,  who  had  accompa- 
nied the  Sicilian  succors,  eager  for  vengeance  on 
the  hated  enemies  of  their  order,  called  loudly 
to  be  led  against  the  infidel.  In  this  they  were 
joined  by  the  fiery  De  Sande  and  the  greater  part 
of  the  troops.  When  the  Moslem  banners,  there- 
fore, came  in  sight,  and  the  dense  columns  of 
the  enemy  were  seen  advancing  across  the  coun- 
try, the  impatience  of  the  Christians  was  not 
to  be  restrained.  The  voices  of  the  officers  were 
'.inheeded.  Don  Ascanio  saw  it  was  not  wise  to 
balk  this  temper  of  the  troops.  They  were  hastily 
formed  in  order  of  battle,  and  then,  like  a  moun- 
tain torrent,  descended  swiftly  against  the  foe. 


I 


iH 


%^ 


$ 


48G 


SIEGE  OF  l^IALTA. 


[Book  IV 


I  -■ 

It4i 


On  their  left  was  a  hill,  crowned  by  a  small 
tower  that  commanded  the  plain.  The  Turks 
had  succeeded  in  getting  possession  of  this  work. 
A  detachment  of  Spaniards  scaled  the  eminence, 
attacked  the  Turks,  and,  after  a  short  struggle, 
carried  the  fort.  Meanwhile  the  Maltese  chivalry, 
with  Sande  and  the  great  body  of  the  army,  fell 
with  fury  on  the  front  and  flanks  of  the  enemy. 
The  Turkish  soldiers,  disgusted  by  the  long  and 
disastrous  siege,  had  embarked  with  great  alac- 
rity; and  they  had  not  repressed  their  murmurs 
of  discontent,  when  they  were  again  made  to  land 
and  renew  the  conflict.  Sullen  and  disheartened, 
they  were  in  no  condition  to  receive  the  shock 
of  the  Spaniards.  Many  were  borne  down  by  it 
at  once,  their  ranks  were  broken,  and  their  whole 
body  was  thrown  into  disarray.  Some  few  endeav- 
ored to  make  head  against  their  assailants.  Most 
thought  only  of  securing  safety  by  flight.  The 
knights  followed  close  on  the  fugitives.  Now 
was  the  hour  of  vengeance.  No  quarter  was  given. 
Their  swords  were  reddened  with  the  blood  of  the 

infidel.® 

Mustapha,  careless  of  his  own  life,  made  the 
most  intrepid  efforts  to  save  his  men.  He  was 
ever  in  the  hottest  of  the  action.  Twice  he  was 
unhorsed,  and  had  nearly  fallen  into  the  hands  of 
his  enemies.  At  length,  rallying  a  body  of  musket- 
eers, he  threw  himself  into  the  rear,  to  cover  the 

«  "  No  dexando  de  pelear  aquel    espadas.*'    Balbi,  Verdadera  Rela 
dia,  y  en  sangrentar  muy  bien  sus    cion,  fd.  119. 


% 
Ch.  v.] 


MUSTAPHA  DEFEATED. 


481 


retreat  of  the  army.  Facing  about,  he  sent  such 
a  well-directed  volley  among  his  pursuers,  who 
were  coming  on  in  disorder,  that  they  were  com- 
pelled to  halt.  Don  Alvaro's  horse  was  slain 
under  him.  Several  knights  were  wounded  or 
brought  to  the  ground.  But  as  those  in  the  rear 
came  up,  Mustapha  was  obliged  to  give  way,  and 
was  soon  swept  along  with  the  tide  of  battle  in 
the  direction  of  the  port  of  St.  Paul,  where  the 
fleet  was  at  anchor.  Boats  were  in  readiness  to 
receive  the  troops ;  and  a  line  of  shallops,  filled 
with  arquebusiers,  was  drawn  up  alongside  of  them, 
to  cover  the  embarkation.  But  the  Spaniards,  hur- 
ried forward  by  the  heat  of  the  pursuit,  waded  up 
to  their  girdles  into  the  sea,  and  maintained  an 
incessant  fire  on  the  fugitives,  many  of  whom  fell 
under  it,  while  others,  vainly  endeavoring  to  swim 
to  the  ships,  perished  in  the  waves ;  and  their 
bodies,  tossed  upon  the  sands,  continued  for  many 
a  day  to  poison  the  atmosphere.^  —  This  was  the 
last  effort  of  Mustapha;  and  the  Turkish  admi- 
ral, gathering  together  the  wreck  of  his  forces, 
again  weighed  anchor,  and,  spreading  his  sails  to 
the  breeze,  steered  his  course  for  the  Levant.^^ 


9  "Lo  qual  se  vio  claramente 
dende  a  dos  o  tres  dias  porque  los 
euerpos  que  se  avian  ahogado  su- 
bieron  encima  del  agua,  los  quales 
eran  tantos  que  parecian  mas  de 
tres  mil,  y  avia  tanto  hedor  en  todo 
aquello  que  no  se  podia  hombre 
Uegar  ala  cala/*    Ibid.,  fol.  120. 

As  an  offset  ajjainst  the  three 


thousand  of  the  enemy  who  thus 
perished  by  fire  and  water,  the 
chronicler  gives  us  four  Christians 
slain  in  the  fight,  and  four  smoth- 
ered from  excessive  heat  in  their 
armor  I 

10  For  the  preceding  pages  see 
Balbi,  (Verdadera  Relacion,  faL 
117-121,)  who  contrived  to  be 


1 


488 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV 


The  principal  officers  of  the  Spanish  army, 
together  with  the  knights,  then  crossed  over  to 
II  Borgo."  They  met  there  with  a  cordial  wel- 
come; but  the  knights,  as  they  embraced  their 
comrades,  were  greatly  shocked  by  their  appear- 
ance, —  their  wan  and  care-worn  countenances,  their 
emaciated  figures,  their  long  and  matted  hair,  anc^ 
their  squalid  attire.  Many  were  disfigured  by  hon- 
orable scars;  some  were  miserably  maimed;  others 
wore  bandages  over  woxmds  not  yet  healed.  It 
was  a  piteous  sight,  too  plainly  intimating  the 
extremity  of  suffering  to  which  they  had  been  re- 
duced; and  as  the  knights  gazed  on  their  breth- 
ren, and  called  to  mind  the  friends  they  had 
lost,  their  hearts  were  filled  with  unspeakable 
anguish.^^ 

On  the  fourteenth  of  September,  the  viceroy 
reappeared  with  the  fleet,  bearing  the  remainder 
of  the  reinforcement  from  Sicily.  The  admiral's 
pennant  displayed  a  cross,  intimating  that  it  was 
a  holy  war  in  which  they  were  engagcd.^^  As 
the  squadron  came  proudly  up   the   Great   Port, 


present  in  the  action ;  also  Vertot, 
Knights  of  Malta,  vol.  III.  pp.  85  - 
3  7 ;  De  Thou,  Ilistoire  Uni verselle, 
torn.  V.  p.  89;  Miniana,  Hist,  de 
Espana,  p.  353  ;  Campana,  Vita  di 
Filippo  Secondo,  torn.  11.  p.  160; 
Herrera,  Historia  General,  torn.  I. 
p.  591 ;  Calderon,  Gloriosa  Defen- 
sa  de  Malta,  p.  180  et  seq. 

*^  "  Se  vinieron  al  Burgo,  tanto 
por  ver  la  persona  del  gran  Ma- 
tttre  tan  diohosa  y  valerosa,  como 


por  ver  la  grandissima  disformidad 
y  llaneza  de  nuestras  baterias." 
Balbi,  Verdadera  Relacion,  fol.  121. 

»•-»  Vertot,  Knights  of  ^lalta,  vol. 
III.  p.  39. 

*3  "  Al  entrar  del  qual  despues 
que  la  Real  capitana  uvo  puesto 
sus  estandartes  los  pusicron  todas 
las  demas,  y  muy  ricos,  la  Real 
traya  enla  llama  un  crucifixo  muy 
devoto.**  Balbi,  Verdadera  Rela- 
cion,  fol.  122. 


Ch.  v.] 


REJOICINGS   OF   THE   CHRISTIANS. 


489 


with  pennons  and  streamers  gayly  flying  from  its 
masts,  it  was  welcomed  by  salvos  of  artillery  from 
the  fortresses  and  bastions  around ;  and  the  rocky 
shores,  whicli  had  so  long  reverberated  only  with  the 
din  of  war,  now  echoed  to  the  sounds  of  jubilee. 

The  grand-master  came  down  to  the  landing- 
place  below  St.  Angelo,  to  receive  the  viceroy,  with 
the  nobles  and  cavaliers  who  followed  in  his  train. 
They  had  come  too  late  to  share  the  dangers  of 
the  besieged,  but  not  too  late  to  partake  their 
triumph.  They  were  courteously  conducted  by 
La  Valette,  across  the  scene  of  desolation,  to  his 
own  palace,  which,  though  in  an  exposed  quarter 
of  the  town,  had  so  far  escaped  as  to  be  still  hab- 
itable. As  the  strangers  gazed  on  the  remains  of 
the  fortifications,  nearly  levelled  to  the  ground, 
they  marvelled  that  the  shadowy  forms  which  they 
saw  gliding  among  the  ruins  could  have  so  long 
held  out  against  the  Moslem  armies.  Well  had 
they  earned  for  their  city  the  title  of  Vittoriosa^ 
"  The  Victorious,"  which,  supplanting  that  of  II 
Borgo,  still  commemorates  its  defence  against  the 
infidel. 

La  Valette  had  provided  an  entertainment  for 
his  illustrious  guests,  as  good  as  his  limited  re- 
sources would  allow ;  but  it  is  said  that  the  ban- 
quet was  reinforced  by  a  contribution  from  the 
viceroy's  own  stores.^*     On  the  departure  of  the 

1*  "  Fueronse     para     Palacio,  que  ya  el  govemador  del  Gozo  le 

adonde  dio  el  gran  Maestre  a  to-  avia  embiado  muchos  refrescos,  y 

ios  muy  realmente  de  cenar,  por-  don  Garcia  y  todos  loa  capitanea 

VOL.  II.  62 


]^! 


490 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV 


Ch.  v.] 


MORTIFICATION  OF  SOLYMAN. 


49' 


1 

1 


Spaniards,  he  showed  his  gratitude,  while  he  in- 
dulged his  munificent  spirit,  by  bestowing  hand- 
some presents  on  the  captains  and  a  liberal  largess 
of  money  on  the  soldiers.^^ 

On  his  way,  the  viceroy  had  discovered  the  Ot- 
toman fleet  formed  in  compact  order,  and  standing 
under  press  of  sail  towards  the  east.  He  was  too  far 
inferior  in  strength  to  care  to  intercept  its  course  ;^^ 
and  the  squadron  reached  in  safety  the  port  of 
Constantinople.  Solyman  had  already  received 
despatches  preparing  him  for  the  return  of  the 
fleet,  and  the  failure  of  the  expedition.  It  threw 
him  into  one  of  those  paroxysms  of  ungovernable 
passion  to  which  the  old  sultan  seems  to  have 
been  somewhat  addicted  in  the  latter  years  of  his 
life.  With  impotent  fury,  he  stamped  on  the  let- 
ters, it  is  said,  and,  protesting  that  there  was  none 
of  his  officers  whom  he  could  trust,  he  swore  to 
lead  an  expedition  against  Malta  the  coming  year, 
and  put  every  man  in  the  island  to  the  sword ! " 
He  had  the  magnanimity,  however,  not  to  wreak 
his  vengeance  on  the  unfortunate  commanders. 
The  less  to  attract  public  notice,  he  caused  the 
fleet  bearing  the  shattered  remains  of  the  army  to 
come  into  port  in  the  night-time;   thus  aff'ording 

del  armada  le  presentaron  de  la  ing  two  ducats  for  a  fowl,  and  a 

misma  manera.**    Ibid.,  ubi  supra,  real  and  a  half  for  an  egg.    Ibid., 

15  Balbi  expresses  his  satisfac-  ubi  supra. 

tion  at  the  good  cheer,  declaring  16  Herrera,    Historia    General, 

that  the  dainties  brought  by  the  vol.  I.  p.  592. 

viceroy,  however    costly,   seemed  17  Vertot,  Knights  of  Malta,  vol 

cheap  to  men  who  had  been  pay-  III.  p.  38. 


a  contrast  sufficiently  striking  to  the  spectacle 
presented  by  the  brilliant  armament  which  a  few 
months  before  had  sailed  from  the  Golden  Horn 
amidst  the  joyous  acclamations  of  the  multitude. 

The  arms  of  Solyman  the  Second,  during  his 
long  and  glorious  reign,  met  with  no  reverse  so 
humiliating  as  his  failure  in  the  siege  of  Malta. 
To  say  nothing  of  the  cost  of  the  maritime  prep- 
arations, the  waste  of  life  was  prodigious,  amount- 
ing to  more  than  thirty  thousand  men.  Moors  in- 
cluded, and  comprehending  the  very  best  troops 
in  the  empire.  This  was  a  loss  of  nearly  three 
fourths  of  the  original  force  of  the  besieging  ar- 
my,—  an  almost  incredible,  amount,  showing  that 
pestilence  had  been  as  actively  at  work  as  the 
sword  of  the  enemy.^^ 

Yet  the  loss  in  this  siege  fell  most  grievously 
on  the  Christians.  Full  two  hundred  knights, 
twenty-five  hundred  soldiers,  and  more  than  seven 
thousand  inhabitants,  —  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren, —  are  said  to  have  perished.^^     The  defences 


18  Balbi,  Verdadera  Relacion, 
fol.  121.  —  Dc  Thou  reduces  the 
mortality  to  twenty  thousand, 
(Hist.  Universelle,  torn.  V.  p. 
592.)  Herrera,  on  the  other  hand, 
raises  it  to  forty  thousand,  (Histo- 
ria General,  torn.  I.  p.  90.)  The 
whole  Moslem  force,  according  to 
Balbi,  was  forty-eight  thousand, 
exclusive  of  seamen.  Of  these 
about  thirty  thousand  were  Turks. 
The  remainder  belonged  to  the 
contingents  furnished  by  Dragut 


and  Hassem.    Conf  fol.  25  and 
121. 

19  Balbi,  Verdadera  Relacion,  fol. 
128.  —  Balbi  gives  a  list  of  all  the 
knights  who  perished  in  the  siege. 
Cabrera  makes  a  similar  estimate 
of  the  Christian  loss,  (Filipe  Se- 
gundo,  lib.  VI.  cap.  28.)  De 
Thou  rates  it  somewhat  lower, 
(Hist.  Universelle,  torn.  V.  p.  90 ;) 
and  Vertot  lower  still,  (Knights  of 
Malta,  vol.  III.  p.  38.)  Yet  Balbi 
may  be  thought  to  show  too  little 


492 


SIEGE  OF  .^lALTA. 


piooK  IV. 


of  the  island  were  razed  to  tlie  ground.  The 
towns  were  in  ruins ;  the  villages  burnt ;  the 
green  harvests  cut  down  before  they  had  time  to 
ripen.  The  fiery  track  of  war  was  over  every  part 
of  Malta.  Well  might  the  simple  inhabitants  rue 
the  hour  when  the  Knights  of  St.  John  first 
set  foot  upon  their  shores.  The  military  stores 
were  exhausted,  the  granaries  empty;  the  treas- 
ury was  at  the  lowest  ebb.  The  members  of 
the  order  had  now  to  begin  the  work  of  con- 
structing their  fortunes  o\'er  again.  But  still 
they  enjoyed  the  glory  of  victory.  They  had 
the  proud  consciousness  of  having  baffled,  with 
their  own  good  swords,  the  whole  strength  of 
the  Ottoman  empire.  The  same  invincible  spirit 
still  glowed  in  their  bosoms,  and  they  looked  for- 
ward with  unshaken  confidence  to  the  future. 

Such  were  the  results  of  this  memorable  siege, 
—  one  of  the  most  memorable  sieges,  considering 
the  scale  of  the  preparations,  the  amount  of  the 
forces,  and  the  spirit  of  the  defence,  which  are 
recorded  on  the  pages  of  history.  It  would  not 
be  easy,  even  for  a  military  man,  after  the  lapse 
of  three  centuries,  to  criticize  with  any  degree  of 
confidence  the  course  pursued  by  the  combatants, 
so  as  to  deteraiine  to  what  causes  may  be  re- 
ferred the  failure  of  the  besiegers.  One  obvious 
fault,  and  of  the  greatest  moment,  was  that  al- 
ready noticed,  of  not  immediately  cutting  off  the 


disposition,  on  other  occasions,  to    for  us  to  suspect  him  of  exaggera* 
exaggerate  the  loss  of  his  own  side,    tion  here. 


Ch.  v.] 


REVIEW  OF  THE  SIEGE. 


49 


ei 


communications  with  St.  Elmo,  by  which  supplies 
were  constantly  thrown  into  that  fortress  from  the 
opposite  side  of  the  harbor.  Another,  similar  in 
its  nature,  was,  that,  with  so  powerful  a  navy  as 
the  Turks  had  at  their  command,  they  should  have 
allowed  communications  to  be  maintained  by  the 
besieged  with  Sicily,  and  reinforcements  thus  in- 
troduced into  the  island.  We  find  Mustapha  and 
Piali  throwing  the  blame  of  this  mutually  on  each 
other,  especially  in  the  case  of  Cardona,  whose 
most  seasonable  succors  might  easily  have  been 
intercepted,  either  by  land  or  by  sea,  with  proper 
vigilance  on  the  part  of  the  Turkish  command- 
ers. A  serious  impediment  in  the  way  of  the 
besiegers  was  the  impossibility  of  forcing  a  sub- 
sistence for  the  troops  from  a  barren  spot  like 
Malta,  and  the  extreme  difficulty  of  obtaining  sup 
plies  from  other  quarters,  when  so  easily  inter- 
cepted by  the  enemy's  cruisers.  Yet  the  Turkish 
galleys  lying  idle  in  the  western  port  might  have 
furnished  a  ready  convoy,  one  might  suppose,  for 
transports  bringing  provisions  from  the  Barbary 
coast.  But  we  find  no  such  thing  attempted.  To 
all  these  causes  of  failure  must  be  added  the  epi- 
demic, which,  generated  under  the  tropical  heats 
of  a  Maltese  summer,  spread  like  a  murrain 
through  the  camp  of  the  besiegers,  sweeping  them 
off  by  thousands. 

It  operated  well  for  the  besieged,  that  the  great 
advance  made  in  the  science  of  fortification  was 
such,   in   the  latter    half    of   the   sixteenth   cen- 


494 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV 


Ch.  V.l 


REVIEW  OF  THE  SIEGE. 


495 


■    ,1    ■ 
■    I 

w 


i 


tury,  as  in  a  great  degree  to  countenbalance  the 
advantages  secured  to  the  besiegers  by  the  use 
of  artillery,  —  especially  such  clumsy  artillery,  and 
so  awkwardly  served,  as  that  of  the  Turks.  But 
these  advantages  w^ould  have  proved  of  little  worth, 
had  it  not  been  for  the  character  of  the  men  who 
were  to  profit  by  them.  It  was  the  character  of 
the  defenders  that  constituted  the  real  strength 
of  the  defence.  This  was  the  true  bulwark  that 
resisted  every  effort  of  the  Ottoman  arms,  when  all 
outward  defences  were  swept  away.  Every  knight 
was  animated  by  a  sentiment  of  devotion  to  his 
order,  and  that  hatred  to  the  infidel  in  which  he 
had  been  nursed  from  his  cradle,  and  which  had 
become  a  part  of  his  existence.  These  sentiments 
he  had  happily  succeeded  in  communicating  to  his 
followers,  and  even  to  the  people  of  the  island. 
Thus  impelled  by  an  unswerving  principle  of 
conduct,  the  whole  body  exhibited  that  unity  and 
promptness  of  action  which  belongs  to  an  individ- 
ual. From  the  first  hour  of  the  siege  to  the  last, 
all  idea  of  listening  to  terms  from  the  enemy  w^as 
rejected.  Every  man  was  prepared  to  die  rather 
than  surrender.  One  exception  only  occurred, — 
that  of  a  private  soldier  in  La  Sangle,  who,  deny- 
ing the  possibility  of  holding  out  against  the 
Turks,  insisted  on  the  necessity  of  accepting  the 
terms  offered  to  the  garrison.  The  example  of  his 
cowardice  might  have  proved  contagious ;  and  the 
wretched  man  expiated  his  offence  on  the  gallows.* 

•  **  En  todo  este  side  no  se  a  justiciado  ano  un  solo  Itallano  Se- 


Above  all,  the  strength  of  the  besieged  lay  in 
the  character  of  their  chief  La  Valette  was  one 
of  those  rare  men  whom  Providence  seems  to 
raise  up  for  special  occasions,  so  wonderfully  are 
their  peculiar  qualities  suited  to  the  emergency. 
To  that  attachment  to  his  order  which  he  had  in 
common  with  his  brethren,  he  united  a  strong 
religious  sentiment,  sincere  and  self-sacrificing, 
which  shone  through  every  act  of  his  life.  This 
gave  him  an  absolute  ascendency  over  his  foUow^ers, 
which  he  had  the  capacity  to  turn  to  full  account. 
He  possessed  many  of  the  requisites  for  success 
in  action;  great  experience,  a  quick  eye,  a  cool 
judgment.  To  these  was  united  a  fixedness  of 
purpose  not  to  be  shaken  by  menace  or  entreaty ; 
and  which  was  only  to  be  redeemed  from  the  im- 
putation of  obstinacy  by  the  extraordinary  charac- 
ter of  the  circumstances  in  which  he  was  placed. 
The  reader  will  recall  a  memorable  example,  when 
La  Valette  insisted  on  defending  St.  Elmo  to  the 
last,  in  defiance  not  only  of  the  remonstrance, 
but  the  resistance,  of  its  garrison.  Another  equal- 
ly pertinent  is  his  refusal,  though  in  opposition 
to  his  council,  to  abandon  the  town  and  retire 
to  St.  Angelo.  One  can  hardly  doubt  that  on 
his  decision,  in  both  these  cases,  rested  the  fate 
of  Malta. 


nes  el  qua!  mando  justiciar  Mel-  maramos  las  quatro  pagas  que  lot 

chior    de    Robles  :    porque    dixo  turcos  nos  ofrecian,  y  el  passage.* 

publicamente  estando  en  el  mayor  Balbi,    Verdadera    Relacion,    fol. 

aprieto,  que  mas  valiera  que  to-  128. 


t96 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV 


4 


La  Valette  was  of  a  serious  turn,  and,  as  it 
would  seem,  with  a  tendency  to  sadness  in  his  tem- 
perament. In  the  portraits  that  remain  of  him, 
his  noble  features  are  touched  with  a  shade  of 
melancholy,  which,  taken  in  connection  with  his 
history,  greatly  heightens  the  interest  of  their  ex- 
pression. His  was  not  the  buoyant  temper,  the 
flow  of  animal  spirits,  which  carries  a  man  over 
every  obstacle  in  his  way.  Yet  he  could  comfort 
the  sick,  and  cheer  the  desponding ;  not  by  mak- 
ing light  of  danger,  but  by  encouraging  them 
like  brave  men  fearlessly  to  face  it.  He  did  not 
delude  his  followers  by  the  promises  —  after  he 
had  himself  found  them  to  be  delusive  —  of  foreign 
succor.  He  taught  them,  instead,  to  rely  on  the 
succor  of  the  Almighty,  who  would  never  desert 
those  who  were  fighting  in  his  cause.  He  infused 
into  them  the  spirit  of  martyrs,  —  that  brave  spirit 
which,  arming  the  soul  with  contempt  of  death, 
makes  the  weak  man  stronger  than  the  strongest. 

There  is  one  mysterious  circumstance  in  the 
history  of  this  siege  which  has  never  been  satis- 
factorily explained,  —  the  conduct  of  the  viceroy 
of  Sicily.  Most  writers  account  for  it  by  suppos- 
ing that  he  only  acted  in  obedience  to  the  secret 
instructions  of  his  master,  unwilling  to  hazard 
the  safety  of  his  fleet  by  interfering  in  behalf 
of  the  knights,  unless  such  interference  became 
absolutely  necessary.  But  even  on  such  a  sup- 
position the  viceroy  does  not  stand  excused ;  for 
it  was  little  less  than  a  miracle  that  the  knights 


Ch.  v.] 


REVIEW  OF  THE   SIEGE. 


497 


were  not  exterminated  before  he  came  to  their 
relief ;  and  we  can  hardly  suppose  that  an  astute, 
far-sighted  prince,  like  Philip,  who  had  been  so 
eager  to  make  conquests  from  the  Moslems  in 
Africa,  would  have  consented  that  the  strong:- 
hold  of  the  Mediterranean  should  pass  int6  the 
hands  of  the  Turks.  It  seems  more  probable  that 
Don  Garcia,  aware  of  the  greater  strength  of  the 
Turkish  armament,  and  oppressed  by  the  respon- 
sibility of  his  situation  as  viceroy  of  Sicily,  should 
have  shrunk  from,  the  danger  to  which  that  island 
would  be  exposed  by  the  destruction  of  his  fleet. 
On  any  view  of  the  case,  it  is  difficult  to  explain 
a  course  so  irreconcilable  with  the  plan  of  opera- 
tions concerted  with  the  grand-master,  and  the 
promises  of  support  given  to  him  by  Don  Garcia 
at  the  beginning  of  the  siege. 

La  Valette,  we  are  told,  subsequently  com- 
plained of  the  viceroy's  conduct  to  Pius  the  Fifth ; 
and  that  pontiif  represented  the  affair  to  the  king 
of  Spain.  Don  Garcia  had,  soon  after,  the  royal 
permission  to  retire  from  the  government  of  Sicily. 
He  withdrew  to  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  where  he 
passed  the  remainder  of  his  days,  without  public 
employment  of  any  kind,  and  died  in  obscurity.^^  — 
Such  a  fate  may  not  be  thought,  after  all,  conclu- 
sive evidence  that  he  had  not  acted  in  obedience 
to  the  private  instructions  of  his  sovereign. 

*i  For  this  act  of  retributive    thority  to  give  than  Vertot,  Knighta 
justice,  so  agreeable  to  the  feelings*   of  Malta,  vol.  EI.  p.  18. 
of  the  reader,  I  have  no  other  au- 

VOL.  ir.  63 


498 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV. 


The  reader,  who  has  followed  La  Valette  through 
the  siege  of  Malta,  may  perhaps  feel  some  curi- 
osity to  learn  the  fate  of  this  remarkable  man.  — 
The  discomfiture  of  the  Turks  caused  a  great  sen- 
sation throughout  Europe.     In  Rome  the  tidings 
were'  announced  by  the  discharge  of  cannon,  illu- 
minations, and  bonfires.    The  places  of  public  busi- 
ness were  closed.     The  shops  were  shut.    The  only 
places  opened  were  the  churches ;  and  thither  per- 
sons of  every  rank  —  the  pope,  the  cardinals,  and 
the   people  —  thronged  in   procession,  and  joined 
in  public  thanksgiving  for   the  auspicious  event. 
The    rejoicing    was    great   all   along    the    shores 
of  the  Mediterranean,  where  the  inhabitants  had 
so    severely    suffered    from   the    ravages    of   the 
Turks.     The   name  of  La  Valette  was  on  every 
tongue,  as  that  of  the  true  champion  of  the  cross. 
Crowned  heads  vied  with  one  another  in  the  hon- 
ors and  compliments  which  they  paid  him.     The 
king  of  Spain   sent  him   a  present  of  a   sword 
and  poniard,  the  handles  of  which  were  of  gold 
superbly   mounted    with   diamonds.     The   envoy, 
who  delivered  these  in  presence  of  the  assembled 
knights,   accompanied   the   gift  with   a  pompous 
eulogy   on   La   Valette    himself,    whom   he   pro- 
nounced the  greatest  captain  of  the  age,  beseech- 
ing him  to  continue  to  employ  his  sword  in  de- 
fence of  Christendom.     Pius  the  Fifth  sent  him 
—  what,  considering  the  grand-master's   position, 
may  be  thought  a  singular  compliment  —  a  car- 
dinal's hat.     La  Valette,  however,  declined  it,  on 


Cir.  v.]    SUBSEQUENT  HISTORY  OF  LA  VALETTE.        499 

the  ground  that  his  duties  as  a  cardinal  would  in- 
terfere with  those  which  devolved  on  him  as  head 
of  the  order.  Some  referred  his  refusal  to  mod- 
esty ;  others,  with  probably  quite  as  much  reason, 
to  his  unwillingness  to  compromise  his  present 
dignity  by  accepting  a  subordinate  station.^ 

But  La  Valette  had  no  time  to  dally  with  idle 
compliments  and  honors.  His  little  domain  lay 
in  ruins  around  him ;  and  his  chief  thought  now 
was  how  to  restore  its  fortunes.  The  first  year 
after  the  siege,  the  knights  had  good  reason  to 
fear  a  new  invasion  of  the  Moslems ;  and  Philip 
quartered  a  garrison  of  near  fifteen  thousand 
troops  in  the  island  for  its  protection.^  But  Soly- 
man  fortunately  turned  his  arms  against  a  nearer 
enemy,  and  died  in  the  course  of  the  same  year, 
while  carrying  on  the  war  against  Hungary.^ 
Selim,  his  successor,  found  another  direction  for 
his  ambition.  Thus  relieved  of  his  enemies,  the 
grand-master  was  enabled  to  devote  all  his  ener- 


22  Ibid.,  pp.  39, 40.  —  Calderon, 
Gloriosa  Defensa  de  Malta,  pp. 
189,  190.  — De  Thou,  Hist  Uni- 
verselle,  torn.  V.  p.  91. 

23  "  Havia  en  la  Isla  de  Malta 
quinze  mil  hombres  de  pelea,  los 
quales  bastaran  para  resistir  a  qual- 
|uiera  poder  del  gran  Turco  en 
campana  rasa."  Balbi,  Verdadera 
Relacion,  fol.  129. 

Besides  the  Spanish  forces,  a 
oody  of  French  adventurers  took 
service  under  La  Valette,  and  re-* 
mained  for  some  time  in  Malta. 


2*  Vertot  tells  us  that  the  pro- 
jected expedition  of  Sol3niiaii 
against  Malta  was  prevented  by 
the  destruction  of  the  grand  arse- 
nal of  Constantinople,  which  waa 
set  on  fire  by  a  secret  emissary  ot 
La  Valette.  (Knights  of  Malta, 
vol.  m.  p.  41.)  We  should  be 
better  pleased  if  the  abb^  had  given 
his  authority  for  this  strange  story, 
the  probability  of  which  is  not  at 
all  strengthened  by  what  we  knon 
of  the  grand-master's  character. 


5i)0 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV 


gies  to  the   great  work   of  rebuilding  his  fallen 
capital,  and  placing  the  island  in  a  more  perfect 
state  of  defence  than   it  had  ever  been.     He  de- 
termined  on  transferring  the  residence  of  the  order 
to  the  high  land  of  Mount  Sceberras,  which  di- 
vides  the  two  harbors,  and  which  would  give  him 
the  command  of  both.     His  quick  eye  readily  dis- 
cemed   those    advantages   of  the   position,  which 
time   has   since   fully   proved.     Here  he  resolved 
to  build  his  capital,  to  surround  it  with  fortifica- 
tions,  and,    at    the    same    time,   to   enlarge    and 
strengthen  those  of  St.  Elmo. 

But  his  treasury  was  low.     He  prepared  a  plan 
of  his  improvements,  which  he  sent  to  the  differ- 
ent European   princes,   requesting   their  coopera- 
tion, and  urging  the   importance  to  them  all  of 
maintaining  Malta  as  the  best  bulwark  against  the 
infidel.     His  plan  met  with  general  approbation. 
Most  of  the   sovereigns   responded  to  his  appeal 
by  liberal   contributions,  —  and  among  them  the 
French  king,  notwithstanding  his  friendly  relations 
with  the  sultan.     To  these  funds  the  members  of 
the  order  freely  added  whatever  each  could  raise 
by  his  own  credit.     This  amount  was  still  further 
swelled  by  the   proceeds  of  prizes   brought  into 
port  by  the  Maltese  cruisers,  — an  inexhaustible 
source  of  revenue. 

Funds  being  thus  provided,  the  work  went  for- 
ward  apace.  On  the  twenty-eighth  of  March, 
1566,  the  grand-master,  clad  in  his  robes  of  cere- 
mony,  and  in  the  presence  of  a  vast  concourse  of 


Ch.  v.]   subsequent  history  of  la  valette.      501 

knights  and  inhabitants,  laid  the  first  stone  of  the 
new  capital.  It  was  carved  with  his  own  arms ; 
and  a  Latin  inscription  recorded  the  name  of 
"  Valetta,"  which  the  city  was  to  bear  in  honor 
of  its  founder.^  More  than  eight  thousand  men 
were  employed  on  the  work ;  and  a  bull  of  Pius 
the  Fifth  enjoined  that  their  labors  should  not  be 
suspended  on  fete-days.^^  It  seemed  to  be  regard- 
ed as  a  Christian  duty  to  provide  for  the  restora- 
tion of  Malta.^^  La  Valette  superintended  the 
operations  in  person.  He  was  ever  to  be  seen  on 
the  spot,  among  the  workmen.  There  he  took 
his  meals,  discussed  affairs  of  state  with  his  coun- 
cil, and  even  gave  audience  to  envoys  from 
abroad.^ 

In  the  midst  of  these  quiet  occupations,  there 


25  It  was  common  for  the  Mal- 
tese cities,  after  the  Spanish  and 
Italian  fashion,  to  have  characteris- 
tic epithets  attached  to  their  names. 
La  Valette  gave  the  new  capital 
the  title  of  '*  Umilllma,*'  —  "most 
humble,"  —  intimating  that  humili- 
ty was  a  virtue  of  highest  price 
with  the  fraternity  of  St.  John. 
See  Boisgelin,  Ancient  and  Mod- 
ern Malta,  vol.  I.  p.  2D. 

26  "  Plus  de  huit  mille  ouvriers 
y  furent  employes ;  et  afin  d*avan- 
cer  plus  aisement  les  travaux,  le 
Pape  Pie  V.  commanda  qu*on  y 
travaillat  sans  discontinuer,  mcme 
les  jours  de  Fetes.**  Helyot,  Hist, 
des  Ordres  Religieux. 

27  The  style  of  the  architecture 
•f  the  new  capital  seems  to  have 


been,  to  some  extent,  formed  on 
that  of  Rhodes,  though,  according 
to  Lord  Carlisle,  of  a  more  ornate 
and  luxuriant  character  than  its 
model.  "I  traced  much  of  the 
military  architecture  of  Rhodes, 
which,  grave  and  severe  there,  has 
here  both  swelled  into  great  ampli- 
tude and  blossomed  into  copious 
efflorescence  ;  it  is  much  the  same 
relation  as  Henry  VII.*s  Chapel 
bears  to  a  bit  of  Durham  Cathe- 
dral. Diary  in  Turkish  and  Greek 
Waters,  p.  200. 

The  account  of  Malta  is  not 
the  least  attractive  portion  of  this 
charming  work,  to  which  Felton*8 
notes  have  given  additional  value. 

*  Vertot,  Knights  of  Malta,  vol 

m.  p.  42. 


i 


'i   : 


502 


SEEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV 


were  some  occurrences  which  distracted  the  atten- 
tion, and  greatly  disturbed  the  tranquillity,  of  La 
Valette.  One  of  these  was  the  disorderly  conduct 
of  some  of  the  younger  knights.  Another  was  a 
dispute  in  which  he  was  involved  with  the  pope, 
who,  in  the  usual  encroaching  spirit  of  the  Vati- 
can, had  appropriated  to  himself  the  nomination 
to  certain  benefices  belonging  to  the  order. 

These  unpleasant  affairs  weighed  heavily  on  the 
grand-master's  mind ;  and  he  often  sought  to  relieve 
his  spirits  by  the  diversion  of  hawking,  of  which  he 
was  extremely  fond.  While  engaged  in  this  sport, 
on  a  hot  day  in  July,  he  received  a  stroke  of  the 
sun.  He  was  immediately  taken  to  II  Borgo.  A 
fever  set  in ;  and  it  soon  became  apparent  that  his 
frame,  enfeebled  by  his  unparalleled  fatigues  and 
hardships,  was  rapidly  sinking  under  it.  Before 
dying,  he  called  around  his  bed  some  of  the  breth- 
ren to  whom  the  management  of  affairs  was 
chiefly  committed,  and  gave  them  his  counsel  in 
respect  to  the  best  method  of  carrying  out  his 
plans.  He  especially  enjoined  on  them  to  main- 
tain a  spirit  of  unity  among  themselves,  if  they 
would  restore  the  order  to  its  ancient  prosperity 
and  grandeur.  By  his  testament,  he  liberated  his 
slaves,  some  fifty  in  number ;  and  he  obtained  the 
consent  of  his  brethren  to  bequeath  a  sum  suffi- 
cient to  endow  a  chapel  he  had  built  in  Valetta,  to 
commemorate  his  victory  over  the  infidels.  It  was 
dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin ;  and  in  this  chapel 
he  desired  that  his  body  might  be  laid.    Having 


Ck.  v.]   subsequent  history  of  la  valette.      50c 

completed  these  arrangements,  he  expired  on  the 
twenty-first  of  August,  1568. 

La  Valette's  dying  commands  were  punctually 
executed  by  his  brethren.  The  coffin  inclosing 
his  remains  was  placed  on  board  of  the  admirars 
galley,  which,  with  four  others  that  escorted  it, 
was  shrouded  in  black.  They  bore  the  household 
of  the  deceased,  and  the  members  of  the  order. 
The  banners  taken  by  him  in  battle  with  the 
Moslems  were  suspended  from  the  stems  of  the 
vessels,  and  trailed  through  the  water.  The 
procession,  on  landing,  took  its  way  through  the 
streets  of  the  embryo  capital,  where  the  sounds 
of  labor  were  now  hushed,  to  the  chapel  of  Our 
Lady  of  Victory.  The  funeral  obsequies  were 
there  performed  with  all  solemnity ;  and  the  re- 
mains of  the  hero  were  consigned  to  the  tomb, 
amidst  the  tears  of  the  multitude,  who  had 
gathered  from  all  parts  of  the  island,  to  pay  this 
sad  tribute  of  respect  to  his  memory.^ 

The  traveller  who  visits  Malta  at  the  present 
day  finds  no  object  more  interesting  than  the 
stately  cathedral  of  Valetta,  still  rich  in  historical 
memorials  and  in  monuments  of  art,  of  which  even 
French  rapacity  could  not  despoil  it.  As  he  de- 
scends into  its  crypts,  and  wanders  through  its 
subterranean  recesses,  he  sees  the  niche  where 
still  repose  the  remains  of  La  Valette,  surrounded 
by  the  brave  chivalry  who  fought,  side  by  side 

»  Ibid.,  pp.  42  -  48.  —  Boisgelin,  Ancient  and  Modern  Malta,  voL  I 
pp.  127-142. 


i 


i 


^ 


501 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV. 


Nvitli  him,  the  battles  of  the  Faith.  And  surely 
no  more  fitting  place  could  be  found  for  his  repose, 
than  the  heart  of  the  noble  capital  which  may 
be  said  to  have  been  created  by  his  genius.^ 

The  knights  of  St.  John  continued,  in  the  main, 
faithful  to  the  maxims  of  La  Valette  and  to  the 
principles  of  their  institution.  For  more  than  two 
centuries  after  his  death,  their  sword  was  ever 
raised  against  the  infidel.  Their  galleys  still 
returned  to  port  freighted  with  the  spoils  of  the 
barbarian.  They  steadily  continued  to  advance 
in  power  and  opulence;  and  while  empires  rose 
and  crumbled  around  them,  this  little  brother- 
hood of  warlike  monks,  after  a  lapse  of  more  than 
seven  centuries  from  its  foundation,  still  maintained 
a  separate  and  independent  existence. 

In  the  long  perspective  of  their  annals,  there 
was  no  event  which  they  continued  to  hold  in  so 
much  honor  as  the  defence  of  Malta  by  La  Va- 
lette. The  eighth  of  September  —  the  day  of  the 
nativity  of  the  Virgin  —  continued  to  the  last  to 
be  celebrated  as  their  proudest  anniversary.  *0n 
that  day  the  whole  body  of  the  knights,  and  the 
people  of  the  capital,  walked  in  solemn  procession, 
with  the  grand-master  at  their  head,  to  the  church 


30  An  interesting  description  of 
this  cathedral,  well  styled  the 
Westminster  Abbey  of  Malta,  may 
be  found  in  Bigelow's  Travels  in 
Sicily  and  Malta,  (p.  190,)  —  a 
ivork  full  of  instruction,  in  which 
the  writer,  allowing  himself  a  wider 


range  than  that  of  the  fashionable 
tourist,  takes  a  comprehensive  sur- 
vey of  the  resources  of  the  coun- 
tries he  has  visited,  while  he  criti- 
cizes their  present  condition  by  an 
enlightened  comparison  with  the 
past. 


ch.  v.]   subsequent  history  of  la  valette.      505 

of  St.  John.  A  knight,  wearing  the  helmet  and 
mailed  armor  of  the  ancient  time,  bore  on  high  the 
victorious  standard  of  the  order.  A  page  by  his 
side  carried  the  superb  sword  and  poniard  pre- 
sented by  Philip  the  Second.  As  the  procession 
passed  into  the  church,  and  the  standard  was  laid 
at  the  foot  of  the  altar,  it  was  announced  by  flour- 
ishes of  trumpets  and  by  peals  of  artillery  from 
the  fortresses.  The  services  were  performed  by  the 
prior  of  St.  John's;  and,  while  the  Gospel  was 
read,  the  grand-master  held  the  naked  sword  aloft, 
in  token  that  the  Rnights  were  ever  ready  to  do 
battle  for  the  Cross.^^  When  the  ceremony  was 
concluded,  a  fine  portrait  of  La  Valette  was  ex- 
hibited to  the  people;  and  the  brethren  gazed, 
with  feelings  of  reveience,  on  his  majestic  linea- 
ments, as  on  those  of  the  saviour  of  their  order.^ 
But  all  this  is  changed.  The  Christians,  in- 
stead of  being  banded  against  the  Turk,  now  rally 
in  his  defence.  There  are  no  longer  crusades 
against  the  infidel.  The  age  of  chivalry  has 
passed.  The  objects  for  which  the  Knights  Hos- 
pitallers  were    instituted   have   long  since  ceased 


81  "Lorsqu*on  commence  I'E- 
vangile,  le  Grand-Maitre  la  prend 
des  mains  du  Page  et  la  tient  toute 
droite  pendant  le  terns  de  I'Evan- 
gile.  C'est  la  seule  occasion  oil 
I'on  tient  I'epee  nue  k  TEglise.'* 
Helyot,  Hist,  des  Ordres  Religieux, 
tom.  HI.  p.  93. 

32  Bolssclin,  Ancient  and  Mod- 
crn  Malta,  vol.  I.  p.  35. 

VOL.  u-  64 


The  good  knight  dwells  with 
complacency  on  the  particulars  of 
a  ceremony  in  which  he  had  often 
borne  a  part  himself.  It  recalled 
to  his  mind  the  glorious  days  of 
an  order,  which  he  fondly  hoped 
might  one  day  be  restored  to  its 
primitive  lustre. 


1! 


506 


SIEGE  OF  MALTA. 


[Book  IV. 


to  exist;  and  it  was  fitting  that  the  institution, 
no  longer  needed,  should  die  with  them.  The 
kniffhts  who  survived  the  ruin  of  their  order 
became  wanderers  in  foreign  lands.  Their  island 
has  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  stranger ;  and  the 
flag  of  England  now  waves  from  the  ramparts  on 
which  once  floated  the  banner  of  St.  John. 


CHAPTER   VI. 


DON  CARLOS. 


ICs  Education  and  Character.  —  Dangerous  Illness.  —  Extravagant  Be- 
havior. —  Opinions  respecting  him.  —  His  Connection  with  the 
Flemings.  —  Project  of  Flight.  —  Insane  Conduct.  —  Arrest 

1567,    1568. 

We  must  now,  after  a  long  absence,  return  to 
the  shores  of  Spam,  where  events  were  taking  place 
of  the  highest  importance  to  the  future  fortunes 
of  the  monarchy.  At  the  time  when  the  tragic  in- 
cidents described  in  the  preceding  Book  were  pass- 
ing in  the  Netherlands,  others,  not  less  tragic,  if  we 
may  trust  to  popular  rumor,  were  occurring  in  the 
very  palace  of  the  monarch.  I  allude  to  the  death 
of  Don  Carlos,  prince  of  Asturias,  and  that  of  Isa- 
bella of  Valois,  Philip's  young  and  beautiful  queen. 
The  relations  in  which  the  two  parties  stood  to 
each  other,  their  untimely  fate,  and  the  mystery  in 
which  it  was  enveloped,  have  conspired  with  the 
sombre,  unscrupulous  character  of  Philip  to  sug- 
gest the  most  horrible  suspicions  of  the  cause  of 
their  death.  The  mystery  which  hung  over  them 
in  their  own  time  has  not  been  dissipated  by  the 
researches    of  later    chroniclers.     For    that    very 


I 


508 


DON  CAKLOS. 


[Book  IV 


reason,  it  has  proved  an  inexhaustible  theme 
for  fiction,  until  it  might  be  thought  to  have 
passed  from  the  domain  of  history  into  that  of 
romance.  It  has  been  found  especially  suited  to 
the  purposes  of  the  drama ;  and  the  dramatic  liter- 
ature of  Europe  contains  more  than  one  master- 
piece from  the  hand  of  genius,  which  displays  in 
sombre  coloring  the  loves  and  the  misfortunes  of 
Carlos  and  Isabella.^ 

The  time  for  discussing  so  dark  and  intricate 
a  subject  had  not  arrived  while  the  Spanish 
archives  were  jealously  locked  up  even  from  native 
scholars.  But  now  that  happily  a  more  liberal 
system  has  prevailed,  and  access  has  been  given 
to  the  dread  repositories  of  the  secrets  of  the 
Spanish  sovereigns,  the  time  seems  to  have  come 
for  investigating  this  mysterious  story.  And  if 
I  cannot  boast  that  I  have  been  able  to  dispel 
the  doubts  that  have  so  long  gathered  around  the 
subject,  I  may  at  least  flatter  myself  that,  with 
the  materials  at  my  command,  I  have  the  means 
of  placing  the  reader  in  a  better  point  of  view 
than  has  yet  been  enjoyed,  for  surveying  the  whole 
ground,  and  forming  his  own  conclusions. 

Don  Carlos  was  born  on  the  eighth  of  July, 


Ch.  vi.]       his  education  and  character 


509 


^  Alfieri,  Schiller,  and,  in  our 
day,  Lord  John  Russell,  have,  each 
according  to  his  own  conceptions, 
exhibited  the  poetic  aspect  of  the 
story  to  the  eyes  of  their  countr}'- 
men.  The  Castilian  dramatist, 
]iIontalvan,  in  his  "  Pn'ncipe  Don 


Carlos,**  written  before  the  middle 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  shows 
more  deference  to  historic  accura- 
cy, as  well  as  to  the  reputation  of 
Isabella,  by  not  mixing  her  up  in 
any  way  with  the  fortunes  of  the 
prince  of  Asturias, 


1545.  His  mother,  Mary  of  Portugal,  then  only 
eighteen  years  of  age,  died  a  few  days  after  giving 
birth  to  her  ill-fated  child.  Thus  deprived  from 
the  cradle  of  a  mother  s  watchful  care,  he  expe- 
rienced almost  as  little  of  his  father  s ;  for,  until 
Carlos  was  fourteen  years  old,  Philip  was  absent 
most  of  the  time,  either  in  the  Low  Countries 
or  in  England.  The  care  of  the  child  was  in- 
trusted, during  the  greater  part  of  this  period, 
to  Philip's  sister,  the  Regent  Joanna,  —  an  excel- 
lent woman,  but  who,  induced  probably  by  the 
feeble  constitution  of  Carlos,  is  said  to  have 
•shown  too  much  indulgence  to  the  boy,  being 
more  solicitous  to  secure  his  bodily  health  than 
to  form  his  character.  In  our  easy  faith  in  the 
miracles  claimed  for  education,  it  sometimes  hap- 
pens that  we  charge  on  the  parent,  or  the  pre- 
ceptor, the  defects  that  may  be  more  reasonably 
referred  to  the  vicious  constitution  of  the  child. 

As  Carlos  grew  older,  Philip  committed  the  care 
of  his  instruction  to  Honorato  Juan,  a  member  of 
the  emperor's  household.  He  was  a  well-trained 
scholar,  and  a  man  of  piety  as  well  as  learning ; 
and  soon  after  assuming  the  task  of  the  prince's 
preceptor,  he  embraced  the  religious  profession 
The  correspondence  of  Honorato  Juan  with  Philip, 
then  in  Flanders,  affords  a  view  of  the  profi- 
ciency of  Carlos  when  eleven  or  twelve  years 
old.  The  contentment  which  the  king  evinces 
in  the  earlier  letters  diminishes  as  we  advance; 
and  anxious  doubts  are  expressed,  as  he  gathers 


III 


i^ 


510 


DON  CARLOS. 


[Boor.  IV 


the  unwelcome  information  from  his  tutor  of  his 
pupil's  indifference  to  his  studies.^ 

In  the  year  1556,  Charles  the  Fifth  stopped 
some  time  at  Valladolid,  on  his  way  to  his  clois- 
tered retreat  at  Yuste.  He  there  saw  his  grand- 
son, and  took  careful  note  of  the  boy,  the  heir  to 
the  vast  dominions  which  he  had  himself  so  re- 
cently relinquished.  He  told  over  his  campaigns 
to  Carlos,  and  how  he  had  fled  at  Innsbruck, 
where  he  barely  escaped  falling  into  the  hands 
of  the  enemy.  Carlos,  who  listened  eagerly,  in- 
terrupted his  grandfather,  exclaiming,  "I  never 
would  have  fled ! "  Charles  endeavored  to  ex- 
plain the  necessity  of  the  case;  but  the  boy 
sturdily  maintained,  that  he  never  would  have 
fled,  —  amusing  and  indeed  delighting  the  em- 
peror, who  saw  in  this  the  mettle  of  his  own 
earlier  days.^  Yet  Charles  was  not  blind  to  the 
defects  of  his  grandson,  —  to  the  wayward,  over- 
bearing temper,  which  inferred  too  much  in- 
dulgence on  the  part  of  his  daughter  the  regent. 
He  reprehended  Carlos  for  his  want  of  deference 
to  his  aunt ;  and  he  plainly  told  the  latter,  that,  if 
she  would  administer  more  wholesome  correction 
to  the  boy,  the  nation  would  have  reason  to  thank 
her  for  it* 


'  This  correspondence  is  printed  maraviglia  et  riso  di  S.  M.  et  de* 

in  a  curious  volume,  of  the  greatest  circumstanti,  che  mai  egli  non  saria 

rarity,   entitled,   Elogios  de  Don  fuggito.**      Relatione  di  Badoaro 

Honorato  Juan,  (Valencia,  1659,)  MS. 

p.  60  et  seq.  *  "  Reprehendio  al  Principe  si 

3  '*  Egli  in  collera  reiter6  con  nieto  su  poca  mesura  i  mucha  de> 


Cii.  VI.]         niS  EDUCATION  AOT)   CHARACTER. 


511 


After  the  emperor  had  withdrawn  to  his  retreat, 
his  mind,  which  kept  its  hold,  as  we  have  seen,  on 
all  matters  of  public  interest  beyond  the  walls  of 
the  monastery,  still  reverted  to  his  grandson,  the 
heir  of  his  name  and  of  his  sceptre.  At  Siman- 
cas  the  correspondence  is  still  preserved  which  he 
carried  on  with  Don  Garcia  de  Toledo,  a  brother 
of  the  duke  of  Alva,  who  held  the  post  of  ayo,  or 
governor  of  the  prince.  In  one  of  that  function- 
ary's letters,  written  in  1557,  when  Carlos  was 
twelve  years  old,  we  have  a  brief  chronicle  of 
the  distribution  of  the  prince's  time,  somewhat 
curious,  as  showing  the  outlines  of  a  royal  edu- 
cation in  that  day. 

Before  seven  in  the  morning  Carlos  rose,  and 
by  half  past  eight  had  breakfasted,  and  attended 
mass.  He  then  went  to  his  studies,  where  he 
continued  till  the  hour  of  dinner.  What  his 
studies  were  we  are  not  told.  One  writer  of 
the  time  says,  among  other  things,  he  read  Cice- 
ro's Offices,  in  order  the  better  to  learn  to  con- 
trol his  passions.^  At  eleven  he  dined.  He  then 
amused  himself  with  his  companions,  by  playing  at 
quoits,  or  at  trucos,  a  kind  of  billiards,  or  in  fen- 
cing, and  occasionally  riding.  At  half  past  three 
came  a  light   repast,  the   merienda;   after    which 


senboltura  con  que  vivia  i  trataba  5  «  Ne  attende  ad  altro  che  a 
con  su  tia,  i  encomend61a  su  cor-  leggirli  gli  officii  di  M.  Tullio  per 
recion,  diziendo  era  en  lo  q  mas  acquetare  quei  troppo  ardenti  de- 
podia  obligar  a  todos."  Cabrera,  siderii."  Relatione  di  Badoaro, 
bilipc  Segundo,  lib.  II.  cap.  11.  MS. 


512 


DON  CARLOS. 


[Book  IV 


Ch   VI.]         fflS  EDUCATION  AND  CHARACTER. 


513 


he  listened  to  reading,  or,  if  the  weather  was 
fine,  strolled  in  the  fields.  In  the  evening  he 
supped;  and  at  half  past  nine,  having  gone 
through  the  prayers  of  his  rosary,  he  went  to 
bed,  where,  as  his  ayo  says,  he  usually  made  but 
one  nap  of  it  till  the  morning.  —  It  was  certainly 
a  primitive  way  of  life,  in  which  more  regard 
seems  to  have  been  had  to  the  cravings  of  the 
body  than  of  the  mind,  and  as  regular  in  its  rou- 
tine as  the  monastic  life  of  his  grandfather  at 
Yuste.  Yet  Don  Garcia  does  not  fail  to  inti- 
mate his  discontent  with  the  want  of  interest 
shown  by  his  pupil,  not  merely  in  his  studies, 
but  in  fencing,  cane-playing,  and  other  manly 
exercises,  so  essential  to  the  education  of  a  cava- 
lier of  that  day.^  He  notices,  at  the  same  time, 
the  first  symptoms  of  those  bilious  attacks  which 
already  menaced  the  prince's  constitution,  and  so 
effectually  undermined  it  in  later  years.^ 

In  another  epistle,  Don  Garcia  suggests  that 
it  might  be  well  for  the  emperor  to  allow  Car- 
los to  visit  him  at  Yuste,  trusting  that  his  grand- 
father s  authority  would  accomplish  what  his  own 
had  failed  to  do.^    But  this  suggestion  found  no 


•  "  En  lo  del  estudio  esta  poco 
aprovechado,  porque  lo  haze  de 
mala  gana  y  ausy  mesmo  los  otros 
exercicios  de  jugar  y  esgremyr, 
que  para  todo  es  menester  pre- 
mya.**  Carta  de  Garcia  de  Toledo 
al  Emperador,  27  de  Agosto,  1557, 

^  "  Hasta  agora  no  se  que  los 


medicos  ayan  tratado  de  dar  nin- 
guna  cosa  al  principe  para  la  co- 
lera,  ny  yo  lo  consintiera  hazer,  sin 
dar  primero  quenta  dello  a  vuestra 
magestatl.'*    Ibid. 

8  "Deseo  mucho  que  V.  M.  fa- 
ese  servido  que  el  principe  diese 
una  buelta  por  alld  para  velle  por 
que  entendidos  los  impedimentof 


favor,  apparently,  with  the  royal  recluse,  who 
probably  was  not  disposed  to  do  penance  himself 
by  receiving  so  troublesome  an  inmate  in  his 
family.  The  emperors  own  death,  which  oc- 
curred shortly  after  this,  spared  him  the  misery 
of  witnessing  the  disastrous  career  of  his  grand- 
son. 

The  reports  of  the  Venetian  ministers  —  those 
precious  documents  that  contain  so  much  instruc- 
tion in  respect  to  matters  both  of  public  and  do- 
mestic interest  —  make  occasional  allusions  to  the 
prince,  at  this  period.  Their  notices  are  by  no 
means  flattering.  They  describe  Carlos  as  of  a 
reckless,  impatient  temper,  fierce,  and  even  cruel, 
in  his  disposition,®  and  so  arrogant  as  to  be  un- 
willing to  stand  with  his  head  uncovered,  for  any 
long  time,  in  the  presence  of  the  emperor  or  his 
father.^^  Yet  this  harsh  picture  is  somewhat  re- 
deemed by  other  traits ;  for  he  was  generous, 
though  to  a  degree  of  prodigality,  —  giving  away 
his  trinkets  and  jewels,  even  his  clothes,  in  default 


que  en  su  edad  tiene  mandasse  Y. 
M.  lo  que  fuera  de  la  horden 
con  que  yo  le  sirvo  se  deba  mu- 
dar.^  Del  mismo  al  mismo,  13  de 
Abril,  1558,  MS. 

9  So  cruel,  according  to  the 
court  gossip  picked  up  by  Badoaro, 
that,  when  hares  and  other  game 
were  brought  to  him,  he  would  oc- 
casionally amuse  himself  by  roast- 
ing them  alive !  —  '*  Dimostra  ha- 
vere  un  animo  fiero,  et  tra  gli  ef- 

VOL.  II.  65 


fetti  che  si  raccontano  uno  ky  che 
alle  volte,  che  dalla  caccia  gli  viene 
portato  6  lepre  o  simile  animale,  si 
diletta  di  vedirli  arrostire  vivi." 
Relatione  de  Badoaro,  MS. 

1®  "Da  segno  di  dovere  essere 
superbissimo,  perch  fe  non  poteva 
sofferire  di  stare  lungamente  n^ 
innanzi  al  padre  nh  avo  con  la  bcr- 
retta  in  mano,  et  chiama  il  padre 
fratello,  et  1*  avo  padre.**    Ibid. 


t^ 


14 


DON  CAKLOS. 


[Book  IV. 


of  money.  He  had  a  fearless  heart,  with  a  strong 
passion  foi  a  military  life.  He  was  far  from  friv- 
olous in  his  tastes,  despising  buffoons,  and  saying 
himself  so  many  good  things  that  his  tutor  care- 
fully made  a  collection  of  them.^^  This  portrait  of 
a  youth  scarcely  fourteen  years  old  seems  as  high- 
ly overcharged,  whether  for  good  or  for  evil,  as 
portraits  of  princes  usually  are. 

Yet  the  state  of  the  prince's  health  may  be 
fairly  mentioned  in  extenuation  of  his  defects,  — 
at  least  of  his  infirmity  of  temper.  For  his  bil- 
ious temperament  already  began  to  show  itself  in 
the  form  of  intermittent  fever,  with  which  he  con- 
tinued to  be  afflicted  for  the  remainder  of  his  life. 
Under  this  depressing  disorder,  his  spirits  sank, 
his  body  wasted  away,  and  his  strength  failed  to 
such  a  degree,  that  it  was  feared  he  might  not 
reach  the  age  of  manhood.^^ 

In  the  beginning  of  1560,  Isabella  of  France 
came  to  Castile,  and  on  the  second  of  February 
was  united  to  Philip.  By  the  preliminaries  of  the 
treaty  of  Cateau-Cambresis,   her  hand  had  been 


u  "  Dice  atutti  i  propositi  tante 
cose  argute  che  '1  suo  ministro  ne 
reccolse  un  libretto."    Jhid. 

Another  contemporary  also  no- 
tices the  precocious  talents  of  the 
lx)y,  as  shown  in  his  smart  sayings. 
—  **  Dexo  de  contar  las  gracias  que 
dene  en  dichos  maraviUosos  que 
%ndan  por  boca  de  todos  desparzi- 
doe,  dexo  de  contar  lo  que  haze 
para  provar  lo  que  dize.**    Corde- 


ro,  Fromptuario  de  Medallas,  apw 
Castro,  Historia  de  los  Protestan- 
tes  Espanoles,  p.  828. 

**2  "  Le  pauvre  prince  est  si  baa 
et  ext^nue,  il  ^a  d*heure  a  heure 
tant  affoiblissant,  que  les  plus  sa- 
ges de  ceste  court  en  ont  bien  pe 
tite  esp^rance.**  L*6veque  de  Li 
moges  au  Koi,  1"  Mars,  1559,  ap. 
N^gociations  relatives  au  R^gne 
de  Francois  IL,  p.  291. 


.•^H.  VL]         fflS  EDUCATION  AND  CHARACTER. 


615 


assigned  to  Don  Carlos;  but  Mary  Tudor  hav- 
ing died  before  the  ratification  of  the  treaty,  the 
name  of  the  father  was  substituted  for  that  of 
the  son,  and  the  royal  maiden  was  affianced  to 
Philip. 

The  marriage  ceremony  was  performed  with 
great  splendor,  at  Toledo.  Carlos  was  present; 
and,  as  he  gazed  on  the  beautiful  bride,  it  is  not 
improbable  that  some  feelings  of  resentment  may 
have  mingled  with  regret,  when  he  thought  of  the 
unceremonious  manner  in  which  her  hand  had 
been  transferred  from  him  to  his  father.  But  we 
should  be  slow  to  believe  that  Isabella  could  have 
felt  anything  like  the  tender  sentiment  that  ro- 
mantic historians  have  attributed  to  her,  for  a  boy 
of  fourteen,  who  had  so  few  personal  attractions 
to  recommend  him. 

On  the  twenty-second  of  the  same  month,  Car- 
los was  formally  recognized  by  the  cortes  of  Cas- 
tile as  heir  to  the  crown.  On  this  occasion,  the 
different  members  of  the  royal  family  were  present, 
together  with  the  great  nobles  and  the  represent- 
atives of  the  commons.  The  piiuce  rode  in  the 
procession  on  a  white  horse,  superbly  caparisoned, 
while  his  dress,  resplendent  with  jewels,  formed 
a  sad  contrast  to  the  sallow  and  sickly  coun- 
tenance  of  its   wearer.^^    He   performed  his  part 


I 


U  "  Delante  de  la  Frincesa  Te-  sobre  tela  de  oro  parda,  como  el 

aia  don  Carlos  a  su  juramento  eon  vestido  galan  con  muchos  botones 

mal  calor  de  quartanaria  en  un  ca-  de  perlas  i  diamantes."*    Cabrera, 

▼alio  bianco  con  rico  guamimiento  Filipe  Segnndo,  lib.  Y.  cap.  7. 
^pialdrapa  de  oro  i  plata  bordado 


516 


DON  CARLOS. 


[Book  IV 


of  the  ceremony  with  dignity  and  feeling.  When 
Joanna,  his  aunt,  and  his  uncle,  Don  John  of 
Austria,  after  taking  the  oath,  would  have  knelt, 
according  to  custom,  to  kiss  his  hand,  he  would 
not  allow  it,  but  affectionately  raised  and  em- 
braced them.  But  when  the  duke  of  Alva  inad- 
vertently omitted  the  latter  act  of  obeisance,  the 
prince  received  him  so  coldly,  that  the  haughty 
nobleman,  rebuked  by  his  manner,  perceived  his 
error,   and  humbly  acknowledged  it.^* 

In  the  autumn  of  the  following  year,  with  the 
hope  of  mending  his  health  by  change  of  air, 
Carlos  removed  to  Alcala  de  Henares,  famous  for 
its  university  founded  by  the  great  Ximenes.  He 
had  for  his  companions  two  youths,  both  destined 
to  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  history  of  the  times. 
One  was  Philip's  illegitimate  brother,  Don  John 
of  Austria,  the  hero  of  Lepanto ;  the  other  was 
the  prince's  cousin,  Alexander  Farnese,  son  of 
Margaret  of  Parma,  who  was  now  in  the  course 
of  training  which  was  one  day  to  make  him  the 
greatest  captain  of  his  time.  The  three  boys  were 
nearly  of  the  same  age ;  but  in  their  accomplish- 
ments and  personal  appearance  the  uncle  and  the 
cousin  aflForded  as  strong  a  contrast  to  their  royal 
kinsman,  as  in  the  brilliant  fortunes  that  awaited 
them.^ 

"  Bid.,  nbi  rapra.  as  little  flattering  in  regard  to  bis 
15  Strada,  in  a  paraUel  which  he  person  as  to  his  character.  —  "  Ca- 
bas drawn  of  the  royal  youths,  rolus,  praeter  colorem  et  capillum, 
gives  the  pahn  to  Don  John  of  ceteriim  corpore  mendosus;  quip- 
Austria.    His  portrait  of  Carlos  is  pe  humero  elatior,  et  tibia  alter! 


K 


Ch.  VL] 


DANGEROUS  ILLNESS. 


51'T 


Carlos  had  not  been  at  Alcala  many  months,  be- 
fore he  met  with  an  accident,  which  was  attended 
with  most  disastrous  consequences.  One  evening 
in  April,  1562,  as  he  was  descending  a  flight  of 
stairs,  he  made  a  misstep,  and  fell  headlong  dowTi 
five  or  six  stairs  against  a  door  at  the  bottom  of 
the  passage.  He  was  taken  up  senseless,  and 
removed  to  his  chamber,  where  his  physicians 
were  instantly  summoned,  and  the  necessary  rem- 
edies applied.^^  At  first  it  seemed  only  a  simple 
contusion  on  the  head,  and  the  applications  of  the 
doctors  had  the  desired  effect.  But  soon  the  symp- 
toms became  more  alarming.  Fever  set  in.  He 
was  attacked  by  erysipelas;  his  head  swelled  to 
an  enormous  size ;  he  became  totally  blind ;  and 
this  was  followed  by  delirium.  It  now  appeared 
that  the  skull  was  fractured.  The  royal  physi 
cians  were  called  in ;  and  after  a  stormy  consul 
tation,  in  which  the  doctors  differed,  as  usual,  as 
to  the  remedies  to  be  applied,  it  was  determined 
to  trepan  the  patient.  The  operation  was  carefully 
performed ;  a  part  of  the  bone  of  the  skull  was  re- 
moved ;  but  relief  was  not  obtained.^^ 


lonjnor  erat ;  nee  minus  dehonesta- 
mentum  ab  indole  feroci  et  con- 
tumaci.**  De  Bello  Belgico,  tom^  I. 
p.  609. 

16  "  Este  dia  despues  de  haber 
comido  queriendo  su  Alteza  bajar 
por  una  escalera  escura  y  de  mi- 
nes pasos  echd  el  pie  derecho  en 
vacio,  y  did  una  vuelta  sobre  todo 
«1  cuerpo,  y  asi  cayd  de  cuatro  <5 


cinco  escalones.  Did  con  la  cabeza 
un  gran  golpe  en  una  puerta  cer- 
rada,  y  quedd  la  cabeza  abajo  y 
los  pies  arriba.**  Relacion  de  la 
enfermedad  del  Principe  por  el 
Doctor  Olivares,  Documentos  In^ 
ditos,  torn.  XV.  p.  554. 

17  According  to  Guibert,  the 
French  ambassador,  Carlos  "waa 
engaged  in  a  love  adventure  wheu 


518 


DON  CARLOS. 


[Book  IV 


Meanwhile  the  greatest  alarm  spread  through 
the  country,  at  the  prospect  of  losuig  the  heil 
apparent.  Processions  were  everywhere  made  to 
the  churches,  prayers  were  put  up,  pilgrimages 
were  vowed,  and  the  discipline  was  unsparing- 
ly administered  by  the  fanatical  multitude,  who 
hoped  by  self-inflicted  penance  to  avert  the  wrath 
of   Heaven    from    the   land.      Yet    all    did    not 

avail. 

We  have  a  report  of  the  case  from  the  pen  of 
Dr.  Olivares,  the  prince's  own  physician.  Some 
of  the  remedies  were  of  a  kind  that  would  look 
strangely  enough  if  reported  by  a  medical  journal 
of  our  own  day.  After  all  efforts  of  professional 
skill  had  failed,  and  the  unguent  of  a  Moorish  doc- 
tor,  famous  among  the  people,  had  been  rubbed  on 
the  body  without  success,  it  was  resolved  to  make 
a  direct  appeal  to  Heaven.  In  the  monastery  of 
Jesus  Maria  lay  the  bones  of  a  holy  Franciscan, 
Fray  Diego,  who  had  died  a  hxmdred  years  before, 
in  the  reign  of  Henry  the  Fourth,  in  the  odor  of 
sanctity.  King  Philip  and  his  court  went  in  solemn 
procession  to  the  church;  and  in  their  presence, 
the  mouldering  remains  of  the  good  father,  still 
sweet  to  the  nostrils,  as  we  are  told,  were  taken 
from  their  iron  coffin,  and  transported  to  the 
prince's  apartment.  They  were  there  laid  on  his 
bed ;  and  the  cloth  that  wrapped  the  skull  of  the 

lie  met  with  Wa  fall,  — having  de-  the  porter  of  the  garden.  Se« 
•oended  this  dark  stairway  in  Baumer,  Sixteenth  and  Seven, 
•eaixih  of  the  young  daughter  of    teenth  Centuries,  vol.  I.  p.  119. 


Ch.  V1.J 


DANGEROUS  ILLNESS. 


51y 


dead  man  was  placed  on  the  forehead  of  Carlos.^* 
Fortunately  the  delirious  state  of  the  patient  pre- 
vented the  shock  that  might  otherwise  have  been 
given  to  his  senses,  That  very  night  the  friar 
appeared  to  Carlos  in  his  sleep.  He  was  muffled 
in  his  Franciscan  robe,  with  a  green  girdle  about 
his  waist,  and  a  cross  of  reeds  in  his  hand ;  and  he 
mildly  bade  him  "  be  of  good  cheer,  for  that  he 
would  certainly  recover."  From  this  time,  as  the 
physician  who  reports  the  case  admits,  the  patient 
began  speedily  to  mend.  The  fever  subsided,  his 
head  returned  to  its  natural  dimensions,  his  eyes 
were  restored  to  sight.  At  the  end  of  something 
less  than  two  months  from  the  date  of  the  acci- 
dent, Carlos,  who  had  shown  a  marvellous  docility 
throughout  his  illness,^^  was  enabled  to  walk  into 
the  adjoining  apartment,  and  embrace  his  father, 
who,  during  the  critical  period  of  his  son's  illness. 
had  established  his  residence  at  Alcald,  showing 
the  solicitude  natural  to  a  parent  in  such  an  ex- 
tremity. 

The  merit  of  the  cure  was  of  course  referred  to 
Fray  Diego,^    An  account  of  the  miracle,  duly 


18  Ferrerag,  Hist,  de  I'Espagne, 
torn.  IX.  p.  429. 

W  Dr.  Olivares  bears  emphatic 
testimony  to  this  virtue,  little  to 
have  been  expected  in  his  patient 
—  "Lo  que  i  su  salud  cumplia 
Hizo  de  la  misma  suerte,  siendo  tan 
obediente  &  los  remedios  que  i  to- 
dos  espantaba  que  por  fuertes  y 
tecios  que  fuesen  nunca  los  reusd, 


dntes  todo  el  tierapo  que  estuvo  en 
su  acuerdo  dl  mismo  los  pedia,  lo 
cual  fud  grande  ayuda  para  la  sa- 
lud que  Dios  le  did."  Documentoi 
Ineditos,  torn.  XV.  p.  571. 

80  Another  rival  appeared,  to 
contest  the  credit  of  the  cure  with 
the  bones  of  Fray  Diego.  This 
was  Our  Lady  of  Atooha,  the  pa- 
troness of  Madrid,  whose  image. 


520 


DON  CARLOS. 


[Book  IV 


authenticated,  was  transmitted  to  Rome ;  and  the 
holy  man,  on  the  application  of  Philip,  received 
the  honors  of  canonization  from  the  pontiff.  The 
claims  of  the  new  saint  to  the  credit  of  achieving 
the  cure  were  confidently  asserted  by  the  Castilian 
chroniclers  of  that  and  succeeding  ages ;  nor  have 
I  met  with  any  one  hardy  enough  to  contest  them, 
unless  it  be  Dr.  Olivares  himself,  who,  naturally 
jealous  of  his  professional  honor,  intimated  his 
conviction,  —  this  was  before  the  canonization,  — 
that,  with  some  allowance  for  the  good  wrought 
by  Fray  Diego's  intercession  and  the  prayers  of 
the  righteous,  the  recovery  of  the  prince  was  mainly 
to  be  referred  to  the  skill  of  his  physicians.^^ 

But  the  recovery  of  Carlos  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  so  complete  as  was  at  first  thought. 
There  is  good  reason  to  suppose  that  the  blow 
on  his  head  did  some  permanent  injury  to  the 
brain.     At  least   this   may  be   inferred  from  the 


held  in  the  greatest  veneration  by- 
Philip  the  Second,  was  brought  to 
the  chamber  of  Carlos,  soon  after 
the  skeleton  of  the  holy  friar.  As 
it  was  after  the  patient  had  decid- 
edly begun  to  mend,  there  seems 
to  be  the  less  reason  for  the  chron- 
iclers of  Our  Lady  of  Atocha 
maintaining,  as  they  sturdily  do, 
her  share  in  the  cure.  (Perarla, 
La  Madona  de  Madrid,  ( Valladolid, 
1604,)  p.  151.)  The  veneration 
for  the  patroness  of  Madrid  has 
continued  to  the  present  day.  A 
late  journal  of  that  capital  states 
that  the  queen,  accompanied  by 


her  august  consort  and  the  prin- 
cess of  Asturias,  went,  on  the  twen- 
ty-fourth of  March,  1854,  in  solemn 
procession  to  the  church,  to  deco- 
rate the  image  with  the  collar  of 
the  Golden  Fleece. 

8*  "  Con  todo  eso  toman  do  pro- 
priamente  el  nombre  de  milagro,  i 
mi  juicio  no  lo  fud,  porque  el  Prin- 
cipe se  curd  con  los  remedios  na- 
turales  y  ordinarios,  con  los  cuales 
se  suelen  curar  otros  de  la  misma 
enfermedad  estando  tanto  y  mas 
peligrosos.**  Documentos  Ineditos, 
torn.  XV.  p.  570. 


Ch.  VI.] 


fflS  EXTRAVAGANT  BEHAVIOR. 


521 


absurd  eccentricities  of  his  subsequent  conduct 
and  the  reckless  manner  in  which  he  abandoned 
himself  to  the  gratification  of  his  passions.  In 
1565,  on  his  recovery  from  one  of  those  attacks 
of  quartan-fever  which  still  beset  him,  Philip 
remarked,  with  a  sigh,  to  the  French  minister, 
St.  Sulpice,  "that  he  hoped  his  repeated  warn- 
ings might  restrain  the  prince,  for  the  future, 
from  making  such  fatal  inroads  on  his  health."® 
But  the  unfortunate  young  man  profited  as  little 
by  such  warnings  as  by  his  own  experience.  Per- 
sons about  the  court  at  this  period  have  left  us 
many  stories  of  his  mad  humors,  which  formed 
the  current  scandal  at  Madrid.  Brantome,  who 
was  there  in  1564,  says  that  Carlos  would  pa- 
trol the  streets  with  a  number  of  young  nobles, 
of  the  same  lawless  habits  with  himself,  assault- 
ing the  passengers  with  drawn  swords,  kissing  the 
women,  and  insulting  even  ladies  of  the  highest 
rank  with  the  most  opprobrious  epithets.^ 

It  was  the  fashion  for  the  young  gallants  of  the 
court  to  wear  very  large  boots.  Carlos  had  his 
made  even  larger  than  usual,  to  accommodate  a 
pair  of  small  pistols.     Philip,  in  order  to  prevent 


.  92  Raumer,  Sixteenth  and  Sev- 
enteenth Centuries,  vol.  I.  p.  132. 

93  "H  aymoit  fort  k  ribler  le 
pav^,  et  faire  k  coups  d'esp^e,  fust 
de  jour,  fust  de  nuit,  car  il  avoit 
avec  luy  dix  ou  douze  enfans  d*hon- 
neur  des  plus  grandes  maisons 
iVEspagne Quand  il  alloit 

vol .  II.  66 


par  les  rues  quelque  belle  dame,  et 
fust  elle  des  plus  grandes  du  pays, 
il  la  prenoit  et  la  bausoit  par  force 
devant  tout  le  monde  ;  il  Tappel- 
loit  putain,  bagasse,  chienne,  et 
force  autres  injures  leur  disoit- 
il."  Brantdme,  (Euvres,  torn.  i.  ]> 
323. 


522 


DON  CARLOS. 


[Book  I^ 


the  mischievous  practice,  ordered  his  son's  boots 
to  be  made  of  smaller  dimensions.  But  when 
the  bootmaker  brought  them  to  the  palace,  Carlos, 
in  a  rage,  gave  him  a  beating ;  and  then,  ordering 
the  leather  to  be  cut  in  pieces  and  stewed,  he  forced 
the  unlucky  mechanic  to  swallow  this  unsavor}' 
fricassee  —  as  much  as  he  could  get  down  of  it  — 
on  the  spot.^* 

On  one  occasion,  he  made  a  violent  assault  on 
his  governor,  Don  Garcia  de  Toledo,  for  some 
slight  cause  of  offence.  On  another,  he  would 
have  thrown  his  chamberlain,  Don  Alonzo  de  Cor- 
dova, out  of  the  window.  These  noblemen  com- 
plained to  Philip,  and  besought  him  to  release 
them  from  a  service  where  they  were  exposed  to 
affronts  which  they  could  not  resent.  The  king 
consented,  transferring  them  to  his  own  service, 
and  appointed  Ruy  Gomez  de  Silva,  prince  of  Ebo- 
li,  his  favorite  minister,  the  governor  of  Carlos.^ 

But  the  prince  was  no  respecter  of  persons. 
Cardinal  Espinosa,  president  of  the  Council  of 
Castile,  and  afterwards  grand-inquisitor,  banished 


••  "  Did  un  bofeton  a  Don  Pe- 
dro Manuel,  i  guisadas  i  picadas  en 
menudas  pie^as  hizo  comer  las  vo- 
tas  al  menestral.**  Cabrera,  Fi- 
lipe  Segundo,  lib.  VH.  cap.  22. 

De  Foix,  a  French  architect  em- 
l^yed  on  the  Escoriai  at  this  time, 
informed  the  historian  De  Thou 
oi  the  prince's  habit  of  wearing  ex- 
tremely large  leggings,  or  boots, 
Ibr  the  purpose  mentioned  in  the 


text  "Nam  et  scloppetulos  bi- 
nos  summa  arte  fabricatos  caligis, 
qusB  amplissimae  de  more  gentis  in 
usu  sunt,  eum  gestare  solitum  re- 
sciverat.**  (Historiae  sui  Temporis, 
lib.  41.)  I  cite  the  original  Latin, 
as  the  word  caligce  has  been  wrong- 
ly rendered  by  the  French  trans* 
lator  into  culottes, 

**  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  UU 
Vn.  cap.  22. 


Ch,  VI.J 


HIS  EXTRAVAGANT  BEHAVIOR. 


523 


a  player  named  Cisneros  from  the  palace,  where 
he  was  to  have  performed  that  night  for  the 
prince's  diversion.  It  was  probably  by  Philip's 
orders.  But  however  that  may  be,  Carlos,  meet- 
ing the  cardinal,  seized  him  roughly  by  the  collar 
and,  laying  his  hand  on  his  poniard,  exclaimed, 
"  You  scurvy  priest,  do  you  dare  to  prevent  Cis* 
neros  from  playing  before  me  ?  By  the  life  of  my 
father,  I  will  kill  you ! "  ^  The  trembling  prelate, 
throwing  himself  on  his  knees,  was  too  happy  to 
escape  with  his  life  from  the  hands  of  the  infuri- 
ated prince.  Whether  the  latter  had  his  way  m 
the  end,  in  regard  to  the  comedian,  is  not  stated. 
But  the  stuff  of  which  a  grand-inquisitor  is  made 
is  not  apt  to  be  of  the  yielding  sort. 

A  more  whimsical  anecdote  is  told  us  by  Nobili, 
the  Tuscan  ambassador,  then  resident  at  the  court. 
Carlos,  having  need  of  money,  requested  a  mer- 
chant, named  Grimaldo,  to  advance  him  the  sum 
of  fifteen  hundred  ducats.  The  money-lender  read- 
ily consented,  thanking  the  prince  for  the  favor 
done  him,  and  adding,  in  the  usual  grandiloquent 
vein  of  the  Castilian,  that  "all  he  had  was  at 
his  disposal.""  Carlos  took  him  at  his  word, 
and    forthwith    demanded    a    hundred    thousand 


»  it  Curilla  V08  os  atreveis  a  mi, 
no  dexando  venir  a  servirme  Cis- 
•;ieros  ?  por  vida  de  mi  padre  que 
08  tengo  de  matar."  Ibid.,  ubi  su- 
pra. 

27  "H  qual  Niccolo  lo  fece  su- 
bito  et  CO*  parole  di  Complimento 


rende  gratie  k  sua  Altezza  oflfe- 
rendoli  sempre  tutto  quel  che  per 
lui  si  poteva.**  Lettera  di  Nobili, 
Ambasciatore  del  Granduca  di 
Toscagna  al  Re  Philippo,  24  di 
Luglio,  1567,  MS. 


524 


BON  CARLOS. 


[Book  IV 


Ch.  VI.] 


HIS  DISPOSITION. 


525 


ducats.  In  vain  poor  Grimaldo,  astounded  by  the 
request,  protested  that  "  it  would  ruin  his  credit ; 
that  what  he  had  said  was  only  words  of  com- 
pliment." Carlos  replied,  "he  had  no  right  to 
bandy  compliments  with  princes ;  and,  if  he  did 
not  in  four  and  twenty  hours  pay  the  money 
to  the  last  real^  he  and  his  family  would  have 
cause  to  rue  it."  It  was  not  till  after  much  nego- 
tiation that  Ruy  Gomez  succeeded  in  prevailing 
on  the  prince  to  be  content  with  the  more  modest 
sum  of  sixty  thousand  ducats,  which  was  accord- 
ingly furnished  by  the  unfortunate  merchant.^ 
The  money  thus  gained,  according  to  Nobili,  was 
squandered  as  suddenly  as  it  w^as  got. 

There  are  happily  some  touches  of  light  to  re- 
lieve the  shadows  with  which  the  portrait  is 
charged.  Tiepolo,  who  was  ambassador  from  Yen- 
ice  at  the  court  of  Madrid  in  1567,  when  Carlos 
was  twenty-two  years  old,  gives  us  some  account 
of  the  prince.  He  admits  his  arrogant  and  fiery 
temper,  but  commends  his  love  of  truth,  and,  what 
we  should  hardly  have  expected,  the  earnestness 
with  which  he  engaged  in  his  devotions.  He  was 
exceedingly  charitable,  asking,  "  Who  would  give, 
if  princes  did  not  ? "  ^     He   was   splendid  in  his 


*  "Ci  81  messe  di  mezzo  Rui- 
gomes  et  moiti  altri  n^  si  k  mai 
possuto  quietar*  fin  tanto  che  l^c- 
colo  no'  li  ha  prcstato  sessantamila 
4cudi  CO*  sua  polizza  senza  altro 
assegniamento."    Ibid. 

8*  "Mostra  di  esser  molto  reli- 


gioso  solicitando  come  fa  le  predi- 
che  et  divini  officii,  anzi  in  questo 
si  pu5  dir  che  eccede  1*  honesto,  et 
suol  dire,  Chi  debbe  far  Elemo- 
sine,  se  non  la  danno  i  Prencipi  ?  " 
Relatione  di  Tiepolo,  MS. 


way  of  living,  making  the  most  liberal  recompense 
not  only  to  his  own  servants,  but  to  the  king  s^ 
who  were  greatly  attached  to  him.*^  He  w^as  am- 
bitious of  taking  part  in  the  conduct  of  public 
affairs,  and  was  sorely  discontented  when  excluded 
from  them  —  as  seems  to  have  been  usually  the 
case  —  by  his  father.^^ 

It  was  certainly  to  the  prince's  credit,  that  he 
was  able  to  inspire  those  who  approached  him 
most  nearly  with  strong  feelings  of  personal  at- 
tachment. Among  these  were  his  aunt  Joanna,  the 
regent,  and  the  queen,  Isabella,  who,  regarding  him 
with  an  interest  justified  by  the  connection,  was 
desirous  of  seeing  him  married  to  her  own  sister. 
His  aunt  Mary  and  her  husband,  the  Emperor 
Maximilian,  also  held  Carlos,  whom  they  had 
known  in  early  days,  in  the  kindest  remembrance, 
and  wished  to  secure  his  hand  for  their  eldest 
daughter.  A  still  more  honorable  testimony  is 
borne  by  the  relations  in  which  he  stood  to  his 
preceptor,  Honorato  Juan,  who,  at  the  prince's 
solicitation,  had  been  raised  to   the  bishopric  of 


30  "  £  splendetissimo  in  tutte  le 
cose  et  massime  nel  beneficiar  chi 

o  serve :  H  che  fa  cos\  largamente 
che  necessita  ad  amarlo  anco  i  ser- 
vitori  del  Padre."    Ibid. 

31  "1^  curioso  nel  intendere  i 
negozii  del  stato,  ne  i  quali  s*  intro- 
metterebbe  volontieri,  et  procura 
di  saper  quello  che  tratta  il  Padre, 
et  che  egli  asconde  gli  fa  grande 
offesa."    Ibid. 


Granvelle,  in  one  of  hb  letters, 
notices  with  approbation  this  trait 
in  the  character  of  Carlos.  "  Manv 

m 

are  pleased  with  the  prince,  others 
not  I  think  him  modest,  and  in* 
clined  to  employ  himself,  which,  for 
the  heir  of  such  large  dominions,  is 
in  the  highest  degree  necessary." 
Kaumer,  Sixteenth  and  Seven- 
teenth Centuries,  vol.  I.  p.  128. 


i 


526 


DON  CARLOS. 


[Book  IV 


Osma.  Carlos  would  willingly  have  kept  this 
good  man  near  his  own  pei*son.  But  he  was  de- 
tained in  his  diocese ;  and  the  letters  from  time 
to  time  addressed  to  him  by  his  former  pupil, 
whatever  may  be  thought  of  them  as  pieces  of 
composition,  do  honor  to  the  prince's  heart.  "  My 
best  friend  in  this  life,"  he  affectionately  writes  at 
the  close  of  them,  "I  will  do  ail  that  you  desire."® 
Unfortunately,  this  good  friend  and  counsellor  died 
in  1566.  By  his  will,  he  requested  Carlos  to  se- 
lect for  himself  any  article  among  his  effects  that 
he  preferred.  He  even  gave  him  authority  to 
change  the  terms  of  the  instrument,  and  make  any 
other  disposition  of  his  property  that  he  thought 
right !  ^  It  was  a  singular  proof  of  confidence  in 
the  testator,  unless  we  are  to  receive  it  merely  as 
a  Spanish  compliment, — somewhat  perilous,  as  the 
case  of  Grimaldo  proves,  with  a  person  who  in 
terpreted  compliments  as  literally  as  Carlos. 

From  all  this,  there  would  seem  to  have  been 
the  germs  of  generous  qualities  in  the  prince's 
nature,  which,  under  a  happier  culture,  might 
have  been  turned  to  some  accoimt.  But  he  was 
placed  in  that  lofty  station  which  exposed  him  to 


»  '^  Mi  mayor  atmgo  que  tengo 
en  esta  vida,  que  liar^  lo  que  vos 
me  pidieredea.**  Elogios  de  Hono- 
nto  Juan,  p.  6€. 

The  last  words,  it  is  true,  may 
be  considered  as  Iktle  more  than  a 
CastiHan  form  of  epistolary  cour- 
tesy. 


33  »  Su  Alteza  anada,  y  quite 
todo  lo  que  le  pareciere  de  mi  te»- 
tamento,  y  este  mi  Codicilo,  que 
aquello  que  su  Alteza  mandare  lo 
doy,  y  quiero  que  sea  tan  valido 
oomo  si  estuviesse  expressado  en 
este  mi  Codicilo,  o  en  el  testamen- 
to."    Jhid.,  p.  73. 


Ch.  VI.] 


HIS  DISPOSITION. 


527 


the  influence  of  parasites,  who  flattered  his  pride, 
and  corrupted  his  heart,  by  ministering  to  his 
pleasures.  From  the  eminence  which  he  occupied, 
even  the  smallest  errors  and  eccentricities  became 
visible  to  the  world,  and  the  objects  of  unsparing 
criticism.  Somewhat  resembling  his  father  in  per- 
son, he  was  different  from  him  both  in  his  good 
qualities  and  his  defects,  so  that  a  complete  bar- 
rier was  raised  between  them.  Neither  party 
could  comprehend  the  other ;  and  the  father  was 
thus  destitute  of  the  means  which  he  might  else 
have  had  of  exerting  an  influence  over  the  son. 
The  prince's  dissipated  way  of  life,  his  perpetual 
lapses  from  decorum,  or,  to  speak  more  properly, 
his  reckless  defiance  of  decency,  outraged  his 
father,  so  punctilious  in  his  own  observance  of 
the  outward  decencies  of  life.  He  may  well  have 
dwelt  on  such  excesses  of  Carlos  with  pain ;  but 
it  may  be  doubted  if  the  prince's  more  honorable 
desire  to  mingle  in  public  affiairs  was  to  the  taste 
of  Philip,  who  was  too  tenacious  of  power  willing- 
ly to  delegate  it,  beyond  what  was  absolutely  ne- 
cessary, to  his  own  ministers.  The  conduct  of  his 
son,  unhappily,  furnished  him  with  a  plausible 
ground  for  distrusting  his  capacity  for  business. 

Thus  distrusted,  if  not  held  in  positive  aversion, 
by  his  father ;  excluded  from  any  share  in  the  busi- 
ness of  the  state,  as  well  as  from  a  military  life, 
which  would  seem  to  have  been  well  suited  to  his 
disposition ;  surrounded  by  Philip^s  ministers,  whom 
Carlos,  with  too  much  reason,  regarded  as  spies 


528 


DON  CARLOS. 


IBooK  IV 


on  his  actions,  —  the  unhappy  young  man  gave 
himself  up  to  a  reckless  course  of  life,  equally  ruin- 
ous to  his  constitution  and  to  his  character ;  until 
the  people,  who  had  hailed  with  delight  the  pros- 
pect of  a  native-born  prince,  now  felt  a  reasonable 
apprehension  as  to  his  capacity  for  government.^ 
But  while  thus  an  object  of  distrust  at  home, 
abroad  more  than  one  sovereign  coveted  an  alliance 
with  the  heir  of  the  Spanish  monarchy.  Catha- 
rine de  Medicis  would  gladly  have  secured  his  hand 
for  a  younger  sister  of  Isabella,  in  which  project 
she  was  entirely  favored  by  the  queen.  This  was 
in  1565  ;  but  Philip,  in  his  usual  procrastinating 
spirit,  only  replied,  "  They  must  reflect  upon  it."  ^ 
He  looked  with  a  more  favorable  eye  on  the  pro- 
posals warmly  pressed  by  the  emperor  and  em- 
press of  Germany,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  still 
cherished  a  kindly  remembrance  of  Carlos,  and 
wished  his  union  with  their  daughter  Anne. 
That  princess,  who  was  a  year  younger  than  her 
cousin,  claimed  Spain  as  her  native  land,  having 
been  bom  there  during  the  regency  of  Maximilian. 
But  although  the  parties  were  of  suitable  age, 
and  Philip  acquiesced  in  the  proposals  for  their 
marriage,  his  want  of  confidence  in  his  son,  if 
we  may  credit  the  historians,  still  moved  him  to 
defer  the   celebration  of  it.*    Anne    did   indeed 

^  **  Cos!  come    sono    allegri  i  35  Baumerf  Sixteenth  and  Sev* 

Spagnuoli  d' haver  per  loro  Sig~  enteenth  Centuries,  yoI.  I.  p.  182. 

un  R^  naturale :  cosi  stanno  molto  ^s  Herrera,    Historia    General, 

in  dubio  qual  debbe  esser  il  suo  go-  torn.  L  p.  680. 
vemo.**    Relatione  di  Tiepolo,  MS. 


Ch.  VI.]    HIS  COXNECTIOX  WITH  THE   FLEMINGS.         52!) 

live  to  mount  the  throne  of  Castile,  but  as  the 
wife,  not  of  Carlos,  but  of  Philip,  after  the  death 
of  Isabella.  Thus,  by  a  singular  fatality,  the  two 
princesses  who  had  been  destined  for  the  son  were 
each  of  them  married  to  the  father. 

The  revolutionary  movement  in  the  Netherlands 
was  at  this  time  the  great  subject  that  engaged  the 
attention  of  the  Spaniards  ;  and  Carlos  is  reported 
to  have  taken  a  lively  interest  in  it.  According 
to  Antonio  Perez,  the  Flemings  then  at  the  court 
made  positive  overtures  to  the  prince  to  head  the 
revolt.^  Strada  speaks  of  Bergen  and  Montigny, 
then  at  Madrid,  as  the  channel  of  communication 
through  which  Carlos  engaged  to  settle  the  afFau's 
of  that  distracted  country.^  That  a  person  of  his 
ardent  temper  should  have  felt  sympathy  with 
a  people  thus  bravely  struggling  for  its  liberties, 
is  not  improbable;  nor  would  oive  with  whom 
"  to  think  and  to  speak  was  the  same  thing,"  ® 
be  at  all  unlikely  to  express  himself  on  the  subject 


37  Raumer.  (Sixteenth  and  Sev- 
enteenth Centuries,  vol.  I.  p.  153,) 
who  cites  a  manuscript  letter  of 
Antonio  Perez  to  the  councillor  Du 
Vaire,  extant  in  the  Royal  Library 
of  Paris.  A  passage  in  a  letter  to 
Carlos  from  his  almoner,  Doctor 
Heman  Suarez  de  Toledo,  has 
been  interpreted  as  alluding  to  his 
intercourse  with  the  deputies  from 
Flanders :  "  Tambien  he  Uorado, 
DO  haber  parecido  blen  que  V.  A. 
\ai)lase  a  los  procuradores^  como 
dicen  quo  lo  hizo,  no  se  lo  que  fue, 

VOL.  IL  67 


pero  si  que  cumple  mucho  hacei 
los  hombres  sus  negocios  propios, 
con  consejo  ageno,  por  que  los 
muy  diestros  nunca  fian  del  suyo.** 
The  letter,  which  is  without  date, 
is  to  be  found  in  the  archiepiscopal 
library  of  Toledo. 

38  De  Bello  Belgico,  tom.  I.  p. 
376. 

39  "  E  principe,'*  writes  the  nun- 
cio, "  che  quello,  che  ha  in  cuore, 
ha  in  bocca.**  Lettera  del  Nunzio 
al  Cardinale  Alessandrini,  Giugno, 
1566,  MS. 


\ 


h 


if 


530 


DON  CARLOS. 


[Book  IV. 


with  much  more  freedom  than  discretion.  And  it 
may  have  been  in  allusion  to  this  that  his  almoner, 
Suarez,  in  a  letter  without  date,  implores  the 
prince  "to  abandon  his  dangerous  designs,  the 
illusion  of  the  Evil  One,  which  cannot  fail  to 
bring  mischief  to  himself  and  disquiet  to  the 
monarchy !  "  ^  The  letter  concludes  wath  a  hom- 
ily, in  which  the  good  doctor  impresses  on  the 
prince  the  necessity  of  filial  obedience,  by  numer- 
ous examples,  from  sacred  and  profane  story,  of 
the  sad  end  of  those  who  had  impiously  rejected 
the  counsels  of  their  parents.*^ 

But  although  it  is  true  that  this  hypothesis 
would  explain  much  that  is  enigmatical  in  the 
subsequent  historj^  of  Carlos,  I  must  confess  I 
have  met  with  no  confirmation  of  it  in  the  cor- 
respondence of  those  who  had  the  direction  of 
affairs  in  the  Low  Countries,  nor  in  the  charges 
alleged  against  Montigny  himself,  —  where  an  at- 
tempt to  suborn  the  heir-apparent,  one  might 
suppose,  would  have  been  paraded  as  the  most 
heinous  offence.  Still,  that  Carlos  regarded  him- 
self as  the  proper  person  to  be  intrusted  with  the 


^  "Que  eran  de  grandisimo 
engano,  y  error  •peligrosisimo,  in- 
ventado  y  buscado  todo  por  el  de- 
monio,  para  dar  travajo  a  V.  A.  y 
pensar  darle  &  todos,  y  para  desaso- 
gear,  y  aun  inquietar  la  grandeza 
de  la  monarquia.**  Carta  de  Her- 
nan  Suarez  al  Principe,  MS. 

^1  The  intimate  relations  of 
Doctor   Suarez    with    Carlos  ex- 


posed him  to  suspicions  in  regard 
to  his  loyalty  or  his  orthodoxy,  — 
we  are  not  told  which, —  that 
might  have  cost  him  his  life,  had 
not  this  letter,  found  among  the 
prince's  papers  after  his  death, 
proved  a  sufficient  voucher  for  the 
doctor's  innocence.  Soto,  Anota- 
cioncs  A  la  Historia  de  Talabera, 
MS. 


Ch.  VI.]    HIS  CONNECTION  WITH  THE  FLEMINGS.        531 

mission  to  the  Netherlands  is  evident  from  his 
treatment  of  Alva,  when  that  nobleman  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  command  of  the  army. 

On  that  occasion,  as  the  duke  came  to  pay  his 
respects  to  him  previous  to  his  departure,  the 
prince  fiercely  said,  "  You  are  not  to  go  to  Flan- 
ders ;  I  will  go  there  myself."  Alva  endeavored 
to  pacify  him,  saying  that  it  was  too  dangerous 
a  mission  for  the  heir  to  the  throne ;  that  he 
was  going  to  quiet  the  troubles  of  the  country, 
and  prepare  it  for  the  coming  of  the  king,  when 
the  prince  could  accompany  his  father,  if  his  pres- 
ence could  be  spared  in  Castile.  But  this  ex- 
planation served  only  to  irritate  Carlos  the  more ; 
and,  drawing  his  dagger,  he  turned  suddenly  on 
the  duke,  exclaiming,  "  You  shall  not  go ;  if  you 
do,  I  will  kill  you."  A  struggle  ensued,  —  an 
awkward  one  for  Alva,  as  to  have  injured  the 
heir-apparent  might  have  been  construed  into 
treason.  Fortunately,  being  much  the  stronger 
of  the  two,  he  grappled  with  Carlos,  and  held 
him  tight,  while  the  latter  exhausted  his  strength 
in  ineffectual  struggles  to  escape.  But  no  sooner 
was  the  prince  released,  than  he  turned  again, 
with  the  fury  of  a  madman,  on  the  duke,  who 
again  closed  with  him,  when  the  noise  of  the  fray 
brought  in  one  of  the  chamberlains  from  an  ad- 
joining room ;  and  Carlos,  extricating  himself  from 
the  iron  grasp  of  his  adversary,  withdrew  to  his 
own  apartment.** 

«  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  VIL  cap.  IS.-^Strada,  De  Befla 


% 


ill 


ll 


H 


532 


DON  CARLOS. 


[Book  IV 


Such  an  outrage  on  the  person  of  his  minister 
was  regarded  by  Philip  as  an  indignity  to  himself 
It  widened  the  breach,  already  too  wide,  between 
father  and  son  ;  and  so  great  was  their  estrange- 
ment, that,  when  living  in  the  same  palace,  they 
seem  to  have  had  no  communication  with  each 
other.**  Much  of  Philip's  time,  however,  at  this 
period,  was  passed  at  the  Escorial,  where  he  was 
watching  over  the  progress  of  the  magnificent 
pile  which  was  to  commemorate  the  victory  of  St. 
Quentin.  But,  while  in  his  retreat,  the  ministers 
placed  about  his  son  furnished  the  king  with  faith- 
ful reports  of  his  proceedings. 

Such  was  the  deplorable  state  of  things,  when 
Carlos  came  to  the  fatal  determination  to  escape 
from  the  annoyances  of  his  present  position  by 
flying  to  some  foreign  land.  To  what  country  is 
not  certainly  known ;  some  say  to  the  Netherlands, 
others  to  Germany.  The  latter,  on  the  whole, 
seems  the  most  probable ;  as  in  the  court  of  Vi- 
enna he  would  meet  with  his  promised  bride,  and 
friends  who  would  be  sure  to  welcome  him. 

As  he  was  destitute  of  funds  for  such  a  journey, 
he  proposed  to  raise  them  through  a  confidential 
agent,  one  of  his  own  household,  by  obtaining 
loans  from  different  cities.  Such  a  reckless  mode 
of  proceeding,  which  seemed  at  once  to  proclaim 
his   purpose,   intimated  too  plainly   the   heedless- 

Belgico,  torn.  I  p.  876.  — Vandei^  uary  19,  1568,  ap.  Raumer,  Sbr- 

hammen,  Ihn  Juan  de  Austria,  teenth  and  Seventeenth  Centuries 

(Madrid,  1627,)  fol.  87.  toI.  I  p.  85. 
<•  Letter  of  Fourquevaubc,  Jan- 


Ch.  VI.  I 


PROJECT  OF  FLIGHT. 


53; 


:> 


ncss  of  his  character,  and  his  utter  ignorance  of 
affUirs. 

But  while  these  negotiations  were  in  progress, 
a  circumstance  occurred,  exhibiting  the  conduct 
of  Carlos  in  such  a  light  that  it  may  claim  the 
shelter  of  insanity.  The  story  is  told  by  one  of 
the  prince's  household,  an  ayuda  de  cdmara^  or 
gentleman  of  the  chamber,  who  was  present  at  the 
scene,  which  he  describes  with  much  simplicity. 

For  some  days  his  master,  he  tells  us,  had  no 
rest,  frequently  repeating,  that  "  he  desired  to  kill 
a  man  with  whom  he  had  a  quarrel!"**  The  same 
thing  he  said  —  without,  however,  intimating  who 
the  man  was  —  to  his  uncle,  Don  John  of  Austria, 
in  whom  he  seems  to  have  placed  unbounded  con- 
fidence. This  was  near  Christmas,  in  1567.  It 
was  customary  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  Decem- 
ber, the  day  of  the  Innocents,  for  the  members  of 
the  royal  family  to  appear  together,  and  take  the 
sacrament  in  public.  Carlos,  in  order  to  prepare 
for  this,  on  the  preceding  evening  went  to  the 
church  of  St.  Jerome,  to  confess  and  receive  abso- 
lution. But  the  confessor,  when  he  heard  the 
strange  avowal  of  his  murderous  appetite,  refused 
to  grant  absolution.  Carlos  applied  to  another 
ecclesiastic,  but  with  as  little  success.  In  vain  he 
endeavored  to  argue  the  case.     They  recommended 

^  **  Avia  muchos  dias,  que  el  parte  al  Senor  Don  Juan,  pero  sin 

Principe  mi  Seiior  andaba  inqui-  declararie  quien  fuese.**      De   la 

eto  sin  poder  sosegar,  y  decia,  que  Prision  y  Muerte  del  Principe  Don 

avia  de  matar  d  un  hombre  con  Carlos,  MS. 
quier  <j8taba  mal,  y  de  este  did 


« 


1 


U 


f 


534 


DON  CARLOS. 


[Book  IV. 


Ctt  VI.1 


PROJECT  OF  FLIGHT. 


535 


him  to  send  for  more  learned  dmnes,  and  take 
their  opinion.  He  did  so  forthwith ;  and  no  less 
than  fourteen  monks  from  the  convent  of  Our  Lady 
of  Atocha,  and  two  from  another  quarter,  were 
brought  together  to  settle  this  stmnge  point  of 
casuistry.  Greatly  shocked,  they  were  unani 
mous  in  their  opinion,  that,  under  the  circum- 
stances, absolution  could  not  be  gmnted.  Carlos 
next  inquired  whether  he  might  not  be  allowed 
to  receive  an  unconsecrated  wafer,  which  would 
obviate  the  scandal  that  his  omitting  to  take  the 
sacrament  would  infallibly  occasion  in  the  court. 
The  reverend  body  were  thrown  into  fresh  conster- 
nation by  this  proposal.  The  prior  of  Atocha, 
who  was  among  the  number,  wishing  to  draw 
from  Carlos  the  name  of  his  enemy,  told  him  that 
this  intelligence  might  possibly  have  some  influ- 
ence on  the  judgment  of  the  divines.  The  prince 
replied,  that  "  his  father  was  the  person,  and  that 
he  wished  to  have  his  life ! "  ^  The  prior  calmly 
inquired,  if  any  one  was  to  aid  him  in  the  de- 
signs against  his  father.  But  Carlos  only  re- 
peated his  former  declaration  ;  and  two  hours  after 
midnight  the  conclave  broke  up,  in  unspeakable 
dismay.  A  messenger  was  despatched  to  the  Es- 
corial,  where  the  king  then  was,  to  acquaint 
him  with  the  whole  affair.*** 

**  **  Pero  el  Prior  le  engano,  con  y  entonces  dixo,  que  era  el  Rey  su 

persuadirle  dixese  cual    fuese  el  Padre  eon  quien  estaba  mil,  y  Ic 

IxHiibre,  por  que  serU  possible  po-  havia  de  matar."    n>id. 
der  dispensar  oanforme  k  la  satis-       ^  n>id. 
Cacckm,  que  S.  A.  pudiese  tomar» 


Such  is  the  report  of  the  aj/uda  de  cdmara,  who 
says  he  was  in  attendance  on  the  prince  that  night. 
The  authority  is  better  for  some  parts  of  the  story 
than  for  others.     There  is  nothing  very  improb- 
able   in    the    supposition,    that    Carlos  —  whose 
thoughts,  as  we  have  seen,  lay  very  near  the  sur- 
face—should have  talked,  in  the  wild   way  re- 
ported of  him,   to   his   attendants.     But   that   he 
should  have   repeated   to   others   what  had  been 
drawn  from  him  so  cunningly  by  the   prior,  or 
that  this  appalling  secret  should  have  been  whis- 
pered   within  earshot  of  the   attendants,   is   diffi. 
cult  to  believe.     It  matters  little,  however,  since, 
whichever  way  we  take  the  story,  it  savors  so  much 
of  downright  madness  in  the  prince  as  in  a  man- 
ner to  relieve  him  fiom  moral  responsibility. 

By  the  middle  of  January,  1568,  the  prince's 
agent  had  returned,  bringing  with  him  a  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  ducats.  It  was  not  more  than 
a  fourth  of  the  amount  he  had  demanded.  But 
it  answered  for  the  present,  and  the  remainder  he 
proposed  to  have  sent  after  him  in  bills  of  ex- 
change.*^  Having  completed  his  preparations,  he 
communicated  his  intentions  to  his  uncle,  Don 
John,  and  besought  him  to  accompany  him  in  his 
flight.  But  the  latter,  after  fruitlessly  expostulat- 
ing with  his  kinsman  on  the  folly  of  his  proceed- 

47  "Ya  avia  Uegado  de  Sevilla  apercibiesse  para  partir  en  la  no- 

Garci  Alvarez  Osorio  con  ciento  y  che  siguiente  pues  la  resta  le  remi- 

cincuenta  mil  escudos  de  los  seis-  tirian  en  polizas  en  saliendo  de  la 

cientos  mil  que  le  avia  embiado  a  Corte."    Vanderhammen,  Don  Ju- 

buscar  y  proveer :  y  que  assi  se  an  de  Austria,  fol.  40. 


m 


536 


DON  CARLOS. 


[Book  IV 


ing,  left  Madrid  for  the  Escorial,  where  he  doubt- 
less reported  the  aifair  to  the  king,  his  brother. 

On  the  seventeenth,  Carlos  sent  an  order  to 
Don  Ramon  de  Tassis,  the  director-general  of  the 
posts,  to  have  eight  horses  in  readiness  for  him, 
that  evening.  Tassis,  suspecting  all  was  not  right, 
returned  an  answer,  that  the  horses  were  out.  On 
the  prince  repeating  his  orders  in  a  more  peremp- 
tory manner,  the  postmaster  sent  all  the  horsea 
out,  and  proceeded  himself  in  all  haste  to  the 
Escorial.*^ 

The  king  was  not  long  in  taking  his  measures. 
Some  days  previous,  "  this  very  religious  prince,**' 
says  the  papal  nuncio,  "according  to  his  wont, 
had  caused  prayers  to  be  put  up,  in  the  different 
monasteries,  for  the  guidance  of  Heaven  in  an 
affair  of  great  moment."*®  Such  prayers  might 
have  served  as  a  warning  to  Carlos.  But  it  was 
too  late  for  warnings.  Philip  now  proceeded, 
without  loss  of  time,  to  Madrid,  where  those  who 
beheld  him  in  the  audience-chamber,  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  eighteenth,  saw  no  sign  of  the  coming 
stoi-m  in  the  serenity  of  his  countenance.*^     That 


*8  Ibid.,  ubi  supra.  —  Cabrera, 
Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  VII.  cap.  22. 

^  "  Sono  molti  giomi  che  stan- 
do  il  Rd  fuori  eomand6  sesrreta- 
mente  che  si  facesse  fare  orationi 
in  alcuni  monasterii,  acci6  nostro 
Signore  Dio  indrizzasse  bene  et  fe- 
licemente  un  grand  negotio,  che  si 
li  offeriva.  Questo  fe  costume  di 
questp  Prencipe  veramente  molto 


religioso,  quando  li  occorre  qual- 
che  cosa  da  esseguire,  che  sia  im- 
portante.**  Lettera  del  Nunzio,  24 
di  Gennaio,  1568,  MS. 

^  "On  the  next  day,  when  I 
was  present  at  the  audience,  he 
appeared  with  as  good  a  counte- 
nance as  usual,  although  he  was  al- 
ready determined  in  the  same  night 
to  lay  hands  on  his  son,  and  no 


Ch.  VI.] 


HIS  INSANE  CONT)UCT 


morning,  he  attended  mass  in  public,  with  the 
members  of  the  royal  family.  After  the  services, 
Don  John  visited  Carlos  in  his  apartment,  when 
the  prince,  shutting  the  doors,  demanded  of  his 
uncle  the  subject  of  his  conversation  with  the 
king  at  the  Escorial.  Don  John  evaded  the  quet 
tions  as  well  as  he  could,  till  Carlos,  heated  by 
his  suspicions,  drew  his  sword,  and  attacked  his 
uncle,  who,  retreating,  with  his  back  to  the  door, 
called  loudly  on  the  prince  to  desist,  and  threw 
liimself  into  a  posture  of  defence.  The  noise 
made  by  the  skirmish  fortunately  drew  the  notice 
of  the  attendants,  who,  rushing  in,  enabled  Don  . 
John  to  retreat,  and  Carlos  withdrew  in  sullen 
silence  to  his  chamber.^^ 

The  prince,  it  seems,  had  for  some  time  felt 
himself  insecure  in  his  flither's  palace.  He  slept 
with  as  many  precautions  as  a  highwayman,  with 
his  sword  and  dagger  by  his  side,  and  a  loaded 
musket  within  reach,  ready  at  any  moment  for 
action.^^  For  further  security,  he  had  caused  an 
ingenious  artisan  to  construct  a  bolt,  in  such  a  way 


longer  to  put  up  with  or  conceal 
his  follies  and  more  than  youthful 
extravagances."  Letter  of  Four- 
quevaulx,  February  5,  1568,  ap. 
Kaumer,  Sixteenth  and  Seven- 
teenth Centuries,  vol.  I.  p.  138. 

*i  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. — Relacion 
del  Ayuda  de  Camara,  MS. 

52  Relacion  del  Ayuda  de  Ca- 
mara, MS.  —  Lettera  di  Nobili, 
Gennaio  21,  1568,  MS. 

De  Thou,  taking    his  account 

•H)L.  II.  68 


from  the  architect  Louis  de  Foix, 
has  provided  Carlos  with  still  more 
foi-midable  means  of  defence.  "  Ce 
Prince  inquiet  ne  dorraoit  point, 
qu'il  n'eut  sous  son  chevet  deux 
dpees  nues  et  deux  pistolets  char- 
gez.  II  avoit  encore  dans  sa  gar- 
derobe  deux  arquebuses  avec  de 
la  poudre  et  des  balles,  toujours 
pretes  h.  firer."  Hist.  Univei'selle, 
tom.  V.  p.  439. 


538 


DON  CARLOS 


[Book  IV. 


Cu.  VI.] 


HIS  ARREST. 


539 


that  by  means  of  pulleys  lie  could  fasten  or  un- 
fasten the  door  of  his  chamber  while  in  bed.  With 
such  precautions,  it  would  be  a  perilous  thing  to 
invade  the  slumbers  of  a  desperate  man  like  Car- 
los. But  Philip  was  aware  of  the  difficulties ;  and 
he  ordered  the  mechanic  to  derange  the  machinery 
so  that  it  should  not  work;  and  thus  the  door 
was  left  without  the  usual  means  for  securing  it.^ 
—  The  rest  is  told  by  the  ayuda  de  cdmara  above 
mentioned,  who  was  on  duty  that  night,  and  supped 
in  the  palace. 

It  was  about  eleven  o'clock,  on  the  evening 
of  the  eighteenth,  when  he  observed  the  king 
coming  down  stairs,  wearing  armor  over  his 
clothes,  and  his  head  protected  by  a  helmet.  He 
was  accompanied  by  the  duke  of  Feria,  captain 
of  the  guard,  with  four  or  five  other  lords,  and 
twelve  privates  of  the  guard.  The  king  ordered 
the  valet  to  shut  the  door,  and  allow  no  one  to 
enter.  The  nobles  and  the  guard  then  passed 
into  the  prince's  chamber ;  and  the  duke  of  Feria, 
stealing  softly  to  the  head  of  the  bed,  secured  a 
sword  and  dagger  which  lay  there,  as  well  as  a 
musket  loaded  with  two  balls.  Carlos,  roused  by 
the  noise,  started  up,  and  demanded  who  was 
there.  The  duke,  having  got  possession  of  the 
weapons,  replied,  "  It  is  the  council  of  state." 
Carlos,  on  hearing  this,  leaped  from  his  bed,  and, 
uttering  loud  cries  and  menaces,  endeavored  to 
•eize  his  arms.     At  this  moment,  Philip,  who  had 

^  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


prudently  deferred  his  entrance  till  the  weapons 
were  mastered,  came  forward,  and  bade  his  son 
return  to  bed  and  remain  quiet.  The  prince  ex- 
claimed, "What  does  your  majesty  want  of 
me  1  '*  "  You  will  soon  learn,"  said  his  father, 
and  at  the  same  time  ordered  the  windows  and 
doors  to  be  strongly  secured,  and  the  keys  of  the 
latter  to  be  delivered  to  him.  All  the  furniture 
of  the  room,  with  which  Carlos  could  commit  any 
violence,  even  the  andirons,  were  removed.^  The 
king,  then  turning  to  Feria,  told  him  that  "he 
committed  the  prince  to  his  especial  charge,  and 
that  he  must  guard  him  well."  Addressing  next 
the  other  nobles,  he  directed  them  "  to  serve  the 
prince  with  all  proper  respect,  but  to  execute 
none  of  his  orders  without  first  reporting  them 
to  himself;  finally,  to  guard  him  faithfully,  under 
penalty  of  being  held  as  traitors." 

At  these  words  Carlos  exclaimed,  "  Your  majesty 
had  better  kill  me  than  keep  me  a  prisoner.  It 
will  be  a  great  scandal  to  the  kingdom.  If  you  do 
not  kill  me,  I  ^vill  make  away  with  myself."  "  You 
will  do  no  such  thing,"  said  the  king;  "for  that 
would  be  the  act  of  a  madman."  "Your  ma- 
jesty," replied  Carlos,  "  treats  me  so  ill  that  you 
force  me  to  this  extremity.  I  am  not  mad,  but 
you  drive  me  to  despair ! "  ^     Other  words  passed 

5*  "  Cosi  S.  M**  fece  levare  tut-  ^  "  Aqui  al90  el  principe  gran* 

te  rarmi,  et  tutti  i  ferri  sino  k  gli  des  bozes  dizlendo,  mateme  Vra 

alari  di  quella  camera,  et  confic-  M'   y  no  me  prenda  porque  et 

care  le  finestre."    Lettera  di  No-  grande  escandalo  para  el  reyno  y 

bill,  Gennaio  21,  1568,  MS.  sino  yo  me  matard,  al  qual  respon- 


I 


540 


DON  CARLOS. 


[Book  IV. 


rii.  vi.i 


HIS   AKKEST. 


541 


between  tlie  monarch  and  his  son,  whose  voire 
was  so  broken  by  sobs  as  to  be  scarcely  audible.^ 

Having  completed  his  armngements,  Philip,  after 
securing  a  coffer  which  contained  the  prince's  pa- 
pers, withdrew  from  the  apartment.  That  night, 
the  duke  of  Feria,  the  count  of  Lerma,  and  Don 
Eodrigo  de  Mendoza,  eldest  son  of  Ruy  Gomez, 
remained  in  the  prince's  chamber.  Two  lords,  out 
of  six  named  for  the  purpose,  pei'formed  the  same 
duty  in  rotation  each  succeeding  night.  From  re- 
spect to  the  prince,  none  of  them  were  allowed  to 
w^ear  their  swords  in  his  presence.  His  meat  was 
cut  up  before  it  was  brought  into  his  chamber, 
as  he  was  allowed  no  knife  at  his  meals.  The 
prince's  attendants  were  all  dismissed,  and  most 
of  them  afterwards  provided  for  in  the  service 
of  the  king.  A  guard  of  twelve  halberdiers  was 
stationed  in  the  passages  leading  to  the  tower 
in  which  the  apartment  of  Carlos  was  situated. 
Thus  all  communication  from  without  was  cut 
off;  and,  as  he  was  unable  to  look  from  his 
strongly  barricaded  windows,  the  unhappy  pris- 
oner from  that  time  remained  as  dead  to  the 
world  as  if  he  had  been  buried  in  the  deepest 
dungeon  of  Simancas. 

The  following  day,  the  king  called  the  members 


dio  el  rey  que  no  lo  hiciere  que  era 
cosa  de  loco,  y  el  principe  respon- 
dio  no  lo  hare  como  loco  sino  como 
desesperado  pues  Vra  M**  me  tra- 
ta  tan  maL"  Belacion  del  Ayuda 
ic  Camara,  MS. 


58  "  Eras!  di  gik  tornato  nel  let- 
to  il  Principe  usando  molte  parole 
fuor  di  proposito  :  le  quali  non  fur- 
no  asverttite  come  dette  quasi  siu- 
ghiozzando."  Lettera  di  Nobill, 
Gennaio25,  1568,  MS. 


of  his  different  councils  together,  an  informed 
them  of  the  arrest  of  his  son,  de  iaring  that 
nothing  but  his  duty  to  God,  and  the  welfare  of 
the  monarchy,  could  have  moved  him  to  such  an 
act.  The  tears,  according  to  one  present,  filled  his 
eves,  as  he  made  this  avowal.^^ 

He  then  summoned  his  council  of  state,  and 
commenced  a  process  against  the  prisoner.  His 
affliction  did  not  prevent  him  from  being  pres- 
ent all  the  while,  and  listening  to  the  testi- 
mony, which,  when  reduced  to  writing,  formed 
a  heap  of  paper  half  a  foot  in  thickness.  — 
Such  is  the  account  given  of  this  extraordinary 
proceeding  by  the  ayuda  de  camara.^ 


57  "Yd  cada  uno  de  por  sf  con 
laizrimas  (sejmn  me  ha  certifieado 
quien  lo  vid)  les  daba  cuenta  de  la 
prission  del  Principe  su  hijo."  Re- 
lacion  del  Ayuda  de  Camara,  MS. 

58  "  Maries  veinte  de  Enero  de 
1568,  llamd  S.  M.  i  su  cdmara  d 
los  de  el  Consejo  de  Estado,  y  estu- 
bieron  en  ella  desde  la  una  de  la 
tarde  asta  las  nueve  de  la  noche, 
no  se  sabe  que  se  tratase,  el  Rey 
Sace    infonnacion,    Secretario  de 


ella  ^s  Oyos,  hallase  el  Rey  pres- 
sente  al  examen  de  los  testigos,  ay 
escrlpto  casi  un  feme  en  alto." 
Ibid. 

I  have  two  copies  of  this  inter- 
esting MS.,  one  from  Madrid,  the 
other  from  the  libran'  of  Sir  Thom- 
as  Phillips.  Llorente*s  translation 
of  the  entire  document,  in  his  His- 
toire  de  I'Inquisitlon,  (tom.  III.  pp. 
151  - 158,)  cannot  claim  the  merit 
of  scrupulous  accuracy. 


Cn.  VII.]  CAUSES  OF  HIS  IMPRISONMENT. 


513 


CHAPTER    VII. 

DEATH  OF  DON  CARLOS. 

Causes  of  his  Imprisonment.  —  His  Rigorous  Confinement  —  His  Ex» 
cesses.  —  His  Death.  —  Llorente*s  Account.  —  Various  Accounts.  — 
Suspicious  Circumstances.  —  Quarrel  in  the  Palace.  —  Obsequies 
of  Carlos. 

1568. 

The  arrest  of  Don  Carlos  caused  a  great  sen- 
sation throughout  the  country,  much  mcreased  by 
the  mysterious  circumstances  which  had  attended 
it  The  wildest  rumors  were  afloat  as  to  the 
cause.  Some  said  the  prince  had  meditated  a  de- 
sign against  his  father's  life ;  others,  that  he  had 
conspired  against  that  of  Ruy  Gomez.  Some  said 
that  he  was  plotting  rebellion,  and  had  taken  part 
with  the  Flemings ;  others  suspected  him  of  her-  • 
esy.  Many  took  still  a  different  view  of  the  mat- 
ter,—  censuring  the  father  rather  than  the  son. 
"  His  dagger  followed  close  upon  his  smile,''  says 
the  historian  of  Philip ;  "  hence  some  called  him 
wise,  others  severe."^     Carlos,  they  said,  never  a 

1  »*  Unos  le  llamaban  prudente,        These  remarkable  words  seem  to 

otros  severo,  porque  su  risa  i  cu-  escape  from  Cabrera,  as  if  he  wer© 

thillo    eran  confines.**      Cabrera,  noticing  only  an  ordinary  trait  ot 

Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  VII.  cap.  22.  character. 


favorite,  might  have  been  rash  in  his  thoughts 
and  words ;  but  he  had  done  no  act  which  should 
have  led  a  father  to  deal  with  his  son  so  harshly. 
But  princes  were  too  apt  to  be  jealous  of  their  suc- 
cessors. They  distrusted  the  bold  and  generous 
spirit  of  their  off*spring,  whom  it  would  be  wiser 
to  win  over  by  admitting  them  to  some  reasonable  ' 
share  in  the  government.  — "  But  others  there 
were,"  concludes  the  wise  chronicler  of  the  times, 
"who,  more  prudent  than  their  neighbors,  laid 
their  finger  on  their  lips,  and  were  silent."^ 

For  some  days,  Philip  would  allow  no  post  to 
leave  Madrid,  that  he  might  be  the  first  to  send 
intelligence  of  this  event  to  foreign  courts.^  On 
the  twenty-fourth,  he  despatched  circular  letters  to 
the  great  ecclesiastics,  the  grandees,  and  the  muni- 
cipalities of  the  chief  cities  in  the  kingdom.  They 
were  vague  in  their  import,  stating  the  fact  of  the 
arrest,  and  assigning  much  the  same  general 
grounds  with  those  he  had  stated  to  the  coun- 
cils. On  the  same  day  he  sent  despatches  to  the 
principal  courts  of  Europe.  These,  though  sin- 
gularly vague  and  mysterious  in  their  language, 
were  more  pregnant  with  suggestions,  at  least, 
than  the  letters  to  his  subjects.  The  most  curi- 
ous, on  the  whole,  and  the  one  that  gives  the  best 


8  "Mirabanse  los  mas  cuerdos  do  essere  Sua  Maestk  il  primo  i 

sellando  la  boca  con  el  dedo  i  el  si-  dar    alii    Prencipi    quest'    aviso.** 

lencio.**    Ibid.,  ubi  supra.  Lettera  del  Nunzio,  Gennaio  21, 

'  "In  questo  mezo  d  prohibito  1568,  MS. 
di  mandar  corriero  nessuno,  voleo- 


bi 


544 


DEATH  OF   DON  CARLOS. 


[Book  IV 


insight  into  his  motives,  is  the  letter  he  addressed 
to  his  aunt,  the  queen  of  Portugal.  She  was  sis- 
ter to  the  emperor,  his  father,  —  an  estimable  lady, 
whom  Philip  had  always  held  in  great  respect. 

"  Although,"  he  writes,  "  it  has  long  been  ob- 
vious that  it  was  necessary  to  take  some  order  in 
regard  to  the  prince,  yet  the  feelings  of  a  father 
have  led  me  to  resort  to  all  other  means  before 
proceeding  to  extremity.  But  affairs  have  at 
length  come  to  such  a  pass,  that,  to  fulfil  the 
duty  which,  as  a  Christian  prince,  I  owe  both  to 
God  and  to  my  realm,  1  have  been  compelled  to 
place  my  son  in  strict  confinement.  Thus  have 
I  been  willing  to  sacrifice  to  God  my  own  flesh 
and  blood,  preferring  his  ser\ice  and  the  welfare 
of  my  people  to  all  human  considerations.*  I 
will  only  add,  that  this  determination  has  not 
been  brought  about  by  any  misconduct  on  the 
part  of  my  son,  or  by  any  want  of  respect  to 
me;  nor  is  this  treatment  of  him  intended  by 
way  of  chastisement,  —  for  that,  however  just  the 
grounds  of  it,  would  have  its  time  and  its  limit.'^ 
Neither  have  I  resorted  to  it  as  an  expedient  for 
reforming    his    disorderly    life.      The    proceeding 


*  "  En  fin  yo  he  querido  hacer 
en  esta  parte  sacrificio  k  Dios  de 
mi  propia  came  y  sangre  y  prefe- 
rir  §u  senricio  y  el  bien  y  beneficio 
ptSblico  A  las  otras  consideraciones 
hamanas.**  Traslado  de  la  Carta 
que  so  magestad  escrivid  k  la  Rey- 
na  de  Portugal  sobre  le  prision  del 


Principe  su    hijo,   20   de   Enero, 
1568,  MS. 

*  "  Solo  me  ha  parecido  ahora 
advertir  que  el  fundamento  de 
esta  mi  determinacion  no  depende 
de  culpa,  ni  inovediencia,  ni  desa- 
cato,  ni  es  cnderezada  d  castigo. 
que  aunque  para  este  havia  la  muy 


Oh.  Vn.] 


CAUSES  OF  HIS  IMPRISONMENT. 


54r 


rests  altogether  on  another  foundation ;  and  the 
remedy  I  propose  is  not  one  either  of  time  or  expe- 
dients,  but  is  of  the  greatest  moment,  as  I  have 
already  remarked,  to  satisfy  my  obligations  to  God 
and  my  people."  * 

In  the  same  obscure  strain,  Philip  addressed 
ZuRiga,  his  ambassador  at  the  papal  court, — 
saying  that,  "  although  the  disobedience  which 
Carlos  had  shown  through  life  was  sufficient  to 
justify  any  demonstration  of  severity,  yet  it  was 
not  this,  but  the  stern  pressure  of  necessity,  that 
could  alone  have  driven  him  to  deal  in  this  wav 
with  his  first-bom,  his  only  son."  ^ 

This  ambiguous  language  —  implying  that  the 
imprisonment  of  Carlos  was  not  occasioned  by 
his  own  misconduct,  and  yet  that  the  interests 
of  religion  and  the  safety  of  the  state  both  de- 
manded his  perpetual  imprisonment  —  may  be 
thought  to  intimate  that  the  cause  referred  to 
could  be  no  other  than  insanity.  This  was  plainly 
stated  by  the  prince  of  Eboli,  in  a  communication 


suficiente  materia,  pudiera  tener  su 
tiempo  y  su  termino."    Ihid. 

8  **  Ni  tampoco  lo  he  tornado  por 
medio,  teniendo  esperanza  que  por 
este  camino  se  reformardn  sus  ex- 
cesos  y  desordenes.  Tiene  este 
negocio  otro  principio  y  razon,  cu- 
yo  remedio  no  consiste  en  tiempo, 
ni  medios  ;  y  que  es  de  mayor  im- 
portan(;ia  y  consideracion  para  sa- 
tisfacer  yo  i.  la  dicha  obligacion  quo 
tengo  i  Dios  nuestro  senor  y  &  los 
diehos  mis  Reynos.**    Ibid. 

VOL.  II.  69 


^  "  Pues  aunque  es  verdad  que 
en  el  discurso  de  su  vida  y  trato 
haya  habido  ocasion  de  alguna  des- 
obediencia  6  desacato  que  pudie- 
ran  justificar  qualquiera  demostra- 
cion,  esto  no  me  obligana  i.  llegar 
a  tan  estrecho  punto.  La  necesidad 
y  conveniencia  han  producido  las 
causas  que  me  han  movido  muy  ur- 
gentes  y  precisas  con  mi  hijo  pri- 
mogenito  y  solo."  Carta  del  Rey 
&  su  Embajador  en  Roma,  22  da 
Enero,  1568,  MS. 


546 


DEATH  OF  DON   CAELOS. 


[Book  IV 


Ch   VII] 


CAUSES  OF  ms  IMPRISONMENT. 


54: 


which,  by  the  king's  order,  he  made  to  the  French 
minister,  Fourquevaulx.  The  king,  Gomez  said, 
had  for  three  years  past  perceived  that  the  prince's 
head  was  the  weakest  part  of  him,  and  that  he 
was,  at  no  time,  in  complete  possession  of  his 
understanding.  He  had  been  silent  on  the  matter, 
trusting  that  time  would  bring  some  amendment. 
But  it  had  only  made  things  worse ;  and  he  saw, 
with  sorroAv,  that  to  commit  the  sceptre  to  his 
son's  hands  would  be  to  bring  inevitable  misery  on 
his  subjects  and  ruin  on  the  state.  With  unspeak- 
able anguish,  he  had  therefore  resolved,  after  long 
deliberation,  to  place  his  son  under  constraint.^ 

This  at  least  is  intelligible,  and  very  different 
from  Philip's  own  despatches,  —  where  it  strikes 
us  as  strange,  if  insanity  were  the  true  ground 
of  the  arrest,  that  it  should  be  covered  up  under 
such  vague  and  equivocal  language,  with  the 
declaration,  moreover,  usually  made  in  his  letters, 
that,  "  at  some  future  time,  he  would  explain  the 
matter  more  fully  to  the  parties."  One  might  have 
thought  that  the  simple  plea  of  insanity  would 
have  been  directly  given,  as  furnishing  the  best 
apology  for  the  son,  and  at  the  same  time  vin- 
dicating the  father  for  imposing  a  wholesome 
restraint  upon  his  person.  But,  in  point  of  fact, 
the  excessive  rigor  of  the  confinement,  as  we  shall 
have  occasion  to  see,  savored  much  more  of  the 
punishment  dealt  out  to  some  high  offender,  than 

•  Letter  of  Fourquevaulx,  ap.  Raumer,  Sixteenth  and  Seventeenth 
Centuries,  vol.  I.  p.  136. 


of  the  treatment  of  an  unfortunate  lunatic.  Nei- 
ther is  it  probable  that  a  criminal  process  would 
have  been  instituted  against  one  who,  by  his  very 
infirmity,  was  absolved  from  all  moral  responsi- 
bility. 

There  are  two  documents,  either  of  which, 
should  it  ever  be  brought  to  light,  would  proba- 
bly unfold  the  true  reasons  of  the  arrest  of  Carlos. 
The  Spanish  ambassador,  Zuiiiga,  informed  Philip 
that  the  pope,  dissatisfied  with  the  account  which 
he  had  given  of  the  transaction,  desired  a  further 
explanation  of  it  from  his  majesty.®  This,  from 
such  a  source,  was  nearly  equivalent  to  a  com- 
mand. For  Philip  had  a  peculiar  reverence  for 
Pius  the  Fifth,  the  pope  of  the  Inquisition,  who 
was  a  pontiff  after  his  own  heart.  The  king  is 
said  never  to  have  passed  by  the  portrait  of  his 
holiness,  which  hung  on  the  walls  of  the  palace, 
without  taking  off  his  hat.^^  He  at  once  wrote  a 
letter  to  the  pope  containing  a  full  account  of  the 
transaction.  It  was  written  in  cipher,  with  the 
recommendation  that  it  should  be  submitted  to 
Granvelle,  then  in  Rome,  if  his  holiness  could 
not  interpret  it.  This  letter  is  doubtless  in  the 
Vatican.^^ 


9  "  Querria  el  Papa  saber  por 
carta  de  V.  M.  la  verdad.*'  Carta 
de  Zuniga  al  Rey,  28  de  Abril, 
1668,  MS. 

i<*  Lorea,  Vida  de  Pio  Quinto, 
(Valladolid,  1713,)p.  131. 

n  In  the  Archives  of  Simancas 
•8  a  department  known  as  the  Pa- 
XronatOy  or  family  papers,  consist- 


ing of  very  curious  dociunents,  of 
so  private  a  nature  as  to  render 
them  particularly  difficult  of  ac- 
cess. In  this  department  is  de- 
posited the  correspondence  of  Zu- 
iiiga, which,  with  other  documents 
in  the  same  collection,  has  fur- 
nished me  with  some  pertinent 
extracts. 


/ 


548 


DEATH  OF  DON  CARLOS. 


(Book  IV 


The  other  document  is  the  process.  The  king, 
immediately  after  the  arrest  of  his  son,  appointed 
a  special  commission  to  try  him.  It  consisted  of 
Cardinal  Espinosa,  the  prince  of  Eboli,  and  a  royal 
councillor,  Bribiesca  de  Muilatones,  who  was  ap- 
pointed to  prepare  the  indictment.  The  writings 
containing  the  memorable  process  instituted  by 
Philip's  ancestor,  John  the  Second  of  Aragon, 
against  his  amiable  and  unfortunate  son,  who  also 
bore  the  name  of  Carlos,  had  been  obtained  from 
the  archives  of  Barcelona.  They  were  translated 
from  the  Catalan  into  Castilian,  and  served  for  the 
ominous  model  for  the  present  proceedings,  which 
took  the  form  of  a  trial  for  high  treason.  In 
conducting  this  singular  prosecution,  it  does  not 
appear  that  any  counsel  or  evidence  appeared  on 
behalf  of  the  prisoner,  although  a  formidable 
amount  of  testimony,  it  would  seem,  was  collected 
on  the  other  side.  But,  in  truth,  we  know  little 
of  the  proceedings.  There  is  no  proof  that  any 
but  the  monarch,  and  the  secret  tribunal  that 
presided  over  the  trial,  —  if  so  it  can  be  called,  — 
ever  saw  the  papers.  In  1592,  according  to  the 
historian  Cabrera,  they  were  deposited,  by  Philip's 
orders,  in  a  green  box,  strongly  secured,  in  the 
Archives  of  Simancas,^^  —  where,  as  we  have  no 
later  information,  they  may  still  remain,  to  reward 
the  labors  of  some  future  antiquary.^' 

»  **£8tan  en  el  archivo  de  Si-  mara  en  un  cofrecillo  verde  en 

nancas,  donde  en  el  ano  mil  i  qui-  que  se  conservan.**     Cabrera,  Fi- 

nientos  i  noventa  i  dos  los  metio  lipe  Segundo,  lib.  VII.  cap.  22. 

don  Cristoyal  de  Mora  de  su  Ca-  *3  It  is  currently  reported,  as  1 


Ch.  Vn.j  CAUSES   OF  HIS  IMPRISONMENT. 


549 


In  default  of  these  documents,  we  must  resort 
to  conjecture  for  the  solution  of  this  difficult 
problem ;  and  there  are  several  cii'cumstances 
which  may  assist  us  in  arriving  at  a  conclusion. 
Among  the  foreign  ministers  at  that  time  at  the 
court  of  Madrid,  none  took  more  pains  to  come 
at  the  truth  of  this  affair,  —  as  his  letters  abun- 
dantly prove,  —  than  the  papal  nuncio,  Castaneo, 
archbishop  of  Rossano.  He  was  a  shrewd,  saga- 
cious prelate,  whose  position  and  credit  at  the 
court  gave  him  the  best  opportunities  for  infor- 
mation. By  Philip's  command.  Cardinal  Espino- 
sa gave  the  nuncio  the  usual  explanation  of  the 
grounds  on  which  Carlos  had  been  arrested.  "  It 
is  a  strange  story,"  said  the  nuncio,  "  that  which 
we  everywhere  hear,  of  the  prince's  plot  against 
his  father's  life."  "  It  would  be  of  little  mo- 
ment," replied  the  cardinal,  "  if  the  danger  to 
the  king  were  all ;  as  it  would  be  easy  to  protect 
his  person.  But  the  present  case  is  worse,  —  if 
worse  can  be;  and  the  king,  Avho  has  seen  the 
bad  course  which  his  son  has  taken  for  these  two 
years  past,  has  vainly  tried  to  remedy  it ;  till,  find- 
ing himself  unable  to  exercise  any  control  over  the 
hair-brained  young  man,  he  has  been  forced  to  this 
expedient."  ^* 


am  informed,  among  the  scholars 
of  Madrid,  that  in  1828  Ferdinand 
the  Seventh  caused  the  papers 
containing  the  original  process  of 
Carlos,  with  some  other  docu- 
nents,  to  be  taken  from  Siman- 


cas;  but  whither  they  were  re- 
moved is  not  known.  Nor  since 
that  monarch's  death  have  any  ti- 
dings been  heard  of  them. 

1*  "  Rispose  che  questo  saria  el 
manco,  perch^  se  non  fosse  8taly« 


550 


DEATH  OF  DON  CARLOS. 


[Book  IV 


Now,  ill  the  judgment  of  a  grand-inquisitor,  it 
would  probably  be  thought  that  heresy,  or  any 
leaning  to  heresy,  was  a  crime  of  even  a  deep- 
er dye  than  parricide.  The  cardinal's  discourse 
made  this  impression  on  the  nuncio,  who  straight- 
way began  to  cast  about  for  proofs  of  apostasy  in 
Don  Carlos*  The  Tuscan  minister  also  notices, 
in  his  letters,  the  suspicions  that  Carlos  was 
not  a  good  Catholic.^  A  confirmation  of  this 
view  of  the  matter  may  be  gathered  from  the  re- 
marks  of  Pius  the  Fifth  on  Philip's  letter  in  ci- 
pher, above  noticed.  "His  holiness,"  writes  the 
Spanish  ambassador,  "greatly  lauds  the  course 
taken  by  your  majesty ;  for  he  feels  that  the  pres^ 
ervation  of  Christianity  depends  on  your  living 
many  years,  and  on  your  having  a  successor  who 
will  tread  in  your  footsteps."^® 

But  though  all  this  seems  to  intimate  pretty 
clearly  that  the  religious  defection  of  Carlos  was 
a  predominant  motive  for  his  imprisonment,  it  is 


altro  pericolo  che  della  persona  del 
R^  81  saria  guardata,  et  rimediato 
altramente,  ma  che  ci  era  peggio, 
■i  peggio  pu6  essere,  al  che  sua 
Maestk  ha  cercato  per  ogni  via  dl 
rimediare  due  anni  continui,  pei> 
ch^  vedeva  pigliarli  la  mala  Tia,  ma 
non  ha  msu  potuto  fermare  ne  re- 
golare  questo  cenrello,  fin  che  h 
biaognato  arrivare  a  questo."  Let- 
tera  del  Nuniio,  Gennaio  24, 
1568,  MS. 

w  **Non  lascerb  per6  di  dirie, 
oh*  10  ho  ritratto  et  di  luogo  ragio- 


nevole,  che  si  sospetta  del  Prencipe 
di  poco  Cattolico :  et  quelle,  che  lo 
f  k  credere,  h  che  fin*  adesso  non  li 
han  fatto  dir  messa.**  Lettera  di 
Nobili,  Gennaio  25,  1668,  MS. 

16  "  El  Papa  alaba  mucho  la  de- 
terminacion  de  V.  M.  porque  enti- 
ende  que  la  conservacion  de  la 
Christiandad  depende  de  que  Dioa 
de  d  V.  M.  muchos  anos  de  vida  y 
que  despues  tenga  tal  sucesor  que 
sepa  seguir  sus  pisadas.**  Carta  d€ 
Zudiga,  Junio  25,  1568,  MS. 


X 


Ch.  VII.j  CAUSES  OF  IIIS  IMPRISONMENT. 


551 


not  easy  to  believe  that  a  person  of  his  wayward 
and  volatile  mind  could  have  formed  any  settled 
opinions  in  matters  of  faith,  or  that  his  position 
would  have  allowed  the  Reformers  such  access  to 
his  person  as  to  have  greatly  exposed  him  to  the 
influence  of  their  doctrines.  Yet  it  is  quite  pos- 
sible that  he  may  have  taken  an  interest  in  those 
political  movements  abroad,  which,  in  the  end. 
were  directed  against  the  Church.  I  allude  to 
the  troubles  in  the  Low  Countries,  which  he  is 
said  to  have  looked  upon  with  no  unfriendly  eye. 
It  is  true,  there  is  no  proof  of  this,  so  far  as  I  am 
aware,  in  the  correspondence  of  the  Flemish  lead- 
ers. Nor  is  there  any  reason  to  suppose  that  Car- 
los entered  directly  into  a  correspondence  with 
them  himself,  or  indeed  committed  himself  by  any 
overt  act  in  support  of  the  cause."  But  this  was 
not  necessary  for  his  condemnation ;  it  would  have 
been  quite  enough,  that  he  had  felt  a  sympathy 
for  the  distresses  of  the  people.  From  the  resi 
dence  of  Egmont,  Bergen,  and  Montigny  at  the 
court,  he  had  obvious  means  of  communication 
with  those  nobles,  who  may  naturally  have  sought 
to  interest  him  in  behalf  of  their  countrymen. 
The  sympathy  readily  kindled  in  the  ardent  bosom 
of  the  young  prince  would  be  as  readily  expressed. 

n  l.eti  has  been    more    fortu-  The  historian  is  too  discreet   U* 

nate  in  discovering  a  letter  from  vouch  for  the  authenticity  of  the 

Don    Carlos  to    Count    Egmont,  document,  which  indeed  would  re- 

found  among  the  papers  of  that  quire  a  better  voucher  than  I^ti 

nobleman  at^the  time  of  his  arrest,  to  obtain  our  confidence. 
(Vita  di  Filippo  II.,  torn.  I.  p.  543.) 


552 


DEATH  OF  DON  CARLOS. 


[Book  IV. 


u 


That  he  did  feel  such  a  sympathy  may  perhaps 
be  inferred  by  his  strange  conduct  to  Alva,  on 
the  eve  of  his  departure  for  the  Netherlands.  But 
the  people  of  that  country  were  regarded  at  Ma- 
drid as  in  actual  rebellion  against  the  crown.  The 
reformed  doctrines  which  they  avowed  gave  to 
the  movement  the  character  of  a  religious  revolu- 
tion. For  a  Spaniard  to  countenance  it  in  any 
w^ay  was  at  once  to  prove  himself  false  both  to 
his  sovereign  and  his  faith.  In  such  a  light,  we 
may  be  quite  sure,  it  would  be  viewed  both  by 
Philip  and  his  minister,  the  grand-inquisitor.  Nor 
would  it  be  thought  any  palliation  of  the  crime, 
that  the  offender  was  heir  to  the  monarchy.^® 

As  to  a  design  on  his  father's  life,  Philip,  both 
in  his  foreign  despatches  and  in  the  communica- 
tions made  by  his  order  to  the  resident  ministers 
at  Madrid,  wholly  acquitted  Carlos  of  so  horrible 
a  charge.^^  If  it  had  any  foundation  in  truth, 
one  might  suppose  that  Philip,  instead  of  denying, 
would  have  paraded  it,  as  furnishing  an  obvious 
apology  for  subjecting  him  to  so  rigorous  a  con- 
finement.    It  is  certain,  if  Carlos  had  really  en- 


W  De  Castro  labors  hard  to 
prove  that  Don  Carlos  was  a  Prot- 
estant If  he  fails  to  establish  the 
fact,  he  must  be  allowed  to  have 
shown  that  the  prince's  conduct 
was  such  as  to  suggest  great  doubts 
of  his  orthodoxy,  among  those  who 
approached  the  nearest  to  him. 
See  Historia  de  los  Protestantes 
Bspanoles,  p.  319  et  seq. 


19  "  Sua  Maestk  ha  dato  ordine, 
che  nelle  lettere,  che  si  scrivono  a 
tutti  li  Prencipi  et  Regni,  si  dica, 
che  la  voce  ch'  h  uscita  ch  *1  Pren- 
cipe  havesse  cercato  di  offcndere 
la  Real  persona  sua  propria  e  falsa, 
et  questo  medesimo  fa  dire  a  boc« 
ca  da  Ruy  Gomez  all*  Imbascia- 
tori."  Lettera  del  Nunzio,  Gen- 
uaio  27, 1568,  MS. 


Ce.  VIL] 


HIS  RIGOROUS  CONFINEMENT. 


00  3 


tertained  so  monstrous  a  design,  he  might  easily 
have  found  an  opportunity  to  execute  it.  That 
Philip  would  have  been  silent  in  respect  to  his 
son's  sympathy  with  the  Netherlands  may  well  be 
believed.  The  great  champion  of  Catholicism  would 
natumlly  shrink  from  publishing  to  the  world  that 
the  taint  of  heresy  infected  his  own  blood. 

But,  whatever  may  have  been  the  motives 
which  determined  the  conduct  of  Philip,  one 
cannot  but  suspect  that  a  deep-rooted  aversion  to 
his  son  lay  at  the  bottom  of  them.  The  dissimi- 
larity of  their  natures  placed  the  two  parties,  from 
the  first,  in  false  relations  to  each  other.  The 
hfcodless  excesses  of  youth  were  regarded  with  a 
pitiless  eye  by  the  parent,  who,  in  his  o^vn  indul- 
gences, at  least  did  not  throw  aside  the  veil  of 
decorum.  The  fiery  temper  of  Carlos,  irritated  by 
a  long-continued  system  of  distrust,  exclusion,  and 
espionage^  at  length  broke  out  into  such  senseless 
extravagances  as  belong  to  the  debatable  ground 
of  insanity.  And  this  ground  afforded,  as  already 
intimated,  a  plausible  footing  to  the  father  fo^- 
proceeding  to  extremities  against  the  son. 

Whatever  were  the  offences  of  Carlos,  those 
who  had  the  best  opportunities  for  observation 
soon  became  satisfied  that  it  was  intended  never 
to  allow  him  to  regain  his  liberty,  or  to  ascend  the 
throne  of  his  ancestors.^     On  the  second  of  March, 


f» 


»  "  Si  tien  per  fermo  che  pri-    Lettera  del  Nunzio,  Febraio  14, 
varanno  il  Prencipe  della  succes-     1568,  MS. 
lione,  et  non  lo  liberaranno  mai." 

VOL.  II.  7*> 


554 


DEATH  OF  DON  CARLOS. 


[Book  IV. 


\s 


a  code  of  regulations  was  prepared  by  Philip  rel- 
ative to  the  treatment  of  the  prince,  which  may 
give  some  idea  of  the  rigor  of  his  confinement. 
He  was  given  in  especial  charge  to  Euy  Gomez, 
who  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  establish- 
ment; and  it  was  from  him  that  every  person 
employed  about  Carlos  was  to  receive  his  commis- 
sion. Six  other  nobles  were  appointed  both  to 
guard  the  prince  and  render  him  service.  Two 
of  the  number  were  to  remain  in  his  apartment 
every  night,  —  the  one  watching,  while  the  other 
slept;  reminding  us  of  an  ingenious  punishment 
among  the  Chinese,  where  a  criminal  is  obliged 
to  be  everywhere  followed  by  an  attendant,  whose 
business  it  is  to  keep  an  unceasing  watch  upon 
the  offender,  that,  wherever  he  turns,  he  may  still 
find  the  same  eye  riveted  upon  him! 

During  the  day,  it  was  the  duty  of  these  nobles 
to  remain  with  Carlos  and  lighten  by  theii'  conver- 
sation  the  gloom  of  his  captivity.  But  they  were 
not  to  talk  on  matters  relating  to  the  government, 
above  all  to  the  prince's  imprisonment,  on  which 
topic,  if  he  addressed  them,  they  were  to  re- 
main obdurately  silent.  They  were  to  bring  no 
messages  to  him,  and  bear  none  from  him  to  the 
world  without ;  and  they  were  to  maintain  invio- 
lable secrecy  in  regard  to  all  that  passed  within 
the  walls  of  the  palace,  unless  when  otherwise 
permitted  by  the  king.  Carlos  was  provided  with 
a  breviary  and  some  other  books  of  devotion; 
and  no  works  except  those  of  a  devotional  char- 


\ 


Ch.  vii.j 


HIS  RIGOROUS  CONFINEMENT. 


55c 


acter  were  to  be  allowed  him.^^  —  This  last  regula- 
tion seems  to  intimate  the  existence  of  certain  he- 
retical tendencies  in  Carlos,  which  it  was  necessary 
to  counteract  by  books  of  an  opposite  character,  — 
unless  it  might  be  considered  as  an  ominous  prep- 
aration for  his  approaching  end.  Besides  the  six 
nobles,  no  one  was  allowed  to  enter  the  apartment 
but  the  prince's  physician,  his  barbero,  or  gentle- 
man of  the  chamber,  and  his  valet.  The  last  was 
taken  from  the  monterosy  or  body-guard  of  the 
king.^  There  were  seven  others  of  this  faithful 
corps  who  were  attached  to  the  establishment,  and 
whose  duty  it  was  to  bring  the  dishes  for  his 
table  to  an  outer  hall,  whence  they  were  taken  by 
the  montero  in  waiting  to  the  prince's  chamber. 
A  guard  of  twelve  halberdiers  was  also  stationed 
in  the  passages  leading  to  the  apartment,  to  inter- 
cept all  communication  from  without.  Every  per- 
son employed  in  the  ser\ice,  from  the  highest 
noble  to  the  meanest  oflicial,  made  solemn  oath, 
before  the  prince  of  Eboli,  to  conform  to  the  reg- 
ulations. On  this  nobleman  rested  the  whole  re- 
sponsibility of  enforcing  obedience  to  the  rules, 
and  of  providing  for  the  security  of  Carlos.  The 
better  to  effect  this,  he  was  commanded  to  remove 


I    'I 


*i  "  Para  rezarse  le  diese  i  las 
Oras,  Breviario  i  Bosario  que  pl- 
diese,  i  llbros  solamente  de  buena 
dotrina  i  devocion,  si  quisiese  leer 
y  oir."  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo, 
lib.  Vn.  cap.  22. 

82  The  montero  was  one  of  the 


body-guard  of  the  king  for  tlie 
night  Tlie  right  of  filling  this 
corps  was  an  ancient  privilege  ac- 
corded to  the  inhabitants  of  a  cer- 
tsun  district  named  Espinosa  de  loi 
Monteros.  Llorente,  Histoire  da 
rinquiaition,  torn.  III.  p.  163. 


556 


DEATH  OF  DOX   CARLOS. 


[Book  IV. 


Cii    V'll.] 


HIS   RIGOROUS   CONFIXEMEXT. 


DO  J 


to  the  palace,  where  apartments  were  assigned  to 
him  and  the  princess  his  wife,  adjoining  those  of 
his  prisoner.  The  arrangement  may  have  been 
commended  by  other  considerations  to  Philip, 
whose  intimacy  with  the  princess  I  shall  have 
occasion  to  notice  hereafter.^ 

The  regulations,  severe  as  they  were,  were  exe- 
cuted to  the  letter.  Philip's  aunt,  the  queen  of 
Portugal,  wrote  in  earnest  terms  to  the  king, 
kindly  offering  herself  to  remain  with  her  grand- 
son  in  his  confinement,  and  take  charge  of  him 
like  a  mother  in  his  affliction.^  "  But  they  were 
very  willing,"  writes  the  French  minister,  "to 
spare  her  the  trouble."^  The  emperor  and  em- 
press wrote  to  express  the  hope  that  the  confine- 
ment of  Carlos  would  work  an  amendment  in  his 
conduct,  and  that  he  would  soon  be  liberated. 
Sevei-al  letters  passed  between  the  courts,  until 
Philip  closed  the  correspondence  by  declaring  that 
his  son's  marriage  with  the  princess  Anne  could 


w  The  regulations  are  given  in 
extenso  by  Cabrera,  (Filipe  Segun- 
io,  lib.  VII.  cap.  22 ;)  and  the 
rigor  with  which  they  were  en- 
forced is  attested  by  the  concur- 
i*ent  reports  of  the  foreign  minis- 
ters at  the  court  In  one  respect, 
however,  they  seem  to  have  been 
relaxed,  if,  as  Nobili  states,  the 
prince  was  allowed  to  recreate  him- 
self with  the  perusal  of  Spanish 
law-books,  which  he  may  have  con- 
•olted  with  reference  to  his  own 
ease.  **  Hk  domandato,  che  li  siano 
etti  U  statuti,  et  le  leggi  di  Spagna : 


ne*  quali  spende  molto  studio. 
Scrive  assai  di  sua  mano,  et  subito 
scritto  lo  straccia.**  Lettera  di 
Nobili,  Giugno  8,  1568,  MS. 

**  "  Per  questa  causa  dunque  il 
R^  et  Regina  vechia  di  quel  regno 
hanno  mandate  qui  un  ambascia- 
tore  a  far  offitio  col  Rfe  cattolico 
per  il  Prencipe,  dolersi  del  caso, 
offerirsi  di  venire  la  Regina  pro- 
pria a  govemarlo  como  madre." 
Lettera  del  Nunzio,  Marzo  2, 
1568,  MS. 

85  Raumer,  Sixteenth  and  Sev- 
enteenth Centuries,  vol.  II.  p.  141. 


never  take  place,  and  that  he  would  never  be 
liberated.^ 

Philip's  queen,  Isabella,  and  his  sister  Joanna, 
who  seem  to  have  been  deeply  afilicted  by  the 
course  taken  with  the  prince,  made  ineffectual  at- 
tempts to  be  allowed  to  visit  him  in  his  confine- 
ment ;  and  when  Don  John  of  Austria  came  to 
the  palace  dressed  in  a  mourning  suit,  to  testify 
his  grief  on  the  occasion,  Philip  coldly  rebuked 
his  brother,  and  ordered  him  to  change  his  mourn- 
ing for  his  ordinary  dress.^ 

Several  of  the  great  towns  were  prepared  to 
send  their  delegates  to  condole  with  the  monarch 
under  his  affliction.  But  Philip  gave  them  to  un- 
derstand, that  he  had  only  acted  for  the  good  of 
the  nation,  and  that  their  condolence  on  the  occa- 
sion would  be  superfluous.^  When  the  deputies 
of  Aragon,  Catalonia,  and  Valencia  were  on  their 
way  to  court,  with  instructions  to  inquire  into 
the  cause  of  the  prince's  imprisonment,  and  to 
urge  his  speedy  liberation,  they  received,  on  the 
way,  so  decided  an  intimation  of  the  royal  dis- 
pleasure, that  they  thought  it  prudent  to  turn 
back,  without  venturing  to  enter  the  capital.^ 


86  Ibid.,  pp.  146,  148. 

87  «  Reyna  y  Princesa  lloran : 
Don  Juan  vA  cada  noche  ^  Pala- 
cio,  y  una  fue  muy  llano,  como  de 
luto,  y  el  Rey  le  riflid,  y  mandd 
no  andubiesse  de  aquel  modo,  si- 
no  como  solia  de  antes.'*  Relacion 
del  Ayuda  de  Camara,  MS. 

V  M  Sua  Maestft  ha  fatto  inten- 


dere  a  tutte  le  cittk  del  Reyno,  che 
non  mandino  huomini  o  imbascia- 
tor  nessuno,  ne  per  dolersi,  ne  per 
cerimonia,  ne  per  altro;  et  pare 
che  habbia  a  caro,  che  nessuno 
glie  ne  parli,  et  cosl  ogn'  huomo 
tace.**  Lettera  del  Nunzio,  Feb- 
raio  14,  1568,  MS. 
»  Letter  of  Fourquevaubc,  April 


\ 


.( 


558 


DEATH  OF  DON  CARLOS. 


[Book  IV. 


In  short,  it  soon  came  to  be  understood,  that 
the  affair  of  Don  Carlos  was  a  subject  not  to  be 
talked  about.  By  degrees,  it  seemed  to  pass  out 
of  men's  minds,  like  a  thing  of  ordinary  occur- 
rence. "  There  is  as  little  said  now  on  the  subject 
of  the  prince,"  writes  the  French  ambassador, 
Fourquevaulx,  "as  if  he  had  been  dead  these  ten 
years."  *^  His  name,  indeed,  still  kept  its  place, 
among  those  of  the  royal  family,  in  the  prayers 
said  in  the  churches.  But  the  king  prohibited  the 
clergy  from  alluding  to  Carlos  in  their  discourses. 
Nor  did  any  one  venture,  says  the  same  authority* 
to  criticize  the  conduct  of  the  king.  "  So  com- 
plete is  the  ascendency  which  Philip's  wisdoni  has 
given  him  over  his  subjects,  that,  willing  or  un- 
willing, all  promptly  obey  him ;  and,  if  they  do 
not  love  him,  they  at  least  appear  to  do  so."" 

Among  the  articles  removed  from  the  prince's 
chamber  was  a  coffer,  as  the  reader  may  remember. 


IS,  1568,  ap.  Raumer,  Sixteenth 
and  Seventeenth  Centuries,  vol. 
n.  p.  143. 

A  letter  of  condolence  from  the 
municipality  of  Murcia  was  con- 
ceived in  such  a  loyal  and  politic 
vein  as  was  altogether  unexcep- 
tionable. "  We  cannot  reflect,**  it 
says,  "without  emotion,  on  our 
good  fortune  in  having  a  sover- 
eign so  just,  and  so  devoted  to  the 
weal  of  his  subjects,  as  to  sacrifice 
to  this  every  other  consideration, 
even  the  tender  attachment  which 
he  has  for  his  own  offspring.** 
This,  which  might  seem  irony  to 


some,  was  received  by  the  king, 
as  it  was  doubtless  intended,  in 
perfect  good  faith.  His  indorse- 
ment, in  his  own  handwriting,  on 
the  cover,  shows  the  style  in  which 
he  liked  to  be  approached  by  his 
loving  subjects :  "  This  letter  is 
written  with  prudence  and  discre- 
tion." —  A  translation  of  the  letter, 
dated  February  16, 1568,  is  in  Llo- 
rente,  Histoire  de  Tlnquisition, 
tom.  m.  p.  161. 

30  Letter  of  Fourquevaulx,  ap. 
Raumer,  Sixteenth  and  Seven- 
teenth Centuries. 

31  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


Ch.  VII.] 


IIIS  RIGOROUS   CONFINEMENT. 


559 


containing  his  private  papers.  Among  these  were 
a  number  of  letters  intended  for  distribution  after 
his  departure  from  the  country.  One  was  ad- 
dressed to  his  father,  in  which  Carlos  avowed  that 
the  cause  of  his  flight  was  the  harsh  treatment  he 
had  experienced  from  the  king.^  Other  letters, 
addressed  to  different  nobles,  and  to  some  of  the 
great  towns,  made  a  similar  statement ;  and,  after 
reminding  them  of  the  oath  they  had  taken  to  him 
as  successor  to  the  crown,  he  promised  to  grant 
them  various  immunities  when  the  sceptre  should 
come  into  his  hands.^  With  these  papers  was  also 
found  one  of  most  singular  import.  It  contained  a 
list  of  all  those  persons  whom  he  deemed  friendly, 
or  inimical  to  himself.  At  the  head  of  the  former 
class  stood  the  names  of  his  step-mother,  Isabella, 
and  of  his  uncle,  Don  John  of  Austria,  —  both  of 
them  noticed  in  terms  of  the  warmest  affection. 
On  the  catalogue  of  his  enemies,  "  to  be  pursued 
to  the  death,"  were  the  names  of  the  king,  his  fa- 
ther, the  prince  and  princess  of  Eboli,  Cardinal 
Espinosa,  the  duke  of  Alva,  and  others.^  —  Such 
is  the  strange  account  of  the  contents  of  the  coffer 
given  to  his  court  by  the   papal  nuncio.     These 


// 


i 


\ 


i 


[ 


32  "  Quella  per  il  Re  contencva 
specificatamentc  molti  agravii,  che 
in  molti  anni  pretcndi,  ehe«li  siano 
statti  fatti  da  Sua  Maesti,  et  dice- 
va  ch'  eirli  se  n'  andava  fuori  delli 
Buoi  llegni  per  no  poter  sopportare 
tanti  agravii,  che  li  faceva.**  l^ette- 
ra  del  Nunzio,  Marzo  2, 1568,  MS. 

»  Ibid. 


3*  "  Vi  ^  ancora  una  lista,  dove 
scriveva  di  sua  mano  gli  amici,  et 
li  nemici  suoi,  li  quali  diceva  di  ha- 
vere  a  perseguitare  sempre  fino 
alia  morte,  tra  li  quali  il  primo  era 
scritto  il  Re  suo  padre,  di  poi  Rui 
Gomez  et  la  moglie,  il  Presidente,  il 
Duca  d* Alba,  et  certi  altri.**  Lette- 
ra  del  Nunzio,  Marzo  2, 1568,  MS. 


560 


DEATH  OF  DON  CARLOS. 


(Book  IV 


7 


/ 


papers,  we  are  told,  were  submitted  to  the  judges 
who  conducted  the  process,  and  formed,  doubtless, 
an  important  part  of  the  testimony  against  the 
prince.  It  may  have  been  from  one  of  the  parties 
concerned  that  the  nuncio  gathered  his  information. 
Yet  no  member  of  that  tribunal  would  have  ven- 
tured to  disclose  its  secrets  without  authority  from 
Philip ;  who  may  possibly  have  consented  to  the 
publication  of  facts  that  would  serve  to  vindicate 
his  course.  If  these  facts  are  faithfully  reported, 
they  must  be  allowed  to  furnish  some  evidence  of 
a  disordered  mind  in  Carlos. 

The  king,  meanwhile,  was  scarcely  less  a  pris- 
oner than  his  son;  for,  from  the  time  of  the 
prince's  arrest,  he  had  never  left  the  palace,  even 
to  visit  his  favorite  residences  of  Aranjuez  and 
the  Pardo;  nor  had  he  passed  a  single  day  in 
the  occupation,  in  which  he  took  such  delight, 
of  watching  the  rising  glories  of  the  Escorial. 
He  seemed  to  be  constantly  haunted  by  the  appre- 
hension of  some  outbreak  among  the  people,  or  at 
least  among  the  partisans  of  Carlos,  to  effect  his 
escape ;  and  when  he  heard  any  unusual  noise  in 
the  palace,  says  his  historian,  he  would  go  to  the 
window,  to  see  if  the  tumult  were  not  occasioned 
by  an  attempt  to  release  the  prisoner."    There  was 

»  «*  No  salio  el  Rey  de  Madrid,  ruidos  estraordinarios  en  su  Pala- 

ni  aun  a  Aranjuez,  ni  a  San  Lo-  cio  le  hazian  mirar,  si  eran  tumul- 

ren^o  a  ver  su  fabrica,  tan  atento  tos  para  sacar  a  su  Alteza  de  su 

al  negocio  del  Principe  estaba,  i  camara."     Cabrera,  Filipe  Segun- 

8O0pecbo6O  a  las  murmuraeiones  de  do,  lib.  Vlll.  cap.  6. 
•us  pueblos  fieles  i  reverentes,  qu« 


Ch.  VIL] 


IIIS    RIGOROUS   CONFINEMENT. 


561 


little  cause  for  apprehension  in  regard  to  a  people 
so  well  disciplined  to  obedience  as  the  Castiliaus 
under  Philip  the  Second.  But  it  is  an  ominous 
circumstance  for  a  prisoner,  that  he  should  be- 
come the  occasion  of  such  apprehension. 

Philip,  however,  was  not  induced  by  his  fears 
to  mitigate  in  any  degree  the  rigor  of  his  son's 
confinement,  which  produced  the  effect  to  have 
been  expected  on  one  of  his  fiery,  ungovernable 
temper.  At  first  he  was  thrown  into  a  state 
bordering  on  frenzy,  and,  it  is  said,  more  than 
once  tried  to  make  away  with  himself  As  he 
found  that  thus  to  beat  against  the  bars  of  his 
prison-house  was  only  to  add  to  his  distresses, 
he  resigned  himself  in  sullen  silence  to  his  fate, 
—  the  suUenness  of  despair.  In  his  indifference 
to  all  around  him,  he  ceased  to  take  an  interest 
in  his  own  spiritual  concerns.  Far  from  using 
the  religious  books  in  his  possession,  he  would 
attend  to  no  act  of  devotion,  refusing  even  to 
confess,  or  to  admit  his  confessor  into  his  pres- 
ence.* These  signs  of  fatal  indifference,  if  not 
of  positive  defection  from  the  Faith,  gave  great 
alarm  to  Philip,  who  would  not  willingly  see  the 
soul  thus  perish  with  the  ^ody.^  In  this  emer- 
gency he  employed  Suarez,  the  prince's  almoner. 


*  »*  Onde  f  11  chiamato  il  confes- 
sore  et  il  medico,  ma  egli  seguitan- 
do  nella  sua  disperatione  non  vol- 
se  ascoltare  n^  I'unno  nh  I'altro.** 
Lettera  del  Nunzio,  MS. 

My  copy  of  this  letter,  perhaps 

VOL.  U.  71 


through  the  inadvertence  of  the 
transcriber,  is  without  date. 

37  "  Ne  volendo  in  alcun  mode 
curare  n^  il  corpo  ne  1'  anima,  la 
qual  cosa  faceva  stare  il  R^  et  gli 
altri  con  molto  dispiacere,  veden- 


W 


562 


DEATH  OF  DON  CAELOS. 


[Book  IV. 


li 


who  once  had  some  influence  over  his  master,  to 
address  him  a  letter  of  expostulation.  The  letter 
has  been  preserved,  and  is  too  remarkable  to  be 
passed  by  in  silence. 

Suarez  begins  with  reminding  Carlos  that  his 
rash  conduct  had  left  him  without  partisans  or 
friends.  The  effect  of  his  present  course,  instead 
of  mending  his  condition,  co7ild  only  serve  to  make 
it  worse.  "What  will  the  world  say,"  continues 
the  ecclesiastic,  "  when  it  shall  learn  that  you  now 
refuse  to  confess ;  when,  too,  it  shall  discover  other 
dreadful  things  of  which  you  have  been  guilty, 
some  of  which  are  of  such  a  nature,  that,  did  they 
concern  any  other  than  your  highness,  the  Holy 
Office  would  he  led  to  inquire  whether  the  author 
of  them  were  in  truth  a  Christian?^  It  is  in  the 
bitterness  and  anguish  of  my  heart  that  I  must 
declare  to  your  highness,  that  you  are  not  only 
in  danger  of  forfeiting  your  worldly  estate,  but, 
what  is  worse,  your  own  soul."  And  he  con 
eludes  by  imploring  Carlos,  as  the  only  remedy, 
to  return  to  his  obedience  to  God,  and  to  the 
king,  who  is  his  representative  on  earth. 

But  the  admonitions  of  the  honest  almoner  had 
as  little  effect  on  the  unhappy  youth  as  the  prayers 
of  his  attendants.     The  mental  excitement  under 


doU  massima  di  continuo  crescere 
il  male,  et  mancar  la  virtil.**  n)id. 
38  **  Vea  V.  A.  que  hardn  y  di- 
tto todoa  quando  ae  entienda  que 
BO  ie  confiesa,  y  se  vayan  descu- 
briendo  otraa  cosas  terribles,  que 


le  son  tanto,  que  llegan  ^  que  el 
Santo  Oficio  tuviera  mucha  entra- 
da  en  otro  para  saber  si  era  cristi- 
ano  6  no."  Carta  de  Heman  Su- 
arez de  Toledo  al  Principe,  Marso 
18,  1568,  MS. 


Ch.  VIL] 


HIS  EXCESSES. 


565 


which  he  labored,  combined  with  the  want  of  air 
and  exercise,  produced  its  natural  effect  on  his 
health.  Every  day  he  became  more  and  more 
emaciated;  while  the  fever  which  had  so  Ions 
preyed  on  his  constitution  now  burned  in  his  veins 
with  greater  fury  than  ever.  To  allay  the  intoler- 
able heat,  he  resorted  to  such  despemte  expedients 
as  seemed  to  intimate,  says  the  Papal  nuncio,  that, 
if  debarred  from  laying  violent  hands  on  himself, 
he  would  accomplish  the  same  end  in  a  slower 
way,  but  not  less  sure.  He  deluged  the  floor  with 
water,  not  a  little  to  the  inconvenience  of  the  com- 
panions of  his  prison,  and  walked  about  for  hours, 
half  naked,  with  bare  feet,  on  the  cold  pavement.* 
He  caused  a  warming-pan  filled  with  ice  and  snow 
to  be  introduced  several  times  in  a  night  into  his 
bed,  and  let  it  remain  there  for  hours  together.*® 
As  if  this  were  not  enough,  he  would  gulp  down 
such  draughts  of  snow-water  as  distance  any 
achievement  on  record  in  the  annals  of  hydropa- 
thy. He  pursued  the  same  mad  course  in  respect 
to  what  he  ate.  He  would  abstain  from  food  an 
incredible  number  of  days,^^  and  then,  indulging 


*  "  Spogliarsi  nudo,  et  solo  con 
una  robba  di  tafiet^  su  le  carni  star 
quasi  di  continuo  ad  una  finestra, 
dove  tirava  vento,  caminare  con  li 
piedi  discalzi  per  la  camara  que 
tuttavia  faceva  stare  adacquata 
tanto  che  sempre  ci  era  V  acqua 
Der  tutto."  Lettera  del  Nunzio, 
MS. 

•  "Farsi  rafiredare  ogni  notte 


due  o  tre  volti  il  letto  con  uno 
scaldaletto  pieno  di  neve,  et  tener- 
lo  le  notte  intiere  nel  letto."  Ibid. 
*i  Three  days,  according  to  one 
authority.  (Lettera  di  Nobili  di  30 
di  Luglio,  1568,  MS.)  Another 
swells  the  number  to  nine  days, 
(Carta  de  Gomez  Manrique,  MS. ;) 
and  a  third  —  one  of  Philip's  cab* 
inet  ministers —  has  the  assoraiioe 


^\ 


\ 


564 


DEATH  OF  DON  CARLOS. 


[Book  IV 


Ch.  VU.] 


HIS  LAST  MOMENTS. 


565 


) 


'I 


I''   > 


/    " 


in  proportion  to  his  former  abstinence,  would  de- 
vour a  pastry  of  four  partridges,  with  all  the  paste, 
at  a  sitting,  washing  it  down  with  three  gallons  or 
more  of  iced  water !  ^ 

No  constitution  could  long  withstand  such  vio- 
lent assaults  as  these.  The  constitution  of  Carlos 
gmdually  sank  under  them.  His  stomach,  debili- 
tated by  long  inaction,  refused  to  perfoim  the 
extraordinary  tasks  that  were  imposed  on  it.  He 
was  attacked  by  incessant  vomiting;  dysentery 
set  in  ;  and  his  strength  rapidly  failed.  The  phy- 
sician,  Olivares,  who  alone  saw  the  patient,  con- 
sulted with  his  brethren  in  the  apartments  of  Ruy 
Gomez.*^    Their  remedies  failed  to  restore  the  ex- 


to  prolong  the  prince's  fast  to 
eleven  days,  in  which  he  allows 
him,  however,  an  unlimited  quan- 
tity of  cold  water.  "  Ansi  se  de- 
termind  de  no  comer  y  en  esta  de- 
terminacion  passaron  onze  dias  sin 
que  bastasen  persuasiones  ni  otras 
diligencias  d  que  tomase  cosa  be- 
vida  ni  que  fuese  para  salud  sino 
aqua  fria.**  Carta  de  Francisco  de 
Erasso,  MS. 

«  "  Doppo  essere  stato  tre  gior- 
ni  senza  mangiare  molto  fantastico 
et  bizzaro  mangib  tin  pasticcio  fre- 
dolo  di  quatri  perdici  con  tutta  la 
pasta:  et il medesimo giomo bevve 
trecento  once  d'aqqua  fredda.** 
Lettera  di  Nobili,  Luglio  30,  1568, 

MS. 

Yet  Carlos  might  have  found 
warrant  for  his  proceedings,  in  re- 
lard  to  the  use  of  snow  and  iced 
water,  in  the  prescriptions  of  more 


than  one  doctor  of  his  time.  De 
Castro  —  who  displays  much  in- 
genuity, and  a  careful  study  of 
authorities,  in  his  discussion  of 
this  portion  of  Philip's  history  — 
quotes  the  writings  of  two  of  these 
worthies,  one  of  whom  tells  us, 
that  the  use  of  snow  had  increased 
to  such  an  extent,  that  not  only 
was  it  recommended  to  patients  in 
their  drink,  but  also  to  cool  their 
sheets ;  and  he  forthwith  prescribes 
a  warming-pan,  to  be  used  in  the 
same  way  as  it  was  by  Carlos. 
Historia  de  los  Protestantes  Espa- 
noles,  p.  370. 

<3  "  Visitabale  el  Doctor  Oliva- 
res Protomedico  i  salia  a  consultar 
con  BUS  conpaneros  en  presencia 
de  Rui  Gomez  de  Silva  la  cura- 
cion,  curso  i  accidentes  de  la  en- 
fermedad."  Cabrera,  Filipe  S«« 
gundo,  lib.  VII.  cap.  22. 


hausted  energies  of  nature ;    and  it  was  soon  evi- 
dent that  the  days  of  Carlos  were  numbered. 

To  no  one  could  such  an  announcement  have 
given  less  concern  than  to  Carlos ;  for  he  had 
impatiently  looked  to  death  as  to  his  release. 
From  this  hour  he  seemed  to  discard  all  earthly 
troubles  from  his  mind,  as  he  fixed  his  thoughts 
steadfastly  on  the  future.  At  his  own  request, 
his  confessor,  Chavres,  and  Suarez,  his  almoner, 
were  summoned,  and  assisted  him  with  their 
spiritual  consolations.  The  closing  scenes  are 
recorded  by  the  pen  of  the  nuncio. 

"  Suddenly  a  wonderful  change  seemed  to  be 
wrought  by  divme  grace  in  the  heart  of  the  prince. 
Instead  of  vain  and  empty  talk,  his  language  be- 
came that  of  a  sensible  man.  He  sent  for  his  con- 
fessor, devoutly  confessed,  and,  as  his  illness  was 
such  that  he  could  not  receive  the  host,  he  humbly 
adored  it;  showing  throughout  great  contrition, 
and,  though  not  refusing  the  proffered  remedies, 
manifesting  such  contempt  for  the  things  of  this 
world,  and  such  a  longing  for  heaven,  that  one 
would  have  said,  God  had  reserved  for  this  hour 
the  sum  of  all  his  grace."  ** 

He  seemed  to  feel  an  assurance  that  he  was  to 
survive  till  the  vigil  of  St.  James,  the  patron  saint 
of  his  country.     When  told   that  this  would   be 

**  "Mostrando   molta    contriti-  tanto  desiderio  delle  celesti;  che 

one,  et  se  bene  si  lassava  curare  il  pareva  veramente  che  Nostro  Sig- 

jorpo  per  non  causarsi  egli  stesso  nore  Dio  gli  havesse  riserbato  il 

la  morte,  mostrava  per6  tanto  di-  cumulo  di  tutti  le  gratie  k  que' 

iprezzo  delle  cose  del  mondo,  et  ponto.'*    Lettera  del  Nunzio,  MS. 


^ 


/ 


566 


DEATH  OF  DON  CARLOS. 


[Book  IV 


.// 


four  days  later,  he  said,  "  So  long  wttl  my  misery 
endure."*^  He  would  willingly  have  seen  his  fa- 
ther once  more  before  his  death.  But  his  confes- 
sor, it  is  said,  dissuaded  the  monarch,  on  the  ground 
that  Carlos  was  now  in  so  happy  a  frame  of  mind, 
that  it  were  better  not  to  disturb  it  by  drawing  off 
his  attention  to  woridly  objects.  Philip,  however, 
took  the  occasion,  when  Carlos  lay  asleep  or  in- 
sensible, to  enter  the  chamber;  and,  stealing  soft- 
ly behind  the  prince  of  Eboli  and  the  grand- 
prior,  Antonio  de  Toledo,  he  stretched  out  his 
hand  towards  the  bed,  and,  making  the  sign  of 
the  cross,  gave  the  parting  benediction  to  his  dy- 
ing son.^ 

Nor  was  Carlos  allowed  the  society  of  his  amia- 
ble step-mother,  the  queen,  nor  of  his  aunt  Joanna, 
to  sweeten  by  their  kind  attentions  the  bitteraess 
of  death.*^  It  was  his  sad  fate  to  die,  as  he  had 
lived  throughout  his  confinement,  under  the  cold 
gaze  of  his  enemies.  Yet  he  died  at  peace  with 
all;  and  some  of  the  last  words  that  he  uttered 
were  to  forgive  his  father  for  his  imprisonment. 


^  "Tanto  hanno  da  durare  le 
mie  miserie.**    Ibid. 

^  "And  so,"  says  Cabrera, 
somewhat  bluntly,  "  the  king  with- 
drew  to  his  apartment  with  more 
•orrow  in  his  heart,  and  less  care." 
-^"  Algunas  oras  antes  de  su  falle- 
cimiento,  por  entre  los  onbros  del 
Prior  don  Antonio  i  de  Riii  Gomez 
le  ech6  sa  bendicion,  i  se  recogib 
tn  fu  camara  c6  mas  dolor  i  menos 


cuidado.**      Filipe    Segundo,    lib. 
VIII.  cap.  5. 

<7  "  II  Rfe  non  1'  ha  visitato,  ne 
laasato  che  la  Regina  ne  la  Princi> 
pessa  lo  veggiano,  forse  conside- 
rando  che  poi  che  gik  si  conosceva 
disperato  il  caso  suo,  queste  visite 
simili  poterono  piii  presto  contur- 
bare  V  una  et  Y  altra  delle  parti,  che 
aiutarli  in  cosa  nessuna."  Letter* 
del  Nunzio,  MS. 


L^H.  VII.] 


lUS  LAST  MOMENTS. 


56*} 


and  the  ministers  —  naming  Ruy  Gomez  and  Es- 
pinosa  in  particular  —  who  advised  him  to  it.*® 

Carlos  now  grew  rapidly  more  feeble,  having 
scarce  strength  enough  left  to  listen  to  the  exhor- 
tations of  his  confessor,  and  with  low,  indistinct 
muraiurings  to  adore  the  crucifix  which  he  held 
constantly  in  his  hand.  On  the  twenty-fourth  ot 
July,  soon  after  midnight,  he  was  told  it  was 
the  Vigil  of  St.  James.  Then  suddenly  rousing, 
with  a  gleam  of  joy  on  his  countenance,  he  inti- 
mated his  desire  for  his  confessor  to  place  the  holy 
taper  in  his  hand ;  and  feebly  beating  his  breast, 
as  if  to  invoke  the  mercy  of  Heaven  on  his  trans- 
gressions, he  fell  back,  and  expired  without  a 
groan.*^  —  "  No  Catholic,"  says  Nobili,  "  ever  made 
a  more  Catholic  end."*^ 

Such  is  the  account  given  us  of  the  last  hours 
of  this  most  unfortunate  prince,  by  the  papal  nun- 
cio  and  the  Tuscan  minister,  and  repeated,  with 
slight  discrepancies,  by  most  of  the  Castilian 
writers  of  that  and  the  following  age.^^     It  is  a 


I 


\        I. 


«  "  II  Prencipe  di  Spagna  avan- 
te  la  morte  diceva,  che  perdoneva 
a  tutti,  et  nominatamente  al  Padre, 
che  1'  haveva  carcerato,  et  a  Ruy 
Gomez,  cardinal  Presidente,  Dottor 
Velasco,  et  altri,  per  lo  consiglio 
de*  quali  credeva  essere  stato  pre- 
10.**  Lettera  del  Nunzio,  Luglio 
28,  1568,  MS. 

49  «Et  battendosi  il  petto  come 
poteva,  essendoli  mancata  la  virtii 
a  poco  a  poco,  ritirandosi  la  vita 
i|uasi  da  membro  in  membro  espi- 


r6  con  molta  tranquillity  et  con- 
stanza."    Lettera  del  Nunzio,  MS. 

50  "  Et  testificono  quelli,  che  vi 
si  trovorno  che  Christiano  nessuno 
pu6  morir  piii  cattolicamente,  ne 
in  maggior  sentimento  di  lui." 
Lettera  di  Nobili,  Luglio  30,  1568, 
MS. 

51  See,  among  others,  Quintana, 
Historia  de  la  Antiguedad  Nobleza 
y  Grandeza  de  la  Villa  y  Ck)rte  d« 
Madrid,  (1629,)  fol.  368  ;  Colme- 
nares,  Historia  de  la  Insigne  Ciu 


Tm    n 
t 


'i 

.1 


1 


568 


DEATH  OF  DON   CARLOS. 


[Book  IV 


7 


'  \ 


u 


¥    \ 


N 


singular  circumstance,  that,  although  we  have  such 
full  reports,  both  of  what  preceded  and  what  fol- 
lowed the  death  of  Carlos,  from  the  French  ambas- 
sador, the  portion  of  his  correspondence  which  em- 
braces his  death  has  been  withdrawn,  whether  by 
accident  or  design,  from  the  archives.*^  But  prob- 
ably no  one  without  the  walls  of  the  palace  had 
access  to  better  sources  of  information  than  the 
two  ministers  first  mentioned,  especially  the  pa- 
pal nuncio.  Their  intelligence  may  w^ell  have 
been  derived  from  some  who  had  been  about  the 
person  of  Carlos.  If  so,  it  could  not  have  been 
communicated  without  the  approbation  of  Philip, 
who  may  have  been  willing  that  the  world  should 
understand  that  his  son  had  died  true  to  the 
Faith. 

A  very  different  account  of  the  end  of  Carlos 
is  given  by  Llorente.  And  as  this  writer,  the  sec- 
retary of  the  Inquisition,  had  access  to  veiy  im- 


dad  de  Segovia,  (Madrid,  1640,) 
cap.  43 ;  Pinelo,  Anales  de  Ma- 
drid, MS. ;  Cabrera,  Filipe  Seg^un- 
do,  lib.  Vni.  cap.  5 ;  Herrera,  His- 
toria  General,  lib.  XV.  cap.  3 ;  Car- 
ta de  Francisco  de  Erasso,  MS. ; 
Carta  de  Gomez  Manrique,  MS. 

W  Raumer,  Sixteenth  and  Sev- 
enteenth Centuries,  vol.  I.  p.  147. 

Von  Raumer  has  devoted  some 
fifty  pages  of  his  fragmentary  com- 
pilation to  the  story  of  Don  Carlos, 
and  more  especially  to  the  closing 
scenes  of  his  life.  The  sources  are 
of  the  most  unexceptionable  kind, 


being  chiefly  the  correspondence 
of  the  French  ministers  with  their 
court,  existing  among  the  MSS.  in 
the  Royal  Library  at  Paris.  The 
selections  made  are  pertinent  in 
their  character,  and  will  be  found 
of  the  greatest  importance  to  illus- 
trate this  dark  passage  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  time.  If  I  have  not  ar- 
rived at  the  same  conclusions  in  all 
respects  as  those  of  the  illustrious 
German  scholar,  it  may  be  that 
my  judgment  has  been  modified 
by  the  wider  range  of  materials  mt 
my  command. 


\   . 


Ch.  VII.] 


LLORENTE'S  ACCOUNT. 


5G9 


portant  materials ;  and  as  his  account,  though 
somewhat  prolix,  is  altogether  remarkable,  I  can- 
not pass  it  by  in  silence. 

According  to  Llorente,  the  process  already  no- 
ticed as  having  been  instituted  against  Carlos  was 
brought  to  a  close  only  a  short  time  before  his 
death.  No  notice  of  it,  during  all  this  time,  had 
been  given  to  the  prisoner,  and  no  counsel  was 
employed  in  his  behalf  By  the  ninth  of  July 
the  affair  was  sufficiently  advanced  for  a  "  summary 
judgment."  It  resulted  from  the  evidence,  that 
the  accused  was  guilty  of  treason  in  both  the  first 
and  second  degree,  —  as  having  endeavored  to 
compass  the  death  of  the  king,  his  father,  and  as 
having  conspired  to  usurp  the  sovereignty  of  Flan- 
ders. The  counsellor  Mun  atones,  in  his  report, 
which  he  laid  before  the  king,  while  he  stated 
that  the  penalty  imposed  by  the  law  on  every 
other  subject  for  these  crimes  was  death,  added, 
that  his  majesty,  by  his  sovereign  authority,  might 
decide  that  the  heir  apparent  was  placed  by  his 
rank  above  the  reach  of  ordinary  laws.  And  it 
was  further  in  his  power  to  mitigate  or  dispense 
with  any  penalty  whatever,  when  he  considered  it 
for  the  good  of  his  subjects.  —  In  this  judgment 
both  the  ministers,  Ruy  Gomez  and  Espinosa,  de- 
clared their  concurrence. 

To  this  the  king  replied,  that,  though  his  feel- 
ings moved  him  to  foUow  the  suggestion  of  his 
ministers,  his  conscience  would  not  permit  it.  He 
could  not  think  that  he  should  consult  the  good  of 


C 


i 


n 


1 


VOL.  U. 


72 


I 


570 


DEATH  OF  DON  CARLOS. 


[Book  IV 


./T' 


'I 


/ 


iU 


his  people  by  placing  over  them  a  monarch  so  vi- 
cious in  his  disposition,  and  so  fierce  and  sangui- 
nary in  his  temper,  as  Carlos.  However  agonizing 
it  might  be  to  his  feelings  as  a  father,  he  must  al- 
low the  law  to  take  its  course.  Yet,  after  all,  he 
said,  it  might  not  be  necessary  to  proceed  to  this 
extremity.  The  prince's  health  was  in  so  critical 
a  state,  that  it  was  only  necessary  to  relax  the 
precautions  in  regard  to  his  diet,  and  his  excesses 
would  soon  conduct  him  to  the  tomb !  One  point 
only  was  essential,  that  he  should  be  so  well  ad- 
vised  of  his  situation  that  he  should  be  willing  to 
confess,  and  make  his  peace  with  Heaven  before 
he  died.  This  was  the  greatest  proof  of  love 
which  he  could  give  to  his  son  and  to  the  Span- 
ish nation. 

Euy  Gomez  and  Espinosa  both  of  them  inferred 
from  this  singular  ebullition  of  parental  tenderness, 
that  they  coidd  not  further  the  real  intentions  of 
the  king  better  than  by  expediting  as  much  as 
possible  the  death  of  Carlos.  Ruy  Gomez  accord- 
ingly communicated  his  views  to  Olivares,  the 
prince's  physician.  This  he  did  in  such  ambig- 
uous and  mysterious  phrase  as,  while  it  intimated 
his  meaning,  might  serve  to  veil  the  enormity  of 
the  crime  from  the  eyes  of  the  party  who  was  to 
perpetrate  it.  No  man  was  more  competent  to 
this  delicate  task  than  the  prince  of  Eboli,  bred 
from  his  youth  in  courts,  and  trained  to  a  life  of 
dissimulation.  Olivares  readily  comprehended  the 
drift  of  his  discourse,  —  that  the  thing  required 


f;ii.  VII.] 


LLORENTE'S  ACCOUNT. 


571 


of  him  was  to  dispose  of  the  prisoner,  in  such  a 
way  that  his  death  should  appear  natural,  and 
that  the  honor  of  the  king  should  not  be  compro- 
mised. He  raised  no  scruples,  but  readily  signi* 
fied  his  willingness  faithfully  to  execute  the  will 
of  his  sovereign.  Under  these  circumstances,  on 
the  twentieth  of  July,  a  purgative  dose  was  ad- 
ministered to  the  unsuspecting  patient,  who,  as 
may  be  imagined,  rapidly  grew  worse.  It  was  a 
consolation  to  his  father,  that,  when  advised  of 
his  danger,  Carlos  consented  to  receive  his  con- 
fessor. Thus,  though  the  body  perished,  the  soul 
was  saved.^ 

Such  is  the  extraordinary  account  given  us  by 
Llorente,  which,  if  true,  would  at  once  settle  the 
question  in  regard  to  the  death  of  Carlos.  But 
Llorente,  with  a  disingenuousness  altogether  un- 
worthy of  an  historian  in  a  matter  of  so  grave 
import,  has  given  us  no  knowledge  of  the  sources 
whence  his  information  was  derived.  He  simply 
says,  that  they  are  "  certain  secret  memoirs  of  the 
time,  full  of  curious  anecdote,  which,  though  not 
possessing  precisely  the  character  of  authenticity, 
are  nevertheless  entitled  to  credit,  as  coming  from 
persons  employed  in  the  palace  of  the  king ! "  ** 
Had  the  writer  condescended  to  acquaint  us  with 
the  names,  or  some  particulars  of  the  characters, 


53  Llorente,  HIstoire  de  rinqni-  tent  qu'on  y  ajoute  foi,  en  ce  qu*ili 

dtion,  torn.  in.  p.  171  et  seq.  sont  de  certaines  personnes  em- 

M  ti  Quoique  ces  documens  ne  ploy^  dans  le  palais  du  roi."   Ibid^ 

•oient  pas  authentiques,  Us  mdri-  P*  ^^l* 


572 


DEATH  OF  DON  CARLOS. 


[Book  IV 


(/ 


of  his  authors,  we  might  have  been  able  to  form 
some  estimate  of  the  value  of  their  testimony. 
His  omission  to  do  this  may  lead  us  to  infer,  that 
he  had  not  perfect  confidence  in  it  himself  At 
all  events,  it  compels  us  to  trust  the  matter  en- 
tirely to  his  own  discretion,  a  vutue  which  those 
familiar  with  his  inaccuracies  in  other  matters 
will  not  be  disposed  to  concede  to  him  in  a  very 
eminent  degree.^ 

His  narrative,  moreover,  is  in  direct  contradic- 
tion to  the  authorities  I  have  already  noticed, 
especially  to  the  two  foreign  ministers  so  often 
quoted,  who,  with  the  advantages  —  not  a  few  — 
that  they  possessed  for  getting  correct  information, 
were  indefatigable  in  collecting  it.  "  I  say  noth- 
ing," writes  the  Tuscan  envoy,  alluding  to  the 
idle  rumors  of  the  town,  "  of  gossip  unworthy  to 
be  listened  to.  It  is  a  hard  thing  to  satisfy  the 
populace.  It  is  best  to  stick  to  the  truth,  with- 
out  caring  for  the  opinions  of  those  who  talk 
wildly  of  improbable  matters,  which  have  their 
origin  in  ignorance  and  malice."^ 

M  Thus,  for  example,  be  makes  One  feet  he  must  be  allowed  to 

the  contradictory  statements,  at  the  have  established,  —  one  which,  as 

distance  of  four  pages  from  each  secretary-  of  the    Inquisition,  he 

other,  that  the  prince  did,  and  that  had    the  means  of   verifying,— 

he  did  not,  confide  to  Don  John  his  namely,  that  no  process  was  ever 

desire  to  kill  his  father,    (pp.  148,  instituted  against   Carlos  by  the 

162.)     The  fact  is,  that  Llorente  Holy  Office.    This  was  to  over- 

in  a  manner  pledged  himself  to  turn  a  vulgar  error,  on  which  more 

iolve  the  mystery  of  the  prince's  than  one  writer  of  fiction  has  built 

death,  by  announcing  to  his  read-  his  story. 

ers,  at  the  outset,  that  "  he  be-  56  "  Le  cicalerie,  et  novellacce, 

lieved  he  had  discovered  the  truth."  che  si  dicono,  sono  molto  indignc 


Ch.  VII.J 


VARIOUS  ACCOUNTS. 


573 


Still  it  cannot  be  denied,  that  suspicious  of  foul 
play  to  Carlos  were  not  only  current  abroad,  but 
were  entertained  by  persons  of  higher  rank  than 
the  populace  at  home, —  where  it  could  not  be 
safe  to  utter  them.  Among  others,  the  cele- 
brated Antonio  Perez,  one  of  the  household  of 
the  prince  of  Eboli,  informs  us,  that,  "  as  the 
king  had  found  Carlos  guilty,  he  was  condemned 
to  death  by  casuists  and  inquisitors.  But  in  order 
that  the  execution  of  this  sentence  might  not  be 
brought  too  palpably  before  the  public,  they  mixed 
for  four  months  together  a  slow  poison  in  his 
food."  ^7 

This  statement  agrees,  to  a  certain  extent,  with 
that  of  a  noble  Venetian,  Pietro  Giustiniani,  then 
in  Castile,  who  assured  the  historian  De  Thou,  that 
"Philip,  having  determined  on  the  death  of  his 
son,  obtained  a  sentence  to  that  effect  from  a 
lawful  judge.  But  in  order  to  save  the  honor  of 
the  sovereign,  the  sentence  was  executed  in  secret, 
and  Carlos  was  made  to  swallow  some  poisoned 
broth,  of  which  he  died  some  hours  afterwards."  ^ 


dessere  ascoltate,  non  che  scritte, 
perchfe  in  vero  il  satisfar  al  popo- 
laccio  in  queste  simil  cose  k  molto 
difficile ;  et  meglio  h  farle,  siccome 
porta  il  ^usto  et  V  honesto  senza 
curarsi  del  giudicio  d*  huomini  in- 
sani,  et  che  parlono  senza  ragione 
di  cose  impertinenti  et  impossibili 
di  autori  incerd,  dappochi,  et  ma- 
ligni."  Lettera  di  Nobili,  LugUo 
to,  1568,  MS. 
^  Letter  of  Antomo  Perez  to 


the  counsellor  Du  Vair,  ap.  Rau- 
mer,  Sixteenth  and  Seventeenth 
Centuries,  vol.  I.  p.  153. 

58  "Mais  afin  de  sauver  I'hon- 
neur  du  sang  royal,  TarrSt  fut  ex- 
dcutd  en  secret,  et  on  lui  fit  avaler 
un  bouillon  empoison^,  dont  il 
mourut  quelques  heures  apr^,  au 
commencement  de  sa  vingt-troisi- 
eme  ann^e.**  De  Thou,  Histoirt 
Universelle,  torn.  V.  p.  436. 


) 


I 


574 


DEATH  OF  DON  CARLOS. 


[Book  IV 


Some  of  the  particulars  mentioned  by  Antonio 
Perez  may  be  thought  to  receive  confirmation 
from  an  account  given  by  the  French  minister, 
Fourquevaulx,  in  a  letter  dated  about  a  month 
after  the  prince's  arrest.  "  The  prince,"  he  says, 
"  becomes  visibly  thinner  and  more  dried  up ;  and 
his  eyes  are  sunk  in  his  head.  They  give  him 
sometimes  strong  soups  and  capon  broths,  in 
which  amber  and  other  nourishing  things  are 
dissolved,  that  he  may  not  wholly  lose  his  strength 
and  fall  into  decrepitude.  These  soups  are  pre- 
pared privately  in  the  chamber  of  Ruy  Gomez, 
through  which  one  passes  into  that  of  the  prince." 

It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  a  Castilian 
writer  should  have  the  temerity  to  assert  that  the 
death  of  Carlos  was  brought  about  by  violence- 
Yet  Cabrera,  the  best  informed  historian  of  the 
period,  who,  in  his  boyhood,  had  frequent  access 
to  the  house  of  Ruy  Gomez,  and  even  to  the 
royal  palace,  while  he  describes  the  excesses  of 
Carlos  as  the  cause  of  his  untimely  end,  makes 
some  mysterious  intimations,  which,  without  any 
forced  construction,  seem  to  point  to  the  agency 
of  others  in  bringing  about  that  event.^^ 


89  "Mas  es  peligroso  manejar 
▼idrios,  i  dar  ocaslon  de  tragedias 
famosas,  acaecimientos  notables, 
violentas  maertes  por  los  secretos 
executores  Reales  no  sabidas,  i  por 
inesperadaa  terribles,  i  por  la  ea- 
trafieza  i  rigor  de  justicia,  despues 
de  largas  adyertencias  a  los  que  no 
enidando  dellas  incurrieron  en  cri- 


men de  lesa  Magestad.**  Cabrera, 
Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  VII.  cap.  22. 
The  admirable  obscurity  of  the 
passage,  in  which  the  historian  has 
perfectly  succeeded  in  mystifying 
his  critics,  has  naturally  led  them 
to  suppose  that  more  was  meant 
by  him  than  meets  the  eye. 


Cii.  VII.J 


VARIOUS  ACCOUNTS. 


575 


Strada,  the  best  informed,  on  the  whole,  of  the 
foreign  writers  of  the  period,  and  who,  as  a  for- 
eigner, had  not  the  same  motives  for  silence  as 
a  Spaniard,  qualifies  his  account  of  the  prince's 
death  as  having  taken  place  in  the  natural  way, 
by  saying,  "  if  indeed  he  did  not  perish  bj  vio- 
lence."^—  The  prince  of  Orange,  in  his  bold 
denunciation  of  Philip,  does  not  hesitate  to  pro- 
claim him  the  murderer  of  his  son.^^  And  that 
inquisitive  gossip-monger,  Brantome,  amidst  the 
bitter  jests  and  epigrams  which,  he  tells  us,  his 
countrymen  levelled  at  Philip  for  his  part  in  this 
transaction,  quotes  the  authority  of  a  Spaniard 
of  rank  for  the  assertion  that,  after  Carlos  had 
been  condemned  by  his  father,  —  in  opposition  to 
the  voice  of  his  council,  —  the  prince  was  found 
dead  in  his  chamber,  smothered  with  a  towel!® 
Indeed,  the  various  modes  of  death  assigned  to 
him  are  sufficient  evidence  of  the  uncertainty  as 
to  any  one  of  them.^     A  writer  of  more   recent 


60  «  Ex  morbo  ob  alimenta  par- 
tim  obstinate  recusata,  partim  in- 
temperanter  adgesta,  nimiamque 
nivium  refrigerationem,  super  ani- 
mi  aegritudinem,  (si  modb  vis  ah- 
fuit)  in  Divi  Jacob!  pervigiKo  ex- 
tinctus  est."  Strada,  De  Bello  Bel- 
gico,  torn.  I.  p.  378. 

61  Apologie,  ap.  Dumont,  Corps 
Diplomatique,  tom.  V.  par.  1,  p. 
889.         • 

®  **  Parquoy  le  roi  conclud  sur 
868  raisons  que  le  meilleur  estoit 
de  le  faire  mourir ;  dont  un  matin 
on  le  trouva  en  prison  estoufifd 


d*un  linge.**  Brantdme,  (Euvres, 
tom.  I.  p.  320. 

A  taste  for  jesting  on  this  sub- 
ject seems  to  have  been  still  in 
fashion  at  the  French  court  as  late 
as  Louis  the  Fourteenth's  time. 
At  least,  we  find  that  monarch  tell- 
ing some  one  that  "  he  had  sent 
Bussy  Rabutin  to  the  Bastile  for 
his  own  benefit,  as  Philip  the  Sec- 
ond said  when  he  ordered  his  son 
to  be  stranjrled."  Lettres  de  Ma- 
dame  de  Sevigne,  (Paris,  1822,) 
tom.  VIII.  p.  868. 

63  A     French      contemporary 


'f 


576 


DEATH  OF  DON  CARLOS. 


[Book  IV 


\i 


date  does  not  scruple  to  assert,  that  the  only 
liberty  granted  to  Carlos  was  that  of  selecting 
the  manner  of  his  death  out  of  several  kinds  that 
were  proposed  to  him ;  ^  —  an  incident  which  has 
since  found  a  more  suitable  place  in  one  of  the 
many  dramas  that  have  sprung  from  his  mysterious 
story. 

In  all  this  the  historian  must  admit  there  is  but 
little  evidence  of  positive  value.  The  authors  — 
with  the  exception  of  Antonio  Perez,  who  had  his 
account,  he  tells  us,  from  the  prince  of  Eboli  — 
are  by  no  means  likely  to  have  had  access  to  sure 
sources  of  information;  while  their  statements 
are  contradictory  to  one  another,  and  stand  in 
direct  opposition  to  those  of  the  Tuscan  minister 
and  of  the  nuncio,  the  latter  of  whom  had,  proba- 
bly, better  knowledge  of  what  was  passing  in  the 
councils  of  the  monarch,  than  any  other  of  the 
diplomatic  body.  Even  the  declaration  of  Anto- 
nio Perez,  so  important  on  many  accounts,  is  to 
a  considerable  degree  neutralized  by  the  fact,  that 
he  was  the   mortal   enemy  of  Philip,  writing   in 


ihronicler  dismisses  his  account  of 
the  death  of  Carlos  with  the  remark, 
that,  of  all  the  passages  in  the  his- 
tory of  this  reign,  the  fate  of  the 
young  prince  is  the  one  involved 
in  the  most  impenetrable  mystery. 
Matthien,  Breve  Compendio  de  la 
Vida  Privada  de  Felipe  Segundo, 
^Span.  trans.,)  MS. 

M  The  Abb^   San  Real    finds 
himself  unable  to  decide  whether 
took  poison,  or,  like  Sen- 


eca,  had  his  veins  opened  in  a 
warm  bath,  or,  finally,  whether  he 
was  strangled  with  a  silk  cord  by 
four  slaves  sent  by  his  father  to 
do  the  deed,  in  Oriental  fashion. 
(Verdadera  Historia  de  la  Vida  y 
Muerte  del  Prfncipe  Don  Carlos, 
Span,  trans.,  MS.)  ThI  doubts  ot 
San  Real  are  echoed  with  formal 
solemnity  by  Leti,  Vita  di  Filippo 
II.,  tom.  I.  p.  559. 


t'H.  VII.] 


SUSPICIOUS  CIRCUMSTANCES. 


5  <  I 


exile,  with  a  price  set  upon  his  head  by  the  man 
whose  character  he  was  assailing.  It  is  the  hard 
fate  of  a  person  so  situated,  that  even  truth  from 
his  lips  fails  to  carry  with  it  conviction.® 

If  we  reject  his  explanation  of  the  matter,  we 
shall  find  ourselves  again  thrown  on  the  sea  of  con- 
jecture, and  may  be  led  to  account  for  the  rumors 
of  violence  on  the  part  of  Philip  by  the  mystery 
in  which  the  whole  of  the  proceedings  was  in- 
volved, and  the  popular  notion  of  the  character  of 
the  monarch  who  directed  them.  The  same  sus- 
picious circumstances  must  have  their  influence  on 
the  historian  of  the  present  day,  as  with  insuffi- 
cient, though  more  ample  light  than  was  enjoyed 
by  contemporaries,  he  painfully  endeavors  to  grope 
his  way  through  this  obscure  passage  in  the  life  of 


1/ 


•*  Von  Raumer,  who  has  given 
an  analysis  of  this  letter  of  Anto- 
nio Perez,  treats  it  lightly,  as  com- 
ing from  "  a  double-dealing,  bitter 
enemy  of  Philip,**  whose  word  on 
such  a  subject  was  of  little  value. 
(Sixteenth  and  Seventeenth  Cen- 
tunes,  vol.  I.  p.  155.)  It  was  cer- 
tainly a  singular  proof  of  confi- 
dence in  one  who  was  so  habitually 
close  in  his  concerns  as  the  prince 
of  Eboli,  that  he  should  have  made 
such  a  communication  to  Perez. 
Yet  it  must  be  admitted  that  the 
narrative  derives  some  confirma- 
tion from  the  fact,  that  the  pre- 
ceding portions  of  the  letter  con- 
taining it,  in  which  the  writer 
describes  the  arrest  of  Carlos, 
conform   with  the  authentic   ac- 

TOL.  IL  73 


count  of  that  event  as  given  in  the 
text. 

It  is  worthy  of  notice,  that  both 
De  Thou  and  Llorente  concur 
with  Perez  in  alleging  poison  as 
the  cause  of  the  prince's  death 
Though  even  here  there  is  an  im- 
portant discrepancy ;  Perez  assert- 
ing it  was  a  slow  poison,  taking 
four  months  to  work  its  effect, 
while  the  other  authorities  say  that 
its  operation  was  immediate.  Their 
general  agreement,  moreover,  in 
regard  to  the  employment  of  poi- 
son, is  of  the  l«8s  weight,  as  such 
an  agency  would  be  the  one  natural- 
ly surmised  under  circumstances 
where  it  would  be  desirable  to 
leave  no  trace  of  violence  on  the 
body  of  the  victim. 


578 


DEATH  OF  BON  CARLOS. 


[Book  IV 


Philip.     Many  reflections  of  ominous  import  natu- 
rally press  upon  his  mind.     From  the  first  hour 
of  the  prince's  confinement  it  was  determined,  as 
we  have  seen,  that  he   was   never  to  be  released 
from   it.     Yet  the  preparations  for  keeping   him 
a  prisoner  were  on  so  extraordinary  a  scale,  and 
imposed  such  a  burden  on  men  of  the  highest  rank 
in  the  kingdom,  as  seemed  to  argue  that  his  con- 
finement was  not  to  be  long.     It  is  a  common  say- 
ing,  _  as  old  as  Machiavelli,  —  that  to  a  deposed 
prince  the  distance  is  not  great  from  the  throne 
to  the  grave.     Carlos,  indeed,  had  never  worn  a 
crown.     But  there  seemed  to  be  the  same  reasons 
as  if  he  had,  for  abridging  the  term  of  his  im- 
prisonment.    All  around  the  prince  regarded  him 
with  distrust.     The  king,  his  father,  appeared  to 
live,  as  we  have  seen,  in  greater  apprehension  of 
him   after  his  confinement,  than   before.^     "The 
ministers,  whom  Carlos  hated,"  says  the   nuncio, 
"knew  well  that  it  would  be  their  ruin,  should 
he  ever  ascend  the  throne."^     Thus,  while   the 
fears  and  the  interests  of  all  seemed  to  tend  to 
his  removal,  we  find  nothing  in  the  character  of 
Philip   to    counteract    the    tendency.     For   when 


66  If  we  may  take  Brantdme*8 
word,  there  was  Bome  ground  for 
such  apprehension  at  all  times. 
**  En  fin  il  estoit  un  terrible  masle ; 
et  tTH.  eust  vescu,  assurez-vous  qu'il 
i*en  fust  faict  acroire,  et  qu*il  eust 
nas  le  pere  en  curateUe."  (£u- 
▼rei,  torn.  I.  p.  328. 


67  «  Li  pill  favoriti  del  Rfe  erono 
odiati  da  lui  a  morte,  et  adesso  tan- 
to  piu,  et  quando  questo  venisse  a 
regnare  si  teneriano  rovinati  loro." 
Lettera  del  Nunzio,  Febraio  14, 
1568,  MS. 


Cfl.  VII.J 


SUSPICIOUS  CIRCUMSTANCES. 


579 


was  he  ever  known  to  relax  his  grasp  on  the 
victim  once  within  his  power,  or  to  betray  any 
feeling  of  compunction  as  to  sweeping  away  an  ob- 
stacle from  his  path?  One  has  only  to  call  to  mind 
the  long  confinement,  ending  with  the  midnight 
execution,  of  Montigny,  the  open  assassination  of 
the  prince  of  Orange,  the  secret  assassination  of  the 
secretary  Escovedo,  the  unrelenting  persecution  of 
Perez,  his  agent  in  that  murder,  and  his  repeated 
attempts  to  despatch  him  also  by  the  hand  of  the 
bravo.  These  are  passages  in  the  history  of  Philip 
which  yet  remain  to  be  presented  to  the  reader, 
and  the  knowledge  of  which  is  necessary  before 
we  can  penetrate  into  the  depths  of  his  dark  and 
unscrupulous  character. 

If  it  be  thought  that  there  is  a  wide  difference 
between  these  deeds  of  violence  and  the  murder 
of  a  son,  we  must  remember  that,  in  affairs  of  re- 
ligion, Philip  acted  avowedly  on  the  principle,  that 
the  end  justifies  the  means ;  that  one  of  the  crimes 
charged  upon  Carlos  was  defection  from  the  faith ; 
and  that  Philip  had  once  replied  to  the  pite- 
ous appeal  of  a  heretic  whom  they  were  drag- 
ging to  the  stake,  "  Were  my  son  such  a  wretch 
as  thou  art,  I  would  myself  carry  the  fagots  to 
bum  him ! "  ® 


( 


\ 


W  Ante,  vol  I.  p.  483. 

It  is  in  this  view  that  Dr.  Sa- 
lazar  de  Mendoza  does  not  shrink 
from  asserting,  that,  if  Philip  did 
make  a  sacrifice  of  lus  son,  it  ri- 
valled in  sublimity  that  of  Isaac  by 


Abraham,  and  even  that  of  Jesus 
Christ  by  the  Almighty!  "Han 
dicho  de  ^1  lo  que  del  Padre  Eter- 
no,  que  no  perdond  d  su  propio 
Sjo.  Lo  que  del  Patriarca  Abora- 
ham  en  el  sacrificio  de  Isaac  su 


58D 


DEATH  OF  DON  CARLOS. 


[DooK  IV 


Ch.  VII.1 


QUARREL  IN  THE  PALACE. 


581 


} 


But  in  whatever  light  we  are  to  regard  the 
death  of  Carlos,  —  whether  as  caused  by  violence, 
or  by  those  insane  excesses  in  which  he  was 
allowed  to  plunge  during  his  confinement,  —  in 
either  event  the  responsibility,  to  a  great  extent, 
must  be  allowed  to  rest  on  Philip,  who,  if  he  did 
not  directly  employ  the  hand  of  the  assassin  to 
take  the  life  of  his  son,  yet  by  his  rigorous  treat- 
ment drove  that  son  to  a  state  of  despeiition  that 
brought  about  the  same  fatal  result.^ 

While  the  prince  lay  in  the  agonies  of  death, 
scarcely  an  hour  before  he   breathed  his   last,  a 


linitrdnito.  A  todo  caso  humano 
excede  la  gloria  que  de  esto  le  re- 
sulta,  y  no  hay  con  quien  compa- 
ralla.**  (Dignidades  de  Castilla  y 
Leon,  p.  417.)  He  closes  this 
rare  piece  of  courtly  blasphemy 
by  assuring  us  that  in  point  of  fact 
Carlos  died  a  natural  death.  The 
doctor  wrot«  in  the  eariy  part  of 
Philip  the  Third's  reign,  when  the 
manner  of  the  prince's  death  was 
delicate  ground  for  the  historian. 

69  Philip  the  Second  is  not  the 
only  Spanish  monarch  who  has 
been  charged  with  the  murder  of 
his  son.  Leovogild,  a  Visigothic 
king  of  the  sixth  century,  having 
taken  prisoner  his  rebel  son,  threw 
him  into  a  dungeon,  where  he  was 
■ecretly  put  to  death.  The  king 
was  an  Arian,  while  the  young 
prince  was  a  Catholic,  and  might 
have  sared  his  life  if  he  had  been 
eontent  to  abjure  his  religion.  By 
tlie  Church  of  Borne,  therefore,  lie 


was  regarded  as  a  martyr ;  and  it 
is  a  curious  circumstance  that  it 
was  Philip  the  Second  who  pro- 
cured the  canonization  of  the 
slaujrhtered  Hermenegild  from 
Pope  Sixtus  the  Fifth. 

For  the  story,  taken  from  that 
voluminous  compilation  of  Florez, 
"ia  Espana  Sagrada^**  I  am  in- 
debted to  Milman's  History  of  Lat- 
in Christianity,  (London,  1854,) 
(vol.  L  p.  446,)  one  of  the  remark- 
able works  of  the  present  age,  in 
which  the  author  reviews,  with  cu- 
rious erudition,  and  in  a  profound- 
ly philosophical  spirit,  the  various 
changes  that  have  taken  place  in 
the  Roman  hierarchy;  and  while 
he  fully  exposes,  the  manifold  er- 
rors and  corruptions  of  the  sys- 
tem, he  shows  throughout  that  en- 
lightened charity  which  is  the  most 
precious  of  Christian  graces,  as  un- 
happily it  is  the  rarest. 


scene  of  a  very  different  nature  was  passing  in 
an  adjoining  gallery  of  the  palace.  A  quarrel 
arose  there  between  two  courtiers,  —  one  of  them 
a  young  cavalier,  Don  Antonio  de  Leyva,  the 
other  Don  Diego  de  Mendoza,  a  nobleman  who 
had  formerly  filled,  with  great  distinction,  the 
post  of  ambassador  at  Rome.  The  dispute  arose 
respecting  some  capias^  of  which  Mendoza  claimed 
to  be  the  author.  Though  at  this  time  near  sixty 
years  old,  the  fiery  temperament  of  youth  had 
not  been  cooled  by  age.  Enmged  at  what  he 
conceived  an  insult  on  the  part  of  his  compan 
ion,  he  drew  his  dagger.  The  other  as  promptly 
unsheathed  his  sword.  Thrusts  were  exchanged 
between  the  parties  ;  and  the  noise  of  the  fmcas  at 
length  reached  the  ears  of  Philip  himself  Indig- 
nant at  the  outrage  thus  perpetrated  within  the 
walls  of  the  palace,  and  at  such  an  hour,  he 
ordered  his  guards  instantly  to  arrest  the  ofiendei*s. 
But  the  combatants,  brought  to  their  senses,  had 
succeeded  in  making  their  escape,  and  taken  ref- 
uge in  a  neighboring  church.  Philip  was  too 
much  incensed  to  respect  this  asylum;  and  an 
alcalde,  by  his  command,  entered  the  church  at 
midnight,  and  dragged  the  oflenders  from  the 
sanctuary.  Leyva  was  put  in  irons,  and  lodged 
in  the  fortress  of  Madrid;  while  his  rival  was 
sent  to  the  tower  of  Simancas.  "  It  is  thought 
they  will  pay  for  this  outrage  with  their  lives, 
writes  the  Tuscan  minister,  Nobili.  "  The  king, 
he  adds  "  has  even  a  mind  to  cashier  his  guard  fox 


»♦ 


»> 


DEATH  OF  DON  CAULOS. 


[DooK  IV 


C«.  VIL] 


HIS  OBSEQUIES. 


583 


allowing  them  to  escape."  Philip,  however,  con 
fined  the  punishment  of  the  nobles  to  banish- 
ment from  court ;  and  the  old  courtier,  Mendoza, 
profited  by  his  exile  to  give  to  the  world  those 
remarkable  compositions,  both  in  history  and  ro- 
mance, that  foim  an  epoch  in  the  national  litera- 

tureJ^ 

A  few  days  before  his  death,  Carlos  is  said  to 
have  made  a  will,  in  which,  after  imploring  his 
father's  pardon  and  blessing,  he  commended  his 
servants  to  his  care,  gave  away  a  few  jewels  to 
two  or  three  friends,  and  disposed  of  the  rest  ot 
his  property  in  behalf  of  sundry  churches  and 
monasteries.^  Agreeably  to  his  wish,  his  body 
was  wrapped  in  a  Franciscan  robe,  and  was  soon 
afterward  laid  in  a  coffin  covered  with  black  velvet 
and  rich  brocade.  At  seven  o'clock,  that  same 
evening,  the  remains  of  Carlos  were  borne  from 
the  chamber  where  he  died,  to  their  place  of  in- 

terment.'' 

The  coflin  was  supported  on  the  shoulders  of 
the  prince  of  Eboli,  the  dukes  of  Infantado  and 
Rio  Seco,  and  other  principal  grandees.  In  the 
court-yard  of  the  palace  was  a  large  gathering  of 
the  members  of  the  religious  fraternities,  dignita- 


1*  Lettera  di  KoUU,  Luglio  30, 

1568,  MS. 

71  I  have  before  me  another 
will  made  by  Don  Carlos  in  1564, 
in  AlcaUL  de  Henares,  the  original 
ef  which  is  still  extant  in  the  Ar- 
ehtTW  of  Simancas.    In  one  item 


of  this  document,  he  bequeathes 
five  thousand  ducats  to  Don  Mar- 
tin de  Cdrdova,  for  his  gallant  de- 
fence of  Mazarquivir. 

78  Lettera  del  Nunzio,  Lugli< 
28, 1568,  MS.—  Quintana,  Histo- 
fia  de  Madrid,  fol  369. 


ries  of  the  church,  foreign  ambassadors,  nobles 
and  cavaliers  about  the  court,  and  officers  of  the 
royal  household.  There  were  there  also  the  late 
attendants  of  Carlos,  —  to  some  of  whom  he 
had  borne  little  love,  —  who,  after  watching  him 
through  his  captivity,  were  now  come  to  conduct 
him  to  his  final  resting-place.  Before  moving, 
some  wrangling  took  place  among  the  parties 
on  the  question  of  precedence.  Such  a  spirit 
might  well  have  been  rebuked  by  the  solemn 
character  of  the  business  they  were  engaged  in, 
w^hich  might  have  reminded  them,  that  in  the 
grave,  at  least,  there  are  no  distinctions.  But 
the  perilous  question  was  happily  settled  by  Phil- 
ip himself,  who,  from  an  open  window  of  the 
palace,  looked  down  on  the  scene,  and,  with  his 
usual  composure,  gave  directions  for  forming  the 
procession.^  The  king  did  not  accompany  it. 
Slowly  it  defiled  through  the  crowded  streets, 
where  the  people  gave  audible  utterance  to  their 
grief,  as  they  gazed  on  the  funeral  pomp,  and 
their  eyes  fell  on  the  bier  of  the  prince,  who,  they 
had  fondly  hoped,  would  one  day  sway  the  sceptre 
of  Castile ;  and  whose  errors,  great  as  they  were, 
were  all  forgotten  in  his  unparalleled  misfortunes.^* 


73  "Partieron  con  el  cuerpo, 
avicndo  el  Rey  con  la  entereza 
de  animo  que  mantuvo  slenpre, 
conpuesto  desde  una  ventana 
las  difereneias  do  los  Consejos 
disposiendo  la  precedencia,  ce- 
lando  assi  la  competencia.**    Ca- 


brera, Filipe   Segundo,  lib.  VIIL 
cap.  5. 

7*  The  particulars  of  the  cere- 
mony are  given  by  the  Nunzio, 
Lettera  di  28  di  Luglio,  MS. — 
See  also  Quintana,  Hbtoria  dt 
Madrid,  fol.  369. 


58-4 


DEATH  OF  DON  CARLOS. 


[Book  IV 


Ch.  VII.] 


HIS  OBSEQUIES. 


585 


The  procession  moved  forward  to  the  convent 
of  San  Domingo  Real,  where  Carlos  had  desired 
that  his  ashes  might  be  laid.  The  burial  service 
was  there  performed,  with  great  solemnity,  in 
presence  of  the  vast  multitude.  But  whether  it 
was  that  Philip  distrusted  the  prudence  of  the 
preachers,  or  feared  some  audacious  criticism  on 
his  conduct,  no  discourse  was  allowed  to  be  deliv- 
ered from  the  pulpit.  For  nine  days  religious 
services  were  performed  in  honor  of  the  deceased ; 
and  the  office  for  the  dead  continued  to  be  read, 
morning  and  evening,  before  an  audience  among 
whom  were  the  great  nobles  and  the  officers  of 
state,  clad  in  full  mourning.  The  queen  and 
the  princess  Joanna  might  be  seen,  on  these  oc- 
casions, mingling  their  tears  with  the  few  who. 
cherished  the  memory  of  Carlos.  A  niche  was 
excavated  in  the  wall  of  the  church,  within  the 
choir,  in  which  the  prince's  remains  were  depos- 
ited. But  they  did  not  rest  there  long.  In  1573, 
they  were  removed,  by  Philip's  orders,  to  the  Es- 
corial ;  and  in  its  gloomy  chambers  they  were  left 
to  mingle  with  the  kindred  dust  of  the  royal  line 
of  Austria.^* 

Philip  wrote  to  Zufliga,  his  ambassador  in  Rome, 
to  intimate  his  wish  that  no  funeral  honors  should 
be  paid  there  to  the  memory  of  Carlos,  that  no 
mourning  should  be  worn,  and  that  his  holiness 

'^  Pinelo,  Anales  de  Madrid,  210,  Luglio  28,  1568,  MS.  —  Ca- 
MS.  —  Qulntana,  Historia  de  Ma-  brera,  Filipc  Segundo,  lib.  "VJU 
drid,  fol.  369.  —  Lettera  del  Nun-    cap.  5. 


would  not  feel  under  the  necessity  of  sending  him 
letters  of  condolence.^^  ZuRiga  did  his  best  But 
he  could  not  prevent  the  obsequies  from  being 
celebrated  with  the  lugubrious  pomp  suited  to 
the  rank  of  the  departed.  A  catafalque  was  raised 
in  the  church  of  Saint  James;  the  services  were 
performed  in  presence  of  the  ambassador  and  his 
attendants,  who  were  dressed  in  the  deepest  black ; 
and  twenty-one  cardinals,  one  of  whom  was  Gran- 
velle,  assisted  at  the  solemn  ceremonies.^  But  no 
funeral  panegyric  was  pronounced,  and  no  monu- 
mental inscription  recorded  the  imaginary  virtues 
of  the  deceased.^^ 

Soon  after  the  prince's  death,  Philip  retired  to 
the  monasteiy  of  St.  Jerome,  in  whose  cloistered 
recesses  he  remained  some  time  longer  secreted 
from  the  eyes  of  his  subjects.  "  He  feels  his  loss 
like  a  father,"  writes  the  papal  nuncio,  "  but  he 
bears  it  with  the  patience  of  a  Christian."  ^^  He 
caused  despatches  to  be  sent  to  foreign  courts,  to 
acquaint  them  with  his  late  bereavement.     In  his 


W  Carta  del  Rey  A  Zuiiiga, 
Agosto  27,  1568,  MS. 

77  "  Disc  la  missa  el  Cardenal 
Tarrajrona,  asistiendo  &  las  honras 
21  cardenales  ademas  de  los  obis- 
pos  y  arzobispos."  Aviso  de  un 
Laliano  pUtico  y  familiar  de  Ruy 
Gomez  de  Silva,  MS. 

78  "Oracionfunebre,"  writes  the 
follower  of  Ruy  Gomez,  "  no  la 
bubo,  pero  yo  bizo  estos  cpita- 
phios  y  versos  por  mi  consolacion." 
n>id. 


Whatever  "  consolation  **  the 
Latin  doggerel  which  follows  in 
the  original  may  have  given  to  its 
author,  it  would  have  too  little  in- 
terest for  the  reader  to  be  quoted 
here. 

79  "  n  Rfe  como  padre  ha  sen- 
tito  molto,  ma  come  chiistiano  la 
comporta  con  quella  padenza  con 
che  dovemo  ricevere  le  tribula- 

» 

tioni,  che  ci  manda  Nostro  Sig- 
nore  Dio."  Lettera  del  Nunzio, 
Luglio  24,  1568,  MS. 


VOL.  II. 


74 


586 


DEATH  OF  DON  CARLOa 


IBooK  IV 


letter  to  the  duke  of  Alva,  he  indulges  in  a  fuller 
expression  of  his  personal  feelings.  "You  may 
conceive,"  he  says,  "  in  what  pain  and  heaviness  I 
find  myself,  now  that  it  has  pleased  God  to  take 
my  dear  son,  the  prince,  to  himself  He  died  in 
a  Christian  manner,  after  having,  three  days  before, 
received  the  sacrament,  and  exhibited  repentance 
and  contrition,  —  all  which  serves  to  console  me 
under  this  affliction.  For  I  hope  that  God  has 
called  him  to  himself,  that  he  may  be  with  him 
evermore;  and  that  he  will  grant  me  his  grace, 
that  I  may  endure  this  calamity  with  a  Christian 
heart  and  patience."^ 

Thus,  in  the  morning  of  life,  at  little  more  than 
twenty-three  years  of  age,  perished  Carlos,  prince 
of  Asturias.  No  one  of  his  time  came  into  the 
world  under  so  brilliant  auspices ;  for  he  was 
heir  to  the  noblest  empire  in  Christendom ;  and 
the  Spaniards,  as  they  discerned  in  his  childhood 
some  of  the  germs  of  future  greatness  in  his  char- 
acter, looked  confidently  forward  to  the  day  when 
he  should  rival  the  glory  of  his  grandfather, 
Charles  the  Fifth.  But  he  was  bom  under  an 
evil  star,  which  counteracted  all  the  gifts  of  for-, 
time,  and  turned  them  into  a  curse.  His  naturally 
wild  and  headstrong  temper  was  exasperated  by 
disease;  and,  when  encountered  by  the  distrust 
and  alienation  of  him  who  had  the  control  of  his 
destiny,  was  exalted  into  a  state  of  frenzy,  that 

••  Baniner  haa  given  an  extract    Seventeenth  Centuries,  voL  L  p^ 
ftoni   this  letter,   Sixteenth   and    149. 


ch.  vn.] 


UIS  OBSEQUIES. 


587 


furnishes  the  best  apology  for  his  extravagances, 
and  vindicates  the  necessity  of  some  measures,  on 
the  part  of  his  father,  to  restrain  them.  Yet  can 
those  who  reject  the  imputation  of  murder  acquit 
that  father  of  inexorable  rigor  towards  his  child  in 
the  measures  which  he  employed,  or  of  the  dreadful 
responsibility  which  attaches  to  the  consequences 
of  them  ? 


CHAPTER     VIII 


DEATH  OF  ISABELLA. 


Qieen    Isabella.  —  Her    Relations    with    Carlos.  —  Her   Illness   and 

Death.  —  Her  Character. 

1568. 


Three  months  had  not  elapsed  after  the  young 
and  beautiful  queen  of  Philip  the  Second  had 
wept  over  the  fate  of  her  unfortunate  step-son, 
when  she  was  herself  called  upon  to  follow  him 
to  the  tomb.  The  occurrence  of  these  sad  events 
so  near  together,  and  the  relations  of  the  parties, 
who  had  once  been  designed  for  each  other,  sug- 
gested the  idea  that  a  criminal  passion  subsisted 
between  them,  and  that,  after  her  lover's  death, 
Isabella  was  herself  sacrificed  to  the  jealousy  of 
a  vindictive  husband. 

One  will  in  vain  look  for  this  tale  of  horror  in 
the  native  historians  of  Castile.  Nor  does  any 
historian  of  that  day,  native  or  foreign,  whom  I 
have  consulted,  in  noticing  the  rumors  of  the  time, 
cast  a  reproach  on  the  fair  fame  of  Isabella; 
though  more  than  one  must  be  allowed  to  inti- 
mate the  existence  of  the  prince's  passion  for  his 


Ch.  VIIL] 


QUEEN  ISABELLA. 


589 


step-mother.^  Brantome  tells  us  that,  when  Car- 
los  first  saw  the  queen,  "  he  was  so  captivated  by 
her  charms,  that  he  conceived,  from  that  time,  a 
mortal  spite  against  his  father,  whom  he  often  re- 
proached for  the  great  wrong  he  had  done  him,  in 
ravishing  from  him  this  fair  prize."  "  And  this," 
adds  the  writer,  "  was  said  in  part  to  have  been  the 
cause  of  the  prince's  death ;  for  he  could  not  help 
losing  the  queen  at  the  bottom  of  his  soul,  as  well 
as  honoring  and  reverencing  one  who  was  so  truly 
amiable  and  deserving  of  love."^  He  afterwards 
gives  us  to  understand  that  many  rumors  were 
afioat  in  regard  to  the  manner  of  the  queen's 
death;  and  tells  a  story,  not  very  probable,  of  a 
Jesuit,  who  was  banished  to  the  farthest  Indies, 
for  denouncing,  in  his  pulpit,  the  wickedness  of 
those  who  could  destroy  so  innocent  a  creature.* 


I  Besides  BrantSme,  and  De 
Thou,  elsewhere  noticed  in  this 
connection,  another  writer  of  that 
j^e,  Pierre  Matthieu,  the  royal  his- 
toriographer of  France,  may  be 
thought  to  insinuate  something  of 
the  kind,  when  he  tells  us  that 
"the  circumstance  of  Isabella 
to  soon  following  Carlos  to  the 
tomb  had  suggested  very  differ- 
ent grounds  from  those  he  had 
already  given  as  the  cause  of  his 
death."  (Breve  Compendio  de  la 
Vida  Privada  del  Rey  Felipe  Se- 
gundo,  MS.)  But  the  French  writ- 
er's account  of  Philip  is  nearly  as 
apocryphal  as  the  hbtorical  romance 
of  San  Real,  who,  in  all  that  re- 
lates to  Carlos  in  particular,  will  be 


found  largely  indebted  to  the  lively 
imagination  of  his  predecessor. 

2  "  Aussi  dit  on  que  cela  fut 
cause  de  sa  mort  en  partie,  avec 
d'autres  subjects  que  je  ne  dirai 
point  h  ceste  heure ;  car  il  ne  se 
pouvoit  garder  de  Taimer  dans  son 
ame,  Thonorer  et  reverer,  tant  il 
la  trouvoit  aymable  et  agreable  a 
ses  yeux,  couune  certes  elle  restoit 
en  tout.**  Brantdme,  (Euvres,  torn. 
V.  p.  128. 

3  "  Luy  eschappa  de  dire  que 
c*avoit  este  fait  fort  meschamment 
de  Tavoir  fait  mourir  et  si  innocen- 
tement,  dont  il  fut  banny  jusques 
au  plus  profond  des  Indes  d'Es- 
pagne.  Cela  est  tres  que  vray,  I 
ce  que  Ton  dit"    Ibid ,  p.  132. 


590 


DEAfH   OF  ISABELLA. 


[Book  IV. 


A  graver  authority,  the  prince  of  Orange,  in  his 
public  vindication  of  his  own  conduct,  openly 
charges  Philip  with  the  murder  of  both  his  son 
and  his  wife.  It  is  to  be  noticed,  however,  that 
he  nowhere  intimates  that  either  of  the  parties 
was  in  love  with  the  other ;  and  he  rcfers  the 
queen's  death  to  Philip's  desue  to  open  the  way 
to  a  marriage  with  the  Princess  Anne  of  Austria.* 
Yet  these  two  authorities  are  the  only  ones  of 
that  day,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  who  have  given 
countenance  to  these  startling  rumors.  Both 
were  foreigners,  far  removed  from  the  scene  of 
action;  one  of  them  a  light,  garrulous  French- 
man, whose  amusing  pages,  teeming  with  the  idle 
gossip  of  the  court,  are  often  little  better  than  a 
Chroniqtie  Scandaleuse ;  the  other,  the  mortal 
enemy  of  Philip,  whose  character  —  as  the  best 
means  of  defending  his  own  —  he  was  assailing 
with  the  darkest  imputations. 

No  authority,  however,  beyond  that  of  vulgar 
rumor,  was  required  by  the  unscrupulous  writers 
of  a  later  time,  who  discerned  the  capabilities  of 
a  story  like  that  of  Carlos  and  Isabella,  in  the 
situations  of  romantic  interest  which  it  would  open 
to  the  reader.  Improving  on  this  hint,  they  have 
filled  in  the  outlines  of  the  picture  with  the 
touches   of  their  own  fancy ;    until   the  interest 

^  Apologie,  ap.  Bumont,  Corps  Isabella,  dismisses  them  as  wholly 

Diplomatique,  torn.  Y.  par.  1,  p.  unworthy  of  credit.    "Mihi,  super 

i89.  id  quod  incomperta  sunt,  etiam  ve* 

Strada,  while  he  notices  the  com-  ris  diasimilia  videntur."    De  Bell« 

mon  rumors  respecting  Carlos  and  Belgico,  tom.  L  p.  379. 


Ch.  VIU.]         her  relations  with  CARLOS. 


591 


thus  given  to  this  tale  of  love  and  woe  has  made 
it  as  widely  known  as  any  of  the  classic  myths  of 
early  Grecian  history.^ 

Fortunately,  we  have  the  power,  in  this  case, 
of  establishing  the  truth  from  unsuspicious  evi- 
dence, —  that  of  Isabella's  own  countrymen,  whose 
residence  at  the  court  of  Madrid  fuinished  them 
with  ample  means  of  personal  observation.  Isa- 
bella's mother,  the  famous  Catherine  de  Medicis, 
associated  with  so  much  that  is  terrible  in  our 
imaginations,  had  at  least  the  merit  of  watching 
over  her  daughter's  interests  with  the  most  af- 
fectionate solicitude.  This  did  not  diminish  when, 
at  the  age  of  fifteen,  Elizabeth  of  France  left  her 
own  land  and  ascended  the  throne  of  Spain.  Cath- 
erine kept  up  a  constant  correspondence  with  her 
daughter,  sometimes  sending  her  instructions  as 
to  her  conduct,  at  other  times,  medical  prescrip- 
tions in  regard  to  her  health.  She  was  careful  also 
to  obtain  information  respecting  Isabella's  mode 
of  life  from  the  French  ambassadors  at  the  court  of 
Castile;  and  we  may  be  quite  sure  that  these  loyal 


5  At  the  head  of  these  writers 
must  undoubtedly  be  placed  the 
Abb^  San  Real,  with  whose  ro- 
mantic history  of  Don  Carlos  I  am 
only  acquainted  in  the  Castilian 
translation,  entitled  "  Verdadera 
Historia  de  la  Vida  y  Muerte  del 
Principe  Don  Carlos."  Yet,  ro- 
mance as  it  is,  more  than  one  grave 
historian  has  not  disdained  to  trans- 
plant its  flowers  of  fiction  into  his 


own  barren  pages.  It  is  edifying 
to  see  the  manner  in  which  Leti, 
who  stands  not  a  little  indebted  to 
San  Real,  after  stating  the  scanda- 
lous rumors  in  regard  to  Carlos 
and  Isabella,  concludes  by  declar- 
ing :  "  ]Ma  come  io  scrivo  historia,  e 
non  romanzo,  non  posso  affinaor 
nulla  di  certo,  perche  nulla  di  cei^ 
to  h6  possuto  raccore.'*  Leti,  Vi* 
ta  di  Filippo  II.,  torn.  I.  p.  560. 


592 


DEATH  OF  ISABELLA. 


[Book  IV 


subjects  would  have  been  quick  to  report  any  inju- 
rious treatment  of  the  queen  by  her  husband. 

A  candid  perusal  of  their  despatches  dispels 
all  mystery,  —  or  rather,  proves  there  never  was 
any  cause  for  mystery.  The  sallow,  sickly  boy  of 
fourteen  —  for  Carlos  was  no  older  at  the  time  of 
Isabella's  marriage  —  was  possessed  of  too  few 
personal  attractions  to  make  it  probable  that  he 
could  have  touched  the  heart  of  his  beautiful 
step-mother,  had  she  been  lightly  disposed.  But 
her  intercourse  with  him  from  the  first  seems  to 
have  been  such  as  naturally  arose  from  the  re- 
lations of  the  parties,  and  from  the  kindness  of 
her  disposition,  which  led  her  to  feel  a  sympa- 
thy for  the  personal  infirmities  and  misfortunes 
of  Carlos.  Far  from  attempting  to  disguise  her 
feelings  in  this  matter,  she  displayed  them  openly 
in  her  correspondence  with  her  mother,  and  before 
her  husband  and  the  world. 

Soon  after  Isabella's  arrival  at  Madrid,  we  find 
a  letter  from  the  bishop  of  Limoges  to  Charles  the 
Ninth,  her  brother,  informing  him  that  "  his  sis- 
ter, on  entering  the  palace  of  Madrid,  gave  the 
prince  so  gracious  and  affectionate  a  reception,  that 
it  afforded  singular  contentment  to  the  king,  and 
yet  more  to  Carlos,  as  appeared  by  his  frequent 
visits  to  the  queen,  —  as  frequent  as  the  etiquette 
of  a  court,  much  stiffer  than  that  of  Paris,  would 
permit."*    Again,  writing  in  the  following  month, 


•  •*  Monsieur  le  prince  d'He»-    qu'elle  recent  avec  telle  caresse  et 
pttgne  fort  extenu^,  la  vint  salner,    comportement,  que  si  le  pfere  et 


Ch.  VnL]         HER  RELATIONS  WITH  CARLOS. 


593 


the  bishop  speaks  of  the  queen  as  endeavoring  to 
amuse  Carlos,  when  he  came   to  see  her  in  the 
evening,  with  such  innocent  games  and  pastimes 
as  might  cheer   the   spirits  of  the  young  prince, 
who  seemed  to  be  wasting  away  under  his  malady.^ 
The  next  year  we  have  a  letter  to   Catherine 
de    Medicis    from   one    of  Isabella's    train,    who 
had  accompanied  her  from  France.     After  speak 
ing  of  her  mistress  as  sometimes  supping  in  the 
garden  with  the  princess  Joanna,  she  says  they 
were  often  joined  there  by  "  the  prince,  who  loves 
the  queen  singularly  well,  and,  as  I  suspect,  would 
have  had  no  objection  to  be  more  nearly  related 
to  her."^  —  There  is   nothing  improbable  in  the 
supposition  that  Carlos,   grateful  for  kindness  to' 
which   he   had   not   been   too  much   accustomed, 
should,  as  he  grew  older,  have  yielded  to  the  in- 


toute  la  compaignie  en  ont  receu 
ung  singulier  contentement  ledit 
prince    Ta   encores    plus   grand, 
comme  il  a  desmonsir^  depuls  et 
ddmonstre  lorsqull  la  visite,  qui  ne 
pent  estre  souvent ;  car,  outre  que 
les  conversations  de  ce  pays  ne 
sent  pas  si  frdquentes  et  faciles 
qu'en  France,  sa  fifeyre  quarte  le 
travaille  tellement,  que  de  jour  en 
jour  il  va  s'ext^nuant."    L'^veque 
de  Limoges  au  Roi,  23  fdvrier, 
1559,    N^gociations    reiatives   au 
R^gne  de  Fran9ois  11.,  p.  272. 

7  "  Ajrant  ladite  dame  mis  toute 
la  peine  qu'il  a  est^  possible  k  luy 
donner,  aux  soirs,  quelque  plaisir 
da  bail  et  autres  honnestes  passe- 

TOL.  II.  75 


temps,  desquels  il  a  bon  besoin,  car 
le  pauvre  prince  est  si  bas  et  ex- 
tenue,  il  va  d'heure  i  heure  tant 
affoiblissant,  que  les  plus  sages  vie 
ceste  court  en  ont  bien  petite  es- 
perance.**  L'feveque  de  Limoges 
au  Roi,  1*'  mars,  1559,  Ibid.,  p. 
291. 

8  "La  royne  et  la  princesse  la 
visitent  bien  souvent,  et  sopent  en 
un  jardin  qui  est  aupr^  de  la  me- 
son, et  le  prince  avec  elles,  qui 
aime  la  rr»yne  singjuliferement,  de 
fa9dn  qu'il  ne  ce  pent  soler  de 
an  dire  bien.  Je  croys  qu*U  vou- 
droit  estre  davantage  son  parent." 

Claude   de k   la   Reine 

M^re,  aoat,  1560,  Ibid.,  p!  460. 


594 


DEATH  OF  ISABELLA. 


[Book  IV 


Ch.  VIII.]         HER  RELATIONS   WITH  CARLOS. 


595 


fluence  of  a  princess  whose  sweet  disposition  and 
engaging  manners  seem  to  have  won  the  hearts 
of  all  who  approached  her;  or  that  feelings  of 
resentment  should  have  mingled  with  his  regret, 
as  he  thought  of  the  hard  fate  which  had  placed 
a  barrier  between  them.  It  is  possible,  too,  when 
we  consider  the  prince's  impetuous  temper,  that 
the  French  historian,  De  Thou,  may  have  had 
good  authority  for  asserting  that  Carlos,  "  after 
long  conversations  in  the  queen's  apartment,  was 
often  heard,  as  he  came  out,  to  complain  loudly 
of  his  fathers  having  robbed  him  of  her."^  But 
it  could  have  been  no  vulgar  passion  that  he  felt 
for  Isabella,  and  certainly  it  received  no  encour- 
agement from  her,  if,  as  Brantome  tells  us,  "  in- 
solent and  audacious  as  he  was  in  his  intercourse 
with  all  other  women,  he  never  came  into  the 
presence  of  his  step-mother  without  such  a  feeling 
of  reverence  as  seemed  to  change  his  very  nature." 
Nor  is  there  the  least  evidence  that  the  admi- 
ration excited  by  the  queen,  whether  in  Carlos  or 
in  the  courtiers,  gave  any  uneasiness  to  Philip, 
who  seems  to  have  reposed  entire  confidence  in 
her  discretion.  And  while  we  find  Isabella  speak- 
ing of  Philip  to  her  mother  as  "so  good  a  hus- 
band, and  rendering  her  so  happy  by  his  atten- 
tions, that  it  made  the  dullest  spot  in  the  world 

'"  On  entendit  auasi  trfea-souvent  marquer  sa  colere  et  son  indigna- 

ce  jeune  Prince,  lorequll  sortoit  tion,  de  ce  que  son  pere  la  lui  avoil 

de  la  chambre  de  la  Reine  Eliza-  enlev^e."    De  Thou,  Histoire  Uni- 

beth,  avec  qui  il  avoit  de  longs  et  veraelle,  torn.  V.  p.  484. 
fir^uens  entretiens,  se  plaindre  et 


agreeable  to  her,"  ^®  \Me  meet  w^ith  a  letter  from  the 
French  minister,  Guibert,  saying  that  "  the  king 
goes  on  loving  the  queen  more  and  more,  and  that 
her  influence  has  increased  threefold  within  the 
last  few  months.""  A  few  years  later,  in  1565, 
St.  Sulpice,  then  ambassador  in  Madrid,  writes  to 
the  queen-mother  in  emphatic  terms  of  the  affec- 
tionate intercourse  that  subsisted  betw^een  Philip 
and  his  consort.  "  I  can  assure  you,  madam,"  he 
says,  "  that  the  queen,  your  daughter,  lives  in  the 
greatest  content  in  the  world,  by  reason  of  the  per- 
fect friendship  which  ever  di-aws  her  more  closely 
to  her  husband.  He  shows  her  the  most  unre- 
served confidence,  and  is  so  cordial  in  his  treatment 
of  her  as  to  leave  nothing  to  be  desired."  ^^  The 
writer  quotes  a  declaration  made  to  him  by  Philip, 
that  "  the  loss  of  his  consort  would  be  a  heavier 
misfortune  than  had  ever  yet  befallen  him."^ 

Nor  was  this  an  empty  profession  in  the  king, 
as  he  evinced  by  his  indulgence  of  Isabella's  tastes, 
—  even  those  national  tastes  which  were  not  al- 
ways in  accordance  with  the  more  rigid  rules  of 
Castilian  etiquette.  To  show  the  freedom  with 
which  she  lived,  I  may  perhaps  be  excused  for 


10  "  Vous  dirfes-ge,  madame,  que 
$y  se  n'estoit  la  bonne  compaignie 
ou  je  suis  en  se  lieu,  et  Theur  que 
j*ai  de  voir  tons  les  jours  le  roy 
mon  seigneur,  je  trouverois  se  lieu 
Tun  des  plus  f^cheux  du  monde. 
Mais  je  vous  assure,  madame,  que 
yaj  un  si  bon  mari  et  suis  si  heu- 
reose  que,  quant  il  le  seroit  cent 


fois  davantage,  je  ne  m*y  fUcherois 
point."  La  Reine  Catholique  k  la 
Reine  M^re,  Ndgociations  rela- 
tives au  Rfegne  de  Franijois  II.,  p. 
818. 

11  Raumer,  Sixteenth  and  Ser- 
enteenth  Centuries,  vol.  I.  p.  129. 
w  Ibid.,  p.  130. 
*•  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


§rtt 


596 


DEATH  OF  ISABELLA. 


[Book  IV 


touching  on  a  few  particul^s,  already  noticed  in 
a  previous  chapter.  On  her  coining  into  the  coun- 
try, she  was  greeted  with  balls  and  other  festivi- 
ties, to  which  she  had  been  accustomed  in  the  gay 
capital  of  France.  Her  domestic  establishment 
was  on  a  scale  of  magnificence  suited  to  her  sta- 
tion ;  and  the  old  courtier,  Brantome,  dwells  with 
delight  on  the  splendid  profusion  of  her  wardrobe, 
and  the  costly  jewels  with  which  it  was  adorned. 
When  she  went  abroad,  she  dispensed  with  her 
veil,  after  the  fashion  of  her  own  country,  though 
so  much  at  variance  with  the  habits  of  the  Span- 
ish ladies.  Yet  it  made  her  a  greater  favorite 
with  the  people,  who  crowded  around  her  wher- 
ever she  appeared,  eager  to  catch  a  glimpse  of 
her  beautiful  features.  She  brought  into  the 
country  a  troop  of  French  ladies  and  waiting- 
women,  some  of  whom  remained,  and  married 
in  Castile.  Such  as  returned  home,  she  pro- 
vided  with  liberal  dowries.  To  persons  of  her 
own  nation  she  was  ever  accessible,  —  receiving 
the  hiunblest  as  well  as  the  highest,  says  her  biog- 
rapher, with  her  wonted  benignity.  With  them 
she  conversed  in  her  native  tongue.  But,  in 
the  course  of  three  months,  her  ready  wit  had  so 
far  mastered  the  Castilian,  that  she  could  make 
herself  understood  in  that  language,  and  in  a 
short  time  spoke  it  with  elegance,  though  with  a 
gUght  foreign  accent,  not  unpleasing.  Bom  and 
bred  among  a  people  so  different  from  that  with 
whom  her  lot  was  now  cast,  Isabella  seemed  to 


Ch.  VIIL]        HEli  RELATIONS  WITH  CARLOS. 


591 


unite  in  her  own  person  the  good  qualities  of 
each.  The  easy  vivacity  of  the  French  character 
was  so  happily  tempered  by  the  gravity  of  the 
Spanish,  as  to  give  an  inexpressible  charm  to  her 
manners.^*  Thus  richly  endowed  with  the  best 
gifts  of  nature  and  of  fortune,  it  is  no  wonder  that 
Elizabeth  of  France  should  have  been  the  delight 
of  the  courtly  circle  over  which  she  presided,  and 
of  which  she  was  the  greatest  ornament. 

Her  gentle  nature  must  have  been  much  dis- 
turbed by  witnessing  the  wild,  capricious  temper 
of  Carlos,  and  the  daily  increasing  estrangement 
of  his  father.  Yet  she  did  not  despair  of  reclaim- 
ing him.  At  least,  we  may  infer  so  from  the 
eagerness  with  which  she  seconded  her  mother  in 
pressing  the  union  of  her  sister,  Catherine  de  Med- 
icis'  younger  daughter,  with  the  prince.  "  My  sis- 
ter is  of  so  excellent  a  disposition,"  the  queen  said 
to  Ruy  Gomez,  "  that  no  princess  in  Christendom 
would  be  more  apt  to  moderate  and  accommodate 
herself  to  my  step-son's  humors,  or  be  better  suited 
to  the  father,  as  well  as  the  son,  in  their  relations 
with  each  other."  ^  But  although  the  minister 
readily  adgpted  the  queen's  views  in  the  matter, 
they  met  with  little  encouragement  from  Philip, 
who,  at  that  time,  seemed  more  inclined  to  a  con- 
nection with  the  house  of  Austria. 

M  "Ceste  taille,  elle  Taccompa-  torn.  V.  p.  129,)  whose  loyal  pen- 

gnoit  d'un  port,  d'une  majestd,  d'un  cil  has  traced  the  lineaments  of  !»• 

geste,  d'un  marcher  et  d'une  grace  abella  as  given  in  the  text 
entremeslde  de  I'espagnole  et  de  la        15  Kaumer,  Sixteenth  and  Ser- 

fran9oise  en  gravite  et  en  dou-  enteenth  Centuries,  toL  L  p.  131. 
ceur."    See  Brantdme,  (QEuvres, 


598 


DEATH  or    IS.VBELLA. 


[DooK  IV 


In  the  prcceding  chapter,  we  ha^'e  seen  the  pain 
occasioned  to  Isabella  by  the  arrest  of  Carlos. 
Although  so  far  a  gainer  by  it  as  it  opened  to 
her  own  posterity  the  way  to  the  succession,  she 
wept,  as  the  ambassador  Fourquevaulx  tells  us, 
for  two  days,  over  the  misfortune  of  her  step-son, 
until  forbidden  by  Philip  to  weep  any  longer.^* 
During  his  confinement,  as  we  have  seen,  she  was 
not  permitted  to  visit  him,  —  not  even  to  soften 
the  bitterness  of  his  dying  hour.  And  how  much 
her  presence  would  have  soothed  him,  at  such  a 
time,  may  be  inferred  from  the  simple  memoran- 
dum found  among  his  papers,  in  which  he  assigns 
her  the  first  place  among  his  friends,  as  having 
been  ever  the  most  loving  to  him."  The  same 
affection,  however  we  may  define  it,  which  he  had 
borne  her  from  the  first,  he  retained  to  the  last 
hour  of  his  life.  All  that  was  now  granted  to  Isa- 
bella was  the  sad  consolation  of  joining  with  the 
princess  Joanna,  and  the  few  friends  who  still 
cherished  the  memory  of  Carlos,  in  celebrating 
his  funeral  obsequies. 

Not  long  after  that  event,  it  was  announced 
that  the  queen  was  pregnant;  and  the  nation 
fondly  hoped  that  it  would  find  a  compensation 
for  the  loss  of  its  rightful  prince,  in  the  birth  ot 
a  new  heir  to  the  throne.  But  this  hope  was  des- 
tined soon  to  be  destroyed.     Owing  to  some  mis 


1*  Letterof  Foarqaeyaulx,  Feb-  amorevolissima,  Don  Giovanni  d' 

nuury  6,  1568,  ap.  Jhid.,  p.  1S9.  Austria  suo  carissinio  et  diletissi- 

1^  ^  Gli  amici,  in  primo  loco  la  mo  zio,"  etc.    Lettera  del  Nunzio, 

Beg(aa,  la  quale  diceTa  che  gli  era  Marzo  2, 1568,  MS. 


^H.  VUI.] 


HER  ILLNESS. 


599 


management  on  the  part  of  the  physicians,  who, 
at  an  early  period,  misunderstood  the  queen's 
situation,  the  medicines  they  gave  her  had  an  in- 
jurious efiect  on  her  constitution.^^  It  is  certain 
that  Isabella  placed  little  confidence  in  the  Span- 
ish doctors,  or  in  their  prescriptions.^^  There 
may  have  been  good  ground  for  her  distrust ;  for 
their  vigorous  applications  savor  not  a  little  of 
the  Sangrado  school  of  practice,  directed  quite 
as  much  against  the  constitution  of  the  patient 
as  against  his  disease.  About  the  middle  of  Sep 
tember  a  fever  set  in,  which,  though  not  violent, 
was  so  obstinate  as  to  defy  all  the  efforts  of  the 
physicians  to  reduce  it.  More  alarming  symptoms 
soon  followed.  The  queen  frequently  swooned. 
Her  extremities  became  torpid.  Medicines  were 
of  no  avail,  for  her  stomach  refused  to  retain 
them.^  Processions  were  everywhere  made  to 
the  churches,  and  young  and  old  joined  in  prayers 
for  her  recovery.  But  these  prayers  were  not 
heard.  The  strength  of  Isabella  continued  rapidly 
t:  decline,  and  by  the  last  of  September  her  life 


■  18  Letter  of  Fourquevaulx,  Oc- 
tober 3,  1568,  ap.  Raumer,  Six- 
teenth and  Seventeenth  Centuries, 
vol.  L  p.  158. 

W  "Pero  la  Reyna  hacia  muy 
poco  caudal  de  lo  que  los  medicos 
decian,  dando  &  entender  con  su 
Real  condicion  y  gracioso  sem- 
blante  tener  poca  necesidad  de  sus 
medicinas.**  Relacion  de  la  En- 
fennedad  y  Essequias  funebres  de 
la  SereiiLssima  Reyna  de  Espana 


Dona  Ysabel  de  Valols,  por  Juan 
Lopez,  Catedratico  del  Estudio  de 
Madrid,  (Madrid,  1569,)  foL  4. 

*  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 

The  learned  professor  has  given 
the  various  symptoms  of  the  queen'i 
malady  with  as  curious  a  minute* 
ness  as  if  he  had  been  concocting  a 
medical  report.  As  an  order  wai 
issued,  shortly  after  the  publicadoa 
of  the  work,  prohibiting  its  sal^ 
copies  of  it  are  exceedingly  rare. 


600 


DEATH  OF    ISABELLA. 


[Book  IV 


was  despaired  of.  The  physicians  declared  that 
science  could  go  no  further,  and  that  the  queen's 
only  hope  must  be  in  Heaven.^  —  In  Heaven  she 
had  always  trusted ;  nor  was  she  so  wedded  to  the 
pomps  and  glories  of  the  world,  that  she  could 
not  now  willingly  resign  them. 

As  her  ladies,  many  of  them  her  countrywomen 
stood  weeping  around  her  bed,  she  endeavored  to 
console  them  under  their  affliction,  kindly  express- 
ing the  interest  she  took  in  their  future  welfare, 
and  her  regret  that  she  had  not  made  them  a 
better  mistress;  —  "as  if,"  says  a  contemporary, 
who  has  left  a  minute  record  of  her  last  moments, 
"  she  had  not  been  always  more  of  a  mother  than 
a  mistress  to  them  all ! "  ^ 

On  the  evening  of  the  second  of  October,  as 
Isabella  felt  herself  drawing  near  her  end,  she 
made  her  will.  She  then  confessed,  partook  of 
the  sacrament,  and,  at  her  desire,  extreme  unc- 
tion was  administered  to  her.  Cardinal  Espinosa 
and  the  king's  confessor,  the  bishop  of  Cuen^a, 
who  were  present,  while  they  offered  her  spiritual 
counsel  and  consolation,  were  greatly  edified  by 
her  deportment;  and,  giving  her  their  parting 
benediction,  they  went  away   deeply  affected   by 


^  Qumtana,Historiade  Madrid, 
foL  890. — Letter  of  Fourquevaulx, 
October  3, 1568,  ap.  Raumer,  Six- 
teenth and  Seventeenth  Centuries, 
vol.  L  p.  139.  —  Juan  Lopez,  Re- 
lacion  de  la  £nfermedad  de  la  Rey- 
na  Ysabel,  ubi  supra.  —  ^nelo, 
Anales  de  Madrid,  MS. 


*  "Porque  en  efecto,  el  modo 
y  manera  conque  eila  las  trataba, 
no  hera  de  senora  &  quien  pareci- 
esen  servir,  sino  de  madre  y  com- 
panera."  Juan  Lopez,  Relacion 
de  la  Enfermedad  de  la  Reyna 
Ysabel,  loc  cit. 


Ch.  VIIL] 


HER  ILLNESS. 


601 


the  spirit  of  Christian  resignation  which  she  dis* 
played» 

Before  daybreak,  on  the  following  morning,  she 
had  her  last  interview  with  Philip.  We  have  the 
account  of  it  from  Fourquevaulx.  "The  queen 
spoke  to  her  husband  very  naturally,"  says  the 
ambassador,  "  and  like  a  Christian.  She  took 
leave  of  him  for  ever,  and  never  did  princess 
show  more  goodness  and  piety.  She  commended 
to  him  her  two  daughters,  and  her  principal  at- 
tendants, beseeching  him  to  live  in  amity  with  the 
king  of  France,  her  brother,  and  to  maintain 
peace,  —  with  other  discourse,  which  could  not  fail 
to  touch  the  heart  of  a  good  husband^  which  the 
king  was  to  her.  He  showed,  in  his  replies,  the 
same  composure  as  she  did,  and  promised  to  obey 
all  her  requests,  but  added,  he  did  not  think  her 
end  so  near.  He  then  withdrew,  —  as  I  was  told, 
—  in  great  anguish,  to  his  own  chamber."  ^  Philip 
sent  a  fragment  of  the  true  cross,  to  comfort  his 
wife  in  her  last  moments.  It  was  the  most  pre- 
cious of  his  relics,  and  was  richly  studded  with 
pearls  and  diamonds.^  Isabella  fervently  kissed 
the  sacred  relic,  and  held  it,  with  the  crucifix,  in 
her  hand,  while  she  yet  lived. 


S3  Ibid. — Pinelo,  Anales  de  Ma- 
drid, MS. 

s*  Letter  of  Fourquevaulx,  Oc- 
tober 3,  1568,  ap.  Raumer,  Six- 
teenth and  Seventeenth  Centuries, 
voL  L  p.  159. 

ss  **Habia  ordenado  se  tragese 

VOL.  II.  76 


el  lignum  crucis  del  Rey  nuestro 
Senor,  que  es  una  muy  buena 
parte  que  con  grandismo  homato 
de  oro  y  perlas  de  supremo  vak>£ 
S.  M.  tiene."  Juan  Lopez,  Rela- 
cion de  la  Enfermedad  de  la  Rey- 
na YsabeL 


602 


DEATH  OF  ISABELLA. 


[Book  IV 


Not  long  after  the  interview  with  her  husband, 
the  ambassador  was  summoned  to  her  bedside. 
He  was  the  representative  of  her  native  land, 
and  of  the  dear  friends  there  she  was  never  more 
to  see.  "  She  knew  me,"  writes  Fourquevaulx, 
"and  said,  '  You  see  me  in  the  act  of  quitting  this 
vain  world,  to  pass  to  a  more  pleasant  kingdom, 
there,  as  I  hope,  to  be  for  ever  with  my  God. 
Tell  my  mother,  the  queen,  and  the  king,  my 
brother,  to  bear  my  death  with  patience,  and  to 
comfort  themselves  with  the  reflection,  that  no 
happiness  on  earth  has  ever  made  me  so  content, 
as  the  prospect  now  does  of  approaching  my 
Creator.  I  shall  soon  be  in  a  better  situation 
to  do  them  service,  and  to  implore  God  to  take 
them  and  my  brothers  under  his  holy  protection. 
Beseech  them,  in  my  name,  to  watch  over  their 
kingdom,  that  an  end  may  be  put  to  the  heresies 
which  have  spread  there.  And  I  will  pray  Heaven, 
in  its  mercy,  to  grant  that  they  may  take  my 
death  with  patience,  and  hold  me  for  happy.' "  ^ 

The  ambassador  said  a  few  words  of  comfort, 
endeavoring  to  give  her,  if  possible,  some  hopes 
of  life.  But  she  answered,  "  You  will  soon  know 
how  near  I  am  to  my  end.  God  has  given  me 
grace  to  despise  the  world  and  its  grandeur,  and 
to  fix  all  my  hopes  on  him  and  Jesus  Christ. 
Never  did  a  thought  occasion  me  less  anxiety  than 
that  of  death." 


*  Letter  of  Foarquevaalx,  ap.  Bamner,  Sixteenth   and   Seyea 
teottth  Centnries,  yoL  L  p.  159. 


Ch.  vmi 


DEATH  OF  ISABELLA 


603 


"She  then  listened  to  the  exhortations  of  her 
confessor,  remaining  in  full  possession  of  her  con- 
sciousness, till  a  few  minutes  before  her  death. 
A.  slight  restlessness  seemed  to  come  over  her, 
which  soon  subsided,  and  she  expired  so  tranquilly 
that  it  was  impossible  to  fix  the  moment  when 
she  gave  up  the  ghost.  Yet  she  opened  her  eyes 
once,  bright  and  glancing,  and  it  seemed  as  if  she 
would  address  me  some  further  commands,  —  at 
least,  her  looks  were  fixed  on  me."^ 

Not  long  before  Isabella's  death,  she  was  deliv- 
ered of  a  daughter.  Its  birth  was  premature,  and 
it  lived  only  to  be  baptized.  The  infant  was  laid 
in  the  same  coffin  with  its  mother ;  and,  that  very 
evening,  their  remains  were  borne  in  solemn  pro- 
cession to  the  royal  chapel.^  The  tolling  of  the 
bells  in  the  churches  and  monasteries  throughout 
the  city  announced  the  sad  tidings  to  the  people, 
who  filled  the  air  mth  their  cries,  making  everj^- 
where  the  most  passionate  demonstrations  of 
grief;  ^   for  the  queen,  says  Brantome,  "  was  re- 


s' Ibid.,  loc  cit 

The  correspondence  of  the 
French  ambassador,  Fourquevaulx, 
18  preserved,  in  MS.,  in  the  Royal 
Library  at  Paris.  Raumer,  with 
his  usual  judgment,  has  freely  ex- 
tracted from  it ;  and  the  freedom 
with  which  I  have  drawn  upon  him 
shows  the  importance  of  his  ex- 
tracts to  the  illustration  of  the 
present  story.  I  regret  that  my 
knowledge  of  the  existence  of  this 
correspondence  came  too  late  to 


allow  me  to  draw  from  the  original 
sources. 

28  "  Bistieron  a  la  Reyna  de  ha- 
bito  de  S.  Francisco,  y  la  pusieron 
en  un  ataud  poniendo  con  ella  la 
infanta  que  en  poco  espacio  habi* 
endo  recebido  agua  de  Espirita 
Santo  murid."  Juan  Lopez,  Rela« 
cion  de  la  Enfermedad  de  j»  Rey- 
na Ysabcl. 

29  "Fue  cosa  increible  el  do- 
blar,  y  chamorear,  por  todas  laa 
parroquias,  y  monasterios,  y  hospi- 


604 


DEATH  OF  ISABELLA. 


[Book  IV. 


garded  by  them  not  merely  with  feelings  of  rev- 
erence,  but  of  idolatry."** 

In  the  chapel  were  gathered  together  whatever 
was  illustrious  in  the  capital,  —  the  high  ecclesi- 
astics, and  the  different  religious  bodies.,  the  gran- 
dees and  cavaliers  of  the  court,  and  the  queen's 
ladies  of  honor.  At  the  head  of  these  stood  the 
duchess  of  Alva,  the  mistress  of  the  robes,  with 
the  duchess  of  Feria  —  an  English  lady,  married 
to  the  Spanish  ambassador  at  the  court  of  Mary 
Tudor  —  and  the  princess  of  Eboli,  a  name  noted 
in  history.  The  cofRn  of  the  deceased  queen,  cov- 
ered with  its  gorgeous  pall  of  brocade,  was  placed 
on  a  scaiFold  shrouded  in  black,  and  surrounded 
with  numerous  silver  sconces  bearing  w^ax  tapers, 
that  shed  a  gloomy  lustre  over  the  scene.^^  The 
services  were  performed  amidst  the  deepest  still- 
ness  of  the  audience,  unless  when  broken  by  the 
wailings  of  the  women,  which  mingled  in  sad  har- 
mony with  the  chant  of  the  priests  and  the  sweet 
and  solemn  music  that  accompanied  the  office  for 
the  dead.® 


tales.  Lo  cual  causd  un  nuebo 
dolor  y  grandisimo  aumento  de 
tristeza,  siendo  ya  algo  tarde  los 
grandes  que  en  la  corte  se  hallaban, 
y  mayordomos  de  S.  M.  sacaron  el 
cuerpo  de  la  Reyna,  y  binieron  eon 
el  a  la  Capilla  Real."    Ibid. 

^  "  Jamais  on  ne  vit  peuple  si 
desol^  ny  si  affligd,  ni  tant  jeter  de 
haots  oris,  ny  tant  espandre  de  lar- 

mes  quil   fit Que,   pour 

laaaiere  de  parier^  toos  eossiez  dit 


qu*il  ridolatroit  plustost  qu'il  ne 
rhonoroit  et  reveroit.**  Brantdme, 
(Euvres,  torn.  V.  p.  131. 

31  "  Puesto  el  cuerpo  por  este 
orden  cubierto  eon  un  muy  rico 
pano  de  brocado  rodeado  el  ca- 
dalso  de  muchas  achas  en  sus  muy 
sumtuosos  blandones  de  'plata." 
Juan  Lopez,  Relacion  de  la  En- 
fermedad  de  la  Reyna  Ysabel,  ubi 
supra. 

39  ^*La8  damas  en  las  tribunal 


Ch.  vm.] 


HER  OBSEQUIES. 


605 


Early  on  the  following  morning  the  coffin  was 
opened  in  presence  of  the  duchess  of  Alva  and  the 
weeping  ladies  of  her  train,  who  gazed  for  the  last 
time  on  features  still  beautiful  in  death.^  The 
duchess  then  filled  the  coffin  with  flowers  and 
sweet-scented  herbs ;  and  the  remains  of  mother 
and  child  were  transported  by  the  same  sorrowing 
company  to  the  convent  of  the  barefooted  Carmel- 
ites. Here  they  reposed  till  the  year  1573,  when 
they  were  borne,  with  the  remains  of  Carlos,  to  the 
stately  mausoleum  of  the  Escorial;  and  the  pop- 
ulace, as  they  gazed  on  the  funeral  train,  invoked 
the  name  of  Isabella  as  that  of  a  .saint.^ 

In  the  course  of  the  winter.  Cardinal  Guise  ar 
rived  from  France  with  letters  of  condolence  from 
Charles  the  Ninth  to  his  royal  brother-in-law. 
The  instructions  to  the  cardinal  do  not  infer  any 
distrust,  on  the  part  of  the  French  monarch,  as  to 
the  manner  of  his  sister's  death.  The  more  suspi- 
cious temper  of  the  queen-mother,  Catherine  de 
Medicis,  is  seen  in  her  directions  to  Fourquevaulx 
to  find  out  what  was  said  on  the  subject  of  her 


de  donde  oye  misa  con  hartos  su- 
spiros  y  sollozos  llebaban  el  contra- 
punto  &  la  suave,  triste  y  contem- 
platiba  musica,  conque  empezaron 
el  oficio  la  capilla  de  S.  M."  Ibid., 
ubi  supra. 

83  **  Las  cuales  viendo  apartar  el 
iiierpo,  dieron  muchos  gritos,  y 
fuspiros  y  abriendole  la  duquesa 
de  Alba,  trajo  muchos  polbos  de 
olores  aromaticos  de  grande  olor  y 
fragrancia,  y  embalsamon  a  la  Rey- 


na: la  cual  aunque  babia  pasado 
tanto  tiempo  estaba  como  si  enton- 
ces  acabara  de  morir,  y  con  tan 
gran  hermosura  en  el  rostro  que  no 
parecia  esta  muerta.*'  Ibid.,  ubi 
supra. 

34  Letter  of  St  Goar,  June  18, 
1573,  ap.  Raumer,  Sixteenth  and 
Seventeenth  Centuries,  vol.  L  p. 
163.  —  Quintana,  Historia  de  Ma- 
drid, foL  870. 


606 


DEATH  OF  ISABELLA. 


[Book  IV 


daughter's  death,  and  to  report  it  to  her.*  —  It 
does  not  seem  that  the  ambassador  gathered  any 
information  of  consequence,  to  add  to  his  former 
details. 

Philip  himself  may  have  had  in  his  mind  the 
possible  existence  of  such  suspicions,  when  he 
told  the  cardinal,  that  "his  best  consolation  for 
his  loss  was  derived  from  his  reflection  on  the 
simple, and  excellent  life  of  the  queen.  All  her 
attendants,  her  ladies  and  maids,  knew  how  well 
he  had  treated  her,  as  was  sufficiently  proved  by 
the  extraordinary  sorrow  which  he  felt  at  her 
death,  fiereupon,"  continues  the  cardinal,  "  he 
broke  forth  into  a  panegyric  on  her  virtues,  and 
said,  were  he  to  choose  again,  he  could  wish  noth- 
ing better  than  to  find  just  such  another."^  —  It 
was  not  long  before  Philip  made  the  attempt.  In 
eighteen  months  from  the  date  of  his  conversation 
with  the  cardinal,  the  thrice-widowed  husband 
led  to  the  altar  his  fourth  and  last  wife,  Anne  of 
Austria,  —  like  her  predecessor,  as  we  have  seen, 
the  destined  bride  of  his  son.  The  facility  with 
which  her  imperial  parents  trusted  the  young 
princess  to  the  protection  of  Philip  may  be 
thought  to  intimate  pretty  clearly,  that  they,  at 
least,  had  no  misgivings  as  to  the  king's  treatment 
of  his  former  wife, 

Isabella,  at  her  decease,  was  but  twenty-three 
years  of  age,  eight  of  which  she  had  been  seated 

»  Letter  of  Catherine  de  Medi-        »  Letter  of  Cardinal  Guise,  Felv 
CM,  1^  Baumer,  toI.  L  p.  162.  maiy  6, 1569,  ap.  Ibid.,  p.  163. 


J'    X 


Ch.  vni.] 


HER  CHARACTER. 


607 


on  the  throne  of  Spain.  She  left  two  children, 
both  daughters;  —  Catherine,  afterwards  married 
to  the  duke  of  Savoy ;  and  Clara  Eugenia,  who 
became  with  her  husband,  the  Archduke  Albert, 
jomt  ruler  of  the  Netherlands,  and  who  seems  to 
have  enjoyed  a  greater  share  of  both  the  love  and 
the  confidence  of  Philip,  than  he  ever  vouchsafed 
to  any  other  being. 

Such  is  the  story  of  Queen  Isabella,  stripped  of 
the  coloring  of  romance,  for  which,  in  truth,  it 
has  been  quite  as  much  indebted  to  the  pen  of  the 
historian  as  to  that  of  the  poet.     From  the  whole 
account,  it  appears,   that,  if  Carlos,  at  any  time, 
indulged  a  criminal  passion  for  his  step-mother, 
such  a  passion  was  never  requited  or  encouraged 
by  Isabella,  who  seems  to  have  felt  for  him  only 
the  sentiments  that  were  justified   by  their  con- 
nection, and  by  the  appeal  which  his  misfortunes 
made   to   her  sympathy.      Notwithstanding   some 
feelings   of  resentment,  not  unnatural,   when,   in 
the  words  of  Brantome,  "  he  had   been   defraud- 
ed  of  so   fair  a  prize,"   there   is    yet  little   evi- 
dence that  the  prince's  passion  for  her  rose  higher 
than  the  sentiments  of  love  and  gratitude  which 
her  kindness   might  well   have  awakened   in   an 
affectionate  nature.^     And  that  such,  with  all  his 
errors,  was  the  nature  of  Carlos,  is  shown,  among 


37  The  openness  with  which  Car- 
los avowed  his  sentiments  for  Isa- 
bella may  be  thought  some  proof 
of  their  innocence.  Catherine  de 
Medicis,  in  a  letter  to  Fourque- 


vanlx,  dated  February  28,  1568, 
says,  alluding  to  the  prince's  ar- 
rest: "I  am  concerned  that  the 
event  very  much  distresses  my 
daughter,  as  well  with  regard  to 


r' 


608 


DEATH  OF  ISABELLA- 


[Book  JV 


other  examples,  by  his  steady  attachment  to  Don 
John  of  Austria,  his  uncle,  and  by  his  devotion 
to  his  early  preceptor,  the  bishop  of  Osma. 

There  is  no  proof  that  Philip  was,  at  any  time, 
displeased  with  the  conduct  of  his  queen,  or  that 
ae  regarded  his  son  in  the  light  of  a  rival.  Least 
of  all  is  there  anything  in  the  history  of  the  time 
to  show  that  he  sacrificed  his  wife  to  his  jealousy.^ 
The  contrary  is  well  established  by  those  of  her 
own  countrymen  who  had  free  access  to  her  during 
her  lifetime,  —  some  of  them  in  the  hour  of  hei 
death,  —  whose  correspondence  with  her  family 
would  not  have  failed  to  intimate  their  suspicions, 
had  there  been  anything  to  suspect. 

Well  would  it  be  for  the  memory  of  Philip  the 
Second,  could  the  historian  find  no  heavier  sin  to 
lay  to  his  charge  than  his  treatment  of  Isabella. 
From  first  to  last,  he  seems  to  have  regarded  her 
with  the  indulgence  of  an  affectionate  husband. 
Whether  she  ever  obtained  such  an  ascendency 
over  his  close  and  cautious  nature  as  to  be  allowed 


her  husband  as  in  respect  of  the 
prince,  who  has  always  let  her 
know  the  good-will  he  bears  to 
her."    Ibid.,  p.  141. 

*  The  French  historian,  De 
Thoa,  by  no  means  disposed  to 
pass  too  favorable  a  judgment  on 
the  actions  of  Philip,  and  who  in 
the  present  case  would  cert^unly 
not  be  likely  to  show  him  any  par- 
ticular grace,  rejects  without  hesi- 
tadon  the  suspicion  of  foul  play  on 
tbe  part  of  the  king.    "  Quelques- 


uns  soup^onnerent  Philippe  de  Ta- 
voir  fait  empoissoner,  parce  qu*il 
lui  avoit  fait  un  crime  de  la  trop 
grande  familiarity  qu*elle  avoit 
avec  Dom  Carlos.  B  est  ndan- 
moins  facile  de  se  convaincre  du 
contraire,  par  la  grande  et  sincere 
douleur  que  sa  mort  causa,  tant  k 
la  Cour  que  dans  toute  I'Espagne ; 
le  Roi  la  pleura,  comme  une  femme 
qu*il  aimoit  tres-tendrement.**  His* 
toire  Universelle,  torn.  V.  p.  487. 


Ch.  vni.] 


HER  CHARACTER. 


609 


to  share  m  his  confidence  and  his  counsels,  may 
well  be  doubted.  Her  temper  would  seem  to 
have  been  too  gentle,  too  devoid  of  worldly  am- 
bition, to  prompt  her  to  meddle  with  affairs  for 
which  she  was  fitted  neither  by  nature  nor  educa- 
tion. Yet  Brantome  assures  us,  that  she  exercised 
a  most  salutary  influence  over  her  lord  in  his 
relations  with  I'rance,  and  that  the  value  of  this 
influence  was  appreciated  in  later  times,  when 
the  growing  misunderstandings  between  the  two 
courts  were  left  to  rankle,  without  any  friendly 
hand  to  heal  them.  ®  "  Her  death,"  he  continues, 
"  was  as  bitter  to  her  own  nation  as  it  was  to  the 
Spaniards  ;  and  if  the  latter  called  her  '  the  Queen 
of  Peace  and  Goodness,'  the  former  with  no  less 
reason  styled  her  'the  OUve-branch.'"*®  "But 
she  has  passed  away,"  he  exclaims,  "  in  the  sweet 
and  pleasant  April  of  her  age,  —  when  her  beauty 
was  such  that  it  seemed  as  if  it  might  almost 
defy  the  assaults  of  time."*^ 


»  Brantdme,  (Euvrcs,  tom.  V. 
p.  137. 

Yet  Isabella's  mother,  Catherine 
de  Medicis,  found  fault  with  her 
daughter,  in  the  interview  at  Bay- 
onne,  for  having  become  altogether 
a  Spaniard,  saying  to  her  taunt- 
ingly, "  Muy  Espahola  venis"  To 
which  the  queen  meekly  replied, 
"  It  is  possible  that  it  may  be  so ; 
but  you  will  still  find  me  the  same 
daughter  to  you  as  when  you  sent 
me  to  Spain."  The  anecdote  is 
told  by  Alva  in  a  letter  to  the 

VOL.  IL  ^^ 


king.  Carta  del  Duque  de  Alva  al 
Rey,  MS. 

|0  "  Aussi  l*appelloit-on  la  Rey- 
na  de  la  paz  y  de  la  bondad^  c*est-k- 
dire  la  Reyne  de  la  paix  et  de  la 
bont^;  et  nos  Fran9ois  I'appella- 
rent  Toli ve  de  paix."    Ibid.,  p.  1 29. 

*i  "  Elle  est  morte  au  plus  beau 

et  plaisant  avril  de  son  aage 

Car  elle  estoit  de  naturel  et  de 
tainct  pour  durer  longtemps  belle, 
et  aussi  que  la  vieillesse  ne  I'eust 
os^  attaquer,  car  sa  beauts  fut  esttf 
plus  forte."    Ibid.,  p.  187. 


r, 


i 


610 


DEATH  OF   ISABELLA. 


[Book  IV. 


The  queen  occupies  an  important  place  in  that 
rich  gallery  of  portraits  in  which  Brantome  has 
endeavored  to  perpetuate  the  features  of  his  con- 
temporaries. In  no  one  of  them  has  he  traced 
the  lineaments  with  a  more  tender  and  delicate 
hand.  Even  the  breath  of  scandal  has  had  nc 
power  to  dim  the  purity  of  their  expression.  Ox 
all  that  illustrious  company  which  the  artist  has 
brouorht  in  review  before  the  eyes  of  posterity, 
there  is  no  one  to  whom  he  has  so  truly  ren- 
dered the  homage  of  the  heart,  as  to  Elizabeth 

of  France. 

But  from  these  scenes  of  domestic  sorrow,  it  is 
time  that  we  should  turn  to  others  of  a  more 
stirring  and  adventurous  character. 


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HISTORY 


t/i" 


THE  REIGN  Ot 


,^ 


PHILIP    THE    SECOND, 


KING    OF    SPAIN. 


I\\ 


1 
HI 


WILLIAM    H.    PRESCOTT, 

CORKESrONDING  MEMBKU  OF  THK  INSTITUTE  OF   FKAKCE,   OF  THE  liOYAt. 
ACADEMY  OF   IIISTOUY  AT  MADUID.,   ETC.,   ETC 


VOLUME    III. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

J.  B.  LIPPINCOTf  &  CO. 

1863. 


Kntered  iiccording  to  Act  of  Conp-e^fs,  in  tlie  year  1858,  by 

WILLIAM    11.     PRKSCOTT, 

m  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


^  -t  u .  0  ^■ 


CONTENTS 


OF 


VOLUME   THIRD. 


BOOK    V. 


CHAPTER    I. 

Pave 

The  Moors  of  Spain 1 

Conquest  of  Spain  by  the  Arabs 1 

Hostility  between  the  Two  Races  .         .         .         .      '  .         .  2 

The  Country  recovered  by  the  Spaniards     ....  4 

Effect  of  the  Struggle  on  the  National  Character     ...  5 

Religious  Intolerance  of  the  Spaniards        ....  0 

Attempts  to  convert  the  Moslems 7 

Policy  of  Ximenes 8 

Suppression  of  the  Mahometan  Worship           ....  9 

Outward  Conformity  to  Christianity     .....  10 
Moors  abandon  their  National  Habits       .        .        .        .        .11 

Their  Condition  under  Philip  the  Second    .        .        .         .  12 

Their  Industry  and  Commerce 13 

Treatment  by  the  Government 15 

Ordinance  of  1563 18 

Stringent  Measures  called  for  by  the  Clergy          ...  21 
Prepared  by  the  Government          .         .         .         .         .         .22 

Severity  of  the  Enactments 24 

Approval  of  them  by  Philip    .....         .         .28 

Proclamation  at  Granada 29 

Indication  of  the  Moriscoes 80 

Representations  to  Deza      .        .        .       ^        .        .         .  SI 

Appeal  to  the  Throne 82 

Rejection  of  their  Prayers 34 


IV 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   II. 

Rebellion  of  the  Moriscoes 36 

The  Edict  enforced 86 

Plans  for  Resistance  by  the  Moriscoes 37 

Their  Descent  on  Granada 40 

Failure  of  the  Attempt 42 

Greneral  Insurrection 43 

Election  of  a  King 45 

Character  of  Aben-Humeya 46 

His  Coronation 47 

His  Preparations  for  Defence 48 

The  Christian  Population 49 

Unsuspicious  of  their  Danger 50 

Attacked  by  the  Moors  —  Panic 51 

General  Massacre 52 

Horrible  Cruelties 53 

Fate  of  the  Women  and  Children 56    « 

Fierceness  of  Aben-Farax 68 

Deposed  from  his  Command 59 

CHAPTER    III. 

Rebellion  of  the  Moriscoes 60 

Consternation  in  the  Capital 60 

Mutual  Fears  of  the  Two  Races 61 

Garrison  of  the  Alhambra  strengthened       .         .         .        .  62 

Troops  mustered  by  Mondejar 63 

Civic  Militia — Feudal  Levies 64 

Warlike  Ecclesiastics 65 

March  of  the  Army 66 

Pass  of  Tablate 68 

Bridge  crossed  by  a  Friar    .......  70 

The  Army  follows 70 

The  Moriscoes  withdraw 71 

Entrance  into  the  Alpujarras 72 

Night  Encampment  at  Lanjaron 73 

Relief  of  Orgiba 74 

Mondejar  pursues  his  March 75 

Gloom  of  the  Mountain  Scenorv     .         .         .        .    -    .        .76 


CO^TliNTS. 


Page 

Defile  of  Alfajarali 77 

Sudden  Attack 77 

Bravery  of  the  Andalusian  Knights 78 

Precipitate  Retreat  of  the  Moriscoes 79 

Capture  of  Bubion 80 

Humanity  of  Mondejar       . 81 

Sufferings  of  the  Army           ...:...  82 

Capture  of  Jubiles 83 

Prisoners  protected  by  Mondejar 84 

Massacred  by  the  Soldiers 85 

Christian  Women  sent  to  Granada 87 

Welcomed  by  the  Inhabitants 88 

CHAPTER   IV.     • 

Rebellion  of  the  Moriscoes 90 

^londejar's  Policy 90 

Aben-Humeya  at  Paterna 91 

Offers  to  surrender 93 

Flight  to  the  Sierra  Nevada 94 

Disposition  of  the  Moorish  Prisoners 95 

Attack  on  Las  Guajaras 97 

Evacuated  by  the  Garrison 98 

Massacre  ordered  by  Mondejar 99 

Cruelty  of  the  Count  of  Tendilla 100 

Attempt  to  capture  Aben-Humeya 101 

His  Escape 102 

Heroism  of  Aben-Aboo 103 

The  Marquis  of  Los  Velez 104 

His  Campaign  in  the  Alpujarras 105 

Cruelties  committed  by  the  Troops       .         .         ,         .         .  107 

Celebration  of  a  religious  Ftte 108 

Licentiousness  of  the  Soldiery 109 

Contrast  between  Mondejar  and  I^s  Velez     .         .         .         .110 

Accusations  against  the  former 112 

Decision  arrived  at  in  Madrid 114 

Effect  on  the  Army    .         .    • 115 

Moorish  Prisoners  in  Granada 116 

Rumors  circulated  in  the  Capital          .         *,       .         .         .  117 

Night  Attack  on  the  Prisoners 118 

Fearful  Struggle  and  Massacre 119 


VI 


CONTENTS. 


Apathy  of  the  Government 
Renewal  of  the  Insurrection 


Page 
120 
122 


CHAPTER    V. 
Rebellion  of  the  Moriscoes 124 


Don  John  of  Austrisl 

Birth  and  Early  History 

Placed  under  the  Care  of  Quixada     . 

Secrecy  in  regard  to  his  Origin 

The  young  Geronimo  at  Yuste   . 

Testamentary  Dispositions  of  the  Emperor 

The  Boy  presented  to  the  Regent 

Curious  Scene 

Meeting  appointed  with  the  King 

Philip  acknowledges  his  Brother    . 

Assigns  him  an  Establishment 

Royal  Triumvirate  at  Alcala  . 

Chivalrous  Character  of  Don  John     . 

His  Adventurous  Disposition  . 

He  is  intrusted  with  the  Conmiand  of  a  Fleet 

His  Cruise  in  the  Mediterranean     . 

He  is  selected  for  the  Conunand  in  Granada 

Restrictions  on  his  Authority 

His  Reception  at  Granada 

Answers  to  Petitioners 

Discussions  in  the  Council  of  War 

New  Levies  summoned  .... 

Increased  Power  of  Aben-Humeya     . 

Forays  into  the  Christian  Territory 

Movements  of  Los  Velez   .... 

Extension  of  the  Rebellion     . 

Successful  Expedition  of  Requesens    . 

Moriscoes  lay  Siege  to  Seron 

Surrender  and  Massacre  of  the  Garrison     . 

Decree  for  removing  the  Moriscoes  from  Granada 

Their  Consternation  and  Grief  . 

Expulsion  from  the  City 

Farewell  to  their  Ancient  Home 

Distribution  through  the  Country 167 

Ruinous  Effects  on  Granada       .         .         .         .         .         .         168 

Character  of  the  Transaction  ......     169 


124 

125 

127 

128 

130 

131 

133 

134 

136 

137 

138 

140 

141 

142 

144 

145 

146 

147 

148 

150 

152 

153 

154 

155 

156 

158 

159 

160 

161 

162 

163 

164 

167 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   VI 


"VII 


Rebellion  of  the  Moriscoes     . 

State  of  the  Troops  under  Los  Velez 
Encounter  with  Aben-Humeya 
Fli*yht  of  the  Morisco  Prince 
Desertions  from  the  Spanish  Camp 
Mondejar  recalled  to  Court 

His  Character 

Exterminating  Policy  of  the  Government 
Sensual  Tyranny  of  Aben-Humeya 
Treachery  towards  Diego  Alguazil 
Plan  of  Revenge  formed  by  Alguazil 
Conspiracy  against  Aben-Humeya 
His  Assassination  ..... 
He  is  succeeded  by  Aben-Aboo  . 
Energy  of  the  new  Chief 
Repulse  at  Orgiba      .        .         .         . 
The  Place  evacuated  by  the  Garrison     . 
Continual  Forays       .... 
Conflicts  in  the  Vega     .... 
Don  John's  Desire  for  Action 
Philip  yields  to  his  Entreaties 
Preparations  for  the  Campaign   . 
Surprise  of  Guejar        ... 
Mortification  of  Don  John  . 

Mendoza  the  Historian  .... 


CHAPTER    VII 


Rebellion  of  the  Moriscoes 

Philip's  Instructions  to  his  Brother 
Don  John  takes  the  Field    . 
Discontent  of  Los  Velez 
His  Meeting  with  Don  John 
He  retires  from  the  War 
Investment  of  Galera 
Description  of  the  Place 
Munitions  and  Garrison 
Establishment  of  Batteries 

VOL.   III.  b 


rage 
171 

171 

173 

174 

175 

176 

177 

178 

179 

181 

182 

184 

186 

187 

189 

190 

191 

192 

193 

194 

195 

196 

198 

199" 

200 


204 

204 
206 
207 
208 
209 
210 
211 
213 
215 


vm 


CONTENTS. 


CONTENTS. 


IX 


I 


The  Siege  opened 
First  Assault      .... 
Spaniards  repulsed 
Mines  opened  in  the  Rock 
Second  Assault     .... 
Explosion  of  the  Mine 
Troops  rush  to  the  Attack 
Struffde  at  the  Ravelin 
Bravery  of  the  Morisco  Women 
Ill-Success  of  Padilla 
Failure  of  the  Attack     . 
Insubordination  of  the  Troops     . 
Severe  Loss  of  the  Spaniards 
Bloody  Determination  of  Don  John 
Prudent  Advice  of  Philip 
Condition  of  the  Besieged  . 
Preparations  for  a  last  Attack 
Cannonade  and  Explosions 
Third  Assault        .        •        .         . 
Irresistible  Furj-  of  the  Spaniards 
Struggle  in  the  Streets  and  Houses 
Desperation  of  the  Inhabitants    . 
Inhumanity  of  the  Conqueror 
Wholesale  jVIassacre   .        • 
The  Town  demolished  . 
Tidings  communicated  to  Philip  . 
Reputation  gained  by  Don  John     . 


Page 

216 

217 

218 

219 

220 

221 

223 

223 

224 

225 

226 

227 

228 

228 

229 

230 

232 

233 

234 

235 

236 

237 

238 

239 

241 

242 

243 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

Rebellion  of  the  Moriscoes 244 

Seron  reconnoitred 244 

Sudden  Attack  by  the  Moriscoes         .        .        .        .        .  245 

Armv  thrown  into  Confusion 246 

Iridijynation  of  Don  John 248 

Death  of  Quixada 250 

His  Character 251 

Dona  Magdalena  de  Ulloa 252 

Rapid  Successes  of  Don  John 253 

Negotiations  opened  with  El  Habaqui 254 

Merciless  Pursuit  of  the  Rebels 255 


Guerilla  Warfare  .... 

Conferences  at  Fondon 

Aben-Aboo  consents  to  treat  . 

Arrangement  concluded 

Submission  tendered  by  El  Habaqui 

Dissatisfaction  with  the  Treaty    . 

Vacillation  of  Aben-Aboo 

El  Habaqui  engages  to  arrest  him 

Fate  of  El  Habaqui 

Mission  of  Palacios    . 

His  Interview  with  Aben-Aboo 

Spirited  Declaration  of  that  Chief 

Stem  Resolve  of  the  Grovemment  . 

War  of  Extermination 

Expedition  of  the  Duke  of  Arcos  . 

^larch  across  the  Plain  of  Calaluz 

Engaj^ement  with  the  Moriscoes 

The  Rebellion  crushed 

Edict  of  Expulsion 

Removal  of  the  Moriscoes  . 

Don  John's  Impatience  to  resign    . 

His  final  Dispositions  . 

Hiding-Place  of  Aben-Aboo  . 

Plot  formed  for  his  Capture         . 

His  Interview  with  El  Senix  . 

His  Murder       .... 

His  Body  brought  to  Granada 

His  Head  placed  in  a  Cage 

Remarks  on  his  Career  . 

Wasted  Condition  of  the  Country 

The  scattered  Moriscoes 

Cruelly  treated  by  the  Government 

Their  Industry  and  Cheerfulness    . 

Increase  of  their  Numbers 

They  preserve  their  National  Feeling 

Mutual  Hatred  of  the  Two  Races 

Expulsion  of  the  Moriscoes  from  Spain  . 

Works  of  Marmol  and  Circourt . 


Page 
256 
257 
258 
259 
260 
262 
263 
264 
265 
266 
267 
268 
269 
270 
271 
272 
273 
274 
275 
276 
278 
279 
280 
281 
282 
283 
284 
285 
286 
288 
289 
290 
291 
292 
293 
294 
295 
296 


CONTEiSTS. 


CONTENTS. 


XI 


n 


L 


CHAPTEK   IX. 

r.-ige 

War  with  the  Turks ^^^ 

Sultan  Selim  the  Second ^^^ 

Determines  on  the  Conquest  of  Cyprus 299 

Spirit  of  Pius  the  Fifth ^^^ 

His  Appeals  to  Philip ^^^ 

King's  Entrance  into  Seville ^*^* 

Determines  tojoin  the  League ^^^ 

Capture  of  Nicosia 

Vacillating  Conduct  of  Venice ^^^ 

Meeting  of  Deputies  at  Rome 306 

Treaty  of  Confederation ^^^ 

Ratified  and  proclaimed ^^^ 

Turkish  Fleet  in  the  Adriatic 809 

Papal  Legate  at  Madrid ^^^ 

Concessions  to  the  Crown ^^^ 

Fleets  of  Venice  and  Rome 3^- 

Preparations  in  Spain 

Enthusiasm  of  the  Nation ^14 

Don  John's  Departure ^1^ 

His  Reception  at  Naples 3^^' 

His  noble  Appearance ^^^ 

Accomplishments  and  Popularity 818 

Presentation  of  the  Consecrated  Standard       .        .         .        .819 

Arrival  at  Messina     ......••  820 

Grand  Naval  Spectacle 821 

Strength  and  Condition  of  the  Fleets          ....  322 

Discretion  of  the  Generalissimo 323 

Communications  from  the  Pope 324 

Departure  from  Messina 825 

CHAPTER    X. 

War  with  the  Turks 826 

Arrival  at  Corfu 826 

Council  of  War 827 

Resolution  to  give  Battle 828 

Arbitrary  Conduct  of  Veniero    ......  329 

Passage  across  the  Sea  of  Ionia 330 


Fall  of  Famagosta 
The  Enemy  in  Sight . 
Preparations  for  Combat 
Final  Instructions  of  Don  John 
Approach  of  the  Turkish  Fleet 
Its  Form  and  Disposition    . 
Chanjie  in  the  Order  of  Battle 
Last  Preparation  of  the  Christians 
Battle  of  Lepanto 
Left  Wing  of  the  Allies  turned  . 
Right  Wing,  under  Doria,  broken 
Don  John  and  Ali  Pasha  engage 
Superior  Fire  of  the  Spaniards 
Bird's-eye  View  of  the  Scene 
Venetians  victorious  on  the  Left 
Continued  Struggle  in  the  Centre 
Turkish  Admiral  boarded 
Death  of  Ali  Pasha    . 
Victory  of  the  Christians 
Flight  of  Uluch  Ali     . 
Chase  and  Escape 
Allies  take  Shelter  in  Petala 


CHAPTER    XI 


War  with  the  Turks 

Losses  of  the  Combatants    . 
Turkish  Armada  annihilated  . 
Roll  of  Slaughter  and  Fame 
Exploits  of  Famese 
Noble  Spirit  of  Cervantes  . 
Sons  of  Ali  Pasha  Prisoners  . 
Generously  treated  by  Don  John 
His  Conduct  towards  Veniero 
Operations  suspended 
Triumphant  Return  to  Messina 
Celebrations  in  Honor  of  the  Victory 
Tidings  despatched  to  Spain  . 
Philip's  Reception  of  them 
Acknowledgments  to  his  Brother    . 
Don  John's  Conduct  criticised    . 


Pape 
331 
332 
333 
334 
336 
337 
338 
339 
340 
341 
342 
343 
344 
345 
346 
348 
349 
350 
351 
352 
353 
354 


355 

355 
356 
357 
359 
359 
360 
361 
362 
363 
364 
366 
867 
368 
869 
371 


Xll 


CONTENTS. 


CONTEXTS. 


Xlll 


I 


Real  Fruits  of  the  Victor)- 

Delay  in  resuming  Operations 

Death  of  Pius  the  Filth    . 

Philip's  Distrust    . 

Permits  his  Brother  to  sail 

Turks  decline  to  accept  Battle 

Anniversary  of  Lepanto  . 

Allies  disband  their  Forces  . 

Perfidy  of  Venice    . 

The  League  dissolved  . 

Tunis  taken  by  Don  John 

He  provides  for  its  Security 

Returns  to  Naples    . 

His  Mode  of  Life  there 

His  Schemes  of  Dominion 

Tunis  retaken  by  the  Moslems 

Don  John's  Mission  to  Genoa  . 

He  prepares  a  fresh  Armament 

His  Disappointment,  and  Return  to  Madrid 


Past* 

37a 

874 
375 
376 
377 

378 

371) 

380 

381 

382 

383 

384 

385 

38« 

387 

388 

889 

890 

891 


BOOK    VI. 

CHAPTER    I. 

• 

Domestic  Affairs  of  Spain S92 

Internal  Administration   .        .        .        .        .        .        •        .392 

Revolutions  under  Isabella  and  Charles  V 393 

Absolute  Power  of  the  Crown *  394 

Contrast  between  Charles  and  Philip 395 

The  latter  wholly  a  Spaniard 396 

The  Royal  Councils 397 

Principal  Advisers  of  the  Crown 398 

Character  of  Ruy  Gomez  de  Silva 399 

Figueroa,  Count  of  Feria ^^^ 

Cardinal  Espinosa ^^^ 

Two  Parties  in  the  Council 407 

Balance  held  by  Philip .  408 

His  Manner  of  transacting  Business 409 


Page 

Hi*  Assiduit}' ^H 

His  Mode  of  dividing  the  Day 412 

His  Love  of  Solitude        .         .         .        .        .        •        •        .413 

Extent  of  his  Information 414 

Partial  Confidence  in  his  Ministers 415 

His  Frugality 410 

His  Magnificent  Establishment 417 

His  Fatal  Habit  of  Procrastination 419 

Remonstrances  of  his  Almoner         .        .        .        .        .        .420 

Habits  of  the  great  Nobles 421 

Manners  of  the  Court      ........  422 

Degeneracy  of  the  Nobles    . 423 

Splendor  of  their  Households 424 

Loss  of  Political  Power 425 

Depressed  Condition  of  the  Commons 426 

Petitions  of  the  Cortes 427 

Their  Remonstrance  against  Arbitrary  Gk)vernmcnt  .        .428 

Their  Regard  for  the  National  Interests        .        .        .        .  429 

Erroneous  Notions  respecting  Commerce          ....  430 

Sumptuary  Laws 431 

Encouragement  of  Bull-Fights 433 

Various  Subjects  of  Legislation 434 

Schools  and  Universities 435 

Royal  Pragmatics 436 

Philip's  Replies  to  the  Cortes 437 

Freedom  of  Discussion 438 

Standing  Army 439 

Guards  of  Castile 440 


CHAPTER   II. 


Domestic  Affairs  of  Spain 

Philip  the  Champion  of  the  Faith 
Endowments  of  the  Church 
Alienations  in  Mortmain 
Disputed  Prerogatives 
Appointments  to  Benefices  . 
The  Clergy  dependent  on  the  Crown 
The  Escorial        .... 
Motives  for  its  Erection    .        .        . 
Site  selected        .        .        •        . 


441 

441 
442 
443 
444 
445 
446 
447 
448 
449 


I 


XIV 


CO^'TENTS 


III  ') 


li 


Convent  founded 

Royal  Humility    . 

Building  commenced 

Philip's  Interest  in  it     , 

His  Architectural  Taste    . 

His  Oversight  of  the  Work 

He  governs  the  World  from  the  Escorial 

The  Edifice  endangered  by  Fire 

Materials  used  in  its  Construction 

Artists  employed  .     .  . 

Philip*s  Fondness  for  Art 

Completion  of  the  Escorial 

The  Architects 

Character  of  the  Structure 

Its  Whimsical  Design 

Its  Magnitude 

Interior  Decorations 

Ravages  it  has  undergone 

Its  present  Condition 

Anne  of  Austria  . 

Her  Reception  in  Spain  . 

Her  Marriage  with  Philip 

Her  Residence  at  the  Escorial 

Her  Character  and  Habits    . 

Her  Death 


Pagt 

450 

451 

452 

453 

454 

455 

456 

457 

458 

460 

461 

462 

463 

464 

465 

466 

467 

468 

469 

470 

471 

473 

474 

475 

476 


HISTORY 


OF 


PHILIP  THE  SECOND. 


BOOK  Y. 

CHAPTER    I. 

THE    MOORS    OF    SPAIN. 

Conquest  of  Spain  by  the  Arabs.  —  Slow  Recovery  by  the  Spaniards. 
—  Efforts  to  convert  the  Moslems.  —  Their  Homes  in  the  Alpujar- 
ras.  —  Their  Treatment  by  the  Government.  —  The  Minister 
Espinosa.  —  Edict  against  the  Moriscoes.  —  Their  ineffectual  Re- 
monstrance. 

1566,  1567. 

It  was  in  the  beginning  of  the  eighth  century, 
in  the  year  711,  that  the  Arabs,  filled  with  the 
spirit  of  conquest  which  had  been  breathed  into 
them  by  their  warlike  apostle,  after  traversing 
the  southern  shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  reached 
the  borders  of  those  straits  that  separate  Africa 
from  Europe.  Here  they  paused  for  a  moment, 
before  carrying  their  banners  into  a  strange  and 
unknown  quarter  of  the  globe.  It  was  but  for  a 
moment,  however,  when,  with  accunfulated  strength, 
they  descended  on  the  sunny  fields  of  Andalusia, 

VOL.   III.  I 


2 


THE  MOOUS  OF  SPAIN. 


[Book  V. 


met  the  whole  Gothic  array  on  the  banks  of  the 
Guaclalete,  and,  after  that  fatal  battle  in  which 
King  Roderick  fell  with  the  flower  of  his  nobility, 
spread  themselves,  like  an  army  of  locusts,  over 
every  part  of  the  Peninsula.  Three  years  sufficed 
for  the  coiviuest  of  the  country,  —  except  that 
small  corner  in  the  north,  where  a  remnant  of  the 
Goths  contrived  to  maintain  a  savage  independence, 
and  where  the  rudeness  of  the  soil  held  out  to 
the  Saracens  no  temptation  to  follow  them. 

It  was  much  the  same  story  that  was  repeated, 
more  than  three  centuries  later,  by  the  Norman 
conquerors  in  England.  The  battle  of  Hastings 
was  to  that  kingdom  what  the  battle  of  the  Gua- 
dalete  was  to  Spain ;  though  the  Norman  barons, 
as  they  rode  over  the  prostrate  land,  dictated  terms 
to  the  vanquished  of  a  sterner  character  than  those 
granted  by  the  Saracens. 

But  whatever  resemblance  there  may  be  in  the 
general  outlines  of  the  two  conquests,  there  is  none 
in  the  results  that  followed.     In  England  the  Nor- 
man  and  the  Saxon,  sprung  from  a  common  stock, 
could   not  permanently   be   kept  asunder  by  the 
barrier  which  at  first  was  naturally  interposed  be- 
tween  the  conqueror  and  the  conquered;  and   in 
less,  probably,  than  three  centuries  after  the  inva- 
sion, the  two  nations  had  imperceptibly  melted  into 
one,  so  that  the  Englishman  of  that  day   might 
trace  the  current  that  flowed  through  his  veins  to 
both  a  Norman  and  a  Saxon  origin. 

It  was  far  otherwise  in  Spain,  where  difference 


Ch.  I.] 


CONQUEST   OF   SPAIN. 


of  race,  of  religion,  of  national  tradition,  of  moral 
and  physical  organization,  placed  a  gulf  between 
the  victors  and  the  vanquished  too  wide  to.be  over- 
leaped.    It  is  true,  indeed,  that  very  many  of  the 
natives,  accepting  the  liberal  terms  offered  by  the 
Saracens,  preferred  remaining  in  the  genial  clime 
of  the  south  to  sharing  the  rude  independence  of 
their  brethren  in  the  Asturias,   and  that,  in   the 
course  of  time,  intermarriages,  to  some  extent,  took 
place  between  them  and  their  Moslem  conquerors. 
l^o  what  extent  cannot  now  be  known.     The  inter- 
course was  certainly  far  greater  than  that  between 
our   New-England    ancestors  and  the  Indian  race 
which  they  found  in  possession  of  the  soil,  —  that 
ill-fated  race,  which  seems  to  have  shrunk  from  the 
touch   of  civilization,   and   to   have   passed   away 
before  it  like  the  leaves  of  the  forest  before  the 
breath  of  winter.     The  union  was  probably  not  so 
intimate  as  that  which  existed  between   the   old 
Spaniards  and  the  semi-civilized  tribes  that  occu- 
pied the  plateau  of  Mexico,  whose  descendants,  at 
this  day,  are  to  be  there  seen  filling  the  highest 
places,  both  social  and  political,  and  whose  especial 
boast  it  is  to  have  sprung  from  the  countrymen  of 
Montezuma. 

The  very  anxiety  shown  by  the  modern  Spaniard 
to  prove  that  only  the  sangre  azul —  "  blue  blood  " 
—  flows  through  his  veins,  uncontaminated  by  any 
Moorish  or  Jewish  taint,  may  be  thought  to  afford 
some  evidence  of  the  intimacy  which  once  existed 
between  his .  forefathers  and  the  tribes  of  Eastern 


THE  MOORS   OF  SPAIN. 


[Book  V. 


Cu.  I] 


RECOVEUY  BY   THE  SPANIARDS. 


origin.  However  this  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  no 
length  of  time  ever  served,  in  the  eye  of  the  Span- 
iard, to  give  the  Moslem  invader  a  title  to  the  soil ; 
and  after  the  lapse  of  nearly  eight  centuries,  —  as 
long  a  period  as  that  which  has  passed  since  the 
Norman  conquest,  —  the  Arabs  were  still  looked 
upon  as  intruders  whom  it  was  the  sacred  duty  of 
the  Spaniards  to  exterminate  or  to  expel  from  the 

land. 

This  then  was  their  mission.  And  it  is  interest- 
ing  to  see  how  faithfully  they  fulfilled  it ;  and  dur- 
ing the  long  period  of  the  Middle  Ages,  when  other 
nations  were  occupied  with  base  feudal  quarrels  or 
border  warfare,  it  is  curious  to  observe  the  Span- 
iard intent  on  the  one  great  object  of  reclaiming 
his  country  from  the  possession  of  the  infidel.  It 
was  a  work  of  time ;  and  his  progress,  at  first 
almost  imperceptible,  was  to  be  measured  by  cen- 
turies. By  the  end  of  the  ninth  century  it  had 
reached  as  far  as  the  Ebro  and  the  Douro.  By  the 
middle  of  the  eleventh,  the  victorious  banner  of  the 
Cid  had  penetrated  to  the  Tagus.  The  fortunes 
of  Christian  Spain  trembled  in  the  balance  on  the 
great  day  of  Navas  de  Tolosa,  which  gave  a  per- 
manent ascendency  to  the  Castilian  arms ;  and  by 
the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century  the  campaigns 
of  James  the  First  of  Aragon,  and  of  St.  Ferdinand 
of  Castile,  stripping  the  Moslems  of  the  other 
southern  provinces,  had  reduced  tl\|em  to  the  petty 
kingdom  of  Granada.  Yet  on  this  narrow  spot 
they  still  continued  to  maintain  a  national  exist- 


i 


A 


ence,  and  to  bid  defiance  for  more  than  two  centu- 
ries longer  to  all  the  efforts  of  the  Christians.  The 
final  triumph  of  the  latter  was  reserved  for  the 
glorious  reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  It  was 
on  the  second  of  January,  1492,  that,  after  a  war 
which  rivalled  that  of  Troy  in  its  duration,  and 
surpassed  it  in  the  romantic  character  of  its  inci- 
dents, the  august  pair  made  their  solemn  entry  into 
Granada;  while  the  large  silver  cross  which  had 
served  as  their  banner  through  the  war,  sparkling 
in  the  sunbeams  on  the  red  towers  of  the  Alham- 
bra,  announced  to  the  Christian  world  that  the  last 
rood  of  territory  in  the  Peninsula  had  passed  away 
for  ever  from  the  Moslem. 

The  peculiar  nature  of  the  war  in  which  the 
Spaniard  for  eight  centuries  had  thus  been  en- 
gaged, exercised  an  important  influence  on  the 
national  character.  Generation  after  generation 
had  passed  their  lives  in  one  long,  uninterrupted 
crusade.  It  had  something  of  the  same  effect  on 
the  character  of  the  nation  tlmt  the  wars  for  the 
recovery  of  Palestine  had  on  the  Crusaders  of  the 
Middle  Ages.  Every  man  learned  to  regard  him- 
self as  in  an  especial  manner  the  soldier  of  Heaven, 
—  for  ever  fighting  the  great  battle  of  the  Faith. 
With  a  mind  exalted  by  this  sublime  conviction, 
what  wonder  that  he  should  have  been  ever  ready 
to  discern  the  immediate  interposition  of  Heaven  in 
his  behalf?  —  that  he  should  have  seen  again  and 
again  the  patron  saint  of  his  country,  charging  on 
his  milk-white  steed  at  the  head  of  his  celestial 


THE   MOORS   OF  SPAIN. 


[Book  V. 


Ch.  I.] 


EFFORTS   TO   CONVERT   THEM. 


II 


chivalry,  and  restoring  the  wavering  fortunes  of 
the  fi""ht?  In  this  exalted  state  of  feeling,  insti- 
tutions that  assumed  elsewhere  only  a  political  or 
military  aspect  wore  here  the  garb  of  religion. 
Thus  the  orders  of  chivalry,  of  which  there  were 
several  in  the  Peninsula,  were  founded  on  the  same 
principles  as  those  of  Palestine,  where  the  members 
were  pledged  to  perpetual  war  against  the  infidel. 

As  a  consequence  of  these  wars  with  the  Mos- 
lems, the  patriotic  principle  became  identified  with 
trie  religious.  In  the  enemies  of  his  country  the 
Spaniard  beheld  also  the  enemies  of  God;  and 
feelings  of  national  hostility  were  still  further  em- 
bittered by  those  of  religious  hatred.  In  the  palmy 
days  of  the  Ambian  empire,  these  feelings,  it  is 
true,  were  tempered  by  those  of  respect  for  an 
enemy  who  in  the  various  forms  of  civilization 
surpassed  not  merely  the  Spaniards,  but  every  na- 
tion in  Christendom.  Nor  was  this  respect  wholly 
abated  under  the  princes  who  afterwards  ruled 
with  imperial  sway  over  Granada,  and  who  dis- 
played, in  their  little  courts,  such  a  union  of  the 
courtesies  of  Christian  chivalry  with  the  magnifi- 
cence of  the  East,  as  shed  a  ray  of  glory  on  the 
declining  days  of  the  Moslem  empire  in  the  Pen- 
insula. 

But  as  the  Arabs,  shorn  of  their  ancient  opu- 
lence and  power,  descended  in  the  scale,  the  Span- 
iards became  more  arrogant.  The  feelings  of  aver- 
sion with  which  they  had  hitherto  regarded  their 
enemies,  were  now  mingled  with  those  of  contempt. 


The  latent  fire  of  intolerance  was  fanned  into  a 
blaze  by  the  breath  of  the  fanatical  clergy,  who 
naturally  possessed  unbounded  influence  in  a  coun- 
try where  religious  considerations  entered  so  large- 
ly into  the  motives  of  action  as  they  did  in  Spain. 
To  crown  the  whole,  the  date  of  the  fall  of  Grandda 
coincided  with  that  of  the  establishment  of  the 
Inquisition, — as  if  the  hideous  monster  had  wait- 
ed the  time  when  an  inexhaustible  supply  of  vic- 
tims might  be  afforded  for  its  insatiable  maw. 

By  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  capitulation,  the 
people  of  Granada  were  allowed  to  remain  in  pos- 
session of  their  religion  and  to  exercise  its  rites ; 
and  it  was  especially  stipulated  that  no  induce- 
ments or  menaces  should  be  held  out  to  effect  their 
conversion  to  Christianity.^  For  a  few  years  the 
conquerors  respected  these  provisions.  Under  the 
good  Talavera,  the  first  archbishop  of  Granada, 
no  attempt  was  made  to  convert  the  Moslems  ex- 
cept by  the  legitimate  means  of  preaching  to  the 
people  and  of  expounding  to  them  the  truths  of 
revelation.  Under  such  a  course  of  instruction 
the  work  of  proselytism,  though  steadily,  went  on 
too  slowly  to  satisfy  the  impatience  of  some  of  the 
clergy.  Among  others,  that  extraordinary  man, 
Cardinal  Ximenes,  archbishop  of  Toledo,  was  eager 

1  "  Que  ningun  Moro  ni  Mora  sera  i^cebida,  hasta  ser  interroga- 

scran  apremiados  a  ser  Christianos  da."     See  the  original  treaty,  as 

contra  su   voluntad ;  y  que  si  al-  given  in  extenso  by  Marmol,  Ro- 

guna  doncella,  d  casada,  d  viuda,  belion   de  fos  Moriscos,  (Madrid, 

por  razon  de  algunos  amores  se  1797,)  torn.  I.  pp.  83-98. 
(juisiere  tomar  Christiana,  tampoco 


I  I 
I 


8 


THE  MOORS   OF   SPAIN. 


[Book  V. 


Ch.  I.] 


EFFORTS   TO   CONVERT   THEM. 


to  try  his  own  hand  in  the  labor  of  conversion. 
Having  received  the  royal  assent,  he  set  about  the 
affair  with  characteristic  ardor,  and  with  as  little 
scruple  as  to  the  means  to  be  employed  as  the  most 
zealous  propagandist  could  have  desired.  When 
reasoning  and  expostulation  failed,  he  did  not 
hesitate  to  resort  to  bribes,  and,  if  need  were,  to 
force.  Under  these  combined  influences  the  work 
of  proselytism  went  on  apace.  Thousands  were 
added  daily  to  the  Christian  fold;  and  the  more 
orthodox  Mussulmans  trembled  at  the  prospect  of 
a  general  defection  of  their  countrymen.  Exas- 
perated by  the  unscrupulous  measures  of  the  pre- 
late, and  the  gross  violation  they  involved  of  the 
treaty,  they  broke  out  into  an  insurrection,  which 
soon  extended  along  the  mountain  ranges  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Granada. 

Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  alarmed  at  the  conse- 
quences, were  filled  with  indignation  at  the  high- 
handed conduct  of  Ximenes.  But  he  replied, 
that  the  state  of  things  was  precisely  that  which 
was  most  to  be  desired.  By  placing  themselves  in 
an  attitude  of  rebellion,  the  Moors  had  renounced 
all  the  advantages  secured  by  the  treaty,  and  had, 
moreover,  incurred  the  penalties  of  death  and  con- 
fiscation of  property  !  It  would  be  an  act  of  grace 
in  the  sovereigns  to  overlook  their  offence,  and 
grant  an  amnesty  for  the  past,  on  condition  that 
every  Moor  should  at  once  receive  baptism  or  leave 
the  country.^    This   precious   piece   of   casuistry, 

•  "  Y  que  pues  habian  sido  rebeldea,  y  por  ello  merecian  pena  de 


hardly  surpassed  by  anything  in  ecclesiastical  an- 
nals, found  favor  in  the  eyes  of  the  sovereigns, 
who,  after  the  insurrection  had  been  quelled,  lost 
no  time  in  proposing  the  terms  suggested  by  their 
minister  as  the  only  terms  of  reconciliation  open  to 
the  Moors.  And  as  but  few  of  that  unhappy  peo- 
ple were  prepared  to  renounce  their  country  and 
their  worldly  prospects  for  the  sake  of  their  faith, 
the  result  was,  that  in  a  very  short  space  of  time, 
with  but  comparatively  few  exceptions,  every  Mos- 
lem in  the  dominions  of  Castile  consented  to  ab- 
jure his  own  faith  and  receive  that  of  his  ene- 
mies.^ 

A  similar  course  of  proceeding  was  attended 
with  similar  results  in  Valencia  and  other  domin- 
ions of  the  croWn  of  Aragon,  in  the  earlier  part  of 
Charles  the  Fifth's  reign ;  and,  before  that  young 
monarch  had  been  ten  years  upon  the  throne,  the 
whole  Moorish  population  —  Moriscoes,  as  they 
were  henceforth  to  be  called  —  were  brought  with- 
in the  pale  of  Christianity,  —  or,  to  speak  more 
correctly,  within  that  of  the  Inquisition.'* 

Such  conversions,  it  may  well  be  believed,  had 
taken  too  little  root  in  the  heart  to  bear  fruit.  It 
was  not  long  before  the  agents  of  the  Holy  Office 


muerte  y  perdimento  de  bienes,  el 
perdon  que  les  concediese  fuese 
condicional,  con  que  se  tornasen 
Christianos,  6  dexasen  la  tierra.'* 
Ibid.,  p.  122. 

'  The  reader  curious  in  the  mat- 
ter will  find  a  full  account  of  it  in 

TOL.  III.  2 


the  History  of  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 
bella, part  II.  chapters  6,  7. 

*  Advertimientos  de  Don  Ge- 
ronimo  Corella  sobre  la  Conversion 
de  los  Mopiscos  del  Reyno  de  Va- 
lencia, MS. 


10 


THE  MOORS   OF   SPAIN. 


[Book  V. 


'A 

' « 
I 


detected,  under  the  parade  of  outward  conformit)-, 
as  rank  a  growth  of  infidelity  as  had  existed  before 
the  conquest.     The  blame  might  in  part,  indeed, 
be  fairly  imputed  to  the  lukewarmness  of  the  Chris- 
tian  laborers  employed  in  the  work  of  conversion. 
To  render  this  more  effectual,  the  government  had 
caused  churches  to  be  built  in  the  principal  towns 
and  villages  occupied  by  the  Moriscoes,  and  sent 
missionaries  among  them  to  wean  them  from  their 
errors   and  unfold  the  great  truths  of  revelation. 
But  an  act  of  divine  grace  could  alone  work  an 
instantaneous  change  in  the  convictions  of  a  nation. 
The  difficulties  of  the  preachers  were  increased  by 
their  imperfect  acquaintance  with  the  language  of 
their  hearers;  and  they  had  still  further  to  over- 
come  the  feelings  of  jealousy  and  aversion  with 
which  the  Spaniard  was  naturally  regarded  by  the 
Mussulman.     Discouraged  by  these  obstacles,  the 
missionary  became  indifferent  to  the  results.     In- 
stead of  appealing^  to  the  understanding,  or  touch- 
ing  the   heart,  of  his  hearer,   he  was  willing  to 
accept  his  conformity  to  outward  ceremony  as  the 
evidence  of  his  conversion.     Even  in  his  own  per- 
formance of  the  sacred  rites  the  ecclesiastic  showed 
a  careless  indifference,  that  proved  his  heart  was 
little  in  the  work ;  and  he  scattered  the  purifying 
waters  of  baptism  in  so  heedless  a  way  over  the 
multitude,  that  it  was  not  uncommon  for  a  Mo- 
nsco  to  assert  that  none  of  the  consecrated  drops 
had  fallen  upon  him.^ 

5  "  Sin  tratar  de  instruir  &  cada  uno  en  particular  ni  de  examinar 


Cii.  I] 


EFFORTS  TO   CONVERT  THEM. 


11 


The  representations  of  the  clergy  at  length  drew 
the  attention  of  the  government.  It  was  decided 
that  the  best  mode  of  effecting  the  conversion  of 
the  Moslems  was  by  breaking  up  those  associations 
which  connected  them  with  the  past,  —  by  com- 
pelling them,  in  short,  to  renounce  their  ancient 
usages,  their  national  dress,  and  even  their  language. 
An  extraordinary  edict  to  that  effect,  designed  for 
Granada,  was  accordingly  published  by  Charles  in 
the  summer  of  1526 ;  and  all  who  did  not  confonn 
to  it  were  to  be  arraigned  before  the  Inquisition. 
The  law  was  at  once  met^  as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected, by  remonstrances  from  the  men  of  most 
consideration  among  the  Moriscoes,  who,  to  give 
efficacy  to  their  petition,  promised  the  round  sum 
of  eighty  thousand  gold  ducats  to  the  emperor  in 
case  their  prayers  should  be  granted.  Charles,  who 
in  his  early  days  did  not  always  allow  considera- 
tions of  religion  to  supersede  those  of  a  worldly 
policy,  lent  a  favorable  ear  to  the  petitioners ;  and 
the  monstrous  edict,  notwithstanding  some  efforts 
to  the  contrary,  was  never  suffered  to  go  into  op- 
eration during  his  reign.^ 


los  ni  saber  su  voluntad  los  bapti- 
zaron  a  manadas  y  de  modo  que 
algunos  de  ellos,  segun  es  fama, 
pusieron  pleito  que  no  les  avia 
tocado  el  agua  que  en  comun  les 
hechavan.**     Ibid. 

6  Marmol,  Rebelion  de  los  Mo- 


riscos,  torn.   I. 


pp. 


133-  155. 


Bleda,  Coronica  de  los  Moros  de 
Espaiia,  (Valencia,  1618,)  p.  656. 
—  Advertimientos  de  Corella,  MS. 


—  Ferrcras,  Hist.  Generale  d'Es- 
pagne,  torn.  IX.  p.  65,  68.  —  Van- 
derhammen,  Don  Juan  de  Austria, 
fol.  55. 

The  last  writer  says  that,  besides 
the  largess  to  the  emperor,  the 
Moriscoes  were  canny  enough  to 
secure  the  good-will  of  his  ministers 
by  a  liberal  supply  of  doubloons 
to  them  also.  —  "  Sirvieron  .il 
Emperador  con  ochenta  mil  du -a- 


i 


12 


THE  MOORS  OF  SPAIN. 


[Book  V. 


Ch.  I.) 


HOMES  IN  THE  ALPUJARRAS. 


13 


Such  was  the  state  of  things  on  the  accession  of 
Philip  the  Second.  Granada,  Malaga,  and  the 
other  principal  cities  of  the  south,  were  filled  with 
a  mingled  population  of  Spaniards  and  Moriscoes, 
the  latter  of  whom,  —  including  many  persons  of 
wealth  and  consideration,  —  under  the  influence  of 
a  more  intimate  contact  with  the  Christians,  gave 
e^4dence,  from  time  to  time,  of  conversion  to  the 
faith  of  their  conquerors.  But  by  far  the  larger 
part  of  the  Moorish  population  was  scattered  over 
the  mountain  range  of  the  Alpujarras,  southeast 
of  Granada,  and  among  the  bold  sierras  that  stretch 
along  the  southern  shores  of  Spain.  Here,  amidst 
those  frosty  peaks,  rising  to  the  height  of  near 
twelve  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea, 
and  readily  descried,  from  their  great  elevation, 
by  the  distant  voyager  on  the  Meditermnean,  was 
many  a  green,  sequestered  valley,  on  which  the 
Moorish  peasant  had  exhausted  that  elaborate  cul- 
ture which,  in  the  palmy  days  of  his  nation,  was 
unrivalled  in  any  part  of  Europe.''  His  patient  toil 
had  constructed  terraces  from  the  rocky  soil,  and, 
planting   them  with  vines,  had  clothed  the   bajd 


do8.  Aprovecli61e3  esto,  y  buena 
suma  de  doblones  que  dieron  k  los 
privados  para  que  Carlos  suspen- 
diesse  la  execution  deste  acuerdo.** 
'  Calderon,  in  his  "  Amar  des- 
pues  de  la  Muerte,"  has  shed  the 
splendors  of  his  muse  over  the 
green  and  sunny  spots  that  glitter 
like  emeralds  amidst  the  cragg/ 
wilds  of  the  Alpujarras. 


"  Porque  entre  pnntas  y  pnntas 
Hay  ralles  que  la  hennosean, 
Campos  que  la  fertilizan, 
Jardines  que  la  deleitan. 
Toda  ella  estk  poblada 
De  Tillages  j  de  aldeas ; 
Tal,  que,  cuando  el  sol  se  poDO 
A  las  Tialiunlnres  que  deja, 
Parecen  riscos  nacidos 
C6ncaTos  entre  las  penas, 
Que  rodaron  de  la  cumbre 
▲onqoe  &  la  fidda  no  Ueg^o." 


sides  of  the  sierra  with  a  delicious  verdure.  With 
the  like  industry  he  had  contrived  a  network  of 
canals  along  the  valleys  and  lower  levels,  which, 
fed  by  the  streams  from  the  mountains,  nourished 
the  land  with  perpetual  moisture.  The  different 
elevations  afforded  so  many  different  latitudes  for 
agricultural  production ;  and  the  fig,  the  pome- 
granate, and  the  orange  grew  almost  side  by  side 
with  the  hemp  of  the  north  and  the  grain  of  more 
temperate  climates.  The  lower  slopes  of  the  sierra 
afforded  extensive  pastures  for  flocks  of  merino 
sheep ;  ®  and  the  mulberry-tree  was  raised  in  great 
abundance  for  the  manufacture  of  silk,  which 
formed  an  important  article  of  export  from  the 
kingdom  of  Granada. 

Thus  gathered  in  their  little  hamlets  among  the 
mountains,  the  people  of  the  Alpujarras  main- 
tained the  same  sort  of  rugged  independence  which 
belonsred  to  the  ancient  Goth  when  he  had  taken 
shelter  from  the  Saracen  invader  in  the  fastnesses 
of  the  Asturias.  Here  the  Moriscoes,  formed  into 
communities  which  preserved  their  national  asso- 
ciations, still  cherished  the  traditions  of  their  fa- 
thers, and  perpetuated  those  usages  and  domestic 
institutions  that  kept  alive  the  memory  of  ancient 
days.  It  was  from  the  Alpujarras  that,  in  former 
times,  the  kings  of  Granada  had  drawn  the  brave 

8  SenordeGayangos,  correcting  in  pastures.**     See  that    treasure 

a  blunder  of  Casiri  on  the  subject,  of  Oriental  learning,  the   History 

tells  us  that  the  Arabic  name  of  of  the  Mohammedan  Dynasties  in 

the   Alpujarras  was    Al-busherdtj  Spain,   (London,  1843,)   vol.   II. 

signifying   "  mountains  abounding  p.  515. 


I 


u 


TUE  MOORS  OF  SPAIN. 


(Book  V. 


Ch.  I]  TREATMENT  BV  THE   GOVERNMENT. 


15 


•  " 


soldiery  who  enabled  tliem  for  so  many  years  to 
bid  defiance  to  their  enemies.  The  trade  of  war 
was  now  at  an  end.  But  the  hardy  life  of  the 
mountaineer  gave  robustness  to  his  frame,  and 
saved  him  from  the  effeminacy  and  sloth  which 
corrupted  the  inhabitants  of  the  capital.  Secluded 
among  his  native  hills,  he  cherished  those  senti* 
ments  of  independence  which  ill  suited  a  conquered 
race ;  and,  in  default  of  a  country  which  he  could 
call  his  own,  he  had  that  strong  attachment  to  the 
soil  which  is  akin  to  patriotism,  and  which  is  most 
powerful  among  the  inhabitants  of  a  mountain 
region. 

The  products  of  the  husbandman  furaished  the 
staples  of  a  gainful  commerce  with  the  nations  on 
the  Mediterranean,  and  especially  with  the  kindred 
people  on  the  Barbary  shores.  The  treaty  of  Gra- 
nada secured  certain  commercial  advantages  to  the 
Moors,  beyotid  what  were  enjoyed  by  the  Span- 
iards.^ This,  it  may  well  be  believed,  was  looked 
upon  with  no  friendly  eye  by  the  latter,  who  had 
some  ground,  moreover,  for  distrusting  the  policy 
of  an  intercourse  between  the  Moslems  of  Spain  and 
those  of  Africa,  bound  together  as  they  were  by  so 


9  Such  was  the  exemption  from 
certain  duties  paid  by  the  Chiis- 
tiaus  in  their  trade  with  the  Bar- 
bary coast,  —  a  singular  and  not 
very  politic  provision. — "Que  si 
los  Moros  que  entraren  debaxo  de 
estas  capitulaciones  y  conciertos, 
(juisieren  ir  con  sus  mercaderias 
;i  tratar  y  coutratar  en  Berberia, 


se  les  dara  licencia  para  podcrlo 
hacer  libremente,  y  lo  mesmo  eu 
todos  los  lugares  de  CastiUa  y  do 
la  Andalucia,  sin  pagar  portazgo««, 
ni  los  otros  derechos  que  los  Chris' 
tianos  acostumbran  pagar."  Mar^ 
mol,  Rebelion  dc  loa  Moriscos,  torn, 
I.  p.  93. 


many  tics,  —  above  all,  by  a  common  hatred  of 
the  Christians.  "With  the  feelings  of  political  dis- 
trust  were  mingled  those  of  cupidity  and  envy,  as 
the  Spaniard  saw  the  fliirest  provinces  of  the  south 
still  in  the  hands  of  the  accursed  race  of  Ishmael, 
while  he  was  condemned  to  earn  a  scanty  subsist- 
ence from  the  comparatively  ungenial  soil  of  the 

north. 

In  this  state  of  things,  with  the  two  races  not 
merely  dissimilar,  but  essentially  hostile  to  one 
another,  it  will  readily  be  understood  how  difficult 
it  must  have  been  to  devise  any  system  of  legisla- 
tion, by  which  they  could  be  brought  to  act  in 
harmony  as  members  of  the  same  political  body. 
That  the  endeavors  of  the  Spanish  government 
were  not  crowned  with  success  would  hardly  sur- 
prise us,  even  had  its  measures  been  more  uniform- 
ly wise  and  considerate. 

The  government  caused  the  Alpuj  arras  to  be 
divided  into  districts,  and  placed  under  the  control 
of  magistrates,  who,  with  their  families,  resided  in 
the  places  assigned  as  the  seats  of  their  jurisdic- 
tion. There  seem  to  have  been  few  other  Chris- 
tians who  dwelt  among  the  Moorish  settlements 
in  the  sierra,  except,  indeed,  the  priests  who  had 
charge  of  the  spiritual  concerns  of  the  natives.  As 
the  conversion  of  these  latter  was  the  leading  ob- 
ject of  the  government,  they  caused  churches  to 
be  erected  in  all  the  towns  and  hamlets ;  and  the 
curates  w^ere  instructed  to  use  every  effort  to  en- 
lighten the  minds  of  their  flocks,  and  to  see  that 


16 


THE  MOORS  OF  SPAIN. 


[Book  Y. 


Cit.  r.J  TUEATMENT  BY   TllE  GOVERNMENT. 


17 


n 


they  were  punctual  in  attendance  on  the  rites  and 
ceremonies  of  the  Church.  But  it  was  soon  too 
evident  that  attention  to  forms  and  ceremonies  was 
the  only  approach  made  to  the  conversion  of  the 

• 

heathen,  and  that  below  this  icy  crust  of  conform- 
ity the  waters  of  infidelity  lay  as  dark  and  deep 
as  ever.  The  result,  no  doubt,  was  to  be  partly 
charged  on  the  clergy  themselves,  many  of  whom 
grew  languid  in  the  execution  of  a  task  which 
seemed  to  them  to  be  hopeless.  ^°  And  what  task, 
in  truth,  could  be  more  hopeless  than  that  of  per- 
suading a  whole  nation  at  once  to  renounce  their 
long-established  convictions,  to  abjure  the  faith  of 
their  fathers,  associated  in  their  minds  with  many 
a  glorious  recollection,  and  to  embrace  the  faith  of 
the  very  men  whom  they  regarded  with  unmeasured 
hatred  1  It  would  be  an  act  of  humiliation  not  to 
be  expected  even  in  a  conquered  race. 

In  accomplishing  a  work  so  much  to  be  desired, 
the  Spaniards,  if  they  cannot  be  acquitted  of  the 
charge  of  persecution,  must  be  allowed  not  to  have 
urged  persecution  to  anything  like  the  extent  which 
they  had  done   in  the  case  of  the  Protestant  re- 


^^  Such  is  the  opinion  expressed 
by  the  author  of  the  "  Advertimien- 
tos^  whose  remarks — having  par- 
ticular reference  to  Valencia  — 
are  conceived  in  a  spirit  of  candor, 
and  of  charity  towards  the  Mos- 
lems, rarely  found  in  a  Spaniard 
of  the  sixteenth  century.  —  "  De 
donde,"  1m3  says,  "  colije  claramente 
que  el  no  sanar   estos  enfermos 


hasta  agora  no  se  puede  iraputar  a 
ser  incurable  la  enfermedad,  si  no 
a  averse  errado  la  cura,  y  tambien 
se  vee  que  hasta  oy  no  estan  basta- 
mente  descargados  delante  de  Dies 
nuestro  Senor  aquellos  d  quien  toca 
este  negoc'io,  pues  no  han  puesto 
los  medios  que  Christo  nuestro 
Seiior  tiene  onlenados  para  la  cura 
de  este  mal."    MS, 


formers.  Whether  from  policy  or  from  some  natu- 
ral regard  to  the  helplessness  of  these  benighted 
heathen,  the  bloodhounds  of  the  Inquisition  were 
not  as  yet  allowed  to  run  down  their  game  at  will ; 
and,  if  they  did  terrify  the  natives  by  displaying 
their  formidable  fangs,  the  time  had  not  yet  come 
when  they  were  to  slip  the  leash  and  spring 
upon  their  miserable  victims.  It  is  true  there 
were  some  exceptions  to  this  more  discreet  pol- 
icy. The  Holy  Office  had  its  agents  abroad, 
who  kept  watch  upon  the  Moriscoes;  and  oc- 
casionally the  more  flagrant  offenders  were  de- 
livered up  to  its  tender  mercies.^^  But  a  more 
frequent  source  of  annoyance  arose  from  the  teas- 
ing ordinances  from  time  to  time  issued  by  the 
government,  which  could  have  answered  no  other 
purpose  than  to  irritate  the  temper  and  sharpen 
the  animosity  of  the  Moriscoes.  If  the  govern- 
ment had  failed  in  the  important  work  of  conver- 
sion, it  was  the  more  incumbent  on  it,  by  evei-y 
show  of  confidence  and  kindness,  to  conciliate  the 
good-will  of  the  conquered  people,  and  enable  them 
to  live  in  harmony  with  their  conquerors,  as  mem- 
bers of  the  same  community.  Such  was  not  the 
policy  of  Philip,  any  more  than  it  had  been  that 
of  his  predecessors. 


11  «  Forzandoles  con  injurias  y 
penas  pecuniarias  y  justiciando  a 
algunos  de  ellos."     Ibid. 

Mendoza,  speaking  of  a  some- 
what later  period,  just  before  the 
outbreak,  briefly  alludes  to  the  fact 

VOL.   III.  3 


that  the  Inquisition  was  then  begin- 
ning to  worry  the  Moriscoes  more 
than  usual ;  -—  "  Porque  la  Inquisi- 
cion  los  cometizd  i.  apretar  mas  de 
lo  ordinario."  Guerra  de  Granada, 
(Valencia,  1776,)  p.  20. 


it< 


18 


THE  MOORS  OS  SPAIN. 


[Book  V. 


Ch.  I]  TREATMENT  BY  THE   GOVERNMENT. 


19 


it 


II 


During  the  earlier  years  of  his  reign,  the  king's 
attention  was  too  closely  occupied  with  foreign 
affairs  to  leave  him  much  leisure  for  those  of  the 
Moriscocs.  It  was  certain,  however,  that  they 
would  not  long  escape  the  notice  of  a  prince  who 
regarded  uniformity  of  faith  as  the  comer-stone  of 
his  government.  The  first  important  act  of  legisla- 
tion bearing  on  these  people  was  in  1560,  when 
the  Cortes  of  Castile  presented  a  remonstrance  to 
the  throne  against  the  use  of  negro  slaves  by  the 
Moriscoes,  who  were  sure  to  instruct  them  in  their 
Mahometan  tenets,  and  thus  to  multiply  the  num- 
ber of  infidels  in  the  land.^^  A  royal  jwaffniatic 
was  accordingly  passed,  interdicting  the  use  of 
African  slaves  by  the  Moslems  of  Granada.  The 
prohibition  caused  the  greatest  annoyance ;  for  the 
Avealthier  classes  were  in  the  habit  of  employing 
these  slaves  for  domestic  purposes,  while  in  the 
country  they  were  extensively  used  for  agricultu- 
ral labor. 

In  1563,  another  ordinance  was  published,  reviv- 
ing a  law  which  had  fallen  into  disuse,  and  which 
prohibited  the  Moriscoes  from  having  any  arms  in 
their  possession  but  such  as  were  duly  licensed  by 
the  captain-general  and  were  stamped  with  his  es- 
cutcheon.^^    The  office  of  captain-general  of  Gra- 

'S  Marmol,  Rebelion  de  los  Mo-        The  penalty  for  violating  the 

riscos,  torn.  I.  p.  1 35.  above    ordinance    was   six    years* 

13  Ibid.,  torn.  II.  p.  338.  —  Or-  hard  labor  in   the  galleys.     That 

denanzas  de  Granada,  fol.  375,  ap.  for  counterfeiting  the  stamp  of  the 

Circourt,   Hist  des  Arabes    d'Es-  Mendoza  arms    was   death.     V(fi 

pagne,  (Paris,  1846,)  torn.  II.  p.  metis! 
2C7. 


nada  was  filled  at  this  time  by  Don  Inigo  Lopez  de 
Mendoza,  count  of  Tendilla,  who  soon  after,  on  his 
father's  death,  succeeded  to  the  title  of  marquis  of 
Mondejar.  The  important  post  which  he  held  had 
been  hereditary  in  his  family  ever  since  the  con- 
quest of  Granada.  The  present  nobleman  was  a 
worthy  scion  of  the  illustrious  house  from  which 
he  sprung.'^  His  manners  were  blunt,  and  not  such 
as  win  popularity ;  but  he  was  a  man  of  integrity, 
with  a  nice  sense  of  honor  and  a  humane  heart,  — 
the  last  of  not  too  common  occurrence  in  the  iron 
days  of  chivalry.  Though  bred  a  soldier,  he  was 
inclined  to  peace.  His  life  had  been  passed  much 
among  the  Moriscoes,  so  that  he  perfectly  under- 
stood their  humors;  and,  as  he  was  a  person  of 
prudence  and  moderation,  it  is  not  improbable,  had 
affairs  been  left  to  his  direction,  that  the  country 
would  have  escaped  many  of  those  troubles  which 
afterwards  befell  it. 

It  was  singular,  considering  the  character  of 
Mendoza,  that  he  should  have  recommended  so 
ill-advised  a  measure  as  that  relating  to  the  arms 
of  the  Moriscoes.  The  ordinance  excited  a  general 
indignation  in  Granada.  The  people  were  offended 
by  the  distrust  which  such  a  law  implied  of  their 
loyalty.  They  felt  it  an  indignity  to  be  obliged 
to  sue  for  permission  to  do  what  they  considered 

^*  The  name  of  Mendoza,  which  appearance   in  Spanish  history  as 

occupied  for  so  many  generations  far  back  as  J;he  beginning  of  the 

a  prominent  place  in  arms,  in  poli-  thirteenth  century. — Mariana,  Hi.-}- 

tics,  and  in  letters,  makes  its  first  toria  de  Espana,  torn.  I.  p.  6  7C. 


20 


THK  MOORS  OF   SPAIN. 


[Book  V. 


it  was  theirs  of  right  to  do.  Those  of  higher 
condition  disdained  to  wear  weapons  displaying 
the  heraldic  bearings  of  the  Mendozas  instead  of 
their  own.  But  the  greater  number,  without  re- 
gard to  the  edict,  provided  themselves  secretly 
with  arms,  which,  as  it  reached  the  ears  of  the 
authorities,  led  to  frequent  prosecutions.  Thus  a 
fruitful  source  of  irritation  was  opened,  and  many, 
to  escape  punishment,  fled  to  the  mountains,  and 
there  too  often  joined  the  brigands,  who  haunted 
the  passes  of  the  Alpuj  arras,  and  bade  defiance  to 
the  feeble  police  of  the  Spaniards.^^ 

These  impolitic  edicts,  as  they  were  irritating  to 
the  Moriscoes,  were  but  preludes  to  an  ordinance 
of  so  astounding  a  character  as  to  throw  the  whole 
country  into  a  state  of  revolution.  The  apostasy 
of  the  Moriscoes,  —  or,  to  speak  more  correctly, 
the  constancy  with  which  they  adhered  to  the  faith 
of  their  fathers,  —  gave  great  scandal  to  the  old 
Christians,  especially  to  the  clergy,  and  above  all 
to  its  head,  Don  Pedro  Guerrero,  archbishop  of 
Granada.  This  prelate  seems  to  have  been  a  man 
of  an  uneasy,  meddlesome  spirit,  and  possessed  of  a 
full  share  of  the  bigotry  of  his  time.  While  in 
Rome,  shortly  before  this  period,  he  had  made 
such  a  representation  to  Pope  Pius  the  Fourth  as 


15  M.  de  Ciroourt,  in  his  inter-  of  tbe    Moriscoes,    in    which   he 

eating  volumes,  has  given  a  minute  shows  a  very  careful  study  of  the 

account  —  much  too    minute    for  subject  —  Hist,  des  Arabes  d'Es- 

these  pages  —  of  the  first  develop-  pagne,  torn.  11.  pp.  268  et  seq. 
ments  of  the  insurrectionary  spirit 


Ch.  I.]    TREATMENT  BY  THE  GOVERNMENT. 


21 


drew  from  that  pontiff  a  remonstrance,  addressed 
to  the  Spanish  government,  on  the  spiritual  con- 
dition of  the  Moriscoes.  Soon  after,  in  the  year 
1567,  a  memorial  was  presented  to  the  govern- 
ment, by  Guerrero  and  the  clergy  of  his  diocese,  in 
which,  after  insisting  on  the  manifold  backslidings 
of  the  "  New  Christians,"  as  the  Moriscoes  were 
termed,  they  loudly  called  for  some  efficacious  meas- 
ures to  arrest  the  evil.  These  people,  they  said, 
whatever  show  of  conformity  they  might  make  to 
the  requisitions  of  the  Church,  were  infidels  at 
heart-  When  their  children  were  baptized,  they 
were  careful,  on  returning  home,  to  wash  away  the 
traces  of  baptism,  and,  after  circumcising  them,  to 
give  them  Moorish  names.  In  like  manner,  when 
their  marriages  had  been  solemnized  with  Christian 
rites,  they  were  sure  to  confirm  them  afterwards 
by  their  own  ceremonies,  accompanied  with  the 
national  songs  and  dances.  They  continued  to 
observe  Friday  as  a  holy  day;  and  what  was  of 
graver  moment,  they  were  known  to  kidnap  the 
children  of  the  Christians,  and  sell  them  to  their 
brethren  on  the  coast  of  Barbary,  where  they  were 
circumcised,  and  nurtured  in  the  Mahometan  re- 
ligion. This  last  accusation,  however  improbable, 
found  credit  with  the  Spaniards,  and  sharpened 
the  feelings  of  jealousy  and  hatred  with  which 
they  regarded  the  unhappy  race  of  Ishmael.^^ 

16  Ferreras,     Hist.    d'Espagne,     142.  — Vanderhammen,  Don 'Juan 
torn.  IX.  p.  624. — Marmol,   Re-    de  Austria,  fol.  55. 
belion  de  los  Moriscos,  torn.  I.  p. 


22 


THE  MOORS  OF  SPAIN. 


[Book  V. 


The  memorial  of  the  clergy  received  prompt 
attention  from  the  government,  at  whose  sugges- 
tion, very  possibly,  it  had  been  prepared.  A  com- 
mission was  at  once  appointed  to  examine  into  the 
matter ;  and  their  report  was  laid  before  a  junta 
consisting  of  both  ecclesiastics  and  laymen,  and 
embracing  names  of  the  highest  consideration  for 
talent  and  learning  in  the  kingdom.  Among  its 
members  we  find  the  duke  of  Alva,  who  had  not 
yet  set  out  on  his  ominous  mission  to  the  Nether- 
lands. At  its  head  was  Diego  de  Espinosa,  at 
that  time  the  favorite  minister  of  Philip,,  or  at 
least  the  one  who  had  the  largest  share  in  the 
direction  of  affairs.  He  was  a  man  after  the 
king's  own  heart,  and  from  the  humble  station  of 
coleglal  maj/or  of  the  college  of  Cuen9a  in  Sala- 
manca, had  been  advanced  by  successive  steps  to 
the  high  post  of  president  of  the  council  of  Cas- 
tile and  of  the  Council  of  the  Indies.  He  was  now 
also  bishop  of  Siguenza,  one  of  the  richest  sees  in 
the  kingdom.  He  held  an  important  office  in  the 
Inquisition,  and  was  soon  to  succeed  Valdes  in  the 
unenviable  post  of  grand  inquisitor.  To  conclude 
the  catalogue  of  his  honors,  no  long  time  was  to 
elapse  before,  at  his  master's  suggestion,  he  was  to 
receive  from  Rome  a  cardinal's  hat.  The  deference 
shown  by  Philip  to  his  minister,  increased  as  it 
was  by  this  new  accession  of  spiritual  dignity,  far 
exceeded  what  he  had  ever  shown  to  any  other 
of  his  subjects. 

Espmosa  was  at  this  time  in  the  morning,  or 


Ch.  11 


THE  MINISTER  ESPINOSA. 


23 


rather  the  meridian,  of  his  power.     His  qualifica- 
tions for  business  would  have  been  extraordinary 
even  in  a  layman.     He  was  patient  of  toil,  cheer- 
fully doing  the  work  of  others  as  well  as  his  own. 
This  was  so  far  fortunate  that  it  helped  to  give  him 
that  control  in  the  direction  of  affairs  which  was 
coveted  by  his  aspiring  nature.     He  had  a  dignified 
and  commanding  presence,  with  but  few  traces  of 
that  humility  which  would  have  been  graceful  in 
one  who  had  risen  so  high  by  his  master's  favor 
as  much  as  by  his  own  deserts.     His  haughty  bear- 
ino-  ffave  offence  to  the  old  nobility  of  Castile,  who 
scornfully  looked  from  the  minister's  present  ele- 
vation  to    the  humble   level  from   which   he  had 
risen.     It  was  regarded  with  less  displeasure,  it  is 
said,  by  the  king,  who  was  not  unwilling  to  see 
the  pride  of  the  ancient  aristocracy  rebuked  by  one 
whom  he  had  himself  raised  from  the  dust.^^    Their 
mortification,  however,  was  to  be  appeased  erelong 
by  the  fall  of  the  favorite,  —  an  event  as  signal  and 
unexpected  by  the  world,  and  as  tragical  to  the 
subject  of  it,  as  the  fall  of  Wolsey. 

The  man  who  was  qualified  for  the  place  of 
grand  inquisitor  was  not  likely  to  feel  much  sym- 
pathy  for  the  race  of  unbelievers.     It  was  unfor- 


17  Such  was  the  judgment  of  the 
acute  Venetian  who,  as  one  of  the 
train  of  the  minister  Tiepolo,  ob- 
tained a  near  view  of  what  was 
passing  in  the  court  of  Philip  the 
Second. — "  Levato  di  bassissimo 
titato  dal  re,  e  posto  in  tanta  gran- 
dezza  in    pochi    anni,   per  esscr 


huomo  da  bene,  libero  et  schietto, 
et  perche  S.  M.  vuol  tener  ba?si  li 
grandi  di  Spagna,  conoscendo  1'  al- 
tierissima  natura  loro/'  Gaehard, 
Relations  des  Ambassadeurs  Veni- 
tiens  sur  Charles-Quint  et  Philippe 
II.,  (Bruxelles,  1855,)  p.  175. 


24 


THE  MOORS  OF  SPAIN. 


[Book  V. 


tunate  for  the  Moriscoes  that  their  destinies  should 
be  placed  in  the  hands  of  such  a  minister  as  Espi- 
nosa.     After  due  deliberation,  the  junta  came  to 
the  decision  that  the  only  remedy  for  the  present 
evil  was  to  lay  the  axe  to  the  root  of  it ;  to  cut  off 
all  those  associations  which  connected  the  Moris- 
coes  with  their  earlier  history,  and  which  were  so 
many  obstacles   in  the  way  of  their  present  con- 
version.    It  was  recommended  that  they  should  be 
interdicted  from  employing  the   Arabic   either  in 
speaking  or  writing,  for  which  they  were  to  use 
only  the  Castilian.     They  were  not  even  to  be  al- 
lowed  to   retain  their  family  names,  but  were  to 
exchange  them  for  Spanish  ones.     All  written  in- 
struments  and  legal  documents,  of  whatever  kind, 
were  declared  to  be  void  and  of  no  effect  unless 
in  the  Castilian.     As  time  must  be  allowed  for  a 
whole  people  to  change  its  language,  three  years 
were  assigned  as  the  period  at  the  end  of  which 
this  provision  should  take  effect. 

They  were  to  be  required  to  exchange  their 
national  dress  for  that  of  the  Spaniards ;  and,  as 
the  Oriental  costume  was  highly  ornamented,  and 
often  very  expensive,  they  were  to  be  allowed  to 
wear  their  present  clothes  one  year  longer  if  of 
silk,  and  two  years  if  of  cotton,  the  latter  being  the 
usual  apparel  of  the  poorer  classes.  The  women, 
moreover,  both  old  and  young,  were  to  be  required, 
from  the  passage  of  the  law,  to  go  abroad  with 
their  faces  uncovered,  — a. scandalous  thing  among 
Mahometans. 


Ch.  I] 


EDICT  AGAINST  THE  MORISCOES. 


25 


Their  weddings  were  to  be  conducted  in  public, 
after  the  Christian  forms ;  and  the  doors  of  their 
houses  were  to  be  left  open  during  the  day  of  the 
ceremony,  that  any  one  might  enter  and  see  that 
they  did  not  have  recourse  to  unhallowed  rites. 
They  were  further  to  be  interdicted  from  the  na- 
tional songs  and  dances  with  which  they  were  wont 
to  celebrate  their  domestic  festivities.  Finally,  as 
rumors  — most  absurd  ones  — had  got  abroad  that 
the  warm  baths  which  the  natives  were  in  the  habit 
of  using  in  their  houses  were  perverted  to  licen- 
tious indulgences,  they  were  to  be  required  to  de- 
stroy the  vessels  in  which  they  bathed,  and  to  use 
nothing  of  the  kind  thereafter. 

These  several  provisions  w^ere  to  be  enforced  by 
penalties  of  the  sternest  kind.  For  the  first  offence 
the  convicted  party  was  to  be  punished  with  im- 
prisonment for  a  month,  with  banishment  from 
the  country  for  two  years,  and  with  a  fine  varying 
from  six  hundred  to  ten  thousand  maravedis.  For 
a  second  offence  the  penalties  were  to  be  doubled ; 
and  for  a  third,  the  culprit,  in  addition  to  former 
penalties,  was  to  be  banished  for  life.  The  ordi- 
nance was  closely  modelled  on  that  of  Charles  the 
Fifth,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  he  was  too  politic  to 
carry  into  execution.^^ 

18  Tills    remarkable    ordinance  offence    of    indulging     in    warm 

may  be  found  in  the  Nueva  Reco-  baths.     For  a    second    repetition 

pilacion,  (od.  1640,)  lib.  VIII.  tit.  of  this,  the  culprit  was  sentenced 

2,  leyes  13-18.  to   six  years'  labor  in  the  galleys 

The  most  severe  penalties  were  and    the   confiscation  of  half  his 

those  directed  against  the  heinous  estate! 

YOL.   III.  4 


26 


THE  MOORS  OF  SPAIN. 


[Book  V. 


Ch.  I] 


EDICT  AGAINST  THE  MORISCOES. 


27 


Such  were  the  principal  provisions  of  a  law 
which,  for  cruelty  and  absurdity,  has  scarcely  a 
parallel  in  historj'.  For  what  could  be  more  ab- 
surd than  the  attempt  by  an  act  of  legislation  to 
work  such  a  change  in  the  long-established  habits 
of  a  nation,  —  to  efface  those  recollections  of  the 
past,  to  which  men  ever  cling  most  closely  under 
the  pressure  of  misfortune,  —  to  blot  out  by  a 
single  stroke  of  the  pen,  as  it  were,  not  only  the 
creed,  but  the  nationality  of  a  people,  —  to  convert 
the  Moslem,  at  once,  both  into  a  Christian  and 
into  a  Castilian  1  It  would  be  difficult  to  imagine 
any  greater  outrage  offered  to  a  people  than  the 
provision  compelling  women  to  lay  aside  their 
veils,  —  associated  as  these  were  in  every  Eastern 
mind  with  the  obligations  of  modesty ;  or  that  in 
regard  to  opening  the  doors  of  the  houses,  and 
exposing  those  within  to  the  insolent  gaze  of  evBry 
passer ;  or  that  in  relation  to  the  baths,  —  so  in- 
dispensable to  cleanliness  and  comfort,  especially 
in  the  warm  climate  of  the  south. 

But  the  masterpiece  of  absurdity,  undoubtedly,  is 
the  stipulation  in  regard  to  the  Arabic  language ; 
as  if  by  any  human  art  a  whole  population,  in  the 
space  of  three  years,  could  be  made  to  substitute  a 
foreign  tongue  for  its  own ;  and  that,  too,  under  cir- 
cumstances of  peculiar  difficulty,  partly  arising  from 
the  total  want  of  affinity  between  the  Semitic  and 
the  European  languages,  and  partly  from  the  insu- 
lated position  of  the  Moriscoes,  who,  in  the  cities, 
had  separate  quarters  assigned  to  them,  in  the  same 


manner  as  the  Jews,  which  cut  them  off  from  in- 
timate intercourse  with  the  Christians.  We  may 
well  doubt,  from  the  character  of  this  provision, 
whether  the  government  had  so  much  at  heart  the 
conversion  of  the  Moslems  as  the  desire  to  en- 
tangle them  in  such  violations  of  the  law  as  should 
afford  a  plausible  pretext  for  driving  them  from 
the  country  altogether.  One  is  strengthened  in 
this  view  of  the  subject  by  the  significant  reply  of 
Otadin,  professor  of  theology  at  Alcala,  who,  when 
consulted  by  Philip  on  the  expediency  of  the  ordi- 
nance, gave  his  hearty  approbation  of  it,  by  quot- 
ing the  appalling  Spanish  proverb,  "The  fewer 
enemies,  the  better."  ^^  It  was  reserved  for  the 
imbecile  Philip  the  Third  to  crown  the  disasters  of 
his  reign  by  the  expulsion  of  the  Moriscoes.  Yet 
no  one  can  doubt  that  it  was  a  consummation 
earnestly  desired  by  the  great  body  of  the  Span- 
iards, who  looked,  as  we  have  seen,  with  longing 
eyes  to  the  fair  territory  which  they  possessed,  and 
who  regarded  them  with  the  feelings  of  distrust 
and  aversion  with  which  men  regard  those  on 
whom  they  have  inflicted  injuries  too  great  t6  be 
forgiven. 

Yet  there  were  some  in  the  junta  with  whom 
the  proposed  ordinance  found  no  favor.  Among 
these,  one  who  calls  to  mind  his  conduct  in  the 

»9  "De  los  enemijos  los  inenos."  pagne,  torn.  H.  p.  278.)     Accord- 

—  Circourt  gives  a  version  of  the  ing  to  Ferreras,  Philip  highly  rel- 

whole  of  the  professor's  letter,  with  ished  the   maxim  of  his    ghostly 

his  precious  commentary  on  this  counsellor.     Hist.  d'Espagne,  torn, 

text.     (Hist,    dea    Arabea    d'Es-  IX.  p.  525. 


28 


THE  MOORS  OF  SPAIN. 


[Book  V. 


Nether  ands  may  be  surprised  to  find  the  duke 
of  Alva.  Here,  as  in  that  country,  his  course 
was  doubtless  dictated  less  by  considerations  of 
humanity  than  of  policy.  Whatever  may  have 
been  his  reasons,  they  had  little  weight  with  Es- 
pinosa,  who  probably  felt  a  secret  satisfaction  in 
thwarting  the  man  whom  he  regarded  with  all  the 
jealousy  of  a  rival.^ 

What  was  Philip  s  own  opinion  on  the  matter, 
we  can  but  conjecture  from  our  general  knowledge 
of  his  character.  He  professed  to  be  guided  by 
the  decision  of  the  "  wise  and  learned  men "  to 
whom  he  had  committed  the  subject.  That  this 
decision  did  no  great  violence  to  his  own  feelings, 
we  may  infer  from  the  promptness  with  which  he 
signed  the  ordinance.  This  he  did  on  the  seven- 
teenth of  November,  1566,  when  the  pragmatic 
became  a  law. 

It  was  resolved,  however,  not  to  give  publicity 
to  it  at  once.  It  was  committed  to  the  particular 
charge  of  one  of  the  members  of  the  junta,  Diego 
Deza,  auditor  of  the  Holy  Office,  and  lately  raised 
by  Espinosa  to  the  important  post  of  president  of 
the  chancery  of  Granada.  This  put  him  at  once 
at  the  head  of  the  civil  administration  of  the  prov- 
ince, as  the  marquis  of  Mondejar  was  at  the  head 
of  the  military.     The  different  views  of  policy  en- 


*  Cabrera,  throwing  the  respon-  ordering  of  an  affair  which  had 

ability  of  the  subsequent  troubles  been  better  left  to  men  with  hcl- 

on  Espinosa  and  Deza,  sarcastically  mets  on   their  heads.**     Cabrera, 

remarks  that  "two  cowls  had  the  Filipe  Segundo,  lib.  VII.  cap.  21. 


Ch.  I.] 


EDICT  AGAINST  THE  MOUISCOES. 


29 


tertained  by  the  two  men  led  to  a  conflict  of  au- 
thority, which  proved  highly  prejudicial  to  affairs. 
Deza,  who  afterwards  rose  to  the  dignity  of  car- 
dinal, was  a  man  whose  plausible  manners  covered 
an  inflexible  will.  He  showed,  notwithstanding, 
an  entire  subserviency  to  the  wishes  of  his  patron, 
Espinosa,  who  committed  to  him  the  execution 
of  his  plans. 

The  president  resolved,  with  more  policy  than 
humanity,  to  defer  the  publication  of  the  edict  till 
the  ensuing  first  of  January,  1567,  the  day  pre- 
ceding that  which  the  Spaniards  commemorated 
as  the  anniversary  of  the  surrender  of  the  capital. 
This  humiliating  event,  brought  home  at  such  a 
crisis  to  the  Moriscoes,  might  help  to  break  their 
spirits,  and  dispose  them  to  receive  the  obnoxious 
edict  with  less  resistance. 

On  the  appointed  day  the  magistrates  of  the  prin- 
cipal tribunals,  with  the  corregidor  of  Granada  at 
their  head,  went  in  solemn  procession  to  the  Albai- 
cin,  the  quarter  occupied  by  the  Moriscoes.  They 
marched  to  the  sound  of  kettle-drums,  trumpets, 
and  other  instruments;  and  the  inhabitants,  at- 
tracted by  the  noise  and  fond  of  novelty,,  came 
running  from  their  houses  to  swell  the  ranks  of  the 
procession  on  its  way  to  the  great  square  of  Bab  el 
Bonat  This  was  an  open  space,  of  large  extent, 
where  the  people  of  Granada,  in  ancient  times, 
used  to  assemble  to  celebrate  the  coronation  of  a 
new  sovereign ;  and  the  towers  were  still  standing 
from  which  the  Moslem  banners  waved,  on  those 


30 


THE  MOORS  OF -SPAIN. 


[Book  V. 


days,  over  the  heads  of  the  shouting  multitude. 
As  the  people  now  gathered  tumultuously  around 
these  ancient  buildmgs,  the  public  crier,  from  an 
elevated  place,  read,  in  audible  tones  and  in  the 
Arabic  language,  the  royal  ordinance.  One  may 
imagine  the  emotions  of  shame,  sorrow,  and  indig- 
nation with  which  the  vast  assembly,  consisting  of 
both  sexes,  listened  to  the  words  of  an  instrument, 
every  sentence  of  which  seemed  to  convey  a  per- 
sonal indignity  to  the  hearers,  —  an  outrage  on  all 
those  ideas  of  decorum  and  decency  in  which  they 
had  been  nurtured  from  infancy ;  which  rudely  rent 
asunder  all  the  fond  ties  of  country  and  kindred ; 
which  violated  the  privacy  of  domestic  life,  de- 
prived them  of  the  use  of  their  own  speech,  and 
reduced  them  to  a  state  of  utter  humiliation  un- 
known to  the  meanest  of  their  slaves.  Some  of 
the  weaker  sort  gave  way  to  piteous  and  passionate 
exclamations,  wringing  their  hands  in  an  agony  of 
grief  Others,  of  sterner  temper,  broke  forth  into 
menaces  and  fierce  invective,  accompanied  with  the 
most  furious  gesticulations.  Others,  again,  listened 
with  that  dogged,  determined  air  which  showed 
that  the  mood  was  not  the  less  dangerous  that  it 
was  a  silent  one.  The  whole  multitude  was  in  a 
state  of  such  agitation  that  an  accident  might  have 
readily  produced  an  explosion  which  would  have 
shaken  Granada  to  its  foundations.  Fortunately 
there  were  a  few  discreet  persons  in  the  assembly, 
older  and  more  temperate  than  the  rest,  who  had 
sufficient  authority  over  their  countrymen  to  pre- 


Cn.  I.] 


INEFFECTUAL  REMONSTRANCE. 


31 


vent  a  tumult.  They  reminded  them  that  in  their 
fathers'  time  the  Emperor  Charles  the  Fifth  had 
consented  to  suspend  the  execution  of  a  similar 
ordinance.  At  all  events,  it  was  better  to  try  first 
what  could  be  done  by  argument  and  persuasion. 
When  these  failed,  it  would  be  time  enough  to 
think  of  vengeance.^^ 

One  of  the  older  Moriscoes,  a  man  of  much 
consideration  among  his  countrymen,  was  accord- 
ingly chosen  to  wait  on  the  president  and  explain 
their  views  in  regard  to  the  edict.  This  he  did  at 
great  length,  and  in  a  manner  which  must  have 
satisfied  any  fair  mind  of  the  groundlessness  of  the 
charges  brought  against  the  Moslems,  and  the  cru- 
elty and  impracticability  of  the  measures  proposed 
by  the  government.  The  president,  having  granted 
to  the  envoy  a  patient  and  courteous  hearing,  made 
a  short  and  not  very  successful  attempt  to  \indi- 
cate  the  course  of  the  administration.  He  finally 
disposed  of  the  w^hole  question  by  declaring  that 
"  the  law  was  too  just  and  holy,  and  had  been 
made  with  too  much  consideration,  ever  to  be  re- 
pealed ;  and  that,  in  fine,  regarded  as  a  question 


21  ^larmol,  Rebellon  de  los  Mo- 
riscos,  torn.  I.  pp.  147-151. — 
Circourt,  Hist,  des  Arabes  d'Es- 
pagne,  torn.  II.  p.  283.  —  Ferre- 
ras,  Hist.  d'Espagne,  torn.  IX.  p. 
535. 

Dr.  Salazar  de  Mendoza  con- 
siders that  nothing  but  a  real  love 
of  rebellion  could  have  induced 
the  Moriscoes  to  find  a  pretext  for 


it  in  a  measure  so  just  and  praise- 
worthy, and  every  way  so  condu- 
cive to  their  own  salvation,  as  this 
ordinance.  —  "  Tomaron  por  acha- 
que  esta  accion  tan  justificada  y 
meritoria  del  Rev,  y  para  sus  al- 
mas tan  provechosa  y  saludable  " 
Monarquia  de  Espana,  torn.  II. 
p.  137. 


32 


THE  MOORS  OF  SPAIN. 


[Book  V 


of  interest,  his  majesty  estimated  the  salvation  of  a 
single  soul  as  of  greater  price  than  all  the  revenues 
he  drew  from  the  Moriscoes."^  An  answer  like 
this  must  have  effectually  dispelled  all  thoughts  of 
a  composition,  such  as  had  foimerly  been  made 
with  the  emperor. 

Defeated  in  this  quarter,  the  Moriscoes  deter- 
mined to  lay  their  remonstrance  before  the  throne. 
They  were  fortunate  in  obtaining  for  this  purpose 
the  services  of  Don  Juan  Henriquez,  a  nobleman 
of  the  highest  rank  and  consideration,  who  had 
large  estates  at  Beza,  in  the  heart  of  Granada,  and 
who  felt  a  strong  sympathy  for  the  unfortunate 
natives.  Having  consented,  though  with  much  re- 
luctance, to  undertake  the  mission,  he  repaired 
to  Madrid,  obtained  an  audience  of  the  king,  and 
presented  to  him  a  memorial  on  behalf  of  his  un- 
fortunate subjects.  Philip  received  him  graciously, 
and  promised  to  give  all  attention  to  the  paper. 
"  What  I  have  done  in  this  matter,"  said  the  king, 
"  has  been  done  by  the  advice  of  wise  and  conscien- 
tious men,  who  have  given  me  to  understand  that 
it  was  my  duty."^ 

Shortly  afterwards,  Henriquez  received  an  inti- 
mation that  he  was  to  look  for  his  answer  to  the 


**  "  Y  al  fin  conoluyd  con  de- 
cirle  resolutamente,  que  su  Ma- 
gestad  queria  mas  fe  que  farda, 
y  que  preciaba  mas  salvar  una 
alma,  que  todo  quanto  le  podian 
dar  de  renta  los  Moriscos  nueva- 
mente  convertidos.'*    Mannol,  Re- 


belion  de  los  IVIoriscos,  torn.  I.  p. 
163. 

23  "  Que  el  habla  consultado 
aquel  negocio  con  hombres  de 
ciencia  y  conciencia,  y  le  decian 
que  estaba  obligado  i  hacer  lo  que 
bacia."    Ibid.,  p.  175. 


Ch.  I.] 


INEFFECTUAL  REMONSTRANCE. 


33 


president  of  Castile.  Espinosa,  after  listening  to 
the  memorial,  e3:J)ressed  his  surprise  that  a  per- 
son of  the  high  condition  of  Don  Juan  Henriquez 
should  have  consented  to  take  charge  of  such  a 
mission.  "  It  was  for  that  very  reason  I  under- 
took it,"  replied  the  nobleman,  "as  affording  me 
a  better  opportunity  to  be  of  service  to  the  king.'' 
"  It  can  be  of  no  use,"  said  the  minister ;  "  re- 
ligious men  have  represented  to  his  majesty  that  at 
his  door  lies  the  salvation  of  these  Moors  ;  and  the 
ordinance  which  has  been  decreed,  he  has  deter- 
mined shall  be  carried  into  effect."  ^^ 

Baffled  in  this  direction,  the  persevering  envoy 
laid  his  memorial  before  the  councillors  of  state, 
and  endeavored  to  interest  them  in  behalf  of  his 
clients.  In  this  he  met  with  more  success ;  and 
several  of  that  body,  among  whom  may  be  men- 
tioned the  duke  of  Alva  and  Luis  de  Avila,  the 
grand  commander  of  Alcantara,  whom  Charles  the 
Fifth  had  honored  with  his  friendship,  entered 
heartily  into  his  views.  But  it  availed  little  with 
the  minister,  who  would  not  even  consent  to  delay 
the  execution  of  the  ordinance  until  time  should 
have  been  given  for  further  inquiry,  or  to  confine 
the  operation  of  it,  at  the  outset,  to  one  or  two 
of  the  provisions  in  order  to  ascertain  what  would 
probably  be  the  temper  of  the  Moriscoes.^  Noth- 
ing  would   suit  the  peremptory  humor   of  Espi- 

24  "Que  el  negocio  de  la  pre-         25  Ibid.,  p.  176.  —  Cabrera,  Fi- 
matica  estaba  determinado,   y  su     lipe  Segundo,  lib.  VII.  cap.  21, 
^lagestad  resoluta  en  que  se  cum- 
pliese.**    n)id.,  ubi  supra. 

VOL.  III.  S 


I!l 


34 


THE  MOOUS   OF  SPAIN. 


[Book  V. 


uosa  but  the  instant  execution  of  the  law  in  all 
its  details.  ' 

Nor  would  he  abate  anything  of  this  haughty 
tone  in  favor  of  the  captain-general,  the  marquis 
of  Mondejar.  That  nobleman,  with  good  reason, 
had  felt  himself  aggrieved  that,  in  discussions  so 
materially  affecting  his  own  government,  he  should 
not  have  been  invited  to  take  a  part.  From  mo- 
tives of  expediency,  as  much  as  of  humanity,  he  was 
decidedly  opposed  to  the  passage  of  the  ordinance. 
It  was  perhaps  a  knowledge  of  this  that  had  ex- 
cluded him  from  a  seat  in  the  junta.  His  repre- 
sentations made  no  impression  on  Espinosa;  and 
when  he  urged  that,  if  the  law  were  to  be  carried 
into  effect,  he  ought  to  be  provided  with  such  a 
force  as  would  enable  him  to  quell  any  attempt  at 
resistance,  the  minister  made  light  of  the  danger, 
assuring  him  that  three  hundred  additional  troops 
were  as  many  as  the  occasion  demanded.  Espinosa 
then  peremptorily  adjourned  all  further  discussion, 
by  telling  the  captain-general  that  it  would  be  well 
for  him  to  return  at  once  to  Granada,  where  his 
presence  would  be  needed  to  enforce  the  execution 
of  the  law.^ 

It  was  clear  that  no  door  was  left  open  to  fur- 
ther discussion,  and  that,  under  the  present  gov- 

*  "  A  estas  y  otras  muchas  ra-  seria  de    mucha    importancia    su 

xones  que  el  Marques  de  Monde-  persona,  atropellando  como  siempre 

jar  daba,  Don  Diego  de  Espinosa  todas  las  difieultades  que  le  ponian 

le  respondid,  que  la  voluntad  de  su  por  delante.**    Marmol,   RebelioQ 

Magestad  era  aquella,  y  que  se  de  los  Moriicos,  torn.  I.  p.  1C8. 
fuese  al  reyno  de  Granada,  donde 


Ch.  I.] 


INEFFECTUAL  REMONSTRANCE. 


35 


ernment,  no  chance  remained  to  the  unfortunate 
Moriscoes  of  buying  off  the  law  by  the  payment  of 
a  round  sum,  as  in  the  time  of  Charles  the  Fifth. 
.\11  negotiations  were  at  an  end.  They  had  only 
to  choose  between  implicit  obedience  and  open  re- 
bellion. It  was  not  strange  that  they  chose  the 
latter. 


I 

i 

Fl 


ill! 

ill 

l! 


CHAPTER    II. 

REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES. 

Resistance  of  the  Moriscoes.  — Night  Assault  on  Granada.  —  Rising  in 
the  Alpujarras.  —  Election  of  a  King.  —  Massacre  of  the  Chris- 
tians. 

1568. 

The  same  day  on  which  the  ordinance  was  pub- 
lished in  the  capital,  it  was  proclaimed  in  every 
part  of  the  kingdom  of  Granada.  Everywhere  it 
was  received  with  the  same  feelings  of  shame,  sor- 
row, and  indignation.  Before  giving  way  to  these 
feelings  by  any  precipitate  action,  the  Moriscoes 
of  the  Alpujarras  were  discreet  enough  to  con- 
fer with  their  countrymen  in  the  Albaicin,  who 
advised  them  to  remain  quiet  until  they  should 
learn  the  result  of  the  conferences  going  on  at 
Madrid. 

Before  these  were  concluded,  the  year  expired 
after  which  it  would  be  penal  for  a  Morisco  to 
wear  garments  of  silk.  By  the  president's  orders 
it  was  proclaimed  by  the  clergy,  in  the  pulpits 
throughout  the  city,  that  the  law  would  be  en- 
forced to  the  letter.  This  was  followed  by  more 
than  one  edict  relating  to  other  matters,  but  }et 


Ch.  n.J  RESISTANCE   OF   THE  MORISCOES. 


37 


tcndinsr  to  irritate  still  further  the   minds  of  the 
Moriscoes.^ 

All  hope  of  relieving  themselves  of  the  detested 
ordinance  having  thus  vanished,  the  leaders  of  the 
Albaicin  took  counsel  a&  to  the  best  mode  of  re- 
sisting the  government.  The  first  step  seemed  to 
be  to  get  possession  of  the  capital.  There  was 
at  this  time  in  Granada  a  Morisco  named  Farax 
Aben-Farax,  who  followed  the  trade  of  a  dyer. 
But  though  he  was  engaged  in  this  humble  calling, 
the  best  blood  of  the  Abencerrages  flowed  in  his 
veins.  He  was  a  man  of  a  fierce,  indeed  ferocious 
nature,  hating  the  Christians  with  his  whole  heart, 
and  longing  for  the  hour  when  he  could  avenge 
on  their  heads  the  calamities  of  his  countrymen. 
As  his  occupation  carried  him  frequently  into  the 
Alpujarras,  he  was  extensively  acquainted  with 
the  inhabitants.  He  undertook  to  raise  a  force 
there  of  eight  thousand  men,  and  bring  them  down 
secretly  by  night  into  the  vega^  where,  with  the  aid 


I  An  ordinance  was  passed  at 
this  time,  that  the  Moriscoes  who 
had  come  from  the  country  to  re- 
side, with  their  families,  in  Granada, 
should  leave  the  city  and  return 
■whence  they  came  under  pain  of 
death.  (Marmol,  Rebelion  de  los 
Moriscos,  tom.  I.  p.  169.)  By 
another  ordinance,  the  Moriscoes 
were  required  to  give  up  their 
children  between  the  ages  of  three 
and  fifteen,  to  be  placed  in  schools 
and  educated  in  the  Christian  doc- 
trine   and    the   Castilian   tongue. 


(Ibid.,  p.  170.)  The  Nueva  Re- 
copUacion  contains  two  laws  passed 
about  this  time,  making  it  a  capital 
offence  to  hold  any  intercourse  with 
Turks  or  Moors  who  might  visit 
Granada,  even  though  they  came 
not  as  corsairs,  but  for  purposes  of 
traffic.  (Lib.  Vm.  tit.  26,  leyes  16, 
18.)  Such  a  law  proves  the  con- 
stant apprehensions  in  which  the 
Spaniards  lived  of  a  treasonable 
correspondence  between  t^eir  Mo- 
risco subjects  and  the  foreign  Mos- 
lems. 


I 


38 


BEBELLION  OS  TU£  MOBISCOES.        [Book  V. 


of  his  countrymen  in  the  Albaicin,  he  might  effect 
an  entrance  into  the  city,  overpower  the  garrison  in 
the  Alhambra,  put  all  who  resisted  to  the  sword, 
and  make  himself  master  of  the  capital.  The  time 
fixed  upon  for  the  execution  of  the  plan  was  Holy 
Thursday,  in  the  ensuing  month  of  April,  when 
the  attention  of  the  Spaniards  would  be  occupied 
with  their  religious  solemnities. 

A  secret  known  to  so  many  could  not  be  so  well 
kept,  and  for  so  long  a  time,  but  that  some  infor- 
mation of  it  reached  the  ears  of  the  Christians. 
It  seems  to  have  given  little  uneasiness  to  Deza, 
who  had  anticipated  some  such  attempt  from  the 
turbulent  spirit  of  the  Moriscoes.  The  captain- 
general,  however,  thought  it  prudent  to  take  addi- 
tional precautions  against  it;  and  he  accordingly 
distributed  arms  among  the  citizens,  strengthened 
the  garrison  of  the  Alhambra,  and  visited  sev- 
eral of  the  great  towns  on  the  frontiers,  which 
he  placed  in  a  better  posture  of  defence.  The 
Moriscoes,  finding  their  purpose  exposed  to  the 
authorities,  resolved  to  defer  the  execution  of  it  for 
the  present.  They  even  postponed  it  to  as  late  a 
date  as  the  beginning  of  the  following  year,  1569. 
To  this  they  were  led,  we  are  told,  by  a  prediction 
found  in  their  religious  books,  that  the  year  of 
their  liberation  would  be  one  that  began  on  a 
Saturday.  It  is  probable  that  the  wiser  men  of  the 
Albaicin  were  less  influenced  by  their  own  belief 
in  the  truth  of  the  prophecy,  than  by  the  influence 
it  would  exert  over  the  superstitious  minds  of  the 


Ch.  u.]        resistance  of  the  moriscoes. 


39 


mountaineers,  among  whom  it  was  diligently  cir- 
culated.^ 

Having  settled  on  the  first  of  January  for  the 
rising,  the  Moslems  of  Granada  strove,  by  every 
outward  show  of  loyalty,  to  quiet  the  suspicions 
of  the  government.  But  in  this  they  were  thwart- 
ed  by  the  information  which  the  latter  obtained 
through  more  trustworthy  channels.  Still  surer 
evidence  of  their  intentions  was  found  in  a  letter 
which  fell  by  accident  into  the  hands  of  the  Mar- 
quis of  Mondejar.  It  was  addressed  by  one  of  the 
leaders  of  the  Albaicin  to  the  Moslems  of  the  Bar- 
bary  coast,  invoking  their  aid  by  the  ties  of  consan- 
guinity and  of  a  common  faith.  "  We  are  sorely 
beset,"  says  the  writer,  "  and  our  enemies  encom- 
pass us  all  around  like  a  consuming  fire.  Our 
troubles  are  too  grievous  to  be  endured.  Written," 
concludes  the  passionate  author  of  the  epistle,  "  in 
nights  of  tears  and  anguish,  with  hope  yet  linger- 
ing,-^ such  hope  as  still  survives  amidst  all  the 
bitterness  of  the  soul."^ 

But  the  Barbary  powers  were  too  much  occupied 
by  their  petty  feuds  to  give  much  more  than  fair 
words  to  their  unfortunate  brethren  of  Granada. 
Perhaps  they  distrusted  the  efficacy  of  any  aid  they 
could  render  in  so  unequal  a  contest  as  that  against 
the   Spanish   monarchy.     Yet  they  allowed   their 

»  Marmol,  Rebelion  de  los  Mo-  3  "  Escrita  en  noches  de  angus- 

riscos,  torn  I.   pp.   223  -  233.  —  tia  y  de  lagrimas  corrientes,  sus- 

Mendoza,    Guerra    de    Granada,  tentadas  con  esperanza,  }'  la  espo- 

( Valencia,    1776,)  p.  43.  — Hita,  ranza  se  deriva  de  la  amargura.'* 

Guen-as  de  Granada,  torn.  II.  p.  Marmol,  Rebelion  de  los  Moriscos, 

724,  torn.  I.  p.  219. 


I 

1 

I 

•'I 


40 


REBELLION   OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V 


Ch.  IL] 


NIGHT  ASSAULT   ON   GRANADA. 


41 


subjects  to  embark  as  volunteers  in  the  war ;  and 
some  good  service  was  rendered  by  the  Barbary 
corsairs,  who  infested  the  coasts  of  the  Meditena- 
nean,  as  well  as  by  the  rnonfis,  —  as  the  African 
adventurers  were  called,  —  who  took  part  with 
their  brethren  in  the  Alpujarras,  where  they  made 
themselves  conspicuous  by  their  implacable  ferocity 
asrainst  the  Christians. 

Meanwhile  the  hot  blood  of  the  mountaineers 
was  too  much  inflamed  by  the  prospect  of  regaining 
their  independence  to  allow  them  to  wait  patiently 
for  the  day  fixed  upon  for  the  outbreak.  Before 
that  time  arrived,  several  acts  of  violence  were 
perpetrated, — forerunners  of  the  bloody  work  that 
was  at  hand.  In  the  month  of  December,  1568, 
a  body  of  Spanish  alguazils,  with  some  other  offi- 
cers of  justice,  were  cut  off  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Granada,  on  their  way  to  that  city.  A 
party  of  fifty  soldiers,  as  they  were  bearing  to  the 
capital  a  considerable  quantity  of  muskets,  —  a 
tempting  prize  to  the  unarmed  Moriscoes,  —  were 
all  murdered,  most  of  them  in  their  beds,  in  a 
little  village  among  the  mountains  where  they  had 
halted  for  the  night.^  After  this  outrage  Aben- 
Farax,  the  bold  dyer  of  Granada,  aware  of  the  ex- 
citement it  must  create  in  the  capital,  became  con- 
vinced it  would  not  be  safe  for  him  to  postpone 
his  intended  assault  a  day  longer. 

At  the  head  of  only  a  hundred  and  eighty  fol- 
lowers, without  waiting  to  collect  a  larger  force, 

*  Mannol,  Rebelion  de  los  Moriscos,  torn.  I.  p.  235. 


he  made  his  descent,  on  the  night  of  the  twenty- 
sixth  of  December,  a  week  before  the  appointed 
time,  into  the  vega  of  Granada.     It  was  a  dreadful 
night.     A  snow-storm  was  raging  wildly  among  the 
mountains,  and  sweeping  down  in  pitiless  fury  on 
the  plains  below.^     Favored  by  the  commotion  of 
the  elements,  Aben-Farax    succeeded,  without  at- 
tracting observation,  in  forcing  an  entrance  through 
the  dilapidated  walls  of  the  city,  penetrated  at  once 
into  the  Albaicin,  and  endeavored  to  rouse  the  in- 
habitants from  their  slumbers.     Some  few  came  to 
their  windows,  it  is  said,  but,  on  learning  the  nature 
of  the  summons,  hastily  closed  the  casements  and 
withdrew,  telling  Aben-Farax  that  "it  was  mad- 
ness to  undertake  the  enterprise  with  so  small  a 
force,  and  that  he  had  come  before  his  time."  ^     It 
was  in  vain  that  the  enraged  chief  poured  forth 
imprecations   on   their   perfidy   and  cowardice,  in 
vain  that  he  marched  through  the  deserted  streets, 
demolishing  crucifixes  and  other  symbols  of  Chris- 


5  «  La  furia  horrible  de  los  torbellinos 
Cada  momento  mas  se  vee  yr  creciendo, 
Cubre  la  blanca  nieve  los  caminos 
Tambien  los  hoinbres  luego  va  cubri- 

endo." 
So  sings,  or  rather  says,  the  poet- 
chronicler  Rufo,  whose  epic  of  four 
and  twenty  cantos  shows  him  to 
have  been  much  more  of  a  chroni- 
cler than  a  poet.  Indeed,  in  his 
preface,  he  avows  that  strict  con- 
formity to  truth  which  is  the  car- 
dinal virtue  of  the  chronicler.  See 
the  Austriada  (Madrid,  1584). 

6  "Pocos  sois,  i  venis  presto.** 
Mendoza,Guerra  de  Granada,  p.  47. 

TOL.   III.  6 


Hita  gives  a  cancion  in  his  work, 
the  burden  of  which  is  a  complaint 
that  the  mountaineers  had  made 
their  attack  too  late  instead  of  too 
early :  — 

"  Pocos  sois,  y  venis  tarde." 
(Guerras  de  Granada,  tom.  II. 
p.  32.)  The  difference  is  ex- 
plained by  the  circumstance  that 
the  author  of  the  verses  —  prob- 
ably Hita  himself —  considers  that 
Christmas  Eve,  not  New  Year's 
Eve,  was  the  time  fixed  for  the 
sault. 


42 


REBELUON  OF  THE  MOBISCOES.         [Book  V. 


Ch.  II.] 


RISING  IN  THE  ALPUJAREAS. 


43 


•I 


V 


tian  worship  which  he  found  in  his  way,  or  that 
he  shouted  out  the  watchword  of  the  faithful, 
"There  is  hut  one  God,  and  Mahomet  is  the 
prophet  of  God ! "  The  uproar  of  the  tempest, 
fortimately  for  him,  drowned  every  other  noise; 
and  no  alarm  was  given  till  he  stumbled  on  a 
guard  of  some  five  or  six  soldiers,  who  were  hud- 
dled round  a  fire  in  one  of  the  public  squares. 
One  of  these  Farax  despatched ;  the  others  made 
their  escape,  raising  the  cry  that  the  enemy  was 
upon  them.  The  great  bell  of  St.  Salvador  rang 
violently,  calling  the  inhabitants  to  arms.  Dawn 
was  fast  approaching  ;  and  the  Moorish  chief,  who 
felt  himself  unequal  to  an  encounter  in  which  'he 
was  not  to  be  supported  by  his  brethren  in  the 
Albaicin,  thought  it  prudent  to  make  his  retreat. 
This  he  did  with  colors  flying  and  music  playing, 
all  in  as  cool  and  orderly  a  manner  as  if  it  had 
been  only  a  holiday  parade. 

Meantime  the  citizens,  thus  suddenly  startled 
from  their  beds,  gathered  together,  with  eager 
looks  and  faces  white  with  fear,  to  learn  the  cause 
of  the  tumult ;  and  their  alarm  was  not  diminished 
by  finding  that  the  enemy  had  been  prowling 
round  their  dwellings,  like  a  troop  of  mountain 
wolves,  while  they  had  been  buried  in  slumber. 
The  marquis  of  Mondejar  called  his  men  to  horse, 
and  would  have  instantly  given  chase  to  the  in- 
vaders, but  waited  until  he  had  learned  the  ac- 
tual condition  of  the  Albaicin,  where  a  popula- 
tion of  ten   thousand  Moriscoes,  had  they  been 


mischievously  inclined,  might,  notwithstanding  the 
timely  efforts  of  the  government  to  disarm  them, 
have  proved  too  strong  for  the  slender  Spanish  gar- 
rison in  the  Alhambra.  All,  however,  was  quiet 
in  the  Moorish  quarter ;  and,  assured  of  this,  the 
captain-general  sallied  out,  at  the  head  of  his  cav- 
alry and  a  small  corps  of  foot,  in  quest  of  the 
enemy.  But  he  had  struck  into  the  mountain 
passes  south  of  Granada ;  and  Mendoza,  after 
keeping  on  his  track,  as  well  as  the  blinding  tem- 
pest would  permit,  through  the  greater  part  of  the 
day,  at  nightfall  gave  up  the  pursuit  as  hopeless, 
and  brought  back  his  way-worn  cavalcade  to  the 

city.^ 

Aben-Farax  and  his  troop,  meanwhile,  travers- 
ing the  snowy  skirts  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  came 
out  on  the  broad  and  populous  valley  of  Lecrin, 
spreading  the  tidings  everywhere,  as  they  went, 
that  the  insurrection  was  begun,  that  the  Albai- 
cin was  in  movement,  and  calling  on  all  true  be- 
lievers to  take  up  arms  in  defence  of  their  faith. 
The  summons  did  not  fall  on  deaf  ears.  A  train 
had  been  fired  which  ran  along  the  mountain  re- 
gions  to  the  south  of  Granada,  stretching  from 
Almeria  and  the  Murcian  borders  on  the  east  to 
the  neighborhood  of  Velez  Malaga  on  the  west. 
In  three  days  the  whole  coimtry  was  in  arms. 
Then  burst  forth  the  fierce  passions  of  the  Arab,  — 

7  Marmol,  Rebelion  de  los  Mo-  —  Herrera,  Historia  General,  torn, 

riscos,  torn.  I.  p.  238.  —Mendoza,  I.  p.  726.— Ferreras,  Hist.  d'Es- 

Guerra  de  Granada,  pp.  45  -  52.  —  pagne,  torn.  IX.  pp.  573 - 575. 
MIniana,  Hist,  de  Espaiia,  p.  367. 


44 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.  [Book  V. 


all  that  unquenchable  hate  which  seventy  years 
of  oppression  had  nourished  in  his  bosom,  and 
which  now  showed  itself  in  one  universal  cry  for 
vengeance.  The  bloody  drama  opened  with  the 
massacre  of  nearly  every  Christian  man  within  the 
Moorish  borders,  —  and  that  too  with  circumstan- 
ces of  a  refined  and  deliberate  cruelty,  of  which, 
happily,  few  examples  are  to  be  found  in  history. 

The  first  step,  however,  in  the  revolutionary 
movement  had  been  a  false  one,  inasmuch  as  the  in- 
surgents had  failed  to  secure  possession  of  the  capi- 
tal, which  would  have  furnished  so  important  a  point 
dappui  for  future  operations.  Yet,  if  contemporary 
chroniclers  are  correct,  this  failure  should  rather  be 
imputed  to  miscalculation  than  to  cowardice.  Ac- 
cording to  them,  the  persons  of  most  consideration 
in  the  Albaicin  were  many  of  them  wealthy  citi- 
zens, accustomed  to  the  easy,  luxurious  way  of  life 
so  well  suited  to  the  Moorish  taste.  They  had 
never  intended  to  peril  their  fortunes  by  engag- 
ing personally  in  so  formidable  a  contest  as  that 
with  the  Castilian  crown.  They  had  only  proposed 
to  urge  their  simple  countrymen  in  the  Alpuj  arras 
to  such  a  show  of  resistance  as  should  intimidate 
the  Spaniards,  and  lead  them  to  mitigate,  if  not  in- 
deed to  rescind,  the  hated  ordinance.^  If  such  was 
their  calculation,  as  the  result  showed,  it  miserably 
failed. 

'  "Creyendo  que  lo  uno  y  lo  ellos  sua   personas    y  haciendas.* 

otro  seria  parte  para  que  por  bien  Marmol,    Rebelion  de  loe  Moris- 

de  paz  se  diese  nueva  orden  en  cos,  torn.  I.  p.  239. 
lo  de  la  prematica,  sin  aventurar 


Ch.  1I.J 


ELECTION  OF  A  KING. 


45 


As  the  Moriscoes  had  now  proclaimed  their  in- 
dependence, it  became  necessary  to  choose  a  sov- 
ereign in  place  of  the  one  whose  authority  they 
had  cast  aside.     The  leaders  in  the  Albaicin  se- 
lected for  this   dangerous   pre-eminence   a  young 
man  who  was  known  to  the  Spaniards  by  his  Cas- 
tilian name  of  Don  Fernando  de  Valor.     He  was 
descended  in  a  direct  line  from  the  ancient  house 
of  the  Omeyas,^  who  for  nearly  four  centuries  had 
sat  with   glory   on  the  throne   of  Cordova.     He 
was  but  twenty-two  years  of  age  at  the  time  of 
his   election,    and    according   to   a   contemporary, 
who   had   seen   him,    possessed  a   comely   person 
and  engaging  manners.     His  complexion  was  of  a 
deep   olive;    his  beard   was  thin;  his  eyes  were 
large  and  dark,  w^ith  eyebrows  well   defined  and 
nearly  approaching   each  other.     His  deportment 
was   truly   royal;    and   his  lofty  sentiments  were 
worthy  of  the  princely   line  from  which  he  was 
descended.''     Notwithstanding  this   flattering  por- 


9  Beni  Umeyyah,  in  the  Arabic, 
according  to  an  indisputable  au- 
thority, my  learned  friend,  Don 
Pascual  de  Gayangos.  See  his 
Mohammedan  Dynasties  in  Spain, 
passim. 

10  "  Era  mancebo  de  veinte  y 
dos  aiios,  de  poca  barba,  color  mo- 
reno,  verdinegro,  cejijunto,  ojos 
ne<Tro3  y  grandes,  gentil  hombre  de 
cuerpo:  mostraba  en  su  talle  y 
garbo  ser  de  sangre  real,  como  en 
verdad  lo  era,  teniendo  los  pensa- 
mientos  correspondientes/*  Hita, 
Guerras  de  Granada,  torn.  II.  p.  13. 


Few  will  be  disposed  to  acqui- 
esce in  the  savage  tone  of  criticism 
with  which  the  learned  Nic.  An- 
tonio denounces  Hita's  charming 
volumes  as  "  Milesian  tales,  fit  only 
to  amuse  the  lazy  and  the  listless.** 
(Bibliotheca  Nova,  torn.  I.  p.  536.) 
Ilita  was  undoubtedly  the  prince 
of  romancers;  but  fiction  is  not 
falsehood ;  and  when  the  novelist, 
who  served  in  the  wars  of  the  Al- 
pujarras,  tells  us  of  things  which  he 
professes  to  have  seen  with  his  own 
eyes,  we  may  surely  cite  him  as  an 
historical  authority. 


I 


46 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.  [Book  V. 


J  ..4 


trait  from  the  pen  of  a  Castilian,  his  best  recom- 
mendation, to  judge  from  his  subsequent  career, 
seems  to  have  been  his  descent  from  a  line  of 
kings.  He  had  been  so  prodigal  in  his  way  of  life 
that,  though  so  young,  he  had  squandered  his 
patrimony,  and  was  at  this  very  time  under  arrest 
for  debt.  He  had  the  fiery  temperament  of  his 
nation,  and  had  given  evidence  of  it  by  murdering 
with  his  own  hand  a  man  who  had  borne  testi- 
mony against  his  father  in  a  criminal  prosecution. 
Amidst  his  luxurious  self-indulgence  he  must  be 
allowed  to  have  shown  some  energy  of  character 
and  an  unquestionable  courage.  He  was  attached 
to  the  institutions  of  his  country ;  and  his  ferocious 
nature  was  veiled  under  a  bland  and  plausible 
exterior^  that  won  him  golden  opinions  from  the 
multitude.^^ 

Soon  after  his  election,  and  just  before  the  irrup- 
tion of  Aben-Farax,  the  Morisco  prince  succeeded 
in  making  his  escape  from  Granada,  and,  flying  to 
the  mountains,  took  refuge  among  his  own  kin- 
dred, the  powerful  family  of  the  Valoris,  in  the 
village  of  Beznar.  Here  his  countrymen  gathered 
round  him,  and  confirmed  by  acclamation  the 
choice  of  the  people  of  Granada.  For  this  the 
young  chieftain  was  greatly  indebted  to  the  efforts 
of  his  uncle,  Aben-Jahuar,  commonly  called  El 
Zaguer,  a  man  of  much  authority  among  his  tribe, 


^1  "  Usava  de  blandura  general ;  cubierta  engand  &  muchos  en  los 
queria  ser  tenido  per  Cabeza,  i  no  principios."  Mendoza,  Guerra  do 
per  Eei :  la  crueldad,  la  codicia    Granada,  p.  129. 


Ch.  II.] 


ELECTION   OF  A  KING. 


47 


who,  waiving  his  own  claims  to  the  sceptre,  em- 
ployed his  influence  in  favor  of  his  nephew. 

The  ceremony  of  the  coronation  was  of  a  martial 
kind,  well  suited  to  the  rough  fortunes  of  the 
adventurer.  Four  standards,  emblazoned  with  the 
Moslem  crescent,  were  spread  upon  the  ground, 
with  their  spear-heads  severally  turned  towards  the 
four  points  of  the  compass.  The  Moorish  prince, 
who  had  been  previously  arrayed  in  a  purple  robe, 
with  a  crimson  scarf  or  shawl,  the  insignia  of  roy- 
alty, enf eloping  his  shoulders,  knelt  down  on  the 
banners,  with  his  face  turned  towards  Mecca,  and, 
after  a  brief  prayer,  solemnly  swore  to  live  and  die 
in  defence  of  his  crown,  his  faith,  and  his  subjects. 
One  of  the  principal  attendants,  prostrating  him- 
self on  the  ground,  kissed  the  footprints  of  the 
newly  elected  monarch,  in  token  of  the  allegiance 
of  the  people.  He  was  then  raised  on  the  shoul- 
ders of  four  of  the  assistants,  and  borne  aloft  amidst 
the  waving  of  banners  and  the  loud  shouts  of  the 
multitude,  "  Allah  exalt  Muley-Mohammed-Aben- 
Humeya,  lord  of  Andalucia  and  Granada ! "  ^^ 
Such  were  the  simple  forms  practised  in  ancient 
times  by  the  Spanish- Arabian  princes,  when  their 
empire,   instead   of   being    contracted   within   the 


12  Ibid.,  p.  40. 

The  ceremonies  of  the  corona- 
tion make,  of  course,  a  brave  show 
in  Rufo's  epic.  One  stanza  will 
suffice :  — 

'*  Entonces  con  aplauso  le  puRieron 
Al  nuevo  Rey  de  purpura  un  vestido, 


Y  a  man«ra  de  beca  le  cineron 

Al  cuello  y  ombros  un  cendal  brunido, 
Q,uatro  vanderas  a  bus  pies  tendieron, 
Una  hazia  el  Levante  esclarecido, 
Otra  a  do  el  sol  se  cubre  en  negro  vel<\ 

Y  otras  do8  a  los  polos  dos  del  ciela" 

La  Austriaida,  foU  24. 


48 


REBELLION  OE  THE  MORISCOES.  [Book  V. 


y  <•  t 


rocky  girdle  of  the  mountains,  stretched  over  the 
fairest  portions  of  the  Peninsula.*^ 

The  first  act  of  Aben-Humeya  was  to  make 
his  appointments  to  the  chief  military  offices.  El 
Zaguer,  his  uncle,  he  made  captain-general  of  his 
forces.  Aben-Farax,  who  had  himself  aspired  to 
the  diadem,  he  removed  to  a  distance,  by  sending 
him  on  an  expedition  to  collect  such  treasures  as 
could  be  gathered  from  the  Christian  churches 
in  the  Alpujarras.  He  appointed  officers  to  take 
charge  of  the  different  tahas^  or  districts,  into 
which  the  country  was  divided.  Having  com- 
pleted these  arrangements,  the  new  monarch  —  the 
ret/ezuelo,  or  "little  king,"  of  the  Alpujarras,  as 
he  was  contemptuously  styled  by  the  Spaniards  — 
transferred  his  residence  to  the  central  part  of  his 
dominions,  where  he  repeated  the  ceremony  of  his 
coronation.  He  made  a  rapid  visit  to  the  most 
important  places  in  the  sierra,  everywhere  calling 
on  the  inhabitants  to  return  to  their  ancient  faith, 
and  to  throw  off  the  hated  yoke  of  the  Spaniards. 
He  then  established  himself  in  the  wildest  parts 
of  the  Alpujarras,  where  he  endeavored  to  draw 
his  forces  to  a  head,  and  formed  the  plan  of  his 
campaign.  It  was  such  as  was  naturally  suggest- 
ed by  the  character  of  the  country,  which,  broken 
and  precipitous,  intersected  by  many  a  deep  ravine 
and   dangerous   pass,  afforded   excellent   opportu- 

*3  »t  Tal  era  la  antigua  ceremo-     Granada.'*    Mendoza,  Guerra  de 
nia  con  que  eligian  los  Reyes  de     Granada,  p.  40. 
la  Andalucia,    i    despues    los   de 


Cn.  II.] 


MASSACRE   OF   THE  CHRISTIANS. 


49 


nities  for  harassing  an  invading  foe,  and  for  en- 
tangling him  in  those  inextricable  defiles,  where 
a  few  mountaineers  acquainted  with  the  ground 
would  be  more  than  a  match  for  an  enemy  far 
superior  in  discipline  and  numbers. 

While  Aben-Humeya  was  thus  occupied  in 
preparing  for  the  struggle,  the  work  of  death  had 
already  begun  among  the  Spanish  population  of 
the  Alpujarras;  and  Spaniards  were  to  be  found, 
in  greater  or  less  numbers,  in  all  the  Moorish 
towns  and  hamlets  that  dotted  the  dark  sides  of 
the  sierras,  or  nestled  in  the  green  valleys  at  their 
base.  Here  they  dwelt  side  by  side  with  the  Mo- 
riscoes,  employed,  probably,  less  in  the  labors  of  the 
loom,  for  which  the  natives  of  this  region  had  long 
been  famous,  than  in  that  careful  husbandry  which 
they  might  readily  have  learned  from  their  Moor- 
ish neighbors,  and  which,  under  their  hands,  had 
clothed  every  spot  with  verdure,  making  the  wil- 
derness to  blossom  like  the  rose.^^  Thus  livinsr  in 
the  midst  of  those  who  professed  the  same  religion 
with  themselves,  and  in  the  occasional  interchange, 
at  least,  of  the  kind  offices  of  social  intercourse, 
which  sometimes  led  to  nearer  domestic  ties,  the 
Christians  of  the  Alpujarras  dwelt  in  blind  security, 
little  dreaming  of  the  mine  beneath  their  feet. 

But  no  sooner  was  the  first  note  of  insurrcction 
sounded,  than  the  scene  changed  as  if  by  magic. 


14  "  Q,ue  en  la  a^cultura  tienen 
Tal  estudio,  tal  destreza, 

VOL.   III. 


Que  i.  preneces  de  sii  hazada 
Ilacen  fecundas  las  piedraa.'* 
Calderon,  Amar  despues  de  la  Muerte,  Jornada  II. 


50 


BEBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.  [Book  V. 


Ch.  II] 


MASSACRE  OF  THE   CHRISTIANS. 


51 


liiM 


!, 


Every  Morisco  threw  away  his  mask,  and,  turning 
on  the  Christians,  showed  himself  in  his  true 
aspect,  as  their  avowed  and  mortal  enemy. 

A  simultaneous  movement  of  this  kind,  through 
so  wide  an  extent  of  countiy,  intimates  a  well- 
concerted  plan  of  operations ;  and  we  may  share 
in  the  astonishment  of  the  Castilian  writers,  that 
a  secret  of  such  a  nature  and  known  to  so  many 
individuals  should  have  been  so  long  and  faithfully 
li^ept,  —  in  the  midst,  too,  of  those  who  had  the 
greatest  interest  in  detecting  it,^^  —  some  of  them,  it 
may  be  added,  spies  of  the  Inquisition,  endowed,  as 

•  they  seem  to  have  been,  with  almost  supernatural 
powers  for  scenting  out  the  taint  of  heresy. ^^  It 
argues  an  intense  feeling  of  hatred  in  the  Morisco, 
that  he  could  have  been  so  long  proof  against  the 
garrulity  that  loosens  the  tongue,  and  against  the 
sympathy  that  so  often,  in  similar  situations,  un- 
locks the  heart  to  save  some  friend  from  the  doom 
of  his  companions.     But  no  such  instance  either 

.  of  levity  or  lenity  occurred  among  this  extraor- 
dinary people.  And  when  the  hour  arrived,  and 
the  Christians  discerned  their  danger  in  the  men- 
acing looks  and  gestures  of  their  Moslem  neigh- 
bors,   they  were  as  much  astounded  by  it  as  the 


15    **  Tree  anos  tntro  en  Bilencio 
Esta  traicion  encubierta 
Tanto  nuroero  de  gentes, 
Coea,  que  admira  y  cleva." 

Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 

16  "  Una  cosa  mui  de  notar  cali- 

fica  los  principios  desta  rebelion, 

que  gente  de  mcdiana  condicion 


mostrada  a  guardar  poco  secrete  i 
hablar  juntos,  callasen  tanto  tiem- 
po,  i  tantos  hombres,  en  tierra 
donde  hai  Alcaldes  de  corte  i  In- 
quisidores,  cuya  profesion  es  descu- 
brir  delitos."  Mcndoza,  Guerra  de 
Granada,  p.  36, 


unsuspecting  traveller  on  whom,  as  he  heedlessly 
journeys  through  some  pleasant  country,  the  high- 
wayman has  darted  from  his  covert  by  the  roadside. 

The  first  impulse  of  the  Christians  seems  to  have 
been  very  generally  to  take  refuge  in  the  churches ; 
and  every  village,  however  small,  had  at  least  one 
church,  where  the  two  races  met  together  to  join 
in  the  forms  of  Christian  worship.  The  fugitives 
thought  to  find  protection  in  their  holy  places  and 
in  the  presence  of  their  venerated  pastors,  whose 
spiritual  authority  had  extended  over  all  the  in- 
habitants. But  the  wild  animal  of  the  forest,  now 
that  he  had  regained  his  freedom,  gave  little  heed 
to  the  call  of  his  former  keeper,  —  unless  it  were 
to  turn  and  rend  him. 

Here  crowded  together,  like  a  herd  of  panic- 
stricken  deer  with  the  hounds  upon  their  track, 
the  terrified  people  soon  found  the  church  was 
no  place  of  security,  and  they  took  refuge  in  the 
adjoining  tower,  as  a  place  of  greater  strength, 
and  affording  a  better  means  of  defence  against 
an  enemy.  The  mob  of  their  pursuers  then  broke 
into  the  church,  which  they  speedily  despoiled  of 
its  ornaments,  trampling  the  crucifixes  and  other 
religious  symbols  under  their  feet,  rolling  the 
sacred  images  in  the  dust,  ^nd  desecrating  the 
altars  by  the  sacrifice  of  swine,  or  by  some  other 
act  denoting  their  scorn  and  hatred  of  the  Chris- 
tian worship." 

'"^  Bleda,  Cronica  de  Espana,  p.     ron  pedazos  los  retablos  y  imagines, 
680.  —  "  Robaron  la  iglesia,  hicie-    destruyeron  todas  las  cosas  sagia- 


52 


REBELLION   OF   THE   MORISCOES.         [Book  V- 


They  next  assailed  the  towers,  the  entrances  to 
which  the  Spaniards  had  barricaded  as  strongly 
as  they  could ;  though,  unprovided  as  they  were 
with  means  of  defence,  except  such  arms  as  they 
had  snatched  in  the  hurry  of  their  flight,  they 
could  have  little  hope  of  standing  a  siege.  Unfor- 
tunately these  towers  were  built  more  or  less  of 
wood,  which  the  assailants  readily  set  on  fire,  and 
thus  compelled  the  miserable  inmates  either  to 
surrender  or  to  perish  in  the  flames.  In  some 
instances  they  chose  the  latter;  and.the  little  garri- 
son—  men,  women,  and  children  —  were  consumed 
together  on  one  common  funeral  pile.  More  fre- 
quently they  shrank  from  this  fearful  death,  and 
surrendered  at  the  mercy  of  their  conquerors,  — 
such  mercy  as  made  them  soon  regret  that  they 
had  not  stayed  by  the  blazing  rafters. 

The  men  were  speedily  separated  from  the  wo- 
men, and  driven,  with  blows  and  imprecations, 
like  so  many  cattle,  to  a  place  of  confinement. 
From  this  loathsome  prison  they  were  dragged  out, 
three  or  four  at  a  time,  day  after  day,  the  longer 
to  protract  their  sufferings  ;  then,  with  their  arms 
pinioned  behind  them,  and  stripped  of  their  cloth- 
ing, they  were  thrown  into  the  midst  of  an  infu- 
riated mob,  consisting  of  both  sexes,  who,  armed 
with  swords,  hatchets,  and  bludgeons,  soon  felled 
their  victims  to  the  ground,  and  completed  the 
bloody  work. 

das,  J  no  dexaron  nuJdad  nl  sacri-    mol,  Rebclion  de  Granada,  torn.  L 
legio  que  no  eometieron.''    Mar-    p.  275. 


Ch.  II.] 


MASSACRE  OF  THE   CHRISTIANS. 


53 


The  mode  of  death  was  often  varied  to  suit  the 
capricious  cruelty  of  the  executioners.  At  Guecija, 
where  the  olive  grew  abundant,  there  was  a  con- 
vent of  Augustine  monks,  who  were  all  murdered 
by  being  thrown  into  caldrons  of  boiling  oil.*® 
Sometimes  the  death  of  the  ^dctim  was  attended 
with  circumstances  of  diabolical  cruelty  not  sur- 
passed by  anything  recorded  of  our  North- Ameri- 
can savages.  At  a  place  called  Pitres  de  Ferreyra, 
the  priest  of  the  village  was  raised  by  means  of  a 
pulley  to  a  beam  that  projected  from  the  tower,  and 
was  then  allowed  to  drop  from  a  great  height  upon 
the  ground.  The  act  was  repeated  more  than  once 
in  the  presence  of  his  aged  mother,  who,  in  an 
agony  of  grief,  embracing  her  dying  son,  besought 
him  "  to  trust  in  God  and  the  Blessed  Virgin,  who 
through  these  torments  would  bring  him  into  eter- 
nal life."  The  mangled  carcass  of  the  poor  victim, 
broken  and  dislocated  in  every  limb,  was  then 
turned  over  to  the  Moorish  women,  who,  with 
their  scissors,  bodkins,  and  other  feminine  imple- 
ments, speedily  despatched  him.'^ 

The  women,  indeed,  throughout  this  persecution, 
seem  to  have  had  as  rabid  a  thirst  for  vengeance 
as  the  men.  Even  the  children  were  encouraged  to 
play  their  part  in  the  bloody  drama ;  and  many  a 


W  "  Quemaron  por  veto  un  Con-  tierra,  para  ahogar  sus    Frailes." 

vento  de  Frailes  Augustinos,  que  Mendoza,  Guerra  de  Granada,  p. 

se  recogieron  a  la  Torre  echando-  60. 

les  por  un  horado  de  lo  alto  azeite  W  Marmol,  Rcbellon  dS  Grana- 

hirviendo:  sirviendose  de  la  abun-  da,   torn.   I.    p.    271.  —  Ferroras, 

daneia  que  Dios  les  did  en  aquella  Hist  d'Espagne,  torn.  IX.  p.  582. 


Imtj 


. 


•  ► 


54 


REBELLION   OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


miserable  captive  was  set  up  as  a  target  to  be  shot 
at  with  the  arrows  of  the  Moorish  boys. 

The  rage  of  the  barbarians  was  especially  direct- 
ed  against  the  priests,  who  had  so  often  poured 
forth  anathemas  against  the  religion  which  the 
Moslems  loved,  and  who,  as  their  spiritual  direc* 
tors,  had  so  often  called  them  to  account  for  of- 
fences against  the  religion  which  they  abhorred. 
At  Coadba  the  priest  was  stretched  out  before  a 
brazier  of  live  coals  until  his  feet,  which  had  been 
smeared  with  pitch  and  oil,  were  burned  to  a  cin- 
der. His  two  sisters  were  compelled  to  witness 
the  agonies  of  their  brother,  which  were  still  fur- 
ther heightened  by  the  brutal  treatment  which  he 
saw  them  endure  from  their  tormentors.^ 

Fire  was  employed  as  a  common  mode  of  torture, 
by  way  of  retaliation,  it  may  be,  for  similar  suffer- 
ings inflicted  on  the  infidel  by  the  Inquisition, 
Sometimes  the  punishments  seemed  to  be  contrived 
so  as  to  form  a  fiendish  parody  on  the  exercises  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  religion.  In  the  town  of  Filix 
the  pastor  was  made  to  take  his  seat  before  the 
altar,  with  his  two  sacristans,  one  on  either  side  of 
him.  The  bell  was  rung,  as  if  to  call  the  people 
together  to  worship.  The  sacristans  were  each  pro- 
vided with  a  roll  containing  the  names  of  the  con- 
gregation, which  they  were  required  to  call  over,  as 
usual,  before  the  services,  in  order  to  see  that  no 

*  "  Y  para  darle  mayor  tormen-  morir,  y  en  su  presencia  las  vitu* 
to  traxeron  alii  dos  hermanas  don-  peraron  y  maltrataron."*  Marmol, 
cellas  que  tenia,  para  que  le  riesen    Rftbelion  do  Granada,  torn,  I.  p.  S 1 6. 


Ch.  IL] 


MASSACRE  OF  THE  CHRISTIANS. 


55 


oiic  was  absent.  As  each  Morisco  answered  to  his 
name,  he  passed  before  the  priest,  and  dealt  him  a 
blow  with  his  fist,  or  the  women  plucked  his  beard 
and  hair,  accompanying  the  act  with  some  bitter 
taunt,  expressive  of  their  mortal  hate.  When  every 
one  had  thus  had  the  opportunity  of  gratifying  his 
personal  grudge  against  his  ancient  pastor,  the 
executioner  stepped  forward,  armed  with  a  razor, 
with  which  he  scored  the  face  of  the  ecclesiastic  in 
the  detested  form  of  the  cross,  and  then,  beginning 
with  the  fingers,  deliberately  proceeded  to  sever 
each  of  the  joints  of  his  wretched  victim  !^^ 

But  it  is  unnecessary  to  shock  the  reader  with 
more  of  these  loathsome  details,  enough  of  which 
have  already  been  given,  not  merely  to  prove  the 
vindictive  temper  of  the  Morisco,  but  to  suggest 
the  inference  that  it  could  only  have  been  a  long 
course  of  cruelty  and  oppression  that  stimulated 
him  to  such  an  awful  exhibition  of  it.^    The  whole 


21  "Llejid  un  herege  a  el  eou 
una  navaja,  y  le  persind  con  ella, 
hendiendole  el  rostrodealtoabaxo, 
y  por  traves ;  y  luego  le  despedazd 
coyuntura  por  coyuntura,  y  miem- 
bro  a  miembro.**    Ibid.,  p.  348. 

Among  other  kinds  of  torture 
which  they  invented,  says  Mendo- 
za,  they  filled  the  curate  of  Manena 
with  gunpowder,  and  then  blew 
him  up.  Guerra  de  Granada,  p. 
60. 

23  Of  all  the  Spanish  historians 
no  one  discovers  so  insatiable  an 
appetite  for  these  horrors  as  Ferre- 
ras,  who  has  devoted  nearly  fifty 


quarto  pages  to  an  account  of  the 
diabolical  cruelties  practised  by  the 
Moriscoes  in  this  persecution, — 
making  altogether  a  momentous 
contribution  to  the  annals  of  Chris- 
tian martyrology.  One  may  doubt, 
however,  whether  the  Spaniards 
are  entirely  justified  in  claiming 
the  crown  of  martyrdom  for  all 
whb  perished  in  this  persecution. 
Those,  undoubtedly,  have  a  right 
to  it  who  might  have  saved  their 
lives  by  renouncing  their  faith ; 
but  there  is  no  evidence  that  this 
grace  was  extended  to  all ;  and  we 
may  well  believe  that  the  Moris- 


56 


REBELLION  OF  THE   MOKISCOES.         [Book  V. 


number  of  Christians  who,  in  the  course  of  a  week, 
thus  perished  in  these  massacres,  —  if  we  are  to 
receive  the  accounts  of  Castilian  writers,  —  was 
not  less  than  three  thousand !  ^  Considering  the 
social  relations  which  must  to  some  extent  have 
been  established  between  those  who  had  lived  so 
long  in  the  neighborhood  of  one  another,  it  might 
be  thought  that,  on  some  occasions,  sympathy 
would  have  been  shown  for  the  sufferers,  or  that 
some  protecting  arm  would  have  been  stretched 
out  to  save  a  friend  or  a  companion  from  the 
general  doom.  But  the  nearest  approach  to  such 
an  act  of  humanity  was  given  by  a  Morisco  who 
plunged  his  sword  in  the  body  of  a  Spaniard,  in 
order  to  save  him  from  the  lingering  death  that 
otherwise  would  await  him.^^ 

Of  the  whole  Christian  population  very  few  of 
the  men  who  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Moslems 
escaped  with  life.  The  women  were  not  always 
spared.  The  Morisco  women,  especially,  who  had 
married  Christian  husbands  and  embraced  Chris- 
tianity, which  they  refused  to  abjure,  became  the 


coes  were  stimulated  by  other  mo- 
tives besides  those  of  a  relijjious 
nature,  —  such  motives  as  would 
naturally  operate  on  a  conquered 
race,  burning  with  hatred  of  their 
conquerors  and  with  the  thirst  of 
vensfeance  for  the  manifold  wrongs 
which  they  had  endured. 

^  "  Murieron  en  pocos  mas  de 
quatro  dias,  con  muertes  exquesitas 
y  no  imaginados  tormentos,  mas  de 


tres  mil  martires.**  Vanderham- 
men,  Don  Juan  de  Austria,  fol.  70. 
3*  **  Se  adelantd  un  Moro,  quo 
solia  ser  grande  amigo  suyo,  y  ha- 
ciendose  encontradizo  con  el  en  el 
umbral  de  la  puerta,  le  atraves«* 
una  espada  por  el  cuerpo,  dicien- 
dole :  Toma,  amigo,  que  mas  vaU* 
que  to  mate  yo  que  otro."  ALir- 
mol,  Rebelion  de  Granada,  torn.  J. 
P-  277. 


Ch.  IL] 


MASSACRE  OF  THE   CHRISTIANS. 


Ok 


objects  of  vengeance  to  their  own  sex.  Sad  to 
say,  even  the  innocence  and  helplessness  of  child- 
hood proved  no  protection  against  the  fury  of 
persecution.  The  historians  record  the  names  of 
several  boys,  from  ten  to  twelve  or  thirteen  years 
of  age,  who  were  barbarously  murdered  because 
they  would  not  renounce  the  religion  in  which 
they  had  been  nurtured  for  that  of  Mahomet.  If 
they  were  too  young  to  give  a  reason  for  their 
faith,  they  had  at  least  learned  the  lesson  that  to 
renounce  it  was  a  great  sin;  and,  when  led  out 
like  lambs  to  the  slaughter,  their  mothers,  we  are 
told,  stifling  the  suggestions  of  natural  affection 
in  obedience  to  a  higher  law,  urged  their  children 
not  to  shrink  from  the  trial,  nor  to  purchase  a  few 
years  of  life  at  the  price  of  their  own  souls.^  It 
is  a  matter  of  no  little  gratulation  to  a  Catholic 
historian,  that,  amongst  all  those  who  perished  in 
these  frightful  massacres,  there  was  not  one  of  any 
age  or  either  sex  who  could  be  tempted  to  secure 
})ersonal  safety  by  the  sacrifice  of  religious  con- 
victions.^ On  the  contrary,  they  employed  the 
brief  respite  that  was  left  them  in  fortifying  one 
another's  courage,  and  in  bearing  testimony  to  the 
truth  in  so  earnest  a  manner  that  they  might  al- 
most seem  to  have  courted  the  crown  of  martyr- 
dom.    Yet  among  these  martyrs  there  were  more 

25  Ferreras,Hist.  d*Espagne,tom.  tanto  numero  de  gente  como  murid 

IX.  p.  617.  a  manos  de  infieles  ninguno  huvo 

*  "  Fue  gran  testimonio  de  nu-  que  quisiese  renegar."    Mendoza, 

estta  fe  i  de  compararse  con  la  del  Guerra  de  Granada,  p.  61. 
tiempo  de  los  Apostoles;  que  en 

VOL.   III.  8 


;     ) 


58 


REBELLION  OF   THE   MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


than  one,  it  is  admitted,  whose  previous  way  of  life 
showed  but  a  dim  perception  of  the  value  of  that 
religion  foV  which  they  were  thus  prepared  to  lay 
down  their  lives.  ^ 

The  chief  blame  of  these  indiscriminate  proscrip- 
tions has  been  laid  on  Aben-Farax,  the  famous  dyer 
of  Granada,  whose  appetite  for  blood  seems  to  have 
been  as  insatiable  as  that  of  any  wild  beast  in  the 
Alpuj  arras.  In  executing  the  commission  assigned 
to  him  by  Aben-Humeya,  he  was  obliged  to  visit 
all  parts  of  the  country.  Wherever  he  came,  im- 
patient of  the  slower  movements  of  his  country- 
men in  the  work  of  destruction,  he  caused  thet 
prisons  to  be  emptied,  and  the  wretched  inmates 
to  be  butchered  before  his  eyes.  At  Ugijar  he 
thus  directed  the  execution  of  no  less  than  two 
hundred  and  forty  Christians,  laymen  and  eccle- 
siastics.^ His  progress  through  the  land  was  lit- 
erally over  the  dead  bodies  of  his  victims. 

Fierce  as  he  was,  Aben-Humeya  had  some 
touches  of  humanity  in  his  nature,  which  made  him 
revolt  at  the  wholesale  murders  perpetrated  by  his 
lieutenant.  He  was  the  more  indignant,  when,  on 
hastening  to  Ugijar  to  save  the  lives  of  some  of 
the   captives,   his   friends,    he  found  that  he  had 


^  "Todos  estuvieron  tan  con- 
Btantcs  en  la  Fe,  que  si  bien  fueron 
combidados  con  grandes  riquczas 
y  bienes  A  que  la  dejasen,  con  nin- 
guno  se  pudo  acabar ;  aunque  en- 
tre  los  martyrizados  huvo  muchas 
mugeres,  ninos  y  hombres  que  ha- 
tian  vivido  descompuestamente.'* 


Salazar  de  Mendoza,  Monarquia 
de  £spana,  torn.  IL  p.  139. 

^  "  Murieron  este  dia  en  Uxixar 
docientos  y  quarenta  Christianos 
clerigos  y  legos,  y  entre  ellos  seis 
canonigos  de  aquella  iglesia,  que  es 
colegial."  Marmol,  Rebelion  de 
Granada,  torn.  L  p.  297. 


Ch.  ILl 


MASSACRE  OF  THE  CHRISTIANS. 


59 


come  too  late,  for  the  man  of  blood  had  been  there 
before  him.  He  soon  after  summoned  his  officer 
into  his  presence,  not  with  the  impolitic  design  of 
taxing  him  with  his  cruelties,  but  to  call  him  to  a 
reckoning  for  the  treasure  he  had  pillaged  from  the 
churches ;  and  dissatisfied,  or  afffecting  to  be  so, 
with  his  report,  he  at  once  deposed  Aben-Farax 
from  his  command.  The  ferocious  chief  submitted 
without  a  murmur.  He  descended  into  the  com- 
mon file,  and  no  more  appears  on  the  scene.  He 
was  one  of  those  miscreants  who  are  thrown  on  the 
surface  by  the  turmoil  of  a  revolution,  and,  after 
floating  there  for  a  while,  disappear  from  sight, 
and  the  wave  of  history  closes  over  them  for  ever. 


\''W   * 


p  I 


r  1 


r  • 


, 


CHAPTER    III. 

REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES. 

« 

Panic  in  Granada.  —  Muster  of  Troops.  —  Mondejar  takes  the  Field. 

Bold  Passage  at  Tablate.  —  Retreat  of  the  Moriscoes.  —  Combat  at 
Alfajarali.— Perilous  March.  —  Massacre  at  Jubiles.  —  The  Libei^ 
at«d  Christians. 

1568,  1569. 

As  day  after  day  brought  tidings  to  the  people 
of  Granada  of  the  barbarities  perpetrated  in  the 
Alpujarras,  the  whole  city  was  filled  with  grief  and 
consternation.  The  men  might  be  seen  gathered 
together  in  knots  in  the  public  squares ;  the  women 
ran  about  from  house  to  house,  telling  the  tale  of 
horrors,  which  could  hardly  be  exaggerated  in  the 
recital.  They  thronged  to  the  churches,  where  the 
archbishop  and  the  clergy  were  all  day  long  offer- 
mg  up  prayers,  to  avert  the  wrath  of  Heaven  from 
Granada.  The  places  of  business  were  abandoned. 
The  shops  and  booths  were  closed.'  As  men  called 
to  mind   the   late  irruption  of  Aben-Farax,  they 


1  "  Estavan  las  casas  j-ermas  i 
tiendas  cerradas,  suspenso  el  trato, 
mudadas  las  horas  de  oficios  di vinos 
i  humanos ;  atentos  los  Religiosos  i 
ocupados  en  oraciones  i  plegarias, 


como  se  suele  on  ticmpo  i  punto  de 
grandes  peligros."  Mendoza,  Guer- 
ra  de  Granada,  p.  54. 

Men<loza  paints  the  panic  of  Gra- 
nada with  the  pencil  of  Tacitus. 


Ch.  IIL] 


PANIC   IN  GRANADA. 


61 


g 


were  filled  with  apprehensions  that  the  same  thin 
would  be  attempted  again  ;  and  rumors  went 
abroad  that  the  mountaineers  were  plotting  another 
descent  on  the  city,  and,  with  the  aid  of  their  coun- 
trymen in  the  Albaicin,  would  soon  deluge  the 
streets  with  the  blood  of  the  Christians.  Under 
the  influence  of  these  fears,  some  took  refuge  iu 
the  fortress  of  the  Alhambra ;  others  fled  into  the 
country.  Many  kept  watch  during  the  long  night, 
while  those  who  withdrew  to  rest  started  from  their 
slumbers  at  the  least  noise,  supposing  it  to  be  the 
war-cry  of  the  Moslem,  and  that  the  enemy  was  at 
the  gates. 

Nor  was  the  alarm  less  that  was  felt  bv  the 
Moriscoes  in  the  city,  as  it  was  certainly  better 
founded, — for  the  Moriscoes  were  the  weaker  party 
of  the  two.  They  knew  the  apprehensions  enter- 
tained of  them  by  the  Christians,  and  that,  when 
men  have  the  power  to  relieve  themselves  of  their 
fears,  they  are  not  apt  to  be  very  scrupulous  as  to 
the  means  of  doing  so.  They  were  afraid  to  ven- 
ture into  the  streets  by  day,  and  at  night  they 
barricaded  their  houses  as  in  a  time  of  siege.^ 
They  well  knew  that  a  single  act  of  imprudence 
on  their  part,  or  even  the  merest  accident,  might 
bring  the  Spaniards  upon  them  and  lead  to  a  gen- 
eral massacre.  They  were  like  the  traveller  who 
sees  the  avalanche  trembling  above  him,  which  the 
least  jar  of  the  elements,  or  his  own  unwary  move- 
ments, may  dislodge  from   its  slippery  basis,  and 

8  Circourt,  Hist  des  Arabes  d'Espagne,  torn  II.  p.  322. 


62 


KEBELLION  OF  THK  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


Cii.  Ill] 


MUSTER  OF  TROOPS. 


63 


'  1 

i 

I.  .1 


11    ^ 

1 


[!•" 


"J 


bring  down  in  ruin  on  his  head.  Thus  the  two 
races,  inhabitants  of  the  same  city,  were  like  two 
hostile  camps,  looking  on  each  other  with  watch- 
ful  and  malignant  eyes,  and  ready  at  any  moment 
to  come  into  deadly  conflict. 

In  this  state  of  things,  the  Moriscoes,  anxious 
to  allay  the  apprehensions  of  the  Spaniards,  were 
profuse  in  their  professions  of  loyalty,  and  in  their 
assurances  that  there  was  neither  concert  nor  sym- 
pathy between  them  and  their  countrymen  in  the 
Alpujarras.  The  government,  to  give  still  greater 
confidence  to  the  Christians,  freely  distributed  arms 
among  them,  thus  enabling  them,  as  far  as  possible, 
to  provide  for  their  own  security.  The  inhabitants 
enrolled  themselves  in  companies.  The  citizen 
was  speedily  converted  into  the  soldier ;  and  every 
man,  of  whatever  trade  or  profession,  —  the  me- 
chanic,  the  merchant,  the  lawyer,  —  took  his  turn 
of  military  service.  Even  the  advocates,  when  at- 
tending the  courts  of  justice,  appeared  with  their 
weapons  by  their  side.^ 

But  what  contributed  above  all  to  revive  the 
public  confidence  was  the  care  of  the  government 
to  strengthen  the  garrison  in  the  Alhambra  by  the 
addition  of  five  hundred  regular  troops.  When, 
by  these  various  means,  the  marquis  of  Mondejar 
saw  that  tranquillity  was  restored  to  the  capital, 

3  "  En  un  punto  sc  mudaron  en  los  estrados,  y  no  dexaban  do 

todos  los  oficios  y  tratos  en  solda-  parescer  muy  bien  en  aquella  co- 

desca,tantoqiielosrelatorcs,8ecre-  yuntura.'*    Marmol,   Rebehori    do 

tarios,  letrados,  procuradores  de  la  Granatla,  torn.  I.  p.  858. 
Audiencia   entraban  con  espadas 


he  bestowed  all  his  thoughts  on  an  expedition  into 
the  Alpujarras,  desirous  to  crush  the  insurrection 
in  its  bud,  and  to  rescue  the  unfortunate  captives, 
whose  fate  there  excited  the  most  dismal  apprehen- 
sions amonorst  their  friends  and  relatives  in  Gra- 
nada.  He  sent  forth  his  summons  accordingly  to 
the  great  lords  and  the  cities  of  Andalusia,  to  fur- 
nish him  at  once  with  their  contingents  for  carry- 
ing on  the  war.  The  feudal  principle  still  obtained 
in  this  quarter,  requiring  the  several  towns  to  do 
military  service  for  their  possessions,  by  maintain- 
ing, when  called  upon,  a  certain  number  of  troops 
in  the  field,  at  their  own  expense  for  three  months, 
and  at  the  joint  expense  of  themselves  and  the 
government  for  six  months  longer.*  The  system 
worked  well  enough  in  those  ancient  times  when 
a  season  rarely  passed  without  a  foray  against  the 
Moslems.  But  since  the  fall  of  Granada,  a  long 
period  of  inactivity  had  followed,  and  the  citizen, 
rarely  summoned  to  the  field,  had  lost  all  the  essen- 
tial attributes  of  the  soldier.  The  usual  term  of 
service  was  too  short  to  supply  the  experience  and 
the  discipline  which  he  needed ;  and  far  from  en- 
tering on  a  campaign  with  the  patriotic  or  the 
chivalrous  feeling  that  gives  dignity  to  the  profes- 
sion  of  arms,  he  brought  with  him  the  mercenary 
spirit  of  a  trader,  intent  only  on  his  personal  gains, 
and  eager,  as  soon  as  he  had  enriched  himself  by 

♦  "  Servian  tres  meses  pagados  la  mitad,  i  otra  mltad  el  Rei.** 
por  8U8  pueblos  enteramente,  i  ^eis  Mendoza,  Guerra  de  Granada, 
meses  adelante  pagavan  los  pueblos    p.  53. 


64 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


Cii.  Ill] 


MUSTER  OF  TROOPS. 


65 


1 11 


111 


a  lucky  foray,  or  the  sack  of  some  ill-fated  city,  to 
return  home,  and  give  place  to  others,  as  inex- 
perienced and  possessed  of  as  little  subordination 
as  himself^ 

But,  however  deficient  this  civic  militia  might 
be  in  tactics,  the  men  were  well  provided  with 
arms  and  military  accoutrements ;  and,  as  the  mot- 
ley array  of  troops  passed  over  the  vega,  they  made 
a  gallant  show,  with  their  gay  uniforms  and  bright 
weapons  glancing  in  the  sun,  while  they  proudly 
displayed  the  ancient  banners  of  their  cities,  which 
had  waved  over  many  a  field  of  battle  against  the 
infidel.® 

But  no  part  of  the  warlike  spectacle  was  so 
brilliant  as  that  afforded  by  the  chivalry  of  the 
country,  —  the  nobles  and  cavaliers,  who,  with 
their  retainers  and  household  troops,  had  taken 
the  field  with  as  much  alacrity  on  the  present  occa^ 
sion  as  their  fathers  had  ever  shown  when  roused 
by  the  cry  that  the  enemy  was  over  the  borders.' 
They  were  much  inferior  in  numbers  to  the  militia 
of  the  towns.  But  inferiority  of  numbers  was  more 
than  compensated  by  excellence  of  discipline,  by 


5  Mendoza,  with  a  few  \'igorou3 
touches,  has  sketched,  or  rather 
sculptured  in  bold  relief,  the  rude 
and  rapacious  character  of  the 
Andalusian  soldiery.  —  "  Mai  pa- 
gada  I  por  esto  no  bien  disciplina- 
da ;  mantenida  del  robo,  i  a  trueco 
de  alcanzar  o  conservar  este  mucha 
lil>ertad,  poca  verguenza,  i  menos 
honra.**    Ibid.,  p.  103. 


.  ^  "Toda  gente  lucida  y  bien 
arreada  a  punto  de  guerra,  que 
cierto  representaban  la  pompa  y 
noblcza  de  sus  ciudades.'*  Mar- 
mol,  Rebelion  de  Granada,  torn.  I. 
p.  396. 

7  **  Muchofl  eapitanofl  fuertef, 
muchcM  liicidcM  soldadofl, 
ricas  banderas  tendidaa, 
y  8U  estandarte  dorado." 
Hitm,  Guemui  de  Granada,  torn.  II.  p.  6L 


their  perfect  appointments,  and  by  that  chivalrous 
feeling  which  made  them  discard  every  mercenary 
consideration  in  the  pursuit  of  glory.  Such  was 
the  feeling  of  Luis  Paer  de  Castillego,  the  ancient 
regidor  of  Cordova.  When  offered  an  indepen- 
dent command,  with  the  emoluments  annexed  to 
it,  he  proudly  replied :  "  I  want  neither  rank  nor 
pay.  I,  my  sons,  my  kindred,  my  whole  house, 
will  always  be  found  ready  to  serve  our  God  and 
our  king.  It  is  the  title  by  which  we  hold  our 
inheritance  and  our  patent  of  nobility."  ^ 

With  such  loyal  and  high-mettled  cavaliers  to 
support  him,  Mondejar  could  not  feel  doubtful  of 
the  success  of  his  arms.  They  had,  however,  al- 
ready met  with  one  reverse;  and  he  received  ti- 
dings that  his  advance-guard,  sent  to  occupy  a 
strong  pass  that  led  into  the  mountains,  had  been 
driven  from  its  position,  and  had  sustained  some- 
thing like  a  defeat.  This  WQuld  have  been  still 
more  decisive,  had  it  not  been  for  the  courage  of 
certain  ecclesiastics,  eight  in  number,  —  four  of 
them  Franciscans  and  four  of  the  Society  of  Jesus, 
—  who,  as  the  troop§  gave  way,  threw  themselves 
into  the  thick  of  the  fight,  and  by  their  example 
shamed  the  soldiers  into  making  a  more  determined 
resistance.     The  present  war  took  the  form  of  a 


8  Circourt,    Hist,    des    Arabes  their  head.     They  did  not  arrive, 

d'Espagne,  torn.  II.  p.  326.  however,  till  a  later  period  of  the 

Seville  alone  furnished  two  thou-  war.      See    Zuniga,    Anpales    de 

sand  troops,  with  one  of  the  most  Sevilla,   (Madrid,  1677,    fol.,)   p. 

illustrious  cavaliers  of  the  city  at  533. 

VOL.  III.  9 


Il 


GG 


KEBBLUON  OF  TIIE  MOlilSCOES.         [Book  \'. 


religious  war;  and  many  a  valiant  churcliman, 
armed  with  sword  and  crucifix,  bore  his  part  in  it 
as  in  a  crusade. 

Hastening  his  preparations,  the  captain-general, 
without  waiting  for  further  reinforcements,  marched 
out  of  Granada  on  the  second  of  January,  1569, 
at  the  head  of  a  small  body,  which  did  not  exceed 
in  all  two  thousand  foot  and  four  hundred  horse. 
He  was  speedily  joined  by  levies  from  the  neighbor- 
ing towns,  —  from  Jaen,  Loja,  Alhama,  Antequera, 
and  other  places,  —  which  in  a  few  days  swelled 
his  little  army  to  double  its  original  size.  The 
capital  he  left  in  the  hands  of  his  son,  the  count 
of  Tendilla,  —  a  man  of  less  discretion  than  his 
father,  of  a  sterner  and  more  impatient  temper,  and 
one  who  had  little  sympathy  for  the  Morisco.  By 
his  directions,  the  peasantry  of  the  vega  were  re- 
quired to  supply  the  army  with  twenty  thousand 
pounds  of  bread  daily.^  The  additional  troops 
stationed  in  the  city,  as  well  as  those  who  met 
there,  as  in  a  place  of  rendezvous,  on  their  way  to 
the  sierra,  were  all  quartered  on  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Albaicin,  where  they  freely  indulged  in  the 
usual  habits  of  military  license.  The  Moriscoes 
still  retained  much  of  that  jealous  sensibility,  which 
leads  the  natives  of  the  East  to  seclude  their  wives 
and  daughters  from  the  eye  of  the  stranger.     It 

9  "  Repartid  los  lugares  de   la  a  dos  libras  al  campo  el  dia  que  le 

vega  en  siete  partidos,  y  manddles,  tocase   de    la    semana."    Mannol, 

que  cada  uno  tuviese  cuidado  de  Rebelion  de  Granada,  torn.  I.  p. 

llevar  diez  mil  panes  amasados  de  404. 


Ch.  III.] 


MONDEJAR   TAKES   THE   FIELD. 


07 


was  in  vain,  however,  that  they  urged  their  com- 
plaints in  the  most  respectful  and  deprecatory 
terms  before  the  governor.  The  haughty  Span- 
iard only  answered  them  with  a  stern  rebuke, 
which  made  the  Moriscoes  too  late  repent  that 
they  had  not  profited  by  the  opportunity  offered 
them   by  Aben-Farax  of  regaining  their  indepen- 

dence.^° 

Leaving  Granada,  the  captain-geneml  took  the 
most  direct  route,  leading  along  the  western  slant 
of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  that  mountain  range  which, 
with  its  frosty  peaks  glistening  in  the  sun  like 
palisades  of  silver,  fences  round  the  city  on  the 
south,  and  screens  it  in  the  summer  from  the 
scorching  winds  of  Africa.  Thence  he  rapidly 
descended  into  the  beautiful  vale  of  Lecrin,  which 
spreads  out,  like  a  gay  carpet  embroidered  with 
many  a  wild-flower,  to  the  verge  of  the  Alpujarras. 
It  was  now,  however,  the  dead  of  winter,  when 
the  bright  coloring  of  the  landscape,  even  in  this 
favored  region,  watered  as  it  was  by  numerous 
fountains  and  running  streams,  had  faded  into  the 
sombre  tints  more  in  harmony  with  the  rude  scenes 
on  which  the  Spaniards  were  about  to  enter. 

Halting  a  night  at  Padul  to  refresh  his  troops, 
Mondejar  pressed  forward  to  Durcal,  which  he 
reached  barely  in  time  to  save  his  advance-guard 
from   a  more  shameful  discomfiture   than   it   had 

10  "Paso  este  negocio  tan  ade-  por  no  habcr  tomadcr  las  armas 
iante,  que  muchos  Moriscos  afren-  quando  Abenfarax  los  llamabx" 
tados  y  gastados  se  arrepintieron,     Ibid.,  p.  407. 


C8 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V 


before  experienced ;  for  the  enemy,  pressing  it  ou 
all  sides,  was  in  possession  of  the  principal  avenues 
to  the  town.  On  the  approach  of  the  main  body 
of  the  Spaniards,  however,  he  made  a  hasty  re- 
treat, and  established  himself  in  a  strong  position 
at  the  pass  of  Tablate.  The  place  was  defended  by 
a  barranca^  or  ravine,  not  fonnidable  from  its  width, 
but  its  rocky  sides  swept  sheer  down  to  a  depth 
that  made  the  brain  of  the  traveller  giddy  as  he 
looked  into  the  frightful  abyss.  The  chasm  ex- 
tended at  least  eight  leagues  in  length,  thus  serv- 
ing, like  a  gigantic  ditch  scooped  out  by  the  hand 
of  Nature,  to  afford  protection  to  the  beautiful 
valley  against  the  inroads  of  the  fierce  tribes  of 
the  mountains. 

Across  this  gulf  a  frail  wooden  bridge  had  been 
constructed,  forming  the  only  means  of  access  from 
this  quarter  to  the  country  of  the  Alpujarras.  But 
this  structure  was  now  nearly  demolished  by  the 
Moriscoes,  who  had  taken  up  the  floor,  and  re- 
moved most  of  the  supports,  till  the  passage  of 
the  tottering  fabric  could  not  safely  be  attempted 
by  a  single  individual,  much  less  by  an  army.^* 
That  they  did  not  destroy  the  bridge  altogether, 
probably  arose  from  their  desire  to  re-establish,  as 
soon  as  possible,  their  communications  with  their 
countrymen  in  the  valley. 

Meanwhile  the  Moslems  had  taken  up  a  position 

'1  "  Apenas  podia  ir  por  ella  un  do  por  los  cimientos,  de  manera, 
hombre  suelto ;  y  aun  este  poco  que  si  cargase  mas  de  una  persona, 
paso,  le  tenian  descavado  y  solapa-    fuese  abaxo."     Ibid.,  p.  409. 


Cii.  ml 


BOLD   PASSAGE  AT   TABLATE. 


69 


which  commanded  the  farther  end  of  the  bridge, 
where  they  calmly  awaited  the  approach  of  the 
Spaniards.  Their  army,  which  greatly  fluctuated 
in  its  numbers  at  different  periods  of  the  campaign, 
W9.S  a  miscellaneous  body,  ill  disciplined  and  worse 
armed.  Some  of  the  men  carried  fire-arms,  some 
crossbows ;  others  had  only  slings  or  javelins,  or 
even  sharp-pointed  stakes,  —  any  weapon,  in  short, 
however  rude^  which  they  had  contrived  to  secrete 
from  the  Spanish  officials  charged  with  enforcing 
the  laws  for  disarming  the  Moriscoes.  But  they 
were  a  bold  and  independent  race,  inured  to  a  life 
of  peril  and  privation ;  and,  however  inferior  to  the 
Christians  in  other  respects,  they  had  one  obvious 
advantage  in  their  familiarity  with  the  mountain 
wilds  in  which  they  had  been  nurtured  from  in- 
fancy. 

As  the  Spaniards  approached  the  ravine,  they 
were  saluted  by  the  enemy,  from  the  other  side, 
with  a  shower  of  balls,  stones,  and  arrows,  which, 
falling  at  random,  did  little  mischief.  But  as  soon 
as  the  columns  of  the  Christians  reached  the  brow 
of  the  barranca^  and  formed  into  line,  they  opened  a 
much  more  effective  fire  on  their  adversaries ;  and 
when  the  heavy  guns  with  which  Mendoza  was 
provided  were  got  into  position,  they  did  such 
execution  on  the  enemy  that  he  thought  it  pru- 
dent to  abandon  the  bridge,  and  take  post  behind 
a  rising  ground,  which  screened  him  from  the  fire. 

All  thougfhts  were  now  turned  on  the  mode  of 
crossing  the  ravine  ;  and  many  a  look  of  blank  dis- 


70 


HEBELLION  OF  THK  MORISCOES.         (Book  V 


may  was  turned  on  the  dilapidated  bridge,  which, 
like  a  spider  s  web,  trembling  in  every  breeze,  was 
stretched  across  the  formidable  chasm.  No  one 
was  bold  enough  to  venture  on  this  pass  of  peril. 
At  length  a  Franciscan  monk,  named  Christoval 
de  Molina,  offered  himself  for  the  emprise.  It 
was  again  an  ecclesiastic  who  was  to  lead  the 
way  in  the  path  of  danger.  Slinging  his  shield 
across  his  back,  with  his  robe  tucked  closely  around 
him,  grasping  a  crucifix  in  his  left  hand,  and  w^ith 
his  right  brandishing  his  sword,  the  valiant  friar 
set  his  foot  upon  the  bridge.''^  All  eyes  were  fas- 
tened upon  him,  as,  invoking  the  name  of  Jesus, 
he  went  courageously  but  cautiously  forward,  pick- 
ing his  way  along  the  skeleton  fabric,  which  trem- 
bled under  his  weight,  as  if  about  to  fall  in  pieces 
and  precipitate  him  into  the  gulf  below.  But  he 
was  not  so  to  perish ;  and  his  safe  arrival  on  the 
farther  side  was  greeted  with  the  shouts  of  the 
soldieiy,  who,  ashamed  of  their  hesitation,  now 
pressed  forward  to  follow  in  his  footsteps. 

The  first  who  ventured  had  the  same  good  for- 
tune as  his  predecessor.  Tlie  second,  missing  his 
step  or  becoming  dizzy,  lost  his  foothold,  and,  tum- 
bling headlong,  was  dashed  to  pieces  on  the  bottom 
of  the  ravine.     One  after  another,  the  soldiers  fol- 


'^  »  Mas  un  bendito  fraylo  de  la 
orden  del  serafico  padre  San  Fran- 
Cisco,  llamado  fray  Christoval  do 
Molina,  con  un  erucifixo  en  la  ma- 
no  izquierda,  y  la  espada  desnuda 
eii  la  derecha,  los  habitos  co«'idos 


en  la  cinta,  y  una  rodela  echada  tt 
las  espaldas,  invocando  el  podcroso 
nombro  de  Jesus,  lle^d  al  peligroso 
pavso,  y  se  metid  determinadamente 
por  el.**  Marmol,  llebelion  d« 
Granada,  torn,  I.  p.  410. 


Ca.  IILJ 


RETREAT  OF  THE  MORISCOES. 


71 


lowed,  and  w  ith  fewer  casualties  than  might  have 
been   expected  from   the   perilous   nature   of  the 
passage.     During  all  this  time  they  experienced  no 
molestation  from  the  enemy,  intimidated,  perhaps, 
by  the  unexpected  audacity  of  the  Spaniards,  and 
not  caring  to  come  within  the  range  of  the  deadly 
fire  of  their  artillery.     No  sooner  liad  the  arquo- 
busiers  crossed  in  sufficient  strength,  than  Monde- 
jar,  putting  himself  at  their  head,  led  them  against 
the   Moslems.     He   was   received  with   a  spirited 
volley,  which  had  well-nigh  proved  fatal  to  him ; 
and   had   it   not   been  for  his   good  cuirass,  that 
turned   the  ball   of   an   arquebuse,    his  campaign 
would  have  been  brought  to  a  close  at  its  com- 
mencement.    Tlie  skirmish  lasted  but  a  short  time, 
as  the  Moriscoes,  already  disheartened  by  the  suc- 
cess of  the  assailants,  or  in  obedience  to  the  plan 
of  operations   marked   out  by  their  leader,  aban- 
doned their  position,  and  drew  off  rapidly  towards 
the   mountains.     It   was   the   intention  of   Aben- 
Humeya,  as  already  noticed,  to  entangle  his  ene- 
mies   in    the   defiles   of   the    sierra,   where,    inde- 
pendently of  the  advantage  he   possessed   from  a 
knowledge  of  the  country,  the   rugged   character 
of  the  ground,  he  conceived,  would  make  it  im- 
practicable  for    both    cavalry   and   artillery,   with 
neither  of  which  he  was  provided.^^ 

13  Ibid.,  p.  410,  etseq.  —  Men-  passage  of  the  bridge  at  Tablat*^ 

doza,  Guerra  de  Granada,  pp.  67,  in  one  of  the  rmnances,  or  ballads. 

68.  —  Hurrera,    Ilistoria    General,  with  which  he  has  plentifully  bo- 

torn.  I.  p.  736.  sprinkled  the  second  volume  of  \m 

Ilita  has  commemorated  the  bold  work,  and  which  present  a  sorry 


7  > 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MO^SCOES.         [Book  V. 


Ch.  IIL] 


RETREAT  OF  THE  MORISCOES. 


73 


The  Spanish  commander,  resuming  his  former  x 
station,  employed  the  night  in  restoring  the  bridge, 
on  which  hi§  men  labored  to  such  purpose,  that  by 
morning  it  was  in  a  condition  for  both  his  horse 
and  his  heavy  guns  to  cross  in  safety.  Mean- 
while he  received  tidings  that  a  body  of  a  hundred 
and  eighty  Spaniards,  in  the  neighboring  town  of 
Orgiba,  who  had  thrown  themselves  into  the  tower 
of  the  church  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  insurrec- 
tion, were  still  holding  their  position,  and  anxiously 
looking  for  succor  from  their  countrymen.  Push- 
ing forward,  therefore,  without  loss  of  time,  he  re- 
sumed his  march  across  the  valley,  which  was  here 
defended  on  either  side  by  rugged  hills,  that,  grow- 
ing bolder  as  he  advanced,  announced  his  entrance 
into  the  gorges  of  the  Alpujarras.  The  weather  was 
tempestuous.  The  roads  were  rendered  worse  than 
usual  by  the  heavy  rains  and  by  the  torrents  that 
descended  from  the  hills.  The  Spaniards,  more- 
over, suffered  much  from  straggling  parties  of  the 
enemy,  who  had  possession  of  the  heights,  w^hence 
they  rolled  down  huge  rocks,  and  hurled  missiles 
of  eveiy  kind  on  the  heads  of  the  invaders.  To 
rid  himself  of  this  annoyance,  Mondejar  ordered 
detachments  of  horse  —  one  of  them  under  the 
command  of  his  son,  Don  Antonio  de  Mendoza  — 


rontrast  to  the  ballads  in  the  pre- 
ceding vol ume .  These,  which  form 
part  of  the  popular  minstrelsy  of 
an  earlier  aiore,  have  all  the  raeiness 
and  flavor  that  holong  to  the  native 
^ild-flowerof  thesoil.    The  ballads 


in  the  second  volume  are  probably 
the  work  of  Hita  himself,  —  poor 
imitations  of  the  anti(jue,  and  prov- 
ing that,  if  his  rich  and  redundant 
prose  is  akin  to  poetrj',  his  poetry 
is  still  nearer  allied  to  prose. 


I 


to  scour  the  crests  of  the  hills  and  dislodge  the 
skirmishers.  Pioneers  were  sent  in  advance,  to 
level  the  ground  and  render  it  practicable  for  the 
cavalry.  The  service  was  admirably  performed; 
and  the  mountaineers,  little  acquainted  with  the 
horse,  which  they  seem  to  have  held  in  as  much 
terror  as  did  the  ancient  Mexicans,  were  so  as- 
tounded by  seeing  the  light-footed  Andalusian  steed 
scaling  the  rough  sides  of  the  sierra,  along  paths 
where  the  sportsman  would  hardly  venture,  that, 
without  waiting  for  the  charge,  they  speedily  quit- 
ted the  ground,  and  fell  back  on  the  main  body 

of  their  army. 

This  was  posted  at  Lanjaron,  a  place  but  a  few 
miles  off,  where  the  Moriscoes  had  profited  by  a 
gentle  eminence  that  commanded  a  narrow  defile, 
to  throw  up  a  breastwork  of  stone  and  earth,  be- 
hind which  they  were  intrenched,  prepared,  as  it 
would  seem,  to  give  battle  to  the  Spaniards. 

The  daylight  had  begun  to  fade,  as  the  latter 
drew  near  the  enemy's  encampment;  and,  as  he 
was  unacquainted  with  the  ground,  Mondejar  re- 
solved  to  postpone  his  attack  till  the  following 
morning.  The  night  set  in  dark  and  threatening. 
But  a  hundred  watchfires  blazing  on  the  hill-tops 
illumined  the  sky,  and  sent  a  feeble  radiance  into 
the  gloom  of  the  valley.  All  night  long  the  wild 
notes  of  the  musical  instruments  peculiar  to  the 
Moors,  mingling  with  their  shrill  war-cries,  sound- 
ed  in  the  ears  of  the  Christians,  keeping  them 
under  arms,  and  apprehensive  every  moment  of  an 


VOL.    III. 


10 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V- 


attack."  But  a  night  attack  was  contrary  to  the 
usual  tactics  of  the  Moors.  Nor,  as  it  appeared, 
did  they  intend  to  join  battle  with  the  Spaniards 
at  all  in  this  place.  At  least,  if  such  had  been 
their  design,  they  changed  it.  For  at  break  of 
day,  to  the  surprise  of  the  Spaniards,  no  vestige 
was  to  be  seen  of  the  Moriscoes,  who,  abandoning 
their  position,  had  taken  flight,  like  their  own 
birds  of  prey,  into  the  depths  of  the  mountains. 

Mondejar,  not  sorry  to  be  spared  the  delay  which 
an  encounter  must  have  caused  him  at  a  time  when 
every  moment  was  so  precious,  now  rapidly  pushed 
forward  to  Orgiba,  where  he  happily  arrived  in 
season  to  relieve  the  garrison,  reduced  almost  to 
the  last  extremity,  and  to  put  to  flight  the  rabble 
who  besieged  it 

In  the  fulness  of  their  hearts,  and  with  the  tears 
streaming  from  their  eyes,  the  poor  prisoners  came 
forth  from  their  fortress  to  embrace  the  deliverers 
who  had  rescued  them  from  the  most  terrible  of 
deaths.  Their  apprehensions  of  such  a  fate  had 
alone  nerved  their  souls  to  so  long  and  heroic  a 
resistance.  Yet  they  must  have  sunk  ere  this  from 
famine,  had  it  not  been  for  their  politic  precaution 
of  taking  with  them  into  the  tower  several  of  the 
Morisco  children,  whose  parents  secretly  supplied 

"  "  Estuvo  alii  aquella  noche  a  atemorizar    nucstros     Christianos, 

vista  de  Ids  enemigos,  que  teniendo  que   con   grandisimo   recato   estu- 

ocupado  el  paso  con  grandes  fue-  vieron  todos  con  las  armas  en  las 

gos  por  aquellos  cerros,  no  hacian  manos.*'     Marmol,    Rebelion    de 

smo  tocar  sus  atabalejos,  dulzaynas  Granada,  torn.  L  p.  413. 
)'  xabecas,  haciendo  algazaras  para 


Cii.  III.] 


RETREAT   OF  THE  MORISCOES. 


75 


them  with  food,  which  served  as  the  means  of 
subsistence  —  scanty  though  it  was  —  for  the  gar- 
rison.  But  as  the  latter  came  forth  into  view, 
their  wasted  forms  and  ftimine-stricken  visages  told 
a  talc  of  woe  that  would  have  softened  a   heart 

of  flint.^' 

The  situation  of  Orgiba  pointed  it  out  as  suit- 
able for  a  fortified  post,  to  cover  the  retreat  of  the 
army,  if  necessary,  and  to  protect  the  convoys  of 
supplies  to  be  regularly  forwarded  from  Granada. 
Leaving  a  small  garrison  there,  the  captain-general, 
without  longer  delay,  resumed  his  pursuit  of  the 

enemy. 

Aben-Humeya   had    retreated   into    Poqueira,  a 

ruo-o-ed  district  of  the  Alpujarras.  Here  he  had 
posted  himself,  with  an  army  amounting  to  more 
than  double  its  former  numbers,  at  the  extremity 
of  a  dangerous  defile,  called  the  Pass  of  Alfaja- 
rail.  Behind  lay  the  town  of  Bubion,  the  capital 
of  the  district,  in  which,  considering  it  as  a  place 
of  safety,  many  of  the  wealthier  Moriscoes  had 
deposited  their  women  and  their  treasures. 

Mondejar's  line  of  march  now  took  him  into 
the  heart  of  the  wildest  regions  of  the  Alpujarras, 
where  the  scenery  assumed  a  character  of  sublim- 
ity very  different  from  what  he  had  met  with  in 
the  lower  levels  of  the  country.  Here  mountain 
rose  beyond  mountain,  till  their  hoary  heads,  soar- 


J5  Ibid.,  p.  414.  —  Herrera,  His- 
toria  General,  torn.  I.  p.  737. — 
nU'da,  Cronica  de  Espana,  p.  684. 


Mendoza,  Gncrra  de  Granada, 

pp.     69,     70.  —  Ferreras,     Hist. 
d'Espagne,  torn.  X.  p.  17. 


76 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


Cii.  III-l 


CO^IBAT   AT   ALFAJAUALL 


i  I 


ing  above  the  clouds,  entered  far  into  the  region  of 
eternal  snow.  ,  The  scene  was  as  gloomy  as  it  was 
grand.  Instead  of  the  wide-spreading  woods  that 
usually  hang  round  the  skirts  of  lofty  mountains, 
covering  up  their  nakedness  from  the  eye,  nothing 
here  was  to  be  seen  but  masses  of  shattered  rock, 
black  as  if  scathed  by  volcanic  fires,  and  heaped 
one  upon  another  in  a  sort  of  wild  confusion,  as  if 
some  tremendous  convulsion  of  nature  had  torn 
the  hills  from  their  foundations,  and  thrown  them 
into  primitive  chaos.  Yet  the  industry  of  the  Mo- 
riscoes  had  contrived  to  relie\  e  the  savage  features 
of  the  landscape,  by  scooping  out  terraces  wherever 
the  rocky  soil  allowed  it,  and  raising  there  the  A'ine 
and  other  plants,  in  bright  patches  of  variegated 
culture,  that  hung  like  a  garland  round  the  gaunt 
and  swarthy  sierra. 

The  temperature  was  now  greatly  changed  from 
what  the  army  had  experienced  in  the  valley.  The 
wind,  sweeping  dow^n  the  icy  sides  of  the  moun- 
tains, found  its  way  through  the  harness  of  the 
cavaliers  and  the  light  covering  of  the  soldiers, 
benumbing  their  limbs,  and  piercing  them  to  the 
very  bone.  Great  difficulty  was  experienced  in 
dragging  the  cannon  up  the  steep  heights,  and 
along  roads  and  passes,  which,  however  easily 
traversed  by  the  light-footed  mountaineer,  were 
but  ill  suited  to  the  movements  of  an  army  clad 
in  the  heavy  panoply  of  war. 

The  march  was  conducted  in  perfect  order,  thi^ 
arquebusiers  occupying  the  van,  and  the  cavalry 


riding  on  either  flank,  while  detachments  of  infiin- 
try,  the  main  body  of  which  occupied  the  centre, 
were  thrown  out  to  the  right  and  left,  on  the 
higher  grounds  along  the  route  of  the  army,  to 
save  it  from  annoyance  from  the  mountaineers. 

On  the  thirteenth  of  January,  Mondejar  entered 
the  narrow  defile  of  Alfajarali,  at  the  farther  end 
of  which  the  motley  multitude  that  had  gathered 
round  the  standard  of  Aben-Humeya  were  already 
drawn  up  in  battle  array.  His  right  wing  rested 
on  the  bold  side  of  the  sierra.  The  left  was  de- 
fended by  a  deep  ravine,  and  his  position  was 
strengthened  by  more  than  one  ambuscade,  for 
which  the  nature  of  the  ground  was  eminently 
favorable.'^  Indeed,  ambushes  and  surprises  formed 
part  of  the  regular  strategy  of  the  Moorish  warrior, 
who  lost  heart  if  he  failed  in  these,  —  like  the  lion, 
who,  if  balked  in  the  first  spring  upon  his  prey,  is 
said  rarely  to  attempt  another. 

Putting  these  wily  tactics  into  practice,  the  Mo- 
risco  chief,  as  soon  as  the  Spaniards  were  fairly 
entangled  in  the  defile,  without  waiting  for  them  to 
come  ?nto  order  of  battle,  gave  the  signal ;  and  his 
men,  starting  up  from  glen,  thicket,  and  ravine,  or 
bursting  down  the  hill-sides  like  their  own  winter- 
torrents,  fell  at  once  on  the  Christians,  —  front, 
flank,  and  rear,  —  assailing  them  on  every  quar- 

16  uAlamanoderechacubiertos  lo  hondo  del  barranco  dc  mucho 

oou  un  sierro,  havia  emboscados  mayor  numero  de  gente.^-    Men- 

quinientos  arcabuceros  i  valleste-  doza,  Guerra  de  Granada,  torn.  L 

ros,  demas  desto  otra  emboscada  en  p.  71. 


78 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


ter."     Astounded  by  the   fiery  suddenness  of  the 
assault,   the    rear-guard   retreated   on   the   centre, 
while   the   arquebusiers   in  the  van  were  thrown 
into  still  greater  disorder.     For  a  few  moments  it 
seemed   as    if  the   panic   would   become   general. 
But  the  voice  of  the  leader  was  heard  above  the 
tumult,  and  by  his  prompt  and  sagacious  measures 
he  fortunately   succeeded   in  restoring  order,  and 
reviving  the  confidence  of  his  men.     He  detached 
one  body  of  cavalry,  under  his  son-in-law,  to  the 
support  of  the  rear,  and  another  to  the  front  un- 
der the  command  of  his  son,  Antonio  de  Mendoza. 
Both  executed  their  commissions  with  spirit ;  and 
Mendoza,  outstripping  his  companions  in  the  haste 
with  which  he  galloped  to  the  front,  threw  himself 
into  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  where  he  was  struck 
from  his  horse  by  a  heavy  stone,  and  was  speedily 
surrounded  by  the  enemy,   from  whose  grasp  he 
was  with  difficulty,  and  not  till  after  much  hard 
fighting,  rescued  by  his  companions.     His  friend, 
Don  Alonso   Portocarrero,   the   scion  of  a   noble 
house  in  Andalusia,  whose  sons  had  always  claimed 
the  front  of  battle  against  the  infidel,  was  twice 
wounded  by  poisoned  arrows ;  for  the  Moors  of  the 
Alpuj  arras   tipped   their   weapons   with   a   deadly 
poison  distilled  from  a  weed  that  grew  wild  among 
the  mountains.  ^^ 

^'  "  Ellos  quancio  pensaron  que  hora  se  peled  con   ellos  a  todas 

nuestra  gente  iva  cansada  acome-  partes  i  a  las  espaldas,  no  sin  igual- 

tieron  por  la  frente,  por  el  eostado,  dad  i  peligro.'*    Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 
1  por  la  retaguardia,  todo  a  un         ^8  This  poison  was  extracted  from 

tiempo;  de  manera  que  quasi  una  the   aconite,  or  wolfs-bane,    that 


Cii.  IIL] 


COMBAT  AT  ALFAJARALl. 


79 


A  fierce  struggle  now  ensued.     For  the  Morisco 
was  spurred  on  by  hate  and  the  recollection  of  a 
thousand  wrongs.     Ill  provided  with  weapons  for 
attack,  and  destitute  of  defensive  armor,  he  exposed 
himself  to  the  hottest  of  his  enemy's  fire,  and  en- 
deavored to  drag  the  horsemen  from  their  saddles, 
while  stones  and  arrows,  with  which  some  musket- 
balls  were  intermingled,  fell  like  rain  on  the  well- 
tempered  harness  of  the  Andalusian  knights.     The 
latter,  now  fully  roused,  plunged  boldly  into  the 
thickest  of  the  Moorish  multitude,  trampling  them 
under  foot,  and  hewing  them  down,  right  and  left, 
with  their  sharp  blades.     The  arquebusiers,  at  the 
same  time,  delivered   a   well-directed  fire  on   the 
flank  of  the  Moriscoes,  who,  after  a  brave  struggle 
of  an  hour's  duration,  in  which  they  were  baffled 
on  every  quarter,  quitted  the   field,  covered  with 
their  slain,  as  precipitately  as  they  had  entered  it, 
and,   vanishing  among  the  mountains,  were  soon 
far  beyond  pursuit.^^ 

From  the  field  of  battle  Mondcjar  marched  at 
once  upon  Bubion,  the  capital  of  the  district,  and 
now  left  wholly  unprotected  by  the  Moslems.  Yet 
many  of  their  wives  and  daughters  remained  in  it ; 
and  Avhat  jrejoiced  the  heart  of  Mondejar  more  than 


grew  rife  among  the  Alpujarras. 
It  was  of  so  malignant  a  nature 
that  the  historian  assures  us  that, 
if  a  drop  mingled  with  the  blood 
flowins  from  a  wound,  the  virus 
would  ascend  the  stream  and  dif- 
fuse itself  over  the  whole  system ! 
Quince-juice  was  said  to  furnish 


the  best  antidote.     Ibid.,  pp.  73, 
74. 

19  Ibid.,  pp.  71  -  74.  —  Cabrera, 
Fllipe  Segundo,  p.  554.  — Marmol, 
Rcbelion  de  Granada,  torn.  I.  pp. 
416  -418.  —  Herrera,  llistoria 
General,  torn.  I.  p.  737.  —  Bleda, 
Cronica  de  Espana,  p.  684. 


80 


REBELUON  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Boi.k  V. 


all    was  the  libemtion  of  a  hundred  and  eighty 
Christian  women,    who   came   forth,    frantic    with 
joy  and  gratitude,  to  embrace  the  knees  of  their 
deliverers.     They  had  many  a   tale  of  horror  to 
tell  their  countrymen,  who  had  now  rescued  them 
from  a  fate  worse  than  that   of  death  itself;  for 
arrangements  had  been  made,  it  was  said,  to  send 
away  those  whose  persons  offered  the  greatest  at- 
tractions,  to  swell  the  harems  of  the  fierce  Barbary 
princes  in  alliance  with  the  Moriscoes.     The  town 
afforded  a  rich  booty  to  the  victorious  troops,  in 
gold,   silver,  and  jewels,  together  with  the  finest 
stuffs,  especially  of  silk,  for   the   manufacture   of 
which  the  people  of  the  country  were  celebrated. 
As  the  Spanish  commander,  unwilling  to  be  en- 
cumbered with  unnecessary  baggage,  had  made  no 
provision  for  transporting  the  more  bulky  articles, 
the  greater  part  of  them,  in  the  usual  exterminat- 
ing spirit  of  war,  was  consigned  to    the  flames.^ 
The  soldiers  would  willingly  have  appropriated  to 
themselves  the  Moorish  women  whom  they  found 
in  the  place,  regarding  them  as  the  spoils  of  vie- 
toi7;  but  the   marquis,  greatly  to  the  disgust  of 
his  followers,  humanely  interfered   for  their   pro- 
tection. 

Mondejar  now  learned  that  Aben-Humeya,  gath- 
ering the  wreck  of  his  forces  about  him,  had  taken 
the  route   to  Jubiles,  —  a  place  situated   in    the 

20  "Mas  la  priesa  de  camlnar  en  de  quemar  la  mayor  parte,  porquc 

sijruimiento  de  los  enemigos,  i  la  ellos  no  se  aprovechasen.**    Men- 

falta  de  bagan:es  en  que  la  cargar  i  doza,  Guerra  de  Granada,  p.  75. 
gente  con  que  aseguralla,  fue  causa 


Cii.  Ill] 


PERILOUS  MARCH. 


81 


wildest  part  of  the  country,  where  there  was  a 
fortress  of  much  strength,  in  which  he  proposed  to 
make  a  final  stand  against  his  enemies.  Desirous 
to  follow  up  the  blow  before  the  enemy  had  time 
to  recover  from  its  effects,  Mondejar  resumed  his 
march.  He  had  not  advanced  many  leagues  before 
lie  reached  Pitres,  the  principal  town  in  the  district 
of  Ferreiras.  It  was  a  place  of  some  importance, 
and  was  rich  in  the  commodities  usually  found  in 
the  great  Moorish  towns,  where  the  more  wealthy 
of  the  inhabitants  rivalled  their  brethren  of  Gra- 
nada in  their  taste  for  sumptuous  dress  and  in  the 
costly  decorations  of  their  houses.     * 

The  conquerors  had  here  the  satisfaction  of  re- 
leasing a  hundred  and  fifty  of  their  poor  country- 
women from  the  captivity  in  which  they  had  been 
held,  after  witnessing  the  massacre  of  their  friends 
and  relatives.  The  place  was  given  up  to  pillage ; 
but  the  marquis,  true  to  his  principles,  notwith- 
standing the  murmurs,  and  even  menaces,  of  his  sol- 
diers, would  allow  no  injury  to  be  done  to  the  Moor- 
ish women  who  remained  in  it.  In  this  he  acted 
in  obedience  to  the  dictates  of  sound  policy,  no  less 
than  of  humanity,  which  indeed,  happily  for  man- 
kind, can  never  be  dissevered  from  each  other.  He 
had  no  desire  to  push  the  war  to  extremities,  or  to 
exterminate  a  race  whose  ingenuity  and  industry 
were .  a  fruitful  source  of  revenue  to  the  country. 
He  wished,  therefore,  to  leave  the  door  of  recon- 
ciliation still  open ;  and  while  he  carried  fire  and 
sword  into  the  enemy's  territory,  he  held  out  the 


VOL.   1X1. 


11 


82 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


Cii.  Ill] 


MASSACRE  AT  JUBILES. 


83 


prospect  of  grace  to  ^  those  who  were   willing  to 
submit  and  return  to  their  allegiance. 

The  route  of  the  army  lay  through  a  w  ild  and 
desolate  region,  which,  from  its  great  elevation, 
was  cool  even  in  midsummer,  and  which  now,  in 
the  month  of  January,  -wore  the  dreary  aspect  of 
a  polar  winter.  The  snow,  which  never  melted 
on  the  highest  peaks  of  the  mountains,  lay  heavily 
on  their  broad  shoulders,  and,  sweeping  far  down 
their  sides,  covered  up  the  path  of  the  Spaniards. 
It  was  with  no  little  difficulty  that  they  could  find 
a  practicable  passage,  especially  for  the  train  of 
heavy  guns,  wliich  were  dragged  along  with  in- 
credible toil  by  the  united  efforts  of  men  and  horses. 
The  soldiers,  born  and  bred  in  the  sunny  plains 
of  Andalusia,  were  but  ill  provided  against  an  in- 
tensity of  cold  of  which  they  had  never  formed 
a  conception.  The  hands  and  feet  of  many  were 
frozen.  Others,  benumbed,  and  exhausted  by  ex- 
cessive toil,  straggled  in  the  rear,  and  sunk  down 
in  the  snow-drifts,  or  disappeared  in  the  treacher- 
ous ravines  and  crevices,  which,  under  their  glitter- 
ing mantle,  lay  concealed  from  the  eye.  It  fared 
still  worse  with  the  Moriscoes,  especially  with  the 
women  and  children,  who,  after  hanging  on  the 
skirts  of  the  retreating  army,  had,  the  better  to 
elude  pursuit,  scaled  the  more  inaccessible  parts 
of  the  mountains,  where,  taking  refuge  in  cav- 
erns, they  perished,  in  great  numbers,  of  cold  and 
hunger.** 

'^  **  Lo8  Moros  tomaron  lo  alto  de  la  sierra,  y  no  pararon  hasta 


Meanwhile  Aben-Humeya,  disheartened  by  his 
late  reverses,  felt  too  little  confidence  in  the  strength 
of  his  present  position  to  abide  there  the  assault 
of  the  Spaniards.  Quitting  the  place,  therefore, 
and  taking  with  him  his  women  and  effects,  he 
directed  his  course  by  rapid  marches  towards  Pa- 
tema,  his  principal  residence,  which  had  the  ad- 
vantage, by  its  neighborhood  to  the  Sierra  Nevada, 
of  affording  him,  if  necessary,  the  means  of  escap- 
ing into  its  wild  and  mysterious  recesses,  where 
none  but  a  native  would  care  to  follow  him.  He 
left  in  the  castle  of  Jubiles  a  great  number  of 
Morisco  women,  who  had  accompanied  the  army  in 
its  retreat,  and  three  hundred  men,  who,  from  age 
or  infirmity  would  be  likely  to  embarrass  his  move- 
ments. 

On  reaching  Jubiles,  therefore,  the  Spanish  gen- 
eral met  with  no  resistance  from  the  helpless  gar- 
rison who  occupied  the  fortress,  which,  moreover, 
contained  a  rich  booty  in  gold,  pearls,  and  precious 
stones,  to  gratify  the  cupidity  of  the  soldiers.^ 
Yet  their  discontent  was  expressed  in  more  auda- 
cious terms  than  usual  at  the  protection  afforded 
by  their  commander  to  the  Morisco  women,  of 
whom  there  were  more  than  two  thousand  in  the 
place.     Among  the  women  found  there  was  also  a 

good  number  of  Christian  captives,  who  roused  the 

.« 

meterse  en  la  nieve,  donde  pere-  todo  el  mueble,  en  que  habia  ricas 

vieron  cantidad  de  mugeres  y  de  cosas  de  seda,  oro,  plata  y  aljofar, 

oriatura  de  frio.**    Marmol,  Rebe-  de  que   cupo  la  mejor  y  mayor 

lion  de  Granada,  torn.  I.  p.  437.  parte  a  los  que  habian  ido  delante." 

22  "  El  Marques  les  did  &  saco  Ibid.,  p.  444. 


VA 


KEBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.  [Rook  V 


Cii.  111.1 


MASSACRE  AT  JUBILES. 


85 


fierce  passions  of  their  countiymen  by  their  piteous 
recital  of  the  horrors  they  had  witnessed,  of  the 
butchery  of  fathers,  husbands,  and  brothers,  and 
of  the  persecutions  to  which  they  had  themselves 
been  subjected  in  order  to  convert  them  to  Islam- 
ism.  They  besought  the  captain-general  to  take 
pity  on  their  sufferings,  and  to  avenge  their  wrongs 
by  putting  every  man  and  woman  found  in  the 
place  to  the  sword.^  It  is  evident  that,  however 
prepared  they  may  have  been  to  accept  the  crown 
of  martyrdom  rather  than  abjure  their  faith,  they 
gave  little  heed  to  the  noblest  of  its  precepts, 
which  enjoined  the  forgiveness  of  their  enemies. 
In  this  respect  Mondejar  proved  himself  decidedly 
the  better  Christian;  for  while  he  listened  with 
commiseration  to  their  tale  of  woe,  and  did  all  he 
could  to  comfort  them  in  their  affliction,^*  he  would 
not  abandon  the  protection  of  his  captives,  male 
or  female,  nor  resign  them  to  the  brutality  of  his 
soldiers. 

He  provided  for  their  safety  during  the  night  by 
allowing  them  to  occupy  the  church.  But  as  this 
would  not  accommodate  more  than  a  thousand 
persons,  the  remainder,  including  all  the  men,  were 
quartered  in  an  open  square  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the   building.     The   Spanish   troops  encamped 

at  no  great  distance  from  the  spot. 

♦. 

83  «  No  tomen,  seiiores,  &  vida  ^  "  El  Marques  se  entemecid 

hombre  ni  muger  de  aquestos  here-  de  ver  aquellas   pobres   mugeres 

ges,  que  tan  malos  ban  sido,  y  tan-  tan  lastlmadas,  y  consolandolas  lo 

to  mal  no8  ban  becbo."     Ibid.,  p.  mejor  que  pudo,**  &c.     Ibid.,  ubi 

440.  fupra. 


In  the  course  of  the  night  one  of  the  soldiers 
found  his  way  into  the  quarters  of  the  captives, 
and  attempted  to  take  some  freedoms  with  a  Mo- 
risco  maiden.     It  so  happened  that  her  lover,  dis- 
guised  in  woman's  attire,  was  at  her  side,  having 
remained  with  her  for  her  protection.    His  Moorish 
blood   fired   at  the  insult,  and  he  resented  it  by 
striking  his  poniard  into  the  body  of  the  Spaniard. 
The   cry   of  the  latter  soon  roused  his  comrades. 
Rushing  to  the  place,  they  fell  on  the  young  Mo- 
risco,  who,  now  brandishing  a  sword  which  he  had 
snatched  from  the  disabled  man,  laid  about  him  so 
valiantly  that  several  others  were  wounded.     The 
cry  rose  that  there  were  armed  men,  disguised  as 
women,  among  the  prisoners.   More  soldiers  poured 
in  to  the  support  of  their  comrades,  and  fell  with 
fury  on  their  helpless   victims.     The   uproar  was 
universal.     On  the  one  side  might  be  heard  moans 
and  petitions  for  mercy ;  on  the  other,  brutal  im- 
precations, followed  by  deadly  blows,  that  showed 
how  little  the  prayers  for  mercy  had  availed.     The 
hearts  of  the  soldiers  were  harder  than  the  steel 
with  which  they  struck ;  for  they  called  to  mind 
the  cruelties  inflicted  on  their  own  countrymen  by 
the  Moriscoes.     Striking  to  the  right  and  left,  they 
hewed  down  men  and  women  indiscriminately,  — 
both  equally  defenceless.     In  their  blind  fury  they 
even  wounded  one  another;    for  it  was  not  easy 
to    discern  friend   from   foe   in   the   obscurity,  in 
which  little  light  was  to  be  had,  says  the  cKroni- 
cler,  except  such  as  came  from  the  sparks  of  clash- 


86 


KEBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES. 


[Booii  V. 


Cii.  III.J 


THE  LIBERATED   CHRISTIANS. 


87 


ing  steel  or  the  flash  of  fire-arms.^  It  was  in 
vain  that  the  officers  endeavored  to  call  off  the  men 
from  their  work  of  butchery.  The  hot  temper  of 
the  Andalusian  was  fully  roused ;  and  it  would 
have  been  as  easy  to  stop  the  explosion  of  the 
mine  when  the  train  has  been  fired,  as  to  stay  his 
fur)'.  It  was  not  till  the  morning  light  showed 
the  pavement  swimming  in  gore,  and  the  corpses 
of  the  helpless  victims  lying  in  heaps  on  one  an- 
other, that  his  appetite  for  blood  was  satisfied. 
Great  numbers  of  the  women,  and  nearly  all  the 
men,  perished  in  this  massacre.^  Those  in  the 
church  succeeded  in  making  fast  the  doors,  and 
thus  excluding  their  enemies,  who  made  repeated 
efforts  to  enter  the  building.  —  The  marquis  of 
Mondejar,  indignant  at  this  inhuman  outmge  per- 
petrated by  his  followers,  and  at  their  flagrant  dis- 
obedience of  orders,  caused  an  inquiry  into  the 
affair  to  be  instantly  made  ;  and  the  execution  of 
three  of  the  most  guilty  proved  a  salutary  warning 
to  the  Andalusian  soldier  that  there  were  limits 
beyond  which  it  was  not  safe  to  try  the  patience 
of  his  commander.^ 


^  "  Hubo  muchos  soldados  heri- 
do8,  los  mas  que  se  herian  unos  i. 
otros,  entendiendo  los  que  venian 
de  fuera,  que  los  que  niartillaban 
con  las  espadas  eran  Moros,  porque 
solamente  les  alumbraba  el  centel- 
lear  del  acero,  y  el  relampaguear 
de  la  polvora  de  los  areabuces  en 
la  tenebrosa  escuridad  de  la  noche." 
Ibid.,  p.  445. 


®6  «  De  los  Moriscos  quasi  nin- 
giino  quedd  vivo,  de  las  Moriscas 
huvo  mucbas  muertas,  de  los  nues- 
tros  algunos  heridos,  que  con  la 
escuridad  de  la  noclie  se  haeian 
dano  unos  4  otros."  Mendoza, 
Guerra  de  Granada,  p.  77. 

S7  Ibid.,  ubi  supra.  —  Bleda, 
Cronica  de  Espana,  p.  685.  —  Iler- 
rera,  Historia  General,    torn.    I. 


Before  lea\dng  Jubiles,  Mondejar  sent  off  to  Gra- 
nada, under  a  strong  esco'rt,  the  Christian  captives 
who,  since  their  liberation,  had  remained  with  the 
army.     There  were  eight  hundred  of  them,  women 
and  children,  —  a  helpless  multitude,  whose  wants 
were  to  be  provided  for,  and  whose  presence  could 
not  fail  greatly  to  embarrass  his  mov-ements.     They 
were  obliged  to  perform  that  long  and  wearisome 
journey   across   the   mountains   on   foot,   as  there 
were   no   means   of  transportation.     And   piteous 
was   the    spectacle    which   they    presented    when 
they  reached  the  capital.     As  the  way-worn  wan- 
derers  entered  by   the   gate   of  Bib-arranbla,    the 
citizens   came  forth  in  crowds  to  welcome  them. 
A  body  of  cavalry  was  in  the  van,  —  each  of  the 
troopers  holding  one  or  two  children  on  the  saddle 
before  him,  with  sometimes  a  third  on  the  crupper 
clinging   to   his  back.     The  infantry  brought  up 
the  rear ;  while  the  centre  of  the  procession  was 
occupied  by  the  women,  —  a  forlorn   and   melan- 
choly band,  with  their  heads  undefended  by  any 
covering   from  the   weather;  their  hair,  bleached 
by   the   winter's  tempests,   streaming   wildly  over 
their  shoulders ;  their  clothes  scanty,  tattered,  and 
soiled   with   travel  ;    without    stockings,    without 
shoes,    to  protect  their  feet  against  the  cold  and 
flinty  roads ;  while  in  the  lines  traced  upon  their 
countenances  the  dullest  eye  might  read  the  story 
of  their  unparalleled  sufferings.     Many  of  the  com- 

p.  737.  _  Marraol,  Rebelion  de    —  Cabrera,  Filipe    Segundo,    p. 
Granada,  torn.  I.  p.   441  et  seq.    558. 


88 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.        .  [Book  V. 


pany  were  persons  who,  Unaccustomed  to  toil,  and 
delicately  nurtured,  were  but  poorly  prepared  for 
the  trials  and  privations  of  every  kind  to  which 
they  had  been  subjected.^ 

As  their  friends  and  countrj^men  gathered  round 
them,  to  testify  their  sympathy  and  listen  to  the 
story  of  their  misfortimes,  the  voices  of  the  poor 
wanderers  were  choked  with  sobs  and  lamentations. 
The  grief  was  contagious ;  and  the  sorrowing  and 
sympathetic  multitude  accompanied  the  procession 
like  a  train  of  mourners  to  the  monastery  of  Our 
Lady  of  Victory,  in  the  opposite  quarter  of  the 
city,  where  services  were  performed  with  much 
solemnity,  and  thanks  were  offered  up  for  their 
deliverance  from  captivity.  From  the  church  they 
proceeded  to  the  Alhambra,  where  they  were  gra- 
ciously received  by  the  marchioness  of  Mondejar, 
the  wife  of  the  captain-general,  who  did  what  she 
could  to  alleviate  the  miseries  of  their  condition. 
Those  who  had  friends  and  relations  in  the  city 
found  shelter  in  their  houses ;  while  the  rest  were 
kindly  welcomed  by  the  archbishop  of  Granada, 
and  by  the  charitable  people  of  the  town,  who 
provided  them  with  raiment  and  whatever  was 
necessary  for  their  comfort.^     The  stories  which 


*  "  Habia  entre  ellas  muchas 
dueiias  nobles,  apuestas  y  hermosas 
doncellas,  criadas  con  mucho  rega- 
lo,  que  iban  desnudas  y  descalzas, 
y  tan  maltratadas  del  trabajo  del 
captiverio  y  del  camino,  que  no 
solo  quebraban  los  corazones  A  los 


que  las  conocian,  mas  aun  &  quien 
no  las  habia  visto.**  Marmol,  Re- 
bellon  de  Granada,  torn.  I.  p. 
448. 

^  "  Y  volviendo  &  las  cazas  del 
Arzobispo,  las  que  tenian  parientes 
las  llevaron  li  sus  posadas,  y  las 


Cii.  Ill] 


THE  LIBERATED   CHRISTIANS. 


89 


the  fugitives  had  to  tell  of  the  horrid  scenes 
they  had  witnessed  in  the  Alpujarras,  roused  a 
deeper  feeling  of  hatred  in  the  Spania*rds  towards 
the  Moriscoes,  that  boded  ill  for  the  security  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Albaicin. 

otras  fueron  hospedadas  con  can-    limosna  se  les  comprd  de  vestir  y 
dad  entre  la  buena  gente,  y  de    de  calzar."    Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


YOU  IZZ. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES. 

Situaticrs  of  Aben-Humeya-  —  Fate  of  the  Moorish  Prisoners.  ^ 
Stonning  of  Guajaras.  •  T^gcape  of  Aben-Humeya.  —  Operations 
of  Los  Velez.  —  Cabal  against  Mondejar.  —  License  of  the  Sol- 
diers. —  Massacre  in  Granada.  —  The  Lisurrection  rekindled. 


1569. 

Before  the  marquis  of  Mondejar  quitted  Jubiles, 
he  received  a  visit  from  seventeen  of  the  principal 
Moriscoes  in  that  part  of  the  country,  who  came 
to  tender  their  submission,  exculpating  themselves, 
at  the  same  time,  from  any  share  in  the  insurrec- 
tion, and  humbly  suing  for  the  captain-general's  pro- 
tection. This,  agreeably  to  his  policy,  he  promptly 
accorded,  granting  them  a  safe-conduct,  with  in- 
structions to  tell  their  countrymen  what  he  had 
done,  and  persuade  them,  if  possible,  to  return  to 
their  allegiance,  as  the  only  way  of  averting  the 
ruin  that  else  would  speedily  overtake  them.  This 
act  of  clemency,  so  repugnant  to  the  feelings  of 
the  Spaniards,  was  a  new  cause  of  disgust  to  his 
soldiers,  who  felt  that  the  fair  terms  thus  secured 
by  the  rebels  were  little  better  than  a  victory  over 


Ch.  iv.] 


SITUATION  OF  ABEN-HUMEYA. 


91 


themselves.^  Yet  the  good  effects  of  this  policy 
were  soon  made  visible,  when  the  marquis  resumed 
his  march.  For,  as  his  favorable  dispositions  be- 
came more  generally  known,  numbers  of  the  Mo- 
riscoes, and  several  places  on  the  route,  eagerly 
tendered  their  submission,  imploring  his  mercy, 
and  protection  against  his  followers. 

Aben-Humeya,  meanwhile,  who  lay  at  Paterna, 
with  his  wives  and  his  warriors  gathered  around, 
saw  with  dismay  that  his  mountain  throne  was  fast 
sliding  away  from  beneath  him.     The  spirit  of  dis- 
trust and  disaffection  had  crept  into  his  camp.     It 
was  divided  into  two  parties.     One  of  these,  de- 
spairing  of  further   resistance,  would  have  come 
instantly  to  terms  with  the  enemy.     The  other  still 
adhered  to  a  bolder  policy ;  but  its  leaders,  if  we 
may  trust  the  Castilian  writers,  were  less  influenced 
by  patriotic  than  by  personal  motives,  being  for 
the  most  part  men  who  had  borne  so  conspicuous 
a  part  in  the  insurrection  that  they  could  scarcely 
hope  to  be  included  in  any  amnesty   granted  by 
the  Spaniards.     Such,  in  particular,  were  the  Afri- 
can adventurers,  who  had  distinguished  themselves 
above  all  others  by  their  ferocious  persecution  of 
the  Christians.     They  directed,  at  this   time,  the 
counsels  of  t'he  Moorish  prince,   filling  his   mind 
with  suspicions  of  the  loyalty  of  some  of  his  fol- 


i  "Lossoldadosnopodianllevar  fue  tan  grande  la  tristeza  en  el 

d  paciencia  ver  que  se  tratase  de  campo,  como  si  hubieran  perdido 

niedios  con  los  rebeldes ;  y  quando  la  Jornada."    Marmol,  Rebelion  de 

otro  dia  se  supo  que  los  admitia,  Granada,  torn.  I.  p.  443. 


92 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


Cii.  1V^1 


SITUATION  OF  ABEN-HUMEYA. 


93 


.^■t 


lowers,  especially  of  the  father  of  one  of  his  wives, 
a  person  of  much  authority  among  the  Moriscoes. 
To  suspect  and  to  slay  were  words  of  much  the 
same  import  with  Aben-Humeya.  He  sent  for 
his  relative,  and,  on  his  entering  the  apartment, 
caused  him  to  be  despatched  before  his  eyes.^  He 
would  have  followed  this  up  by  the  murder  of 
some  others  of  the  family,  if  they  had  not  eluded 
his  grasp ;  thus  establishing  his  title  to  a  descent 
from  those  despots  of  the  East  with  whom  the  lives 
of  their  kindred  were  of  as  little  account  as  the 
vermin  in  their  path.^ 

He  was  still  at  the  head  of  a  numerous  army. 
Its  number,  indeed,  amounting  to  six  thousand 
men,  constituted  its  greatest  strength ;  for,  without 
discipline,  almost  without  arms,  it  was  made  up 
of  such  rude,  incongruous  materials,  that,  as  he 
already  had  experience,  it  could  never  abide  the 
shock  of  battle  from  the  militia  of  Castile.  The 
Moorish  prince  had  other  causes  for  discourage- 
ment, in  the  tidings  he  was  hourly  receiving  of 
the  defection  of  his  subjects.  The  clemency  shown 
by  the  conqueror  was  doing  more  for  him  than  his 
arms,  —  as  the  snow  which  the  blasts  of  winter 
have  only  bound  more  closely  to  the  hill-side 
loosens  its  hold  and  falls  away  under  the  soft  touch 
of  spring.      Notwithstanding   his   late   display   of 

Ibid.,  p.  455.  claimed  his  descent,  took  refuge  in 

'  Abderrahman  —  or,  as  spelt  Spain  from  a  bloody  persecution,  in 

by   Gayangos,    Abdu-r-rhaman —  which  every  member  of  his  numer- 

the  First,  the  founder  of  the  dy-  ous  family  is  said  to  have  perishtMl 

nasty  from  which  Aben-Humeya  by  the  scymitar  or  the  bow-string. 


audacity,  the  unhappy  young  man  now  lost  all 
confidence  in  his  own  fortunes  and  in  his  follow- 
ers.  Sorely  perplexed,  he  knew  not  where  to 
turn.  He  had  little  of  the  constancy  or  courage 
of  the  patriot  who  has  perilled  his  life  in  a  great 
cause ;  and  he  now  had  recourse  to  the  same  ex- 
pedient which  he  had  so  lately  punished  with 
death  in  his  father-in-law. 

He  sent  a  message  to  the  marquis  of  Mondejar, 
offering  to  surrender,  and,  if  time  were  given,  to 
persuade  his  people  to  follow  his  example.     Mean- 
while he  requested  the  Spanish  commander  to  stay 
his  march,  and  thus  prevent  a  collision  with  his 
troops.     Mondejar,  though  he  would  not  consent 
to  this,  advanced  more  leisurely,  while  he  opened 
a  negotiation  with  his   enemy.     He  had  already 
come  in  sight  of  the  rebel  forces,  when  he  con- 
sented, at  the  request  of  Aben-Humeya,  to   halt 
for  a  night  in  the  neighboring  village  of  liiiza,  in 
order  to  give  time  for  a  personal  interview.     This 
required  the  troops,  some  of  whom  had  now  ad- 
vanced within  musket-r^nge  of  the  enemy,  to  fall 
back,   and   take   up   ground   in  the  rear  of  their 
present  position.    In  executing  this  manoeuvre  they 
came  almost  in  contact  with  a  detachment  of  the 
Moorish  army,  who,  in  their  ignorance  of  its  real 
object,  regarding  the  movement  as  a  hostile  demon- 
stration, sent  a  shower  of  arrows  and  other  missiles 
among  the  Spaniards,  which  they  returned  with 
hearty  good-will  by  a  volley  of  musketry.  '  The 
engagement  soon  became  general.    Aben-Humeya 


94 


if 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.  [Book  V. 


Ch.  iv.]     fate  of  the  moorish  prisoners. 


95 


at  the  time  was  reading  a  letter,  which  he  had  just 
received  from  one  of  Mondejar's  staff,  arranging 
the  place  for  the  interview,  when  he  was  startled 
by  the  firing,  and  saw  with  consternation  his  own 
men  warmly  engaged  with  the  enemy.  Supposing 
he  had  been  deceived  by  the  Spaniards,  he  flung 
the  letter  on  the  ground,  and  throwing  himself  into 
the  saddle,  without  so  much  as  attempting  to  rally 
his  forces,  which  were  now  flying  over  the  field  in 
all  directions,  he  took  the  road  to  the  Sierra  Ne- 
vada, followed  Jby  only  five  or  six  of  his  attend- 
ants.^ His  horse  was  fleet,  and  he  soon  gained  the 
defiles  of  the  mountains.  But  he  was  hotly  pur- 
sued; and,  thinking  it  safer  to  trust  to  himself 
than  to  his  horse,  he  dismounted,  cut  the  ham- 
strings of  the  animal,  to  prevent  his  being  of  ser- 
vice to  his  pursuers,  and  disappeared  in  the  obscure 
depths  of  the  sierra,  where  it  would  have  been 
fruitless  to  follow  him. 

The  rout  of  his  army  was  complete ;  and  the 
victors  might  have  inflicted  an  incalculable  loss  on 
the  fugitives,  had  not  the.  marquis  of  Mondejar 
called  ofl"  his  troops,  and  put  a  stop  to  the  work 
of  death.  He  wished  to  keep  open  as  widely  as 
possible  the  door  of  reconciliation.  His  conduct, 
which   was  not  understood,  and   could  not  have 

*  "  Y  como  vid  que  los  Christia-  subiendo  d  gran  priesa  en  un  ca- 
nes iban  la  sierra  arriba,  y  que  los  ballo,  dexd  su  familia  atras,  y  huyo 
suyos  huian  desvergonzadamente,  tambien  la  vuelta  de  la  sierra.** 
entendiendo  que  todo  lo  que  Don  Marmol,  Rebelion  de  Granada, 
Alonso  Venegas  trataba  era  en-  torn.  I.  p.  460. 
gano,  echo  las  cartas  en  el  suelo,  y 


been  appreciated  by  his  men,  was  stigmatized  by 
them  as  treachery.  They  found  some  amends  for 
their  disappointment  in  the  pillage  of  Patema,  the  • 
i-esidence  of  Aben-Humeya,  which,  well  provided 
with  the  costly  finery  so  much  loved  by  the  Mo- 
riscoes,  furnished  a  welcome  booty  to  the  con- 
querors.* 

Among  the  Moorish  captives  were  Aben-Hu- 
meya's  mother,  two  of  his  sisters,  and  one  of  his 
wives,  to  whom,  as  usual,  Mondejar  extended  his 

protection. 

Yet  the  disposal  of  his  prisoners  was  a  subject 
of  perplexity  to  the  Spanish  commander.  His 
soldiers,  as  we  have  seen,  would  have  settled  it  at 
once,  had  their  captain  consented,  by  appropriating 
them  all  as  the  spoils  of  victory.  There  were  many 
persons,  higher  in  authority  than  these  soldiers, 
who  were  of  the  same  way  of  thinking  on  the  sub- 
ject with  them.  The  question  was  one  of  sufficient 
importance  to  come  before  the  government.  Philip 
referred  it  to  the  council  of  state ;  and,  regarding  it 
as  a  case  of  conscience,  in  which  the  interests  of  re- 
ligion were  concerned,  he  asked  the  opinion  of  the 
Royal  Audience,  of  Granada,  over  which  Deza  pre- 
sided.  The  final  decision  was  what  might  have 
been  expected  from  tribunals  with  inquisitors  at 
their  head.     The  Moriscoes,  men  and  women,  were 

5  Ibid.,  p.  458  et  seq.  —  Ferre-  Filipe  Segundo,  pp.  560,561.-- 

ras,  Hist.  d'Espagne,  torn.  X.  pp.  Herrera,  Historia  General,' torn,  i: 

29  _  31.  _  Mendoza,    Guerra  de  p.  737. 
Granada,  pp.  80,  81.— Cabrera, 


[  I     ■ 


i 


i)G 


BEBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.  [Book  V 


declared  to  have  incurred  by  their  rebellion  the 
doom  of  slavery.  What  is  more  remarkable  is 
the  precedent  cited  for  this  judgment,  it  being  no 
other  than  a  decision  of  the  Council  of  Toledo,  as 
far  back  as  the  time  of  the  Visigoths,  when  certain 
rebellious  Jews  were  held  to  have  forfeited  their 
liberty  by  an  act  of  rebellion.^  The  Morisco,  it 
was  said,  should  fare  no  better  than  the  Jew,  since 
he  was  not  only,  like  him,  a  rebel  and  an  infidel, 
but  an  apostate  to  boot.  The  decision,  it  was  un- 
derstood,  was  very  satisfactory  to  Philip,  who, 
however,  "  with  the  pious  moderation  that  distin- 
guished so  just  and  considerate  a  prince,"^  so  far 
mitigated  the  severity  of  the  sentence,  in  the  prag- 
matic which  he  published,  as  to  exempt  from  its 
operation  boys  under  ten  years  of  age  and  girls 
under  eleven.  These  were  to  be  placed  in  the 
care  of  responsible  persons,  w^ho  would  give  them 
the  benefits  of  a  Christian  education.  Unhappily, 
there  is  reason  to  think  that  the  good  intentions 
of  the  government  were  not  very  conscientiously 
carried  out  in  respect  to  this  provision  by  those 
intrusted  with  the  execution  of  it.® 

While  the  question  was  pending,  Jubiles  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  victors ;  and  Mondejar,  not 
feeling  himself  at  liberty  to  release  his  female  cap- 
tives, of  whom  more  than  a  thousand,  by  this  event, 

6  The  decision  referred  to  was  "  Con  una  moderacion  piadosa,  de 
probably  one  in  the  last  Council  of  que  qulso  usar  como  principe  con- 
Toledo,  A.  D.  690.  See  Mariana,  siderado  y  justo."  Rebelion  de 
Hist,  de  Espana,  torn.  I.  p.  452.  Granada,  torn.  I.  p.  495. 

7  I  quote  the  words  of  Marmot :  «  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


Ch.  IV  1 


STORMING  OF  GUAJARAS. 


97 


had  come  into  his  possession,  delivered   them  in 
charge    to    three   of    the   principal    Moriscoes,    to 
whom,  it  may  be  remembered,  he  had  given  letters 
of  safe-conduct.     They  were  allowed  to  restore  the 
women   to   their  families,  on  condition  that  they 
should  all  be  surrendered  on  the  demand  of  the 
government.     Such   an  act,  it  must   be  admitted, 
implies  great  confidence  in  the  good  faith  of  the 
Moslems,  —  a  confidence  fully  justified  by  the  re- 
sult.    When,  in  obedience  to  the  pragmatic,  they 
were  claimed  by  the  government,  they  were  deliv- 
ered up  by  their  families,  —  with  the  exception  of 
some  who  had  died  in  the  mean  time,  —  and  the 
greater  part  of  them  were  sold  by  public  auction 
in  Granada.^ 

The  only  place  of  any  importance  which  now 
held  out  against  Mondejar  was  Las  Guajaras,  situ- 
ated in  the  plains  of  Salobreila,  in  the  direction 
of  Velez  Malaga.  This  was  a  rocky,  precipitous 
hill,  on  the  summit  of  which  nature,  with  little 
assistance  from  art,  had  constructed  a  sort  of  rude 
fortress.  It  was  held  by  a  fierce  band  of  Moris- 
coes, who,  descending  ftom  the  heights,  swept  over 
the  plains,  carrying  on  devastating  forays,  that 
made  them  the  terror  of  the  surrounding  country. 
Mondejar,  moved  by  the  complaints  of  the  inhab- 
itants, left  Ugijar  on  the  fifth  of  February,  at  the 

9  Ibid.,  pp.  465,  498.  an  abundance  of  women  that  they 

Mendoza  says  they  were  all  re-  were  regarded  as  Httle  better  than 

turned;  —  "  a  thing  never  before  household  furniture."     Guerra  de 

seen,  whether  it  arose  from  fear  or  Granada,  p.  96. 

obedience,  or  that  there  was  such 

VOL.   III.  I® 


98 


BEBELLION  OF  THE   MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


Ch.  IV.J 


STORMING  OF  GUAJAKAS. 


99 


* 


head  of  his  whole  array,  now  much  augmented  by 
the  arrival  of  recent  levies,  and  marched  rapidly  on 
Guajaras.  He  met  with  a  more  formidable  resist- 
ance than  he  had  expected.  His  first  attempt  to  car- 
ry the  place  was  repulsed  with  a  heavy  loss  on  the 
part  of  the  assailants.  The  Moorish  garrison,  from 
its  elevated  position,  poured  a  storm  of  missiles  on 
their  heads,  and,  what  was  worse,  rolled  down  huge 
masses  of  rock,  which,  ploughing  through  the  Cas- 
tilian  ranks,  overthrew  men  and  horses,  and  did  as 
great  execution  as  would  have  been  done  by  ar- 
tillery. Eight  hundred  Spaniards  were  left  dead 
on  the  field ;  and  many  a  noble  house  in  Andalusia 
had  to  go  into  mourning  for  that  day's  disaster. 

Mondejar,  stung  by  this  repulse,  —  the  first  re- 
verse his  arms  had  experienced,  —  determined  to 
lead  the  attack  in  person  on  the  following  day. 
His  approaches  were  made  with  greater  caution 
than  before;  and,  without  much  injury,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  bringing  his  arquebusiers  on  a  high- 
er level,  where  their  fire  swept  the  enemy's  in- 
trenchments,  and  inflicted  on  him  a  terrible  loss. 
Still  the  sun  went  down,  and  the  place  had  not 
surrendered.  But  El  Zamar,  its  brave  defender, 
without  ammunition,  almost  without  arms,  felt 
that  there  was  no  longer  hope  for  his  little  garri- 
son.  Silently  evacuating  the  place,  therefore,  at 
dead  of  night,  the  Moriscoes,  among  whom  were 
both  women  and  children,  scrambled  down  the 
precipice  with  the  fearlessness  of  the  mountain 
goat,  and  made  their  escape  without  attracting  the 


notice  of  the  Spaniards.  They  left  behind  only 
such  as,  from  age  or  infirmity,  were  unable  to 
follow  them  in  their  perilous  descent. 

On  the  next  day,  when  the  Spanish  general  pre- 
pared to  renew  the  assault,  great  was  his   aston- 
ishment  to    find   that   the    enemy  had   vanished, 
except  only  a   few  wretched  beings,  incapable  of 
making  any  resistance.     All  the  evil  passions  of 
Mondejar's  nature  had  been  roused  by  the  obsti- 
nate defence  of  the  place,  and  the  lives  it  had  cost 
him.     In   the  heat  of  his  wrath,  he  ordered  the 
helpless   garrison   to   be   put   to   the  sword.     No 
prayer  for  mercy  was  heeded.     No  regard  was  had 
to  age  or  to  sex.     All  were  cut  down  in  the  pres- 
ence  of   the   general,   who  is  even   said  to  have 
stimulated  the  faltering  soldiers  to  go  through  with 
their  bloody  work,'°     An  act  so  hard  to  be  recon- 
ciled with  his  previous  conduct  has  been  referred 
by  some  to  the  annoyance  which  he  felt  at  being  so 
frequently  taxed  with  excessive  lenity  to  the  Moris- 
coes, an  accusation  which  was  carried,  indeed,  before 
the  crown,  and  which  the  present  occasion  afforded 
him  the  means  of  effectually  disproving.     However 
this  may  be,  the  historian  must  lament   the  tar- 
nished honor  of  a  brave  and  generous  chief,  whose 
character  up  to  this  time  had  been  sullied  by  none 


10  "Fue  tanta  la  indignacion 
del  Marques  de  Mondejar,  que,  sin 
perdonar  i.  ninguna  edad  ni  sexo, 
mandd  pasar  d  cuchillo  hombres  y 
mugeres,  quantos  habla  en  el  fuerte; 
y  en  su  presencia  los  hacia  matar  d 


los  alabarderos  de  su  guardia,  que 
no  bastaban  los  ruegos  de  los  ca- 
balleros  y  capitanes,  ni  las  piadosas 
lagrimas  de  las  que  pedian  la  mise- 
rable vida."  Marmol,  Rebelion  de 
Granada,  torn.  I.  p.  493. 


Ch.  IV.J 


ESCAPE  OF  ABEN-HUMEYA. 


101 


i«^ 


100 


BEBELLION   OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


of  those  acts  of  cruelty  which  distinguished  this 

sanguinary  war.^^ 

But  even  this  cruelty  was  surpassed  by  that  of 
his  son,  the  count  of  Tendilla.  El  Zamar,  the 
gallant  defender  of  the  fortress,  wandered  about 
among  the  crags  with  his  little  daughter,  whom  he 
carried  in  his  arms.  Famished  and  fainting  from 
fatigue,  he  was  at  length  overtaken  by  his  enemies, 
and  sent  off  as  a  prisoner  to  Granada,  where  the 
fierce  Tendilla  caused  the  flesh  to  be  torn  from  his 
bones  with  red-hot  pincers,  and  his  mangled  car- 
cass,  yet  palpitating  with  life,  to  be  afterwards 
quartered.  The  crime  of  El  Zamar  was  that  he 
had  fought  foo  bravely  for  the  independence  of  his 

nation. 

Havino-  razed  the  walls  of  Guajaras  to  the 
ground,  Mondejar  returned  with  his  blood-stained 
laurels  to  his  head-quarters  at  Orgiba.  Tower  and 
town  had  gone  down  before  him.  On  every  side 
his  arms  had  proved  victorious.  But  one  thing 
was  wanting,  —  the  capture  of  Aben-Humeya,  the 
"  little  king  "  of  the  Alpujarras.  So  long  as  he 
lived,  the  insurrection,  now  smothered,  might  be 


U  Ibid.,  p.  482  etseq.  — Men- 
doza,  Guerra  de  Granada,  pp. 
85  -  95.  —  Ferreras,  Hist  d*Es- 
pagne,  torn.  X.  pp.  32  -  36.  — 
Bleda,  Cronica  de  Espana,  p.  688 
et  seq.  —  Herrera,  Historia  Grene- 
ral,  torn.  I.  p.  738.  —  Cabrera, 
Filipe  Segundo,  p.  569. 

The  storming  of  Guajarras  is  a 
fiivorite  theme  with  both  chroni- 


clers and  bards.  Among  the  latter 
Hita  has  not  failed  to  hang  his  gar- 
land of  verse  on  the  tombs  of  more 
than  one  illustrious  cavalier  who 
perished  in  that  bloody  strife,  and 
for  whose  loss  "  all  the  noble  dames 
of  Seville,  as  he  tells  us,  went  into 
mourning."  Guerras  de  Granada, 
torn.  II.  pp.  112-118. 


rekindled  at  any  time.  He  had  taken  refuge,  it 
was  known,  in  the  wilds  of  the  Sierra  Nevada, 
where,  as  the  captain-general  wrote,  he  was  wan- 
dering  from  rock  to  rock  with  only  a  handful  of 
followers.'^  Mondejar  sent  two  detachments  of 
soldiers  into  the  sierra,  to  discover  his  haunts,  if 
possible,  and  seize  upon  his  person. 

The  commander  of  one  of  these  parties,  named 
Maldonado,  ascertained  that  Aben-Humeya,  secret- 
ing   himself  among  the  fastnesses   of   the   moun- 
tains by  day,  would  steal  forth  at  night,  and  repair, 
with  a  few  of  his  followers,  to  a  place  called  Me- 
cina,  on  the  skirts  of  the  sierra.     Here  he  found 
shelter  in  the  house  of  his  kinsman,  Aben-Aboo, 
one  of  those  Moriscoes  who,  after  the  affair  of  Ju- 
biles,  had  obtained  a  safe-conduct  from  Mondejar. 
Having   gained  this  intelligence   and  learned   the 
situation  of  the  house,  the  Spanish  captain  marched, 
with  his  little  band  of  two  hundred  soldiers,   in 
that  direction.     He  made  his   approach  with  the 
greatest  secrecy.     Travelling  by  night,  he  reached 
undiscovered    the    neighborhood   of    Aben-Aboo's 
residence.     Advancing  under  cover  of  the  darkness, 
he  had  arrived  within  gunshot    of  the  dwelling, 
when,  at  this  critical  moment,  all  his  precautions 
were '  defeated  by   the   carelessness  of  one  of  his 
company,   whose  arquebuse   was   accidentally  dis- 
charged.     The  report,  reverberating  from  the  hills 

W  «  Que  no  habia  osa^o  parar  seguian,  andaba  huyendo  de  pena 
en  la  Aipuxarra,  y  con  solos  cin-  en  pcna.'^  Marmol  Rebehon  de 
euenta  d  seseata  hombres,  que  le     Granada,  torn.  I.  p.  464. 


102 


REBELLION  OF   THE   MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


Ch.  IV.] 


ESCAPE  OF  ABEN-HUMEYA. 


103 


il- 


in  the  silence  of  night,  roused  the  inmates  of  the 
house,  who  slept  as  the  wearied  mariner  sleeps 
when'  his  ship  is  in  danger  of  foundering.  One 
of  them,  El  Zaguer,  the  uncle  of  Aben-Humeya, 
and  the  person  who  had  been  mainly  instrumental 
in  securing  him  his  crown,  —  a  crown  of  thorns,— 
was  the  first  roused,  and,  springing  to  the  window, 
he  threw  himself  down,  though  the  height  was 
considerable,  and  made  his  way  to  the  mountains. 

His  nephew,  who  lay  in  another  part  of  the  build- 
ing, was  not  so  fortunate.     When  he  reached  the 
window,  he  saw  with  dismay  the  ground  in  front 
occupied  by  a  body  of  Castilian  troops.     Hastening 
to  another  window,  he  found  it  still  the  same ;  his 
enemies  were  everywhere  around  the  house.    Bewil- 
dered and  sorely  distressed,  he  knew  not  where  to 
turn.     Thus  entrapped,  and  without  the  means  of 
making  any  terms  with  his  enemies,  he  knew  he 
had  as  little  to  hope  from  their  mercy  as  the  wolf 
has  from  the  hunters  who  have  caught  him  in  his 
lair.     The  Spaniards,  meanwhile,  were  thundering 
at  the  door  of  the  building  for  admittance.     For- 
tunately it  was  well  secured.     A  sudden  thought 
occurred  to  Aben-Humeya,  which  he  instantly  put 
in   execution.      Hastening    down    stairs,   he   took 
his  station  behind  the  door,  and  gently  drew  the 
bolts.     The  noise  was  not  heard  amidst   the  din 
made  by  the  assailants,  who,  finding  the  door  give 
way,  supposed  they  had  forced  the  fastenings,  and, 
pouring  in,  soon  spread  themselves  in  every  direc- 
tion over  the    house  in  search  of  the  fugitive. 


Aben-Humeya,  ensconced  behind  the  door,  escaped 
observation;  and,  when  his  enemies  had  disap- 
peared, stole  out  into  the  darkness,  and,  under  its 
friendly  mantle,  succeeded  in  finding  his  way  to 

the  mountains. 

It  was  in  vain  that  the  Spaniards,  enraged  at 
the  loss  of  the  quarry,  questioned  Aben-Aboo  as 
to  the  haunts  of  his  kinsman,  and  of  El  Zaguer, 
his  uncle,  in  the  sierra.     Nor  could  the  mo^t  ex- 
cruciating tortures  shake  his  constancy.     "  I  may 
die,"  said  the  brave  Morisco,  "  but  my  friends  will 
live."     Leaving  him  for  dead,  the  soldiers  returned 
to  the  camp,  taking  with  them  a  number  of  prison- 
ers, his  companions.     There  was  no  one  of  them, 
however,  that  was  not  provided  with  a  safe-conduct 
from   the  marquis,   who   accordingly   set  them  at 
liberty,  showing  a  respect  for  his  engagements,  in 
which,  unhappily,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  he  was 
not  too  well  imitated  by  his  soldiers.     The  heroic 
Aben-Aboo,  though  left  for  dead,  did  not  die,  but 
lived   to   head  another  insurrection,  and   to   take 
ample  vengeance  on  his  enemies.^^ 

While  the  arms  of  the  marquis  of  Mondejar 
were  thus  crowned  with  success,  the  war  raged  yet 
more  fiercely  on  the  eastern  slopes  of  the  Alpu- 


W  The  Castilian  cbronicler  can- 
not refuse  his  admiration  —  some- 
what roughly  expressed  — to  this 
brave  Morisco, —  "  este  barbaro,** 
as  he  calls  him,  "  hijo  de  aspereza 
y  frialdad  indomable,  y  menospre- 
ciador  de  la  muerte."    (Marmol, 


Rebelion  de  Granada,  torn.  I.  p. 
503.)  The  Btory  of  the  escape 
of  Aben-Humeya  is  also  told,  and 
with  little  discrepancy,  by  Cabrera 
(Filipe  Segundo,  p.  573), and  Fer- 
reras  (Hist.  d'Espagne,  torn.  X. 
pp.  39,  40). 


104 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


jarras,  where  a  martial  race  of  mountaineers  threat- 
ened a  descent  on  Almeria  and  the   neighboring 
places,  keeping  the  inhabitants  in  perpetual  alarm. 
They  accordingly  implored  the  government  at  Gra- 
nada to  take  some  effectual  measures  for  their  re- 
lief    The  president,  Deza,  in  consequence,  desired 
the  marquis  of  Los  Velez,  who  held  the  office  of 
adelantado  of  the  adjoining  province  of  Murcia,  to 
muster  a  force  and  provide  for  the  defence  of  the 
frontier.     This  proceeding  was  regarded  by  Mon- 
dejaf  s  friends  as  an  insult  to  that  nobleman,  whose 
military  authority  extended  over  the  country  men- 
aced  by   the   Moriscoes.     The  act   was  the  more 
annoying,  that  the  person  invited  to  assume  the 
command  was  a  rival,  between  whose  house  and 
that   of  the   Mendozas    there  existed   an   ancient 
feud.     Yet   the  king    sanctioned  the   proceeding, 
thinking  perhaps  that  Mondejar  was  not  in  suf- 
ficient force    to   protect  the  whole   region  of  the 
Alpujarras.     However  this  may  be,  Philip,  by  this 
act,  brought  two   commanders  of  equal  authority 
on  the  theatre  of  action,  men  who,  in  their  charac- 
ters and  habitual  policy,  were  so  opposed  to  each 
other,  that  little  concert  could  be  expected  between 

them. 

Don  Luis  Fajardo,  marquis  of  Los  Velez,  was  a 
nobleman  somewhat  advanced  in  years,  most  of 
which  had  been  passed  in  the  active  duties  of  mili- 
tary life.  He  had  studied  the  art  of  war  under  the 
great  emperor,  and  had  acquired  the  reputation 
of  a  prompt  and  resolute  soldier,  bold  in  action, 


Ch.  IV.] 


OPERATIONS  OF  LOS  VELEZ. 


105 


haughty,   indeed  overbearing,  in  his  deportment, 
and  with  an  inflexible  will,  not  to  be  shaken  by 
friend  or  foe.     The  severity  of  his  nature  had  not 
been    softened    under   the   stem   training    of  the 
camp ;  and,  as  his   conduct  in  the   present  expe- 
dition  showed,  he  was  troubled  with  none  of  those 
scruples  on  the  score  of  humanity  which  so  often 
turned  the  edge  of  Mondejar^s  sword  from  the  de- 
fenceless and  the  weak.     The  Moriscoes,  who  un- 
derstood  his  character  well,  held  him  in  terror,  as 
they  proved  by  the  familiar  sobriquet  which  they 
gave  him  of  the  "  iron-headed  devil."  '* 

The  marquis,  on  receiving  the  invitation  of  Deza, 
lost  no  time  in  gathering  his  kindred  and  numer- 
ous vassals  around  him ;  and  they  came  with  an 
alacrity  which  showed  how  willingly  they  obeyed 
the  summons  to  a  foray  over  the  border.     His  o>vn 
family  was  a  warlike  race,  reared  from  the  cradle 
amidst  the  din  of  arms.     In  the  present  expedition 
he  was  attended  by  three  of  his  sons,  the  youngest 
of  whom,  a  boy  of  thirteen,  had  the  proud  distmc- 
tion  of  carrying  his  father's  banner.^^     With   the 
levies   promptly  furnished  from    the  neighbormg 

14   «  Quando    entendleron    que  war,  gives  an  elaborate  portrait  of 

peleaban  contra  el  campo  del  Mar-  this  powerful  chief,  whom  he  e^ 

SeTde  los  Velez,  d  quien  los  Mo-  tols  as  one  of  the  --^^^f  J^^^^^ 

L  de  aquella  tierra  solian  llamar  tains  m  the  world  -alhng  m  h^^ 

Ibiliz  Arraez  el  Hadid,  que  quiere  achievements  the   Cid,  Bu-nai-ao 

£  i  ,SLa.e^.;L.o,per-  del  Carpio,  or  any  odier  he.  o 

die«>n  esperanzade  vitoria.'^  Mar-  greatest  renown  m  Spa.n.     Guer 

mol,  Mon  de  Granada,  torn.  I.  ras  de  Granada,  tom.  II.  p.  68  et 

AKt  seq. 

P  .•        finx.^         15  Circourt.  Hist    des    Arabei 

Hita,  who  was  a  native  of  Mur-        *^  ^.ircoun,  n  » 

cia,  and  followed  Los  Velez  to  the    d'Espagne,  tom.  II.  p.  346. 

VOL.  III.  ^* 


106 


BEBELUON  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


places,  Los  Velez  soon  found  himself  supported 
by  a  force  of  greater  strength  than  that  which 
followed  the  standard  of  Mondejar.  At  the  head 
of  this  valiant  but  ill-disciplined  array,  he  struck 
into  the  gloomy  gorges  of  the  mountains,  resolved 
on  bringing  the  enemy  at  once  to  battle. 

Our  limits  will  not  allow  room  for  the  details 
of  a  campaign,  which  in  its  general  features  bears 
so  close  a  resemblance  to  that  already  described. 
Indeed,  the  contest  was  too  unequal  to  afford  a 
subject  of  much  interest  to  the  general  reader, 
while  the  details  are  of  still  less  importance  in  a 
military  view,  from  the  total  ignorance  shown  by 
the  Moriscoes  of  the  art  of  war. 

The  fate  of  the  campaign  was  decided  by  three 
battles,  fought  successively  at  Huecija,  Filix,  and 
Ohanez,  —  places  all  lying  in  the  eastern  ranges 
of  the  Alpujarras.  That  of  Filix  was  the  most 
sanguinary.  "jV  great  number  of  stragglers  hung 
on  the  skirts  of  the  Morisco  army ;  and  besides  six 
thousand  —  many  of  them  women  ^^  —  left  dead 
upon  the  field,  there  were  two  thousand  children, 
we  are  told,  butchered  by  the  Spaniards.^^  Some 
fled  for  refuge  to  the  caves  and  thickets ;  but  they 
were  speedily  dragged  from  their  hiding-places,  and 


W  "  Mas  mugeres  que  hombres," 
says  Mendoza,  Guerra  de  Granada, 
p.  83. 

17  "  En  menos  de  dos  hoh»  ftie- 
ron  muertas  mas  de  seis  mil  per- 
sonas  entre  hombres  y  mugeres ;  y 
de  ninos,  desde  uno  hasta  diez 
anos,  babia  mas  de  dos  mil  degoUa- 


dos."    Hita,  Guerras  de  Granada, 
torn.  n.  p.  126. 

We  may  hope  this  is  an  exagger- 
ation of  the  romancer.  Mendoza 
says  nothing  of  the  children,  and 
reduces  the  slain  to  seven  hundred. 
But  Hita  was  in  the  action. 


Ch.  IV.] 


OPERATIONS  OF  LOS  VELEZ. 


107 


massacred  by  the  soldiers,  in  cold  blood.     Others, 
to  escape  death  from  the  hands  of  their  enemies, 
threw  themselves  headlong  down  the  precipices,  — 
some  of  them  with  their  infants  in  their  arms,  — 
and  thus  miserably  perished.     "  The  cruelties  com- 
mitted  by  the  troops,"  says  one  of  the  army,  who 
chronicles  its  achievements,  "  were  such  as  the  pen 
refuses  to  record.^^     I  myself,"  he  adds,  "  saw  the 
corpse  of  a  Morisco  woman,  covered  with  wounds, 
stretched  upon  the  ground,  with  six  of  her  children 
lying  dead  around  her.     She  had  succeeded  in  pro- 
tecting  a  seventh,  still  an  infant,  with  her  body ; 
and   though   the   lances   which   pierced    her    had 
passed   through   its    clothes,   it   had    marvellously 
escaped  any  injury.    It  was  clinging,"  he  continues, 
"  to  its  dead  mother's  bosom,  from  which  it  drew 
milk  that  was  mingled  with  blood.     I  carried  it 
away  and  saved  it." ''     For  the  credit  of  human 
nature  he  records  some  other  instances  of  the  like 
kind,   showing  that  a   spark  of  humanity  might 
occasionally  be  struck  out  from  the  flinty  breasts 
of  these  marauders. 

The  field  of  battle  afforded  a  rich  harvest  for  the 
victors,  who  stripped  the  dead,  and  rifled  the  bod- 
ies  of  the  women,  of  collars,  bracelets,  ornaments 
of  gold  and  silver,  and  costly  jewels,  with  which 
the'^Moorish  female  loved  to  decorate  her  person. 

18  «La  soldadesca  que  andaba  pudd  se  llegd  li  ella,  y  movido  del 
suelta  porel  lugar  cometid  cruel-  deseo  de  mamar,  se  asio  de  los 
dades  iVauditas,  y  que  la  pluma  se  pechos  de  la  madre,  sacand.)  leche 
resiste  d  transcribir.''  Ibid.,  p.  125.  mezclada  con  la  ^ngre  de  las  hen- 

19  "El  nino  arrastrando  como  das.*'    Ibid.,  p.  126. 


108 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


Sated  with  plunder,  the  soldiers  took  the  first  oc- 
casion to  leave  their  colors  and  return  to  their 
homes.  Their  places  were  soon  supplied,  as  the 
display  of  their  riches  sharpened  the  appetites  of 
their  countrymen,  who  eagerly  flocked  to  the  ban- 
ner of  a  chief  that  was  sure  to  lead  them  on  to 
victory  and  plunder.  But  that  chief,  with  all  his 
stem  authority,  was  no  match  for  the  spirit  of  in- 
subordination that  reigned  among  his  troops  ;  and, 
when  he  attempted  to  punish  one  of  their  number 
for  a  gross  act  of  disobedience,  he  was  made  to 
understand  that  there  were  three  thousand  in  the 
camp,  ready  to  stand  by  their  comrade  and  protect 

him  from  injury.^ 

The  wild  excesses  of  the  soldiery  were  strangely 
mingled  with  a  respect  for  the  forms  of  religion, 
that  intimated  the  nature  of  the  war  in  which  they 
were  engaged.  Before  entering  into  action  the 
whole  army  knelt  do\ra  in  prayer,  solemnly  in- 
voking the  protection  of  Heaven  on  its  champions. 
After  the  battle  of  Ohanez,  where  the  mountain 
streams  were  so  polluted  with  gore  that  the  Span- 
iards found  it  difficult  to  slake  their  thirst,  they 
proceeded  to  celebrate  the  fete  of  the  Purification 
of  the  Virgin.^^     A  procession  was  formed  to  the 

»  "  Advirtiendo  al  mismo  tiem-    rout  of    Ohanez.      The    opening 
po  que  hay  tres  mil  hombres  paisa-    stanza  may  show  the  tone  of  it. 
no8  suyos  puestos  sobre  las  annas,  y  i«  lm  tremoUntes  bandems 


decididos  k  perder  la  vida  por  sal- 
varle.**    Ibid.,  p.  132. 

SI  Hita  has  devoted  one  of  the 
most  spirited  of  his  romances  to  the 


del  grande  Fajardo  parten 
para  las  Nevadas  Sierras, 
y  van  canuno  de  Ohanez. 
Ay  de  Ohanez  '.  " 


Ci£.  IV.j       OPERATIONS  OF  LOS  VELEZ.         109 

church,  which  was  headed  by  the  marquis  of  Los 
Velez  and  his  chivalry,  clad  in  complete  mail,  and 
bearing  white  tapers  in  their  hands.     Then  came 
the  Christian  women,  who  had  been  rescued  from 
captivity,  dressed,    by  the  general's  command,  m 
robes  of  blue  and  white,  as  the  appropriate  colors 
of  the  Virgin.^     The  rear  was  brought  up  by  a 
body  of  friars   and   other  ecclesiastics,   who   had 
taken  part  in  the  crusade.     The  procession  passed 
slowly  between  the  files  of  the  soldiery,  who  sa- 
luted  it  with  volleys  of  musketry  as  it  entered  the 
church,   where    Te   Deum   was  chanted,   and   the 
whole  company  prostrated  themselves  in  adoration 
of  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  who  had  given  his  enemies 

into  their  hands. 

From  this  solemn  act  of  devotion,  the  troops 
proceeded  to  the  work  of  pillage,  in  which  the 
commander,  unlike  his  rival,  the  marquis  of  Mon- 
dejar,  joined  as  heartily  as  the  meanest  of  his  fol- 
lowers. The  Moorish  captives,  to  the  number  of 
sixteen  hundred,  among  whom,  we  are  told,  were 
many  young  and  beautiful  maidens,  instead  of  meet- 
ing with  the  protection  they  had  received  from 
the  more  generous  Mondejar,  were  delivered  up  to 
the  licentious  soldiery ;  and  for  a  fortnight  there 


29  "  Todos  los  caballeros  y  capi- 
tanes  en  la  procesion  armados  de 
todas  sus  armas,  con  velas  de  cera 
blanca  en  las  manos,  que  se  las 
habian  enviado  para  aquel  dia 
desde  su  casa,  y  todas  las  Christia- 
nas en  medio  vestidas  de  azul  v 


bianco,  que  por  ser  colores  apli- 
cados  i  nuestra  Seiiora,  mandd 
el  I^Iarques  que  las  vistiesen  de 
aquella  manera  &  su  costa.**  Mar- 
mol,  Rebelion  de  Granada,  torn. 
I.  p.  469. 


110 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


reigned  throughout  the  camp  a  carnival  of  the 
wildest  riot  and  debauchery.^  In  this  strange  con- 
fusion of  the  religious  sentiment  and  of  crimes 
most  revolting  to  humanity,  we  see  the  character- 
istic  features  of  the  crusade.  Nowhere  do  we  find 
such  a  free  range  given  to  the  worst  passions  of 
our  nature,  as  in  the  wars  of  religion,  —  where 
each  party  considers  itself  as  armyed  against  the 
enemies  of  God,  ^nd  where  the  sanctity  of  the 
cause  throws  a  veil  over  the  foulest  transgressions, 
that  hides  their  enormity  from  the  eye  of  the  trans- 
gressor. 

While  the  Moriscoes  were  stunned  by  the  fierce 
blows  thus  dealt  in  rapid  succession  by  the  iron- 
hearted  marquis,  the  mild  and  liberal  policy  of  his 
rival  was  still  more  effectually  reducing  his  enemies 
to  obedience.  Disheartened  by  their  reverses,  ex- 
hausted by  fatigue  and  hunger,  as  they  roved  among 
the  mountains,  without  raiment  to  clothe  or  a  home 
to  shelter  them,  the  wretched  wanderers  came  in 
one  after  another  to  sue  for  pardon.  Nearly  all 
the  towns  and  villages  in  the  district  assigned  to 
Mondejar,  oppressed  with  like  feelings  of  despon- 
dency, sent  deputations  to  the  Spanish  quarters, 
to  tender  their  submission  and  to  sue  for  his  pro- 
tection. While  these  were  graciously  received,  the 
general  provided  for  the  future  security  of  his  con- 


> 


33  « Trayendoee  muchas  moras  voluntad  mas  de  quince  dias,  al 

liermoeas^puespasarondetrescien-  cabo  de  ellos  mandd   el  marques 

tas  las  que  se  tomaron  allf ;  y  bar  que  las  llevasen  d  la  iglesia."  Hita, 

biendolas  tenido  los  soldados  d  su  Guerrasde  Granada,tom.  IL  p.  155. 


Ch.  IV.] 


CABAL  AGAINST  MONDEJAR. 


Ill 


quests,  by  establishing  garrisons  in  the  principal 
places,  and  by  sending  small  detachments  to  dif- 
ferent parts,  to  act  as  a  sort  of  armed  police  for 
the  maintenance  of  order.  In  this  way,  says  a 
contemporary,  the  tranquillity  of  the  country  was 
so  well  established,  that  small  parties,  of  ten  or  a 
dozen  soldiers,  wandered  unmolested  from  one  end 
of  it  to  the  other.^'* 

Mondejar,  at  the  same  time,  wrote  to  the  king, 
to  acquaint  him  with  the  actual  state  of  things. 
He  besought  his  master  to  deal  mercifully  mth  the 
conquered  people,  and  thus  afford  him  the  means 
of  redeeming  the  pledges  he  had  given  for  the 
favorable  dispositions  of  the  government.^  He 
made  another  communication  to  the  marquis  of 
Los  Velez,  urging  that  nobleman  to  co-operate 
with  him  in  the  same  humane  policy,  as  the  one 
best  suited  to  the  interests  of  the  country.  But  his 
rival  took  a  very  different  view  of  the  matter ;  and 
he  plainly  told  the  marquis  of  Mondejar,  that  it 
would  require  more  than  one  pitched  battle  yet  to 
break  the  spirit  of  the  Moriscoes  ;  and  that,  since 
they  thought  so  differently  on  the  subject,  the  only 


24  "  Por  manera  que  ya  estaba 
la  Alpuxarra  tan  liana,  que  diez  y 
doce  soldados  iban  de  unos  lugares 
en  otros,  sin  hallar  quien  los  eno- 
jase."  Marmol,  Rebelion  de  Gra- 
nada, torn.  I.  p.  498. 

'MendozsL  fully  confirms  Marmol's 
account  of  the  quiet  state  o£  the 
country.  Guerra  de  Granada,  pp. 
96,  97. 


25  «  Le  suplicase  de  su  parte  los 
admitiese,  habiendose  misericordio- 
samente  con  los  que  no  fuesen  muy 
culpados,  para  que  el  pudiese  cum- 
plir  la  palabra  que  tenia  ya  dada  a 
los  reducidos,  entendiendo  ser  aquel 
camino  el  mas  breve  para  acabar 
con  ellos  por  la  via  de  equidad.** 
Marmol,  Rebelion  de  Granada, 
tom.  I.  p.  483. 


I 


ft 


112 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


way  left  was   for  each   commander  to    take  the 
course  he  judged  best.* 

Unfortunately,  there  were  others  — men,  too,  of 
influence  at  the  court  — who  were  of  the  same 
stern  way  of  thinking  as  the  marquis  of  Los 
Velez ;  men  acting  under  the  impulse  of  religious 
bigotry,  of  implacable  hatred  of  the  Moslems,  and 
of  a  keen  remembrance  of  the  outrages  they  had 
committed.  There  were  others  who,  more  basely, 
thought  only  of  themselves  and  of  the  profit  they 
should  derive  from  the  continuance  of  the  war. 

Among  those  of  the  former  class  was  the  presi- 
dent,  Deza,  with  the  members  of  the  Audience  and 
the  civil  authorities  in  Granada.     Always  viewing 
the  proceedings  of  the  captain-general  with  an  un- 
friendly eye,  they  loudly  denounced  his  policy  to 
the  king,  condemning  his  ill-timed  lenity  to  a  crafty 
race,  who  would  profit  by  it  to  rally  from  their  late 
disasters  and  to  form  new  plans  of  rebellion.     It 
was  not  right,  they  said,  that  outrages  like  those 
perpetrated  against  both  divine  and  human  majesty 
should  go  unpunished.^     Mondejar's  enemies  did 
not  stop  here,  but  accused  him  of  defrauding  the 
exchequer  of  its  dues,  — the  fifth  of  the  spoils  of 
war  gained   in  battle  from  the  infidel.     Finally, 
they    charged   him   with   having   shown   want   of 
respect  for  the    civil   authorities   of  Granada,  in 

«  «  Que  hiciese  por  su  parte  lo  &  quien  tantos  crimenes  habian  co- 

que  pudiese,  porque  ansi  haria  el  metido  contra  la  Magestad  divina 

delasuya."    Ibid.,  p.  470.  y  humana."    Ibid.,  p.  499. 

«7  "  Dexar  sin  castigo  exemplar 


Ch.  IV.] 


CABAL  AGAINST  MONDEJAR. 


113 


omitting  to  communicate  to  them  his  plan  of  op- 
erations. 

The  marquis,  advised  by  his  friends  at  court  of 
these  malicious  attempts  to  ruin  his  credit  with  the 
government,  despatched  a  confidential  envoy  to 
Madrid,  to  present  his  case  before  his  sovereign 
and  to  refute  the  accusation's  of  his  enemies.  The 
charge  of  peculation  seems  to  have  made  no  im- 
pression on  the  mind  of  a  prince  who  would  not 
have  been  slow  to  suspect  had  there  been  any 
ground  for  suspicion.  There  may  have  been  strong- 
er grounds  for  the  complaint  of  want  of  deference 
to  the  civil  authorities  of  Granada.  The  best 
vindication  of  his  conduct  in  this  particular  must 
be  found  in  the  character  and  conduct  of  his 
adversaries.  From  the  first,  Deza  and  the  munici- 
pality had  regarded  him  with  jealousy,  and  done 
all  in  their  power  to  thwart  his  plans  and  cir- 
cumscribe his  authority.  It  is  only  confidence 
that  begets  confidence.  Mondejar,  early  accus- 
tomed to  command,  was  probably  too  impatient  of 
opposition.^®  He  chafed  under  the  obstacles  and  an- 
noyances thrown  in  his  way  by  his  narrow-minded 
rivals.  We  have  not  the  means  before  us  of  coming 
to  a  conclusive  judgment  on  the  merits  of  the  con- 
troversy ;  but  from  what  we  know  of  the  marquis's 
accusers,  with  the  wily  inquisitor  at  their  head,  we 

28  "  El  Marques,'*  says  Mendoza,  igual  ni  contradictor,   impaciente 

"hombre   de   estrecha    i  rigurosa  de  tomar  compania,    comunicava 

disciplina,  criado  al  favor  de  su  sus  consejos  consigo  mismo."  Guer- 

abuelo  i  padre  en  gran  oficio,  sin  ra  de  Granada,  p.  103. 

VOL.  III.  15 


'( 


114  REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 

shall  hardly  err  by  casting  our  sympathies  into  the 
scale  of  the   frank   and   generous-hearted   soldier, 
who    whUe  those   that   thus  censured  him  were 
living  at  ease  in  the  capital,  had  been  fightmg  and 
following  up  the  enemy,  amidst  the  winter's  tem- 
pests and  across  mountains  covered  with  snow ;  and 
who,  in  little  more  than  a  month,  without  other 
aid  than   the  disorderly  levies  of  the  cities,  had 
quelled  a  dangerous  revolt,  and  restored  tranquillity 

to  the  land.  . 

Philip  was  greatly  perplexed  by  the  different  ac 
counts  sent  to  him  of  the  posture  of  affairs  m  Gra- 
nada.    Mondejar  s  agent  suggested  to  the  council 
of  state  that  it  would  be  well  if  his  majesty  would 
do  as  his  father,  Charles  the   Fifth,  would  have 
done  in  the  like  case, -repair  himself  to  the  scene 
of  action,  and  observe  the  actual  state  of  things 
with  his  own  eyes.     But  the  suggestion  found  no 
favor  with   the  minister,  Espinosa,  who    affected 
to  hold  the  Moriscoes  in   such  contempt,  that   a 
measure  of  this  kind,  he  declared,  would  be  de- 
rogatory to   the  royal  dignity.     A  better  course 
would  be  for  his  majesty  to  send  some  one  as  his 
representative,  clothed  with  full  powers  to  take 
charge  of  the  war,  and  of  a  rank   so  manifestly 
pre-eminent,  that  neither  of  the  two  commanders 
now  in  the  field   could  take  umbrage  at  his  ap- 
pointment over  their  heads. 

This  suggestion,  as  the  politic  minister  doubtless 
had  foreseen,  was  much  more  to  Philip's  taste  than 
that  of  his  going  in  person  to  the  scene  of  strife ; 


Ch.  IV.] 


LICENSE  OF  THE  SOLDIERS. 


115 


for,  however  little  he  might  shrink  from  any 
amount  of  labor  in  the  closet,  he  had,  as  we  have 
seen,  a  sluggish  temperament,  that  indisposed  him 
to  much  bodily  exertion.  The  plan  of  sending 
some  one  to  represent  the  monarch  at  the  seat  of 
war  was  accordingly  approved;  and  the  person 
selected  for  this  responsible  office  was  Philip's 
bastard  brother,  Don  John  of  Austria.^ 

Kumors  of  what  was  going  on  in  the  cabinet  at 
Madrid,  reaching  Granada  from  time  to  time,  were 
followed  by  the  most  mischievous  consequences. 
The  troops,  in  particular,  had  no  sooner  learned 
that  the  marquis  of  Mondejar  was  about  to  be 
superseded  in  the  command,  than  they  threw  off 
the  little  restraint  he  had  been  hitherto  able  to 
impose  on  them,  and  abandoned  themselves  to  the 
violence  and  rapine  to  which  they  were  so  well  dis- 
posed, and  which  seemed  now  to  be  countenanced 
by  the  president  and  the  authorities  in  Granada. 
The  very  patrols  whom  Mondejar  had  commis- 
sioned to  keep  the  peace  were  the  first  to  set  the 
example  of  violating  it.  They  invaded  the  hamlets 
and  houses  they  were  sent  to  protect,  plundered 
them  of  their  contents,  and  committed  the  foulest 
outrages  on  their  inmates.  The  garrisons  in  the 
principal  towns  imitated  their  example,  carrying  on 
their  depredations,  indeed,  on  a  still  larger  scale. 
Even  the  capital,  under  the  very  eyes  of  the  coimt 

29  Mendoza,  Guerra  de  Grana-  511  -  513.  —  Miniana,  Histona  de 
da,  p.  115  et  seq.  —  Marmol,  Espana,  p.  376.  —  Cabrera,  Fi- 
R^belion  de  Granada,  torn.  I.  pp.    Upe  Segundo,  pp.  573,  574. 


i 


' 


116 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


of  Tendilla,  sent  out  detachments  of  soldiers,  who 
with  ruthless  violence  trampled  down  the  green 
plantations  in  the  valleys,  sacked  the  villages,  and 
di-agged  away  the  inhabitants  from  the  midst  of 
their  blazing  dwellings  into  captivity.^ 

It  was  with  the  deepest  indignation  that  the 
marquis  of  Mondejar  saw  the  fine  web  of  policy 
he  had  been  so  busily  contriving  thus  wantonly 
rent  asunder  by  the  very  hands  that  should  have 
protected  it.  He  now  longed  as  ardently  as  any  m 
the  province  for  the  coming  of  some  one  intrusted 
with  authority  to  enforce  obedience  from  the  tur- 
bulent soldiery,  -  a  task  of  still  greater  difficulty 
than  the  conquest  of  the  enemy.  While  such  was 
the  state  of  things,  an  event  occurred  m  Granada 
which,  in  its  general  character,  may  remind  one  oi 
some  of  the  most  atrocious  scenes  of  the  French 

Revolution.  ,  -i     . 

In  the  beginning  of  the  troubles,  the  president 
had  caused  a  number  of  Moriscoes,  amountmg  to 
not  less  than  a  hundred  and  fifty,  it  is  said,  to  be 
arrested  and  thrown  into  the  prison  of  the  Chan- 
eery  Certain  treasonable  designs,  of  which  they 
had  been  suspected  for  a  long  time,  furnished  the 
feeble  pretext  for  this  violent  proceedmg.  Some 
few  indeed,  were  imprisoned  for  debt.  But  the 
greater  number  were  wealthy  men,  who  enjoyed 
the  highest  consideration  among  their  countrymen. 

30  Marmol,  Rebelion  de  Grana-  -Miniana,  Hlstom  de  E^fia  p. 
da,tom.n.;8etseq.-Mendo.  376.- Cabrera,  Fibpe  begundo. 
za,Guerra  de  Granada,  pp.  97, 12S.    pp-  575,  576. 


Ch.  IV.] 


MASSACRE  IN  GRANADA. 


117 


They  had  been  suffered  to  remain  in  confinement 
during  the  whole  of  the  campaign,  thus  serving,  in 
some  sort,  as  hostages  for  the  good  behavior  of  the 
people  of  the  Albaicin. 

Early  in  March,  a  rumor  was  circulated  that  the 
mountaineers,  headed  by  Aben-Humeya,  whose  fa- 
ther and  brother  were  among  the  prisoners,  were 
prepared  to  make  a  descent  on  the  city  by  night, 
and,  with  the  assistance  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Albaicin,  to  begin  the  work  of  destruction  by  as- 
saulting the  prison  of  the  Chancery  and  liberating 
their  countrymen.     This  report,   readily   believed, 
caused  the  greatest  alarm  among  the  citizens,  bod- 
ing no  good  to   the   unhappy  prisoners.     On  the 
evening  of  the  seventeenth,  Deza  received  intelli- 
gence that   lights  had  been  seen  on  some  of  the 
neighboring  mountains,  which  seemed  to  be  of  the 
nature  of  signals,  as  they  were  answered  by  cor- 
responding lights  in  some  of  the  houses  in  the  Al- 
baicin.    The  assault,  it  was  said,  would  doubtless 
be  made  that  very  night.     The  president  appears 
to  have  taken  no  measures  for  the  protection  of  the 
city.     But,  on  receiving  the  information,  he  at  once 
communicated  it  to  the  alcayde  of  the  prison,  and 
directed   him    to  provide  for   the  security  of  his 
prisoners.     The  alcayde  lost  no  time  in  gathering 
his  friends  about  him,  and  caused  arms  to  be  dis- 
tributed among  a  body  of  Spaniards,  of  whom  there 
appears  to  have  been  a  considerable  number  con- 
fined in  the  place  at  this  time.     Thus  prepared, 
they  all  remained,  as  in  silent  expectation  of  some 
great  event 


fl 


I  • 

I 


118 


BEBKLLIOX  OF  THE  M0RI5C0ES.         [Book  V. 


At  length,  some  time  before  midnight,  the  guard 
posted  in  the  Campana,  one  of  the  towers  of  the 
Alhambra,   struck  the   bell   with  a  succession  of 
rapid  strokes,  such  as  were  used  to  give  an  alarm. 
In  a  moment  every  Spaniard  in  the  prison  was  on 
his  feet ;  and,  the  alcayde  throwing  open  the  doors 
and  leading   the  way,  they  fell  at  once  on  their 
defenceless  victims,  confined  in  another  quarter  of 
the  building.      As  many  of  these   were   old  and 
infirm,  and  most  of  them  inoffensive  citizens,  whose 
quiet  way  of  life  had  little  fitted  them  for  brawl  or 
battle,  and  who  were  now  destitute  of  arms  of  any 
kind,   they   seemed  to  be  as  easy  victims  as  the 
sheep  into  whose  fold  the  famishing  wolves  have 
broken  in  the  absence  of  the  shepherd.     Yet  they 
did  not  give  up  their  lives  without  an  effort  to  save 
them.     Despair  lent  them  strength,  and  snatching 
up  chairs,  benches,  or  any  other  article  of  furniture 
in  their  cells,  they  endeavored  to  make  good  their 
defence  against    the  assailants.     Some,  exerting  a 
vigor  which  despair  only  could  have   given,  sue- 
ceeded   in  wrenching   stones    from    the   walls    or 
iron   bars   from  the  windows,  and  thus  supplied 
themselves  with  the  means,  not  merely  of  defence, 
but  of  doing  some  mischief  to  the  assailants,  in 
their  turn.     They  fought,  in  short,  like  men  who 
are  fighting  for  their  lives.     Some,  however,  losing 
all  hope  of  escape,  piled  together  a  heap  of  mats, 
bedding,   and   other   combustibles,   and,    kindling 
them  with  their  torches,  threw  themselves  into  the 
flames,  intendmg  in  this  way   to  set  fire  to  the 


Cii.  iv.j 


MASSACRE  IN  GRANADA. 


119 


building,  and  to  perish  in  one  general  conflagration 
with  their  murderers.^^  But  the  flames  they  had 
kindled  were  soon  extinguished  in  their  own  blood, 
and  their  mangled  remains  were  left  to  blacken 
among  the  cinders  of  their  funeral  pile. 

For  two  hours  the  deadly  conflict  between  par- 
ties so  unequally  matched  had  continued ;  the  one 
shouting  its  old  war-cry  of  "  Saint  lago,"  as  if  fight- 
ing on  an  open  field ;  the  other,  if  we  may  take  the 
Castilian  account,  calling  on  their  prophet  to  come 
to   their    assistance.      But    no    power,    divine   or 
human,  interposed  in  their  behalf;  and,  notwith- 
standing the  wild  uproar  caused  by  men  engaged 
in  a  mortal  struggle,  by  the  sound  of  heavy  blows 
and  falling  missiles,  by  the  yells  of  the  victors  and 
the  dying  moans  and  agonies  of  the  vanquished, 
no  noise  to  give  token  of  what  was  going  on  —  if 
we  are  to   credit  the  chroniclers  —  found  its  way 
beyond  the  walls  of  the  prison.     Even  the  guard 
stationed  in  the  court-yard,  we  are  assured,  were 
not  roused  from  their  slumbers.^ 

At  length  some  rumor  of  what  was  passing 
reached  the  city,  where  the  story  ran  that  the  Mo- 
riscoes  were  in  arms  against  their  keepers,  and 
would  soon  probably  get  possession  of  the  g^l. 
This  report  was  enough  for  the  people,  who,  roused 
by  the  alarm-bell,  were  now  in  a  state  of  excite- 

31  «  Otros,    como  desesperados,  carcel  y  la  Audiencia,  pereciesen 

juntando   esteras,   tascos    y    otras  todos  los  que  estaban  dentro."  Mar- 

cosas  secas,  que  pudiesen  arder,  se  mol,  RebeUon  de  Granada,  torn.  I. 

metian  entre  sus  mesmas  llamas,  y  p.  517. 

las  avivaban,  para  que  ardiendo  la  ^  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


It 


1  ■ 


' 


120 


KEBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


ment  that  disposed  them  to  any  deed  of  violence- 
Snatching  up  their  weapons,  they  rushed,  or  rather 
flew,  like  vultures  snuffing  the  carrion  from  afar, 
to  the  scene  of  slaughter.  Strengthened  by  this 
reinforcement,  the  assailants  in  the  prison  soon 
completed  the  work  of  death  ;  and,  wlien  the 
morning  light  broke  through  the  grated  windows, 
it  disclosed  the  full  extent  of  the  tragedy.  Of  all 
the  Moriscoes  only  two  had  escaped,  —  the  father 
and  brother  of  Aben-Humeya,  over  whom  a  guard 
had  been  especially  set.  Five  Spaniards  were  slain, 
and  seventeen  woimded,  showing  the  fierce  resist- 
ance made  by  the   Moslems,  though  destitute  of 


33 


arms. 

Such  was  the  massacre  in  the  prison  of  the 
Chancery  of  Granada,  which,  as  already  intimated, 
nowhere  finds  a  more  fitting  parallel  than  in  the 
murders  perpetrated  on  a  still  larger  scale,  during 
the  French  Revolution,  in  the  famous  massacres 
of  September.  But  the  miscreants  who  perpe- 
trated these  enormities  were  the  tools  of  a  sangui- 
nary faction,  that  was  regarded  with  horror  by 
every  friend  of  humanity  in  the  country.  In  Gra- 
nada, on  the  other  hand,  it  was  the  government 
itself,  or  at  least  those  of  highest  authority  in  it, 
who  were  responsible  for  the  deed.  For  who  can 
doubt  that  a  proceeding,  the  success  of  which 
depended  on  the  concurrence  of  so  many  circum- 

83  "Lo9  mataron   &  todos,   sin  also  Mendoza,  Guerrade  Granada » 

diBxar  hombre  &  vida,  sino  fueron  p.  122;  Herrera,  Historia  General, 

los  dos  que  dcfendid  la  guardia  que  torn.  I.  p.  744. 
tenian."    Ibid.,  iibi  supra.  —  See 


Ch.  IV.] 


MASSACRE  IN  GRANADA. 


121 


stances  as  to  preclude  the  idea  of  accident,  must 
have  been  countenanced,  if  not  contrived,  by  those 
who  had  the  direction  of  affairs  ? 

Another  feature,  not  the  least  striking  in  the 
case,  is  the  apathy  shown  by  contemporary  writ- 
ers,  men  who  on  more  than  one  occasion  have 

been  willing  to  testify  their  sympathy  for  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  Moriscoes.     One  of  these  chroniclers, 
after  telling  the  piteous  tale,  coolly  remarks  that 
it  was  a  good  thing  for  the  alcayde  of  the  prison, 
who  pocketed  a  large  sum  of  money  which  had 
been  found  on  the  persons  of  the  wealthy  Moors. 
Another,  after  noticing  the  imputation  of  an  in- 
tended rising  on  the  part  of  the  prisoners  as  in 
the  highest  degree  absurd,  dismisses  the  subject  by 
telling  us,  that  "  the  Moriscoes  were  a  weak,  scat- 
ter-brained race,  with  just  wit  enough  to  bring  on 
themselves   such   a   mishap,''  —  as   he   pleasantly 
terms  the  massacre.^^     The  government  of  Madrid 
received  the  largest  share  of  the  price  of  blood. 
For  when  the  wives  and  families  of  the  deceased 
claimed  the  inheritance  of  their  estates,  in  some 
cases  very  large,  their  claims  were  rejected  —  on 
what  grounds  we  are  not  told  —  by  the  alcaldes  of 
the  Court  of  Audience  in  Granada,  and  the  estates 
were  confiscated  to  the  use  of  the  crown.     Such  a 
decision,   remarks   a  chronicler,  may  lead  one   to 
infer  that  the  prisoners  had  been  guilty  of  even 

34  "  Havia  en  ellos  culpados  en  bil  para  todo,  sino  para  4iar  oca- 
platicas  i  demonstraciones,  i  todos  sion  a  su  desventura."  Mendoza, 
en  deseo;  gente  flaca,  liviana,  inha-     Guerra  de  Granada,  p.  122. 


VOL.   III. 


16 


122 


REBELLION  OF  THE  JklORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


Ch.  IV.]  THE  INSURRECTION  REKINDLED. 


123 


more  heinous  offences  than  those  commonly  im- 
puted to  them.^  The  impartial  reader  will  prob- 
ably come  to  a  very  different  conclusion  ;  and  since 
it  was  the  opulent  burghers  who  were  thus  marked 
out  for  destruction,  he  may  naturally  infer  that  the 
baser  passion  of  avarice  mingled  with  the  feelings 
of  fear  and  hatred  in  bringing  about  the  massacre. 

However  this  may  be,  so  foul  a  deed  placed  an 
impassable  gulf  between  the  Spaniards  and  the 
Moriscoes.  It  taught  the  latter  that  they  could  no 
longer  rely  on  their  perfidious  enemy,  who,  while 
he  was  holding  out  to  them  one  hand  in  token  of 
reconciliation,  was  r-aising  the  other  to  smite  them 
to  the  ground.  A  cry  of  vengeance  ran  through 
all  the  borders  of  the  Alpujarras.  Again  the 
mountaineers  rose  in  arms.  They  cut  off  strag- 
glers, waylaid  the  patrols  whom  Mondejar  had 
distributed  throughout  the  country,  and  even  men- 
aced the  military  posts  of  the  Spaniards.  On  some 
occasions,  they  encountered  the  latter  with  success 
in  the  open  field,  and  in  one  instance  defeated  and 
slew  a  large  body  of  Christians,  as  they  were  re- 
turning from  a  foray  laden  with  plunder.  Finally, 
they  invited  Aben-Humeya  to  return  and  resume 
the  command,  promising  to  stand  by  him  to  the 
last    The  chief  obeyed  the  call,  and,  leaving  his  re- 


's "Las  culpas  de  los  quales  de- 
bieron  ser  mayores  de  lo  que  aqui 
Be  escribe,  porque  despues  pidiendo 
las  mugeres  y  hijos  de  los  muertos 
BUS  dotes  y  haciendas  ante  los  al- 
caldes del  crimen  de  aquella  Au- 


diencia,  y  saliendo  el  fiscal  &  la 
causa,  se  formd  proceso  en  forma ; 
y  por  sentencias  y  revista  fueron 
condenados,  y  apHcados  todos  sus 
bienes  al  Real  fisoo."  Marmol,  Re- 
belion  de  Granada,  tom.  I.  p.  517. 


treat  in  the  Sierra  Nevada,  again  took  possession 
of  his  domains,  and,  planting  his  blood-red  flag  on 
his  native  hills,^^  soon  gathered  around  him  a  more 
formidable  host  than  before.  He  even  affected  a 
greater  pomp  than  he  had  before  displayed.  He 
surrounded  himself  with  a  body-guard  of  four  hun- 
dred arquebusiers.^  He  divided  his  army  into  bat- 
talions and  companies,  and  endeavored  to  introduce 
into  it  something  of  the  organization  and  tactics  of 
the  Spaniards.^  He  sent  his  brother  Abdallah  to 
Constantinople,  to  represent  his  condition  to  the 
sultan,  and  to  implore  him  to  make  common  cause 
with  his  Moslem  brethren  in  the  Peninsula.  In 
short,  rebellion  assumed  a  more  audacious  front 
than  at  any  time  during  the  previous  campaign ;  and 
the  Christians  of  Andalusia  and  Granada  looked 
with  the  greatest  anxiety  for  the  coming  of  a  com- 
mander possessed  of  sufficient  authority  to  infuse 
harmony  into  the  counsels  of  the  rival  chiefs,  to 
enforce  obedience  from  the  turbulent  soldiery,  and 
to  bring  the  war  to  a  speedy  conclusion. 


38  "  Levantd  un  Estandarte  ber- 
mejo,  que  mostrava  el  lugar  de  la 
persona  del  Rei  a  manera  de  Gui- 
on."  Mendoza,  Guerra  de  Grana- 
da, p.  118. 

37  "Para  seguridad  de  su  per- 
sona pagd  arcabuceria  de  guardia, 


que  fue  creciendo  hasta  quatro- 
cientos  hombres.**  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 
38  "  Siffuid  nuestra  orden  de 
Guerra,  repartid  la  gento  por  es- 
quadras,  juntdla  en  companias, 
nombrd  Capitanes.**  Ibid.,  ubi 
supra. 


1 


( 


f 


I 


Cii.  v.i 


DON  JOHN  OF  AUSTRIA. 


125 


by    common  consent  —  I   hardly  know   on   what 
ground  —as  the  day  of  his  birth.     It  was  also,  it 
may  be   remembered,  the  birthday  of  his  father, 
Charles  the  Fifth.    His  mother,  Barbara  Blomberg, 
was  an  inhabitant  of  Ratisbon,  in  Germany.     She 
is   described   as   a  beautiful  young  girl,  who   at- 
tracted the  emperor^s  notice  several  years  after  the 
death   of   the    Empress   Isabella.^'     The    Spanish 
chroniclers  claim  a  noble  descent  for  Barbara.^     In- 
deed,  it  would  go  hard  but  a  Spaniard  could  make 
out  a  pedigree  for  his  hero.     Yet  there  are  several 
circumstances   which    suggest    the  idea   that   the 
mother  of  Don  John  must  have  occupied  a  very 

humble  position. 

Subsequently  to  her  connection  with  Charles  she 
married  a  German  named  Kegell,  on  whom  the 
emperor  bestowed  the  office  of  commissary.'  The 
only  other  notice,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  which 
Charles  took  of  his  former  mistress,  was  the  settle- 
ment on  her  of  a  yearly  pension  of  two  hundred 
florins,  which  he  made  the  day  before  his  death.^ 


a  Vanderhammen,  Don  Juan  de 
Austria,  fol.  3.— Villafane,  Vida 
y  Virtudes  de  Dona  Magdalena  de 
UUoa,  (Salamanca,  1722,)  p.  36.  — 
See  also  Lafuente,  Historia  de 
Espana,  torn.  XIII.  p.  432. 

This  last  historian  has  made  the 
parentage  of  John  of  Austria  the 
subject  of  a  particular  discussion 
in  the  Revista  de  Ambqp  Mundos, 
No.  3. 

3  Vanderhammen,  alluding  to 
the  doubts  thrown  on  the  rank  of 


his  hero*s  mother,  consoles  himself 
with  the  reflection  that,  if  there 
was  any  deficiency  in  this  particu- 
lar, no  one  can  deny  that  it  was 
more  than  compensated  by  the 
proud  origin  of  her  imperial  lover. 
Don  Juan  de  Austria,  fol.  3. 

4  Lafuente,    Hist,    de   Espana, 
tom.  Xin.  p.  432,  note. 

5  Gachard,  Retraite  et  Mort  de 
Charles-Quint,  tom.  II.  p.  506. 

In  a  private  interview  with  Luis 
Quixada,  the  evening  before  his 


h 


126 


REBELLION  OF  THE  M0RISC0E3.         [Book  V. 


It  was  certainly  not  a  princely  legacy,  and  infers 
that  the  object  of  it  must  have  been  in  a  humble 
condition  in  life  to  have  rendered  it  important  to 
her  comfort  We  are  led  to  the  same  conclusion 
by  the  mystery  thrown  around  the  birth  of  the 
child,  forming  so  strong  a  contrast  to  the  publicity 
given  to  the  birth  of  the  emperor's  natural  daugh- 
ter, Margaret  of  Parma,  whose  mother  could  boast 
that  in  her  veins  flowed  some  of  the  best  blood  of 
the  Netherlands. 

For  three  years  the  boy,  who  received  the  name 
of  Geronimo,'  remained  under  his  mother's  roof, 
when,  by  Charles's  order,  he  was  placed  in  the 
hands  of  a  Fleming  named  Maffi,  a  musician  in 
the  imperial  band.  This  man  transferred  his  resi- 
dence to  Leganes,  a  village  in  Castile,  not  far  from 
Madrid.  The  instrument  still  exists  that  contains 
the  agreement  by  which  Maffi,  after  acknowledging 
the  receipt  of  a  hundred  florins,  engages  for  fifty 
florins  annually  to  bring  up  the  child  with  as  much 
care  as  if  he  were  his  own.^  It  was  a  moderate 
allowance,  certainly,  for  the  nurture  of  one  who 
was  some  day  to  come  before  the  world  as  the  son 
of  an  emperor.  It  showed  that  Charles  was  fond 
of  a  bargain,  —  though  at  the  expense  of  his  own 
offspring. 

No  instruction  was  provided  for  the  child  except 

death,  the  emperor  gave  him  six  pere  of  Charles  th«  Fifth.    A  copy 

hundred  gold  crowns  to  purchase  of  it  has .  been  preserved  among 

the  above-mentioned  pension.  the  manuscripts  of  Cardinal  Gran- 

s  This  interesting  document  was  velle.    Papiers   d'Etat,  torn.  IV. 

£)und  among  the  testamentary  pa-  pp.  499,  500. 


Ch.  v.] 


DON  JOHN  OF  AUSTRIA. 


127 


such  as  he  could  pick  up  from  the  parish  priest, 
who,  as  he  knew  as  little  as  Maffi  did  of  the 
secret  of  Geronimo's  birth,*  probably  bestowed  no 
more  attention  on  him  than  on  the  other  lads  of 
the  village.  And  we  •  cannot  doubt  that  a  boy  of 
his  lively  temper  must  have  preferred  passing  his 
days  in  the  open  fields,  to  confinement  in  the  house 
and  listening  to  the  homilies  of  his  teacher.  As 
he  grew  in  years,  he  distinguished  himself  above 
his  young  companions  by  his  courage.  He  took 
the  lead  in  all  their  rustic  sports,  and  gave  token 
of  his  belligerent  propensities  by  making  war  on 
the  birds  in  the  orchards,  on  whom  he  did  great 
execution  with  his  little  crossbow.'^ 

Four  years  were  passed  in  this  hardy  way  of 
life,  which,  if  it  did  nothing  else  for  the  boy,  had 
the  advantage  of  strengthening  his  constitution  for 
the  serious  trials  of  manhood,  when  the  emperor 
thought  it  was  time  to  place  him  in  a  situation 
where  he  would  receive  a  better  training  than  could 
be  found  in  the  cottage  of  a  peasant.  He  was 
accordingly  transferred  to  the  protection  of  Luis 
Quixada,  Charles's  trusty  major-domo,  who  received 
the  child  into  his  family  at  Villagarcia,  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Valladolid.  The  emperor  showed  his 
usual  discernment  in  the  selection  of  a  guardian  for 
his  son.  Quixada,  with  his  zeal  for  the  faith,  his 
loyalty,  his  nice  sentiment  of  honor,  was  the  very 
type  of  the  Castilian  hidalgo  in  his  best  form; 

'  "  Gastava  buena  parte  del  dia    paxaros.**     Vanderhammen,    Don 
en  tirar  con  una  ballestilla  a  los    Juan  de  Austria,  fol.  10. 


128 


BEBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


Cu.  V.J 


DON  JOHN   OF  AUSTRIA. 


129 


while  he  possessed  all  those  knightly  qualities  which 
made  him  the  perfect  mirror  of  the  antique  chiv- 
alry. His  wife,  Dona*  Magdalena  de  UUoa,  sister 
of  the  marquis  of  Mota,  was  a  lady  yet  more  illus- 
trious for  her  virtues  than  for  her  rank.  She  had 
naturally  the  most  to  do  with  the  training  of  the 
boy's  earlier  years ;  and  under  her  discipline  it  was 
scarcely  possible  that  one  of  so  generous  a  nature 
should  fail  to  acquire  the  courtly  breeding  and 
refinement  of  taste  which  shed  a  lustre  over  the 
stem  character  of  the  soldier. 

However  much  Quixada  may  have  reposed  on 
his  wife's  discretion,  he  did  not  think  proper  tp 
try  it,  in  the  present  instance,  by  communicating 
to  her  the  secret  of  Geronimo's  birth.  He  spoke 
of  him  as  the  son  of  a  great  man,  his  dear  friend, 
expressing*  his  desire  that  his  wife  would  receive 
him  as  her  own  child.  This  was  the  less  diffi- 
cult, as  Magdalena  had  no  children  of  her  own. 
The  solicitude  shown  by  her  lord  may  possibly 
have  suggested  to  her  the  idea  that  the  .boy  was 
more  nearly  related  to  him  than  he  chose  to  ac- 
knowledge, —  in  short,  that  he  was  the  offspring  of 
some  intrigue  of  Quixada  previous  to  his  marriage.® 
But  an  event  which  took  place  not  long  after  the 
child's  introduction  into  the  family  is  said  to  have 
awakened  in  her  suspicions  of  an  origin  more  in 
accordance  with  the  truth.  The  house  at  Villa- 
garcia  took  fire;  and,  as  it  was  in  the  night,  the 

8  "Ypuede  ser  llegase  d  sospe-    su  Esposo.**    Villafane,  Vida  de 
cliar,  si  acaso  tendria  per  Padre  i,    Magdalena  de  Ulloa,  p.  38. 


flames  gained  such  head  that  they  were  not  dis- 
covered till  they  burst  through  the  windows.  The 
noise  in  the  street  roused  the  sleeping  inmates; 
and  Quixada,  thinking  first  of  his  charge,  sprang 
from  his  bed,  and,  rushing  into  Geronimo's  apart- 
ment, snatched  up  the  affrighted  child,  and  bore 
him  in  his  arms  to  a  place  of  safety.  He  then  re- 
entered the  house,  and,  forcing  his  way  through 
the  smoke  and  flames,  succeeded  in  extricating:  his 
wife  from  her  perilous  situation.  This  sacrifice  of 
love  to  loyalty  is  panegyrized  by  a  Castilian  chron- 
icler as  "  a  rare  achievement,  far  transcending  any 
act  of  heroism  of  which  antiquity  could  boast."  ^ 
Whether  Magdalena  looked  with  the  same  com- 
placency on  the  proceeding  we  are  not  informed. 
Certain  it  is,  however,  that  the  interest  shown  by 
her  husband  in  the  child  had  no  power  to  excite 
any  feeling  of  jealousy  in  her  bosom.  On  the  con- 
trary, it  seemed  rather  to  strengthen  her  own  in- 
terest in  the  boy,  whose  uncommon  beauty  and 
affectionate  disposition  soon  called  forth  all  the 
tenderness  of  her  nature.     She  took  him  to  her 


3  "  Accion  singular  y  rara,  y  (jue 
dexa  atras  quantas  la  Antiguedad 
celebra  por  peregrinas.**  Vander- 
hammen,  Don  Juan  de  Austria, 
fol.  31. 

According  to  another  biographer, 
two  fires  occurred  to  Quixada,  one 
in  Villagarcia  and  one  in  Vallado- 
Hd.  On  each  of  these  occasions 
the  house  was  destroyed,  but  his 
ward  was  saved,  borne  off  by  the 

VOL.   III.  17 


good  knight  in  his  arms.  (Villa- 
fane,  Vida  de  Magdalena  de  Ulloa, 
pp.  44,  53.)  The  coincidences  are 
too  much  opposed  to  the  doctrine 
of  chances  to  commend  themselves 
readily  to  our  faith.  Vanderham- 
men's  reflection  was  drawn  forth 
by  the  second  fire,  the  only  one 
he  notices.  It  applies,  'however, 
equally  well  to  both. 


130 


rebellion;  of  the  MOIUSCOES.  [Book  V. 


lieart,  and  treated  liim  with  all  tlie  fondness  of  a 
mother,  —  a  feeling  warmly  reciprocated  by  the 
object  of  it,  who,  to  the  day  of  his  death,  regarded 
her  with  the  truest  feelings  of  filial  love  and  rev- 
erence. 

In  1558,  the  year  after  his  retirement  to  Yuste, 
Charles  the  Fifth,  whether  from  a  wish  to  see  his 
son,  or,  as  is  quite  as  probable,  in  the  hope  of 
making  Quixada  more  contented  with  his  situa- 
tion, desired  his  major-domo  to  bring  his  family 
to  the  adjoining  village  of  Cuacos.  While  there, 
the  young  Geronimo  must  doubtless  sometimes 
have  accompanied  his  mother,  as  he  called  Dofia 
Magdalena,  in  her  visits  to  the  monastery.  Indeed, 
his  biographer  assures  us  that  the  sight  of  him 
operated  like  a  panacea  on  the  emperor  s  health.'" 
We  find  no  allusion  to  him,  however,  in  any  of  the 
letters  from  Yuste ;  and,  if  he  did  go  there,  we 
may  be  sure  that  Charles  had  sufficient  control 
over  himself  not  to  betray,  by  any  indiscreet  show 
of  fondness,  his  relationship  to  the  child.*^  One 
tradition  respecting  him  lingered  to  a  late  period 
among  the  people  of  Cuacos,  where  the  peasants, 
it  is  said,  pelted  him  with  stones  as  he  was  rob- 


10  Vanderhammen,  Don  Juan 
de  Austria,  fol.  16. 

11  Indeed,  Siguenza,  who  may 
have  had  it  from  the  monks  of 
Yuste,  tells  us  that  the  "  boy  some- 
times was  casually  seen  by  the  em- 
peror, who  was  careful  to  maintain 
Ins  usual  reserve  and  dignified  de- 


meanor,  so  that  no  one  could  sus- 
pect his  secret.  Once  or  twice," 
adds  the  Jeronymite  father,  "the 
lad  entered  the  apartment  of  his 
father,  who  doubtless  spoke  to  him 
as  he  would  have  spoken  to  any 
other  boy."  Historia  de  la  Orden 
de  San  Geronimo,  tom.  III.  p.  205. 


Cn.  v.] 


DON  JOHN  OF  AUSTRIA. 


L31 


bing  their  orchards.  It  was  the  first  lesson  in  war 
of  the  future  hero  of  Lepanto. 

There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the  boy  wit- 
nessed the  obsequies  of  the  emperor.  One  who 
was  present  tells  us  that  he  saw  him  there,  dressed 
in  full  mourning,  and  standing  by  the  side  of  Qui- 
xada, for  whose  page  he  passed  among  the  brethren 
of  the  convent. ^^  We  may  well  believe  that  a  spec- 
tacle so  solemn  and  affecting  as  these  funeral  cere- 
monies must  have  sunk  deep  into  his  young  mind, 
and  heightened  the  feelings  of  veneration  with 
which  he  always  regarded  the  memory  of  his  fa- 
ther. It  was  perhaps  the  appearance  of  Geronimo 
as  one  of  the  mourners  that  first  suggested  the 
idea  of  his  relationship  to  the  emperor.  We  find 
a  letter  from  Quixada  to  Philip,  dated  soon  after, 
in  which  he  speaks  of  rumors  on  the  subject  as 
current  in  the  neighborhood.^^ 

Among  the  testamentary  papers  of  Charles  was 
found  one  in  an  envelope  sealed  with  his  private 
seal,  and  addressed  to  his  son,  Philip,  or,  in  case  of 
his  death,  to  his  grandson,  Carlos,  or  whoever  might 
be  in  possession  of  the  crown.  It  was  dated  in 
1554,  before  his  retirement  to  Yuste.  It  acknowl- 
edged his  connection  with  a  German  maiden,  and 
the  birth  of  a  son  named  Geronimo.     The  mother's 

12  Relation  d'un    Religicux  de  Mt«d  sabe  que  estd  d  mi  carjro  que 

Yuste,   ap.   Gachard,   Retraite  et  me  ha  espantado,    y    espiintame 

Mort  de  Charles-Quint,  tom.  II.  mucho  mas  las  particularulades  que 

P-  55.  sobrello  oyo."     Ibid.,  tom.   I.  p. 

J3  "Hallo   tan   publico  aquf  lo  449. 
que  toca  aquella  persona  que  V. 


t 


132 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.  [Book  V. 


Cu.  v.] 


DON  JOHN  OF  AUSTRL^ 


133 


name  was  not  given.  He  pointed  out  the  quarter 
where  information  could  be  got  respecting  the 
child,  who  was  then  living  with  the  violin-player 
at  Leganes.  He  expressed  the  wish  that  he  should 
be  trained  up  for  the  ecclesiastical  profession,  and 
that,  when  old  enough,  he  should  enter  a  convent 
of  one  of  the  reformed  orders.  Charles  would  not, 
however,  have  any  constraint  put  on  the  inclina- 
tions of  the  boy,  and  in  case  of  his  preferring  a 
secular  life,  he  would  have  a  suitable  estate  settled 
on  him  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  with  an  annual 
income  of  between  thirty  and  forty  thousand  du- 
cats. Whatever  course  Geronimo  might  take,  the 
emperor  requested  that  he  should  receive  all  the 
honor  and  consideration  due  to  him  as  his  son. 
His  letter  concluded  by  saying  that,  although  for 
obvious  reasons  he  had  not  inserted  these  direc- 
tions in  his  will,  he  wished  them  to  be  held  of 
the  same  validity  as  if  he  had.'*  Philip  seems 
from  the  first  to  have  so  regarded  them,  though, 
as  he  was  then  in  Flanders,  he  resolved  to  postpone 
the  public  acknowledgment  of  his  brother  till  his 
return  to  Spain. 

Meanwhile  the  rumors  in  regard  to  Geronimo's 
birth  had  reached  the  ears  of  the  regent,  Joanna. 
With  natural  curiosity  she  ordered  her  secretary  to 
write  to  Quixada  and  ascertain  the  truth  of  the  re- 


J^  A  copy   of   this    interesting  beautiful   edition  of  the  cardinal's 

document  was  found  in  the  coUcc-  papers.    Papiers  d'Etat,  torn.  IV. 

fion  of  Granvelle  at  Besan^on,  and  p.  495  et  seq. 
has  been   lately   published  in  the 


\ 


port.  The  trusty  hidalgo  endeavored  to  evade  tlie 
question,  by  saying  that  some  years  since  a  friend 
of  his  had  intrusted  a  boy  to  his  care ;  but  as  no 
allusion  whatever  was  made  to  the  child  in  the  em- 
peror's will,  the  story  of  their  relationship  to  each 
other  should  be  treated  as  idle  gossip.*^  The  reply 
did  not  satisfy  Joanna,  who  seems  to  have  settled  it 
in  her  own  mind  that  the  story  was  well  founded. 
She  took  an  occasion  soon  after  to  write  to  Dofta 
Magdalena,  during  her  husband's  absence  from 
home,  expressing  her  wish  that  the  lady  would 
bring  the  boy  where  she  could  see  him.  The  place 
selected  was  at  an  auto  de  fe  about  to  be  celebrated 
in  Valladolid.  Dona  Magdalena,  reluctant  as  she 
was,  felt  herself  compelled  to  receive  the  request 
from  such  a  source  as  a  command,  which  she  had 
no  right  to  disobey.  One  might  have  thought  that 
a  ceremony  so  heart-rending  and  appalling  in  its 
character  as  an  auto  de  fe  would  be  the  last  to  be 
selected  for  the  indulgence  of  any  feeling  of  a  light 
and  joyous  nature.  But  the  Spaniard  of  that  and 
of  a  much  later  age  regarded  this  as  the  sweetest 
sacrifice  that  could  be  offered  to  the  Almighty ; 
and  he  went  to  it  with  the  same  indifference  to 
the  sufferings  of  the  victim  —  probably  with  the 
same  love  of  excitement  —  which  he  would  have 
felt  in  going  to  a  bull-fight. 

'5  "  Que  pues  Su  M*^,  en  su  responder  otra  cosa,  en  publico  ni 

testamento  ni   codecilo,  no  hazia  en  secreto."     Gat^hard,  Rctraite  ot 

memorla  del,  que  era  razon  tenello  Mort  de  Cliarles-Quint,  torn.  I.  j>. 

por  burla,  y  que  no  sabia  que  poder  446. 


134 


KEBELLION   OF  THE  MORISCOES.  [Book  V. 


On  the  day  which  had  been  named,  Magdalena 
and  her  charge  took  their  seats  on  the  carpeted 
platform  reserved  for  persons  of  rank,  in  full  view 
of  the  scaffold  appropriated  to  the  martyrs  who 
were  to  suffer  for  conscience'  sake.  It  was  in  the 
midst  of  the  august  company  here  assembled,  that 
the  son  of  Charles  the  Fifth  was  to  receive  his  first 
lesson  in  the  school  of  persecution ;  that  he  was  to 
learn  to  steel  his  heart  against  sympathy  with  hu- 
man suffering ;  to  leani,  above  all,  that  compassion 
for  the  heretic  was  a  crime  of  the  deepest  dye.  It 
was  a  terrible  lesson  for  one  so  young,  —  of  an 
age  when  the  mind  is  most  open  to  impressions ; 
and  the  bitter  fruits  of  it  were  to  be  discenied  ere- 
long in  the  war  with  the  Moriscoes. 

As  the  royal  train  approached  the  place  occupied 
by  DofSa  Magdalena,  the  regent  paused  and  looked 
around  for  the  boy,  Magdalena  had  thrown  her 
mantle  about  him,  to  conced  him  as  much  as  pos- 
sible from  the  public  eye.  She  now  drew  it  aside ; 
and  Joanna  looked  so  long  and  earnestly  on  the 
child,  that  he  shrunk  abashed  from  her  gaze.  It 
was  not,  however,  before  she  had  recognized  in 
his  bright  blue  eyes,  his  ample  forehead,  and  the 
rich  yellow  locks  that  clustered  round  his  head, 
some  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  Austrian  line, 
though  happily  without  the  deformity  of  the  pro- 
truding lip,  which  was  no  less  its  characteristic. 
Her  heart  yearned  with  the  tenderness  of  a  sister, 
as  she  felt  convinced  that  the  same  blood  flowed 
in  his  veins  as  in  her  own ;  and,  stooping  down,  she 


Cu.  v.]     DON  JOHN  ACKNOWLEDGED   BY  PHILIP.  135 

threw  her  arms  around  his  neck,  and,  kissing  him, 
called  him  by  the  endearing  name  of  brother. ^^  She 
would  have  persuaded  him  to  go  with  her  and  sit  by 
her  side.  But  the  boy,  clinging  closely  to  his  foster- 
mother,  refused  to  leave  her  for  the  stranger  lady. 

This  curious  scene  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
surrounding  spectators,  which  was  hardly  diverted 
from  the  child  by  the  appearance  of  the  prisoners 
on  the  scaffold  to  receive  their  sentences.  When 
these  had  been  pronounced,  and  the  wretched  vic- 
tims led  away  to  execution,  the  multitude  pressed 
so  eagerly  round  Magdalena  and  the  boy,  that  it 
was  with  difficulty  the  guards  could  keep  them 
back,  till  the  regent,  seeing  the  awkwardness  of 
their  situation,  sent  one  of  her  train,  the  count  of 
Osorno,  to  their  relief;  and  that  nobleman,  forcing 
his  way  through  the  crowd,  carried  off  Geronimo 
in  his  arms  to  the  royal  carriage.^^ 

It  was  not  long  before  all  mystery  was  dispelled 
by  the  public  acknowledgment  of  the  child  as  the 
son  of  the  emperor.  One  of  the  first  acts  of  Philip, 
after  his  return  to  Spain,  in  1559,  was  to  arrange 


I. 


16  "  La  Princesa  al  punto  arrc- 
batada  del  amor,  le  abra(;6,  y  beso, 
sin  reparar  en  el  lugar  que  estava, 
y  el  aeto  que  exercia.  Llamole 
hermano,  y  tratole  do  Alteza." 
Vanderhammen,  Don  Juan  de 
Austria,  fol.  23. 

17  "  Llego  el  case  a  estado,  quo 
le  huvo  de  tomar  en  bra^os  el 
Condc  Osorno  hasta  la  carro^a  de 
la    Princesa,   porque  le  gozassen 


todos/*  Vanderhanimen,  Don  Juan 
de  Austria,  fol.  25. 

The  storj^  must  be  admitted  to 
be  a  strange  one,  considering  the 
punctilious  character  of  the  Cas- 
tilian  court,  and  the  reserved  and 
decorous  habits  of  Joanna.  But 
the  author,  born  and  bred  in  the 
palace,  had  access,  as  he  tells  us, 
to  the  very  highest  sources  of  in- 
formation, oral  and  written. 


ICG 


KECELLION   OF   TIIK  MOIIISCOES.         [Book  V. 


l.ji 


an  interview  with  his  brother.  The  place  assigned 
for  the  meeting  was  an  extensive  park,  not  far 
from  Valladolid,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  con- 
vent of  La  Espina,  a  spot  much  resorted  to  by 
the  Castilian  princes  of  the  older  time  for  the 
pleasures  of  the  chase. 

On  the  appointed  day,  Quixada,  richly  dressed, 
and  mounted  on  the  best  horse  in  his  stables,  rode 
forth,  at  the  head  of  his  vassals,  to  meet  the  king, 
with  the  little  Geronimo,  simply  attired  and  on  a 
common  palfrey,  by  his  side.  They  had  gone  but 
a  few  miles  when  they  heard,  through  the  woods, 
the  sound  of  horses'  hoofs,  announcing  the  approach 
of  the  royal  cavalcade.  Quixada  halted,  and,  alight- 
ing, drew  near  to  Geronimo,  with  much  deference 
in  his  manner,  and,  dropping  on  one  knee,  begged 
permission  to  kiss  his  hand.  At  the  same  time  he 
desired  his  ward  to  dismount,  and  take  the  charger 
"which  he  had  himself  been  riding.  Geronimo  was 
sorely  bewildered  by  what  he  would  have  thought 
a  merry  jest  on  the  part  of  his  guardian,  had  not 
his  sedate  and  dignified  character  forbidden  the 
supposition.  Recovering  from  his  astonishment, 
he  complied  with  his  guardian's  directions ;  and 
the  vision  of  future  greatness  must  have  flashed 
on  his  mind,  if,  as  we  are  told,  when  preparing  to 
mount,  he  turned  round  to  Quixada,  and  with  an 
affected  air  of  dignity  told  him  that,  "  since  things 
were  so,  he  might  hold  the  stirrup  for  him."  ^® 

18  t*  Vuelto  ya  en  si  de  la  sus-     montd  en  el  caballo ;  y  aun  se  dice 
[>ension  primera,  alargd  la  mano,  y    que  con  airosa  Grandeza,  afiudid; 


'Cii.  v.]     DON  JOHN  ACKNOWLEDGED  BY  PHILIP.  137 

They  had  not  proceeded  far  when  they  came  \\\ 
sight  of   the  royal   party.     Quixada   pointed   out 
the  king  to  his  ward,  adding  that  his  majesty  had 
something  of  importance  to  communicate  to  him. 
They  then  dismounted ;  and  the  boy,  by  his  guar- 
dian's instructions,  drawing  near  to  Philip,  knelt 
down  and  begged  leave  to  kiss  his  majesty's  hand. 
The  king,  graciously  extending  it,  looked  intently 
on  the  youth ;  and  at  length  broke  silence  by  ask- 
ing "  if   he  knew  who  was  his  father."      Geroni- 
mo, disconcerted  by   the  abruptness  of  the   ques- 
tion, and  indeed,  if  the  reports  of  his  origin  had 
ever  reached  his  ears,  ignorant  of  their  truth,  cast 
his   eyes   on   the   ground    and   made    no    answer. 
Philip,  not  displeased  with  his  embarrassment,  was 
well  satisfied,  doubtless,  to  read  in  his  intelligent 
countenance  and  noble  mien  an  assurance  that  he 
would   do   no   discredit   to   his   birth.     Alighting 
from  his  horse,  he  embraced  Geronimo,  exclaimmg, 
"  Take  courage,  my  child ;  you  are  descended  from 
a  great  man.     The  Emperor  Charles  the  Fifth,  now 
in  glory,  is  your  father  as  well  as  mine."  ^^     Then, 
turning   to    the  lords  who  stood  around,  he   pre- 
sented the  boy  to    them    as  the  son  of  their  late 
sovereign   and   his    own   brother.     The   courtiers, 
with  the  ready  instinct  of  their  tribe,  ever  prompt 
*  to  worship  the  rising  sun,  pressed  eagerly  forward 

Pues  SI  eso  es  asi  tened  el  estribo  **  pmenobilis  viri  filius  es  tu  :  Carolus 
Villafaiie,  Vida  de  Dona  Magda-  Quintus  Imperator,  qui  ccelo  degit, 
lena  de  UUoa,  p.  51.  utrlusque  nostrum  pater  est."  Stra- 
ps "  Macte,  inquit,  animo  puer,  da,  De  Bello  Belgico,  torn.  I  p.  608. 

VOL.  III.  18 


138 


KEBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.  [Hook  V. 


Cii.  v.]      DON  JOHN  ACKNOWLEDGED  BY  rHlLIP. 


139 


fi 


to  pay  their  obeisance  to  Geronimo.  The  scene 
was  concluded  by  the  king  s  buckling  a  sword  on 
his  brother's  side,  and  throwing  around  his  neck 
the  sparkling  collar  of  the  Golden  Fleece. 

The  tidings  of  this  strange  event  soon  spread 
over  the  neighborhood,  for  there  were  many  more 
witnesses  of  the  ceremony  than  those  who  took 
part  in  it ;  and  the  king  and  his  retinue  found, 
on  their  return,  a  multitude  of  people  gathering 
along  the  route,  eager  to  get  a  glimpse  of  this 
newly  discovered  gem  of  royalty.  The  sight  of 
the  handsome  youth  called  forth  a  burst' of  noisy 
enthusiasm  from  the  populace,  and  the  air  rung 
with  their  tumultuous  vivas  as  the  royal  party 
rode  through  the  streets  of  the  ancient  city  of  Val- 
ladolid.  Philip  expressed  his  satisfaction  at  the 
events  of  the  day,  by  declaring  that  "  he  had  never 
met  better  sport  in  his  life,  or  brought  back  game 
so  much  to  his  mind."^ 

Having  thus  publicly  acknowledged  his  brother, 
the  king  determined  to  provide  for  him  an  estab- 
lishment suited  to  his  condition.  He  assigned  him 
for  his  residence  one  of  the  best  mansions  in  Ma- 
drid. He  w^as  furnished  with  a  numerous  band  of 
retainers,  and  as  great  state  was  maintained  in  his 
household  as  in  that  of  a  prince  of  the  blood.  The 
count  of  Priego  acted   as  his   chief  major-domo ; 

**  "  Jamds  habia  tenido  dia  de  This  curious  account  of  Philip's 

caza  mas  gustoso,  ni  logrado  presa  recognition  of  his  brotlier  is  told, 

que  le  hubiese  dado  tanto  conten-  with  less  discrepancy  than  usual, 

to."      Villafane,    Vida    de    Dona  by  varioug  writers  of  that  day. 
Magdalena  de  Ulloa,  p.  62. 


Don  Luis  Carrillo,  the  eldest  son  of  that  noble, 
was  made  captain  of  the  guard;  and  Don  Luis  de 
Cordova  master  of  the  horse.  In  short,  nobles  and 
cavaliers  of  the  best  blood  in  Castile  did  not  dis- 
dain to  hold  offices  in  the  service  of  the  peasant- 
boy.  With  one  or  two  exceptions,  of  little  impor- 
tance, he  enjoyed  all  the  privileges  that  belonged 
to  the  royal  infantes.  He  did  not,  like  them,  have 
apartments  in  the  palace;  and  he  was  to  be  ad- 
dressed by  the  title  of  "Excellency,"  instead  of 
"  Highness,"  which  was  their  peculiar  prerogative. 
The   distinction   was  not  always  scrupulously  ob- 

served.^^ 

A  more  important  change  took  place  in  his 
name,  which  from  Geronimo  was  now  converted 
into  John  of  Austria,  —  a  lofty  name,  which  inti- 
mated his  descent  from  the  imperial  house  of 
Hapsburg,  and  on  which  his  deeds  in  after  life 
shed  a  lustre  greater  than  the  proudest  title  that 
sovereignty  could  confer. 

Luis  Quixada  kept  the  same  place  after  his 
pupil's  elevation  as  before.  He  continued  to  be 
his  ayo,  or  governor,  and  removed  with  Dona  Mag- 
dalena to  Madrid,  where  he  took  up  his  residence 
in  the  house  of  Don  John.  Thus  living  in  the 
most  intimate  personal  relations  with  him,  Quixa- 
da maintained  his  influence  unimpaired  till  the 
hour  of  his  own  death. 

«  Vanderhammen,  Don  Juan  de  lo  de  Alteza  i  de  seiior  entre  los 

Austria,  fol.  27.— "Mandole  11a-  Grandes  i  menores/'    Cabrera,  Fi- 

ni:\r  Ecelencia ;   pero  sus  Reales  lipe  Segundo,  lib.  V,  cap.  3. 
costunbres  le  dieron  adelante  titu- 


140 


EEBELLION   OF  THE   MOUISCOES.         [Book  V. 


Ch.  V.) 


HIS   TIIIUST   FOIl  UISTISCTIOX. 


141 


Philip  fully  appreciated  the  worth  of  the  faitli- 
ful  hidalgo,  who  was  fortunate  in  thus  enjoying 
the  favor  of  the  son  in  as  great  a  degree  as  he  had 
done-  that  of  the  father, — and,  as  it  would  seem, 
with  a  larger  recompense  for  his  services.     He  was 
master  of  the  horse  to  Don  Carlos,  the  heir  to  the 
crown ;  he  held  the  important  post  of  president  of 
the  Council  of  the  Indies ;  and  he  possessed  several 
lucmtive  benefices  in  the  military  order  of  Cala- 
trava.     In  one  of  his  letters  to  the  king,  we  find 
Quixada  remarking    that   he    had   endeavored    to 
supply  the  deficiencies  of  his  pupil's  early  educa- 
tion by  training  him  in  a  manner  better  suited  to 
his  destinies  in  after  life.^     We  cannot  doubt  that, 
in  the  good  knight's  estimate  of  what  was  essen- 
tial to  such   a  training,  the  exercises  of  chi\  airy 
must   have   found  more  favor   than   the  monastic 
discipline  recommended  by  the  emperor.     However 
this  may  have  been,  Philip  resolved   to   give  his 
brother  the  best  advantages  for  a  liberal  education 
by  sending  him  to  the  University  of  Alcala,  which, 
founded  by  the  great  Ximenes,  a  little  more  than 
a  century  before,  now  shared  with  the  older  school 
of  Salamanca  the  glory  of  being  the  most  famous 
seat  of  science  in  the  Peninsula.    Don  John  had  for 
his  companions  his  two  nephews,  Don  Carlos,  and 
Alexander  Famese,  the  son  of  Margaret  of  Parma. 

^  "  Tengo  muoho  cuidado  que  estado  hasta  que  vino  d  mi  poder, 

aprenda  y  se  le  ensenen  las  cosas  es  bicn  raenester  con  todo  cuidado 

necesarias,  conforme  il  su  edad  y  d  tener  cuenta  con   el."     Gachanl, 

h  calidad  de  su  persona,  que,  segun  Retraite  et  Mort  de  Charles-Quint, 

la  estrecheza  en  que  se  crid  y  ha  torn.  I.  p.  450. 


They  formed  a  triumvirate,  each  member  of  which 
was  to  fill  a  large  space  in  the  pages  of  history ; 
Don  Carlos  from  his  errors  and  misfortunes,  and 
the  two  others  from  their  military  achievements. 
They  were  all  of  nearly  the  same  age.  Don  John, 
according  to  a  writer  of  the  time,  stood  foremost 
among  the  three  for  the  comeliness,  or  rather 
beauty,  of  his  person,  no  less  than  for  the  charm 
of  his  manners  ;  ^  while  his  soul  was  filled  with 
those  nobler  qualities  which  gave  promise  of  the 
highest  excellence.^^ 

His  biographers  tell  us  that  Don  John  gave  due 
attention  to  his  studies ;  but  the  studies  which 
found  most  favor  in  his  eyes  were  those  connected 
with  the  art  of  war.  He  was  perfect  in  all  chival- 
rous accomplishments ;  and  he  sighed  for  some 
field  on  which  he  could  display  them.  The  knowl- 
edge of  his  real  parentage  fired  his  soul  with  a 
generous  ambition,  and  he  longed  by  some  heroic 
achievement  to  vindicate  his  claim  to  his  illustrious 

descent. 

At  the  end  of  three  years,  in  1564,  he  left  the 
university.  The  following  year  was  that  of  the 
famous  siege  of  Malta ;  and  all  Christendom  hung 
in  suspense  on  the  issue  of  the  desperate  conflict, 
which  a  handful  of  warriors,  on  their  lonely  isle, 
were   waging   against   the  whole  strength  of  the 

23  « Longe  tamen  anteibat  Aus-  24  »t  Eminebat    in   adolescente 

triacuset  corporis  habitudine,et  mo-  comitas,  industria,  probitas,  et,  ut 

rum  suavltate.  Facies  illi  non  modo  in  novae  potentias  ho^pite,  verecun- 

pulchra,  sed  etiam  venusta.**  Strada,  dia."    Ibid. ,  loc .  cit. 
be  BcUo  Belgico,  torn.  I.  p.  609. 


■  i 


142 


KEBELLIOX  OF  TUK  iMOBlSCOES.         (Book  V. 


Cii.  v.] 


mS  TllIUST  FOK  DISTISCTIOX. 


143 


t 


11 


Ottoman  empire.     The  sympathies  of  Don  John 
were  roused   in  behalf  of  the  Christian  knisrhts* 
and  he  resolved  to  cast  his  own  fortunes  into  the 
scale  with  theirs,  and  win  his  maiden  laurels  under 
the  banner  of  the  Cross.     He  did  not  ask  the  per- 
mission of  his  brother.     That  he  knew  would  be 
refused  to  him.     He  withdrew   secretly  from  the 
court,  and  with  only  a  few  attendants  took  his  way 
to  Barcelona,  whence  an  armament  was  speedily  to 
sail,  to  carry  succor  to  the  besieged.     Everywhere 
on  the  route  he  was  received  with  the  respect  due 
to  his  rank.     At  Saragossa  he  was  lodged  with  the 
archbishop,  under  whose  roof  he  ^vas  detained  by 
illness.     While  there  he  received  a  letter  from  the 
king,  who  had  learned  the  cause  of  his  departure, 
commanding  him  to  return,  as  he  was  altogether 
too   young   to   take   part   in  this  desperate  strife. 
Don  John  gave  little  heed  to  the  royal  orders.     He 
pushed  on  to  Barcelona,  where  he  had  the   mor- 
tification to   find  that   the   fleet   had  sailed.     He 
resolved   to    cross    the    mountains   and    take    ship 
at    Marseilles.      The   viceroy   of   Catalonia   could 
not  dissuade  the  hot-headed  youth  from  his  pur- 
pose, when  another  despatch  came  from  court,  in 
which   Philip,   in   a   more  peremptory  tone   than 
before,  repeated  his  orders  for  his  brother  to  re- 
turn,  under   pain   of  his   severe   displeasure.     A 
letter  from  Quixada  had  warned  him  of  the  cer- 
tain  disgrace   which   awaited   him,  if  he    contin- 
ued to  trifle  with  the  royal  commands.    Nothing 
remained  but  to  obey ;  and  Don  John,  disappoint- 


ed in  his  scheme  of  ambition,  returned  to  the 
capital.^ 

This  adventure  caused  a  great  sensation  through- 
out the  country.  The  young  nobles  and  cavaliers 
about  the  court,  fired  by  Don  John's  example, 
which  seemed  like  a  rebuke  on  their  own  sluggish- 
ness, had  hastened  to  buckle  on  their  armor,  and 
follow  him  to  the  war.^^  The  common  people,  pe- 
culiarly sensible  in  Spain  to  deeds  of  romantic 
daring,  were  delighted  with  the  adventurous  spirit 
of  the  young  prince,  which  gave  promise  that  he 
was  one  day  to  take  his  place  among  the  heroes 
of  the  nation.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the 
popularity  of  John  of  Austria  with  his  country- 
men, who  in  time  came  to  regard  him  with  feel- 
ings little  short  of  idolatry.  Even  Philip,  however 
necessary  he  may  have  thought  it  to  rebuke  the 
insubordination  of  his  brother,  must  in  his  heart 
have  been  pleased  with  the  generous  spirit  he  had 
exhibited.  At  least,  the  favor  Avith  which  he  con- 
tinued to  regard  the  offiender  showed  that  the  royal 
displeasure  was  of  no  long  continuance. 

The  sudden  change  in  the  condition  of  Don 
John  might  remind  one  of  some  fairj^  tale,  where 
the  poor  peasant-boy  finds  himself  all  at  once  con- 
verted  by   enchantment   into   a   great   prince.     A 

23    Strada,   Dc    Bello    Belgico,  Don  Juan  saco  del  ocio  a  muchos 

torn.  II.  pp.  609,  GIO.  —  Vandcr-  cavalleros  de   la  Corte  i  Reynos, 

hammen,   Don  Juan   de   Austria,  que  avergon9ados  do  quedarse  en 

fol.  34  -  3G.  —  Cabrera,  Filipe  Se-  el,  le  siguieron."     Cabrera,  Filip<» 

gundo,  lib.  VI.  cap.  24.  Segundo,  loc.  cit. 

26  "  La  fama  de  la  partida  de 


'    i 


1,1 


fl 


f  j  i 


144 


REBELLION   OF   THE   MORISCOES.         [Book  V 


wiser  man  than  he  might  well  have  had  his  head 
turned  by  such  a  rapid  revolution  of  the  wheel 
of  fortune ;  and  Philip  may  naturally  have  feared 
that  the  idle  dalliance  of  a  court,  to  which  his 
brother  was  now  exposed,  might  corrupt  his  simple 
nature  and  seduce  him  from  the  honorable  path  of 
duty.  Great,  therefore,  must  have  been  his  satis- 
faction, when  he  saw  that,  far  from  this,  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  youth  had  only  served  to  give  a  wider 
expansion  to  his  views,  and  to  fill  his  bosom  with 
still  higher  and  nobler  aspirations. 

The  discreet  conduct  of  Don  John  in  regard  to 
his  nephew,  Don  Carlos,  when  the  latter  would 
have  engaged  him  in  his  wild  and  impracticable 
schemes,  established  him  still  more  firmly  in  the 
royal  favor.^ 

In  the  spring  of  the  year  1568,  an  opportunity 
occurred  for  Philip  to  gratify  his  brother  s  ambition, 
by  intrusting  him  with  the  command  of  a  fleet  then 
fitting  out,  in  the  port  of  Carthagena,  against  the 
Barbary  corsairs,  who  had  been  making  alarming 
depredations  of  late  on  the  Spanish  commerce. 
But,  while  giving  him  this  appointment,  the  king 
was  careful  to  supply  the  lack  of  experience  in 
his  brother  by  naming  as  second  in  command 
an  officer  in  whose  abilities  he  perfectly  confided. 
This  was  Antonio  de  ZuRiga  y  Eequesens,  grand 
commander  of  St.  James,  an  eminent  personage, 
who  will  come  frequently  before  the  reader  in  the 
progress   of    the    narrative.      Requesens,   who    at 

27  Ante,  vol.  IL  book  IV.  ch.  6. 


Ch.  v.]       his   CRUISE  IN  THE  MEDITERRANEAN. 


145 


this  time  filled  the  post  of  ambassador  at  Rome, 
was  possessed  of  the  versatility  of  talent  so  im- 
portant in  an  age  when  the  same  individual  was 
often  required  to  exchange  the  duties  of  the  cabinet 
for  those  of  the  camp.  While  Don  John  appeared 
before  the  public  as  the  captain  of  the  fleet,  the 
actual  responsibility  for  the  conduct  of  the  expe- 
dition rested  on  his  lieutenant. 

On  the  third  of  June,  Don  John  sailed  out  of 
port,  at  the  head  of  as  brave  an  armament  as  ever 
floated  on  the  waters  of  the  Mediterranean.  The 
prince's  own  vessel  was  a  stately  galley,  gorgeous- 
ly fitted  up,  and  decorated  with  a  profusion  of 
paintings,  the  subjects  of  which,  drawn  chiefly 
from  ancient  history  and  mythology,  were  of  di- 
dactic import,  intended  to  convey  some  useful  les- 
son to  the  young  commander.  The  moral  of  each 
picture  was  expressed  by  some  pithy  maxim  in- 
scribed beneath  it  in  Latin.  Thus,  to  whatever 
quarter  Don  John  turned  his  eyes,  they  were  sure 
to  fall  on  some  homily  for  his  instruction ;  so  that 
his  galley  might  be  compared  to  a  volume  richly 
filled  with  illustrations,  that  serve  to  impress  the 
contents  on  the  reader's  memory.^ 

The  cruise  was  perfectly  successful ;  and  Don 
John,  on  his  return  to  port,  some  eight  months 
later,  might  boast  that,  in  more  than  one  engage- 


^  Vanderhammen  has  given  a  zoned  below  them,  that  of  "  Dolum 

minute   description   of  this  royal  reprbnere  dolo "  savors  strongly  of 

galley,   with  its  pictorial  illustra-  the  politic  monan  !i.    Don  Juan  de 

tions.     Among  the  legends  embla-  Austria,  fol.  44  -  48. 

VOL.  III.  19 


I 


! 


•I 


I  ii 


It 


[M 


146 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


ment,  he  had  humbled  the  pride  of  the  corsairs, 
and  so  far  crippled  them  that  it  would  be  long 
before  they  could  resume  their  depredations  ;  that, 
in  fine,  he  had  vindicated  the  honor  of  his  coun- 
try's flag  throughout  the  Mediterranean. 

His  return  to  Madrid  was  welcomed  with  the 
honors  of  a  triumph.  Courtier  and  commoner, 
men  of  all  classes,  in  short,  vied  with  each  other  in 
offering  up  the  sweet  incense  of  adulation,  filling 
his  young  mind  with  lofty  visions  of  the  future, 
that  beckoned  him  forward  in  the  path  of  glory. 

When  the  insurrection  of  the  Moriscoes  broke 
out,  in  1568,  the  eyes  of  men  naturally  turned  on 
Don  John  of  Austria,  as  the  person  who  would  most 
likely  be  sent  to  suppress  it.  But  Philip  thought  it 
would  be  safer  to  trust  the  command  to  those  who, 
from  their  long  residence  in  the  neighborhood,  were 
better  acquainted  with  the  character  of  the  country 
and  of  its  inhabitants.  When,  however,  the  dis- 
sensions of  the  rival  chiefs  made  it  necessary  to 
send  some  one  invested  with  such  powers  as  might 
enable  him  to  overawe  this  factious  spirit  and  en- 
force greater  concert  of  action,  the  council  of  state 
recommended  Don  John  to  the  command.  Their 
recommendation  was  approved  by  the  king,  if,  in- 
deed, it  was  not  originally  made  at  his  suggestion. 

Still  the  "  prudent "  monarch  was  careful  not  to 
invest  his  brother  with  that  independent  command 
which  the  public  supposed  him  to  possess.  On 
the  contrary,  his  authority  was  restricted  within 
limits  almost  as  narrow  as  those  which  had  curbed 


Ch.  y.j 


MADE  COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. 


147 


it  in  the  Mediterranean.  A  council  of  war  was 
appointed,  by  whose  opinions  Don  John  was  to 
be  guided  in  every  question  of  moment.  In  case 
of  a  division  of  opinion,  the  question  was  to  be 
referred  to  the  decision  of  Philip.^ 

The  chief  members  of  this  body,  in  whom  the 
supreme  power  was  virtually  lodged,  were  the  mar- 
quis of  Mondejar,  who  from  this  time  does  not 
appear  to  have  taken  the  field  in  person ;  the  duke 
of  Sessa,  grandson  of  the  Great  Captain,  Gonsalvo 
de  Cordova,  and  endowed  with  no  small  portion  of 
the  military  talent  of  his  ancestor ;  the  archbishop 
of  Granada,  a  prelate  possessed  of  as  large  a  meas- 
ure of  bigotry  as  ever  fell  to  the  lot  of  a  Spanish 
ecclesiastic  ;  Deza,  president  of  the  Audience,  who 
hated  the  Moriscoes  with  the  fierce  hatred  of  an 
inquisitor;  and,  finally,  Don  John's  faithful  ayo^ 
Quixada,  who  had  more  influence  over  him  than 
was  enjoyed  by  any  other,  and  who  had  come  to 
witness  the  first  of  his  pupil's  campaigns,  destined, 
alas  !  to  be  the  closing  one  of  his  own.^ 

There  could  hardly  have  been  a  more  unfortu- 
nate device  than  the  contrivance  of  so  cumbrous  a 
machinery  as  this  council,  opposed  as  it  was,  from 
its  very  nature,  to  the  despatch  so  indispensable  to 


29  "  Su  comision  fue  sin  limita- 
cion  ninguna ;  mas  su  libertad  tan 
atada,  que  de  cosa  grande  ni  pe- 
quena  podia  disponer  sin  comuni- 
cacion  i  parecer  de  los  Consegeros, 
i  mandado  del  Rei."  Mendoza, 
Guerra  de  Granada,  p.  139. 


30  Ibid.,  p.  130  et  seq.  —  Van- 
derhammen,  Don  Juan  de  Austria, 
fol.  81.  — Marmol,  torn.  I.  pp. 
511  _  513.  __  Mllafane,,  Vida  de 
Dona  Magdalena  de  Ulloa,  p.  73. 
—  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib. 
IX.  cap.  1. 


if 


; 


1 


148 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


tlie  success  of  military  operations.  The  mischief 
was  increased  by  the  necessity  of  referring  every 
disputed  point  to  the  decision  of  the  king.  As 
this  was  a  contingency  that  often  occurred,  the 
young  prince  soon  found  almost  as  many  embar- 
rassments thrown  in  his  way  by  his  friends  as  by 
his  foes,  —  embarrassments  which  nothing  but  an 
uncommon  spirit  of  determination  on  his  own  part 
could  have  overcome. 

On  the  sixth  of  April,  1569,  Don  John  took 
leave  of  the  king,  then  at  Aranjuez,  and  hastened 
towards  the  south.  His  coming  was  eagerly  ex- 
pected by  the  inhabitants  of  Granada ;  by  the  Chris- 
tians, from  their  hopes  that  it  would  remedy  the 
disorders  in  the  army  and  bring  the  war  to  a  speedy 
conclusion ;  by  the  Moriscoes,  from  the  protection 
they  anticipated  he  would  afford  them  against  the 
violence  of  the  Spaniards.  Preparations  were  made 
in  the  capital  for  giving  him  a  splendid  reception. 
The  programme  of  the  ceremonies  was  furnished 
by  Philip  himself.^*  At  some  miles  from  the  city, 
Don  John  was  met  by  the  count  of  Tendilla,  at 
the  head  of  a  small  detachment  of  infantry,  wear- 
ing  uniforms  partly  of  the  Castilian  fashion,  partly 
of  the  Morisco,  —  presenting  altogether  a  strange 
and  picturesque  spectacle,  in  which  silks,  velvets, 
and  rich  embroidery  floated  gayly  amidst  the  iron 
mail  and  burnished  weapons  of  the  warrior.^     As 

«  "Ya  el  Preaidente  tenia  or-    de  su  bermano.*'    Marmol,  Rebe- 
den  de  su  Magestad  de  la  que  se     lion  de  Granada,  torn.  II.  p.  17. 
habia  de  tener  en  el  recibimiento        »  «  De  manera  que  entre  gala 


Ch.  v.] 


MADE   COMMANDER-IN-CIUEF. 


149 


the  prince  proceeded  along  his  route,  he  was 
met  by  a  long  train  of  ecclesiastical  and  civic 
functionaries,  followed  by  the  principal  cavaliers 
and  citizens  of  Granada.  At  their  head  were  the 
archbishop  and  the  president,  the  latter  of  whom 
was  careful  to  assert  his  rank  by  walking  on  the 
right  of  the  prelate.  Don  John  showed  them  both 
the  greatest  deference ;  and  as  they  drew  near,  he 
dismounted  from  his  horse,  and,  embracing  the  two 
churchmen,  stood  with  hat  in  hand,  for  some  mo- 
ments, while  conversing  with  them.^  As  their 
train  came  up,  the  president  presented  the  most 
eminent  persons  to  the  prince,  who  received  them 
with  that  frank  and  graceful  courtesy  which  won 
the  hearts  of  all  who  approached  him.  He  then 
resumed  his  route,  escorted  on  either  side  by  the 
president  and  the  archbishop.  The  neighboring 
fields  were  covered  with  spectators,  and  on  the 
plains  of  Beyro  he  found  a  large  body  of  troops, 
not  less  than  ten  thousand,  drawn  up  to  receive 
him.  As  he  approached,  they  greeted  him  with 
salvoes  of  musketry,  delivered  with  admirable  pre- 
cision. As  Don  John  glanced  over  their  beautiful 
array,  and  beheld  their  perfect  discipline  and  ap- 
pointments, his  eyes  brightened  and  his  cheek 
flushed  with  a  soldier's  pride. 

Hardly   had  he  entered  the  gates  of  Granada, 


y  guerra  hacian  liennosa  y  agrada-  tuvo  un  rato  abrazado.  Y  apar- 

ble  vista."     Ibid.,  ubi  supra.  tandose  a  un  lado,  llego  el  Arzo- 

33  "  El  qual  lo  recibid  muy  bien,  bispo,   y  hizo  lo  mismo  con  el.* 

J  con  el  sombrero  en  elmano,  y  Ic  Ibid.,  p.  18. 


ti 


II 


150 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


when  he  was  surrounded  by  a  throng  of  women, 
who  gathered  about  him  in  an  attitude  of  supplica- 
tion. They  were  the  widows,  the  mothers,  and  the 
daughters  of  those  who  had  so  miserably  perished 
in  the  massacres  of  the  Alpujarras.  They  were 
clad  in  mourning,  some  of  them  so  scantily  as  too 
plainly  to  reveal  their  poverty.  Falling  on  their 
knees,  with  tears  streaming  from  their  eyes,  and 
their  words  rendered  almost  inarticulate  by  their 
sobs,  they  demanded  justice, — justice  on  the  mur- 
derers of  their  kindred.  They  had  seen  their  friends 
fall,  they  said,  beneath  the  blows  of  their  execu- 
tioners ;  but  the  pain  with  which  their  hearts  were 
then  rent  was  not  so  great  as  what  they  now  felt 
on  learning  that  the  cruel  acts  of  these  miscreants 
were  to  go  unpunished.^  Don  John  endeavored  to 
calm  their  agitation  by  expressions  of  the  deepest 
sympathy  for  their  misfortunes,  —  expressions  of 
which  none  who  saw  his  countenance  could  doubt 
the  truth ;  and  he  promised  that  he  would  do  all 
in  his  power  to  secure  them  justice. 

A  livelier  scene  awaited  him  as  the  procession 
held  its  way  along  the  streets  of  the  ancient  capital. 
Everywhere  the  houses  were  gayly  decorated  with 
tapestries  of  cloth  of  gold.  The  multitude  who 
thronged  the  avenues  filled  the  air  with  their  loyal 


3*  **  Que  no  sintieron  tanto  dolor 
con  oir  los  crueles  golpes  de  las 
armas  con  que  los  hereges  los  mata* 
ban  i.  ellos  y  i,  sus  hijos,  hermanos 
y  parientes,  como  el  que  sienten 
en  ver  que  ban  de  ser  perdonados." 


Marmot,    Rebelion   de    Granada, 
torn.  IL  p.  19. 

From  this,  it  would  seem  that 
the  love  of  revenge  was  a  stronger 
feeling  with  these  Christian  women 
than  the  love  of  friends. 


Ch.  V-l 


MADE  COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. 


151 


acclamations.  Bright  eyes  glanced  from  balconies 
and  windows,  where  the  noblest  matrons  and  maid- 
ens of  Granada,  in  rich  attire,  were  gathered  to 
look  upon  the  splendid  pageant,  and  the  young 
hero  who  was  the  object  of  it.^  In  this  state  he 
moved  along  until  he  reached  the  palace  of  the 
Royal  Audience,  where,  by  the  king's  command, 
apartments  had  been  sumptuously  fitted  up  for  his 
accommodation.^ 

The  following  day,  a  deputation  waited  on  Don 
John  from  the  principal  Moriscoes  of  the  city, 
claiming  his  protection  against  the  injuries  and 
insults  to  which  they  were  exposed  whenever  they 
went  abroad.  They  complained  especially  of  the 
Spanish  troops  quartered  on  them,  and  of  the  man- 
ner in  which  they  violated  the  sanctity  of  their 
dwellings  by  the  foulest  outrages.  Don  John  re- 
plied in  a  tone  that  expressed  little  of  the  commis- 
eration which  he  had  shown  to  the  female  petition- 
ers  on  the  preceding  day.  He  told  the  Moriscoes, 
that  he  had  been  sent  to  restore  order  to  Granada ; 
and  that  those  who  had  proved  loyal  would  find 
themselves  protected  in  all  their  rights.  Those, 
on  the  contrary,  who  had  taken  part  in  the  late 
rebellion,  would  be  chastised  with  unsparing  rigor.'' 


35  «Y  mas  galas  y  regocijos, 
porque  estaban  las  ventanas  de  las 
calles,  por  donde  habia  de  pasar, 
entoldadas  de  panos  de  oro  y  seda, 
y  mucho  numero  de  damas  y  don- 
cellas  nobles  en  ellas,  ricamente , 
ataviadas,  que  habian  acudido  de 


toda  la  ciudad  por  verle.**    Ibid., 

ubi  supra. 

38  Ibid.,  pp.  i  7  - 1 9.  —  Vander- 
hammen,  Don  Juan  de  Austria, 
fol.  83.  —  Mendoza,^  Gkierra  de 
Granada,  p.  133. 

37  i' Juntamente   con   usar  de 


152 


il 

1    ■ ' 


il 


I! 

lit 


REBELLION  OF   THE   MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


Ch.  v.] 


MADE   COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. 


153 


He  directed  them  to  state  their  grievances  in  a  me- 
morial, with  a  caution  to  set  down  nothing  which 
they  could  not  prove,  or  it  would  go  hard  with 
them.  —  The  unfortunate  Moriscoes  found  that 
they  were  to  expect  such  justice  only  as  comes 
from  the  hand  of  an  enemy. 

The  first  session  of  the  council  showed  how  de- 
fective was  the  system  for  conducting  the  war.  In 
the  discussions  that  ensued,  Mondejar  remarked 
that  the  contest,  in  his  opinion,  was  virtually  at  an 
end ;  that  the  Moriscoes,  for  the  most  part,  were  in 
80  favorable  a  mood  that  he  would  undertake,  if  the 
affair  were  placed  in  his  hands,  to  bring  them  all 
to  submission  in  a  very  short  time.  This  proposal 
was  treated  with  contempt  by  the  haughty  presi- 
dent, who  denounced  them  as  a  false-hearted  race, 
on  whose  promises  no  one  could  rely.  The  war, 
he  said,  would  never  be  ended,  so  long  as  the  Mo- 
riscoes of  the  capital  were  allowed  to  communicate 
with  their  countrymen  in  the  mountains,  and  to 
furnish  them  with  secret  intelligence  respecting 
what  was  passing  in  the  Christian  camp.  The  first 
step  was  to  remove  them  all  from  Granada  into  the 
interior ;  the  second,  to  make  such  an  example  of 
the  miscreants  who  had  perpetrated  the  massacres 
in  the  Alpujarras  as  should  strike  terror  into  the 
hearts  of  the  infidels,  and  deter  them  from  any  fur- 
ther resistance  to  authority.  —  In  this  division  of 

equidad  y;  clemencia  con  los  que  lo  grandisimo  ripor.**  Marmol,  Re- 
merecieren,  los  que  no  hubieren  bellon  de  Granada,  torn.  II.  p. 
•ido    tales    serdn    castlgados    con     21. 


opinion  the  members  took  different  sides  according 
to  the  difference  of  their  tempers.  The  commander- 
in-chief  and  Quixada  both  leaned  to  Mondejar  s 
opinion.  After  a  protracted  discussion,  it  became 
necessary  to  refer  the  question  to  the  king,  who 
was  by  no  means  distinguished  for  the  promptness 
with  which  he  came  to  his  conclusions.  All  this 
required  much  time,  during  which  active  opera- 
tions could  not  be  resumed.^ 

Yet  Don  John  did  not  pass  it  idly.  He  ex- 
amined the  state  of  the  works  in  Granada  and  its 
neighborhood ;  he  endeavored  to  improve  the  con- 
dition of  the  army,  and  to  quell  the  spirit  of  insub- 
ordination which  had  risen  in  some  portions  of  it ; 
finally,  he  sent  his  commands  for  enforcing  levies, 
not  merely  in  Andalusia  and  the  adjoining  prov- 
inces, but  in  Castile.  The  appeal  was  successful ; 
and  the  great  lords  in  the  south,  more  particularly, 
gathering  their  retainers,  hastened  to  Granada,  to 
draw  their  swords  under  this  popular  chieftain.^ 

Meanwhile  the  delay  was  attended  with  most 
mischievous  consequences,  as  it  gave  the  enemy 
time  to  recover  from  the  disasters  of  the  previous 
campaign.  Aben-Humeya  had  returned,  as  we 
have  seen  in  the  former  chapter,  to  his  mountain 
throne,  where  he  soon  found  himself  in  greater 

38  Ibid.,  pp.  23,  24.  — Vander-  p.  141.  —  Vanderhammen,  Don 
hammen,  Don  Juan  de  Austria,  fol.  Juan  de  Austria, fol.  85.  —  Marmol, 
85. —  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  Rebelionde  Granada, torn.  II.  p.  27. 
lib.  IX.cap.  1.  — Herrera,Historia  —Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  l»b. 
General,  torn.  I.  pp.  744,  745.  IX.  cap.  1. 

39  Mendoza,Guerrade  Granada, 
VOL.  III.  20 


II 


154 


REBELLION  OF  THE   MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


Ch.  v.] 


THE  WAR  RENEWED. 


155 


i 


11 


strength  than  before.  Even  the  "  Moriscoes  of 
the  peace,"  as  they  were  called,  who  had  resumed 
their  allegiance  to  the  crown,  exaspemted  by  the 
outrages  of  the  Spanish  soldiery,  and  the  contempt 
which  they  showed  for  the  safe-conduct  of  the 
marquis  of  Mondejar,  now  came  in  great  num- 
bers to  Aben-Humeya's  camp,  offering  their  ser- 
vices, and  promising  to  stand  by  him  to  the  last. 
Other  levies  he  drew  from  Africa.  The  Moslem 
princes  to  whom  he  had  applied  for  succor,  though 
refusing  to  embark  openly  in  his  cause,  as  he  had 
desired,  allowed  such  of  their  subjects  as  chose  to 
join  his  standard.  In  consequence  a  considerable 
body  of  Barbary  Moors  crossed  the  sea  and  en- 
tered into  the  service  of  the  Morisco  chief.  They 
were  a  fierce,  intrepid  race,  accustomed  to  a  life  of 
wild  adventure,  and  possessing  a  better  acquaint- 
ance with  military  tactics  than  belonged  to  the 
Spanish  mountaineers.'*^ 

While  strengthened  by  these  recruits,  Aben- 
Humeya  drew  a  much  larger  revenue  than  former- 
ly, from  his  more  extended  domains."*^  Though 
showy  and  expensive  in  his  tastes,  he  did  not  waste 
it  all  on  the  maintenance  of  the  greater  state  which 
he  now  assumed  in  his  way  of  living.     He  em- 


40  The  historian  of  the  Morisco 
rebellion  tells  us  that  these  Afri- 
cans wore  gariands  round  their 
heads,  intimating  their  purpose  to 
conquer  or  to  die  like  martyrs  in 
defence  of  their  faith.  Marmol, 
Rebelion  de  Granada,  torn.  II.  p.  73. 

41  Besides  a  tenth  of  the  pro- 


duce of  the  soil,  one  source  of  his 
revenue,  we  are  told,  was  the  con- 
fiscated property  of  such  Moriscoes 
as  refused  to  yield  him  obedience. 
Another  was  a  fifth  of  the  spoil 
taken  from  the  enemy.  Ibid.,  p. 
35.  —  Also  Mendoza,  Guerra  do 
Granada,  p.  120. 


ployed  it  freely  in  the  pay  of  foreign  levies,  and  in 
procuring  arms  and  munitions  for  his  own  troops ; 
and  he  profited  by  his  experience  in  the  last  cam- 
paign, and  by  the  example  of  his  African  merce- 
naries, to  introduce  a  better  system  of  tactics  among 
his  Morisco  warriors.  The  policy  he  adopted,  as 
before,  was  to  avoid  pitched  battles,  and  to  confine 
himself  chiefly  to  the  guerilla  warfare  better  suited 
to  the  genius  of  the  mountaineer.  He  fell  on  small 
detachments  of  Spaniards,  who  were  patrolling  the 
country,  cut  off  the  convoys,  and  thus  greatly 
straitened  the  garrisons  in  their  supplies.  He 
made  forays  into  the  Christian  territories,  pene- 
trating even  into  the  vega,  and  boldly  carried  the 
war  up  to  the  walls  of  Granada. 

His  ravages  in  this  quarter,  it  is  true,  did  not 
continue  long  after  the  arrival  of  Don  John,  who 
took  effectual  measures  for  protecting  the  capital 
from  insult.  But  the  prince  was  greatly  chagrined 
by  seeing  the  rapid  extension  of  the  Morisco  do- 
main. Yet  he  could  take  no  decisive  measures  to 
check  it  until  the  council  had  determined  on  some 
plan  of  operations.  He  was  moreover  fettered  by 
the  king's  orders  not  to  take  the  field  in  person, 
but  to  remain  and  represent  him  in  Granada, 
where  he  would  find  enough  to  do  in  regulating 
the  affairs  and  providing  for  the  safety  of  the  city.^ 

• 

<*  "  Y  la  vuestra,  ya  yo  os  dixe  que  conbiniese :  Pues  yo  por  otras 

que  la  queria  para  cosas  mayores,  ocupaciones  y  cartas  no  lo  podia 

y  que  asi  agora  yo  no  os  embiaba  hazer.**  Carta  del  Rey  a  Don  Juan 

d  las  de  la  guerra  sino  d  esa  ciudad  de   Austria,   10  de  Mayo,    1569, 

a  dar  desde  ella  la  orden  en  todo  MS. 


156 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


Ch.  V.J 


THE  WAR  RENEWED. 


157 


i  t 

i  ! 


I 


II 


—  Philip  seems  to  have  feared  that  Don  John's 
adventurous  spirit  would  lead  him  to  some  rash 
act,  that  might  unnecessarily  expose  him  to  danger. 
He  appears,  indeed,  as  we  may  gather  from  nu- 
merous passages  in  his  letters,  to  have  been  more 
concerned  for  the  safety  of  his  brother,  than  for 
the  success  of  the  campaign.^  He  may  have 
thought,  too,  that  it  was  better  to  trust  the  war 
to  the  hands  of  the  veteran  chief,  the  marquis  of 
Los  Velez,  who  could  boast  so  much  larger  expe- 
rience than  Don  John,  and  who  had  possessed  the 
king  with  a  high  idea  of  his  military  talents. 

This  nobleman  still  held  the  command  of  the 
country  east  of  the  Alpujarras,  in  which  lay  his 
own  large  property.  He  had,  as  we  have  seen,  a 
hard  aiid  arrogant  nature,  which  could  ill  brook 
the  paramount  authority  of  the  young  commander- 
in-chief,  to  whom  he  rarely  condescended  to  write, 
preferring  to  make  his  communications  directly  to 
the  king.^  Philip,  prompted  by  his  appetite  for 
power,  winked  at  this  irregular  proceeding,  which 
enabled  him  to  take  a  more  direct  part  in  the 
management  of  affairs  than  he  could  otherwise  have 


^  Don  John  seems  to  have 
chafed  under  the  restrictions  im- 
posed on  him  by  the  king.  At 
least  we  may  infer  so  from  a  re- 
buke of  Philip,  who  tells  his  brother 
that,  "  though  for  the  great  love  he 
bears  him  he  will  overlook  such 
language  this  time,  it  will  not  be 
well  for  him  to  repeat  it.**  Carta 
del  Rey  &  Don  Juan,  20  de  Mayo, 
1569,  MS. 


^  Vanderhammen,  Don  Juan 
de  Austria,  fol.  94. 

Marmol,  with  one  or  two  vijror- 
ous  coups  de  pinceauy  gives  the 
portrait  of  the  marquis.  "  No  se 
podia  determinar  qual  era  en  el 
mayor  extremo,  su  esfuerzo,  va- 
lentia  y  discrecion,  d  la  arrogancia 
y  ambicion  de  honra,  aconipana<la 
de  aspereza  de  oondicion.**  }\i- 
belion  de  Granada,  torn.  II.  p.  CO. 


done.     It  was  a  most  injudicious  step,  and  was  fol- 
lowed, as  we  shall  see,  by  disastrous  consequences. 
The   marquis,   without   waiting  for   orders,  re- 
solved to  open  the  campaign  by  penetrating  into 
fthe  Alpujarras  with  the  small  force  he  had  under 
his  command.     But  a  body  of  some  four  hundred 
troops,  which  he  had  caused  to  occupy  the  pass 
of  Ravaha,  was   cut  off  by  the   enemy ;    and  the 
haughty  chieftain  reluctantly  obeyed  the  orders  of 
Don  John  to  abandon  his  design.     Aben-Humeya's 
success  encouraged  him  to  attack  the  marquis  in 
his  new  quarters  at  Verja.     It  was  a  well-concerted 
enterprise,  but  unfortunately,  before  the  time  ar- 
rived for  its  execution,  it  was  betrayed  by  a  pris- 
oner to  the  Spanish  commander.     It  consequently 
failed.     Aben-Humeya   penetrated   into   the  heart 
of  the  town,  where  he  found  himself  in  the  midst 
of  an  ambuscade,  and  with  difficulty,  after  a  heavy 
loss,  effected  his   retreat.     But  if  the  victory  re- 
mained with  the  Spaniards,  the  fruits  of  it  fell  to 
the  Moriscoes.     The  spirit  shown  by  the  Moslem 
prince  gave  new  life  to  his  countrymen,  and  more 
than   counterbalanced   the    effects   of  his   defeat. 
The  rich  and  populous  country  of  the  Rio  de  Al- 
manzora  rose  in  arms.     The  marquis  of  Los  Velez 
found  it  expedient  to  abandon  his  present  position, 
and  to  transfer  his  quarters  to  Adra,  a  seaport  on 
the  Mediterranean,  which  would  afford  him  greater 
facilities  for  receiving  reinforcements  and  supplies.*^ 

45  Ibid.,p.  TSetseq.  — Vander-    nada,  p.   175  et  seq.  —  Miniana, 
hammen,  Don  Juan  de  Austria,  fol.    Hbtoria  de  Espana,  p.  377. 
94.  —  Mendoza,  Guerra  de  Gra- 


iv 


]     ^ 
0 


I 


158 


EEBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


The  spirit  of  insurrection  now  spread  rapidly 
over  other  parts  of  the  Alpujarras,  and  especially 
along  the  sierra  of  Bentomiz,  which  stretches  from 
the  neighborhood  of  Alhama  towards  the  south. 
Here  the  mountaineers,  who  had  hitherto  taken  no 
part  in  the  troubles  of  the  country,  ranging  them- 
selves under  the  crimson  banner  of  Aben-Humeya, 
broke  forth  into  open  rebellion.  The  inhabitants 
of  Velez  and  of  the  more  important  city  of  Malaga 
were  filled  with  consternation,  trembling  lest  the 
enemy  should  descend  on  them  from  the  mountains 
and  deluge  their  streets  with  blood.  They  hastily 
mustered  the  militia  of  the  country,  and  made 
preparations  for  their  defence. 

Fortunately,  at  this  conjuncture,  they  were  glad- 
dened by  the  sight  of  the  Grand-Commander  Ee- 
quesens,  who  sailed  into  the  harbor  of  Velez- 
Malaga  with  a  squadron  from  Italy,  having  on 
board  several  battalions  of  Spanish  veterans,  who 
had  been  ordered  home  by  the  government  to  rein- 
force the  army  of  the  Alpujarras.  There  were  no 
better  troops  in  the  service,  seasoned  as  they  were 
by  many  a  hard  campaign,  and  all  under  the  most 
perfect  discipline.  The  first  step  of  Requesens  — 
the  same  officer,  it  will  be  remembered,  who  had 
acted  as  the  lieutenant  of  Don  John  of  Austria  in 
his  cruise  in  the  Mediterranean  —  was  to  request  of 
his  young  general  the  command  of  the  expedition 
•  against  the  rebels  of  Bentomiz.  These  were  now 
gathered  in  great  force  on  the  lofty  table-land  of 
Fraxiliana,  where  they  had  strengthened  the  natural 


Ch.  v.] 


THE  WAR  RENEWED. 


159 


defences  of  the  ground  by  such  works  as  rendered 
the  approach  to  it  nearly  impracticable.  The  re- 
quest was  readily  granjed;  and  the  grand-com- 
mander  of  St.  James,  without  loss  of  time,  led  his 
battalions  into  the  heart  of  the  sierra. 

We  have  not  space  for  the  details.     It  is  enough 
to  say,  that  the  expedition  was  one  of  the  best- 
conducted  in  the  war.     The  enemy  made  a  desper- 
ate  resistance;  and,  had  it  not  been  for  the  time- 
ly   arrival   of   the   bold  burghers   of  Malaga,  the 
grand-commander   would  have  been   driven  from 
the  field.     The  Morisco  women  fought  by  the  side 
of  their  husbands ;  and  when  all  was  lost,  many 
threw   themselves    headlong    from   the    precipices 
rather  than  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards.-*^ 
Two  thousand  of  the  enemy  were  slain  ;  and  three 
thousand  captives,  with  an  immense  booty  of  gold, 
silver,  jewels,  and  precious  stuffs,  became  the  spoil 
of  the  victors.     The  spirit  of  rebellion  was  effect- 
ually  crushed  in  the  sierra  of  Bentomiz. 

Yet  it  was  not  a  bloodless  victor)\  Full  six 
hundred  of  the  Christians  fell  on  the  field  of  battle. 
The  loss  bore  most  heavily  on  the  troops  from 
Italy.  Nearly  every  captain  in  this  valiant  corps 
was  wounded.^^  The  bloody  roll  displayed,  more- 
over,  the  name  of  more  than  one  cavalier  as  dis- 
tinguished for  his  birth  as  for  his  bravery.     Two 

46  « Quando    vieron    el    fuerte  mol,  Rebelion  de  Granada,  torn, 

perdido,    se  despenaron    per    las  II.  p.  89.  ^ 

peiias  mas  agrias,  quiriendo  mas        '•7  "  Casi  todos   los  capitanes. 

morir  hechas  pedazos,  que  venir  Ibid.,  loc.  cit 
en  poder  de  Christianos."    Mar- 


160 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


Ch.  v.] 


THE  WAR  RENEWED. 


161 


..i< 


thousand  Moriscoes  succeeded  in  making  their  es- 
cape to  the  camp  of  Aben-Humeya.  They  proved 
a  seasonable  reinforcemeptt ;  for  that  chief  was 
meditating  an  assault  on  Seron.'*® 

This  was  a  strongly  fortified  place,  perched  like 
an  eagle's  eyry  on  the  summit  of  a  bold  cliff  that 
looked  down  on  the  Eio  de  Almanzora,  and  com- 
manded its  formidable  passes.  It  was  consequently 
a  most  important  post,  and  at  this  time  was  held 
by  a  Spanish  garrison  under  an  officer  named  Mi- 
rones.  Aben-Humeya  sent  a  strong  detachment 
against  it,  intending  to  carry  it  by  storm.  But  the 
Moriscoes  had  no  battering  train,  and,  as  it  soon 
appeared,  were  little  skilled  in  the  art  of  conduct^ 
ing  a  siege.  It  was  resolved,  therefore,  to  abandon 
the  present  plan  of  operations,  and  to  reduce  the 
place  by  the  slower  but  surer  way  of  blockade. 
Five  thousand  men,  accordingly,  sat  down  before 
the  town  on  the  eighteenth  of  June,  and  effectually 
cut  off  all  communication  from  abroad. 

The  garrison  succeeded  in  conveying  intelligence 
of  their  condition  to  Don  John,  who  lost  no  time 


^  The  fierce  encounter  at  Fra- 
xiliana  is  given  in  great  detail  by 
Mendoza  (Guerra  de  Granada,  pp. 
165-169),  and  Marmol  (Rebelion 
de  Granada,  torn.  II.  pp.  86  -  90). 
No  field  of  fight  was  better  con- 
tested during  the  war ;  and  both 
historians  bear  testimony  to  the 
extraordinary  valor  of  the  Moris- 
coes, worthy  of  the  best  days  of 
the  Arabian  empire.  Philip,  while 
he  commends  the  generous  ardor 


shown  by  the  grand-commander  in 
the  expedition,  condemns  him  for 
having  quitted  his  fleet  to  engage 
in  it.  "  El  comendador  mayor  tubo 
buen  suceso  como  deseais,  y  como 
entiendo  yo  que  lo  mereqe  su  zelo 
y  su  intencion,  mas  salir  su  persona 
en  tierra,  teniendo  en  vuestra  au- 
sencia  el  cargo  de  la  mas  fue  cosa 
digna  de  mucha  reprehension." 
Carta  del  Rev  a  Don  Juan,  25  de 
Junio,  1569,  MS. 


in  ordering  Alonso  de  Carbajal  to  march  with  a 
body  of  troops  and  a  good  supply  of  provisions  to 
their  relief    But  just  after  his  departure  Don  John 
received  information  that  the  king  had  intrusted 
the   marquis  of  Los   Velez   with   the   defence  of 
Seron.     He  therefore,  by  Quixada's  advice,  coun- 
termanded   his    orders   to  Carbajal,   and    directed 
him  to  return.     That  officer,  who  had  approached 
within   a  short  distance  of  the  place,  reluctantly 
obeyed,  and  left  Seron  to  its  fate.     The  marquis  of 
Los  Velez,  notwithstanding  the  jealousy  he   dis- 
played of  the  interference  of  Don  John  in  the  affair, 
showed  so  little  alacrity  in  providing  for  the  safety 
of  the  beleaguered  fortress,  that  the  garrison,  re- 
duced to  extremity,  on  the  eleventh  of  July  surren- 
dered on  honorable  terms.    But  no  sooner  had  they 
given  up  the  place,  than  the  victors,  regardless  of 
the  terms  of  capitulation,  murdered  in  cold  blood 
every  male  over  twelve  years  of  age,  and  made  slaves 
of  the  women  and  children.    This  foul  act  was  said 
to  have  been  perpetrated  by  the  secret  command  of 
Aben-Humeya.     The  Morisco  chief  might  allege, 
in  vindication  of  his  perfidy,  that  he  had  but  fol- 
lowed the  lesson  set  him  by  the  Spaniards.^^ 

The  loss  of  Seron  caused  deep  regret  to  the 
army.  Nor  could  this  regret  be  mitigated  by  the 
reflection,  that  its  loss  was  to  be  attributed  not  so 
much  to  the  valor  of  the  Moslems  as  to  the  mis- 

«  Marmol,  Rebelion  de  Grana-    pp.  83,  84.  —  Cabrera,  Filipe  Se- 
da,  tom.  IT.  pp.  108  -  111.  —  Fer-    gundo,  lib.  IX.  cap.  6. 
reras.  Hist.   d'Espagne,  tom.  X. 

TOL.  III.  *l 


162 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


Ch.  v.] 


REMOVAL  OF  THE  MORISCOES. 


163 


.*!' 

l.-i< 


r 


conduct  of  their  own  commanders,  or  rather  to  the 
miserable  system  adopted  for  carrying  on  the  war. 
The  triumph  of  the  Moriscoes,  however,  was  greats 
ly  damped  by  the  intelligence  which  they  had  re- 
ceived, shortly  before  the  surrender  of  Seron,  of 
disasters   that  had  befallen   their  countrymen   m 

Granada. 

Philip,   after    much   hesitation,   had   given   his 
sanction  to  Deza's  project  for  the  removal  of  the 
Moriscoes  from    the  capital   into   the   interior  of 
the  country.     The  day  appointed  for  carrying  the 
measure  into  effect  was  the  twenty-third  of  June. 
A  large  body  of  troops,  with  the  principal  com- 
manders,  was  secretly  assembled  in  the  capital,  to 
enforce  the  execution  of  the  plan.     Meanwhile  ru- 
mors  were  current  that  the  Moriscoes  in  the  city 
were  carrying  on  a  secret  communication  with  their 
countrymen  in  the  Alpujarras ;  that  they  supplied 
the  mountaineers  with  arms  and  money ;  that  the 
young  men  were  leaving  Granada  to  join   their 
ranks;  finally,  that  a  conspiracy  had  been  planned 
for  an  assault  on  the  city,  and  even  that  the  names 
of  the  leaders  were   given.— It  is  impossible,  at 
this  time,   to   say  what  foundation  there  was  for 
these  charges ;  but  the  reader  may  recollect  that 
similar  ones  had  been  circulated  previous  to  the 
barbarous  massacre  in  the  prison  of  the  Chancery. 
On  the  twenty-third  of  the  month,  on  the  eve 
of  St.  John's,  an  edict  was  published,  commanding 
all  the  Morisco  males  in  Granada  between  ten  and 
sixty  years  of  age  to  repair  to  the  parish  churches 


to  which  they  respectively  belonged,  where  they 
were  to  learn  theu:  fate.  The  women  were  to  re- 
main some  time  longer  in  the  city,  to  dispose  of 
the  most  valuable  effects,  such  as  could  not  easily 
be  transported.  This  was  not  difficult,  at  the  low 
prices  for  which,  in  their  extremity,  they  were 
obliged  to  part  with  their  property.  We  are  left 
in  ignorance  of  the  fate  of  the  children,  who,  no 
doubt,  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  government, 
to  be  nurtured  in  the  Roman  Catholic  faith.^ 

Nothing  could  exceed  the  consternation  of  the 
Moriscoes  on  the  publication  of  this  decree,  for 
which,  though  so  long  suspended  by  a  thread,  as  it 
were,  over  their  heads,  they  were  wholly  unpre- 
pared. It  is  not  strange,  as  they  recalled  the 
atrocious  murders  perpetrated  in  the  prison  of 
the  Chancery,  that  they  should  have  been  led  to 
believe  that  nothing  less  than  a  massacre  of  the 
whole  Moorish  population  was  now  designed.  It 
was  in  vain  that  the  marquis  of  Mondejar  en- 
deavored to  allay  their  fears.  They  were  some- 
what comforted  by  the  assurance  of  the  President 
Deza,  given  under  his  own  hand,  that  their  lives 
were  in  no  danger.  But  their  apprehensions  on 
this  point  were  not  wholly  quieted  till  Don  John 
had  pledged  his  royal  word  that  no  harm  should 
come  to  their  persons,  —  that,  in  short,  the  great 

50  Mendoza,  Guerrade  Granada,  nothing  niore  than  transcribe  the 

p.    146.  —  Mannol,   Rebelion  de  pages  of  Mendoza,    and   that   in 

Granada,  torn.  II.  p.  100.  — Bleda,  so  blundering  a  style,  ^  to  mis- 

(Cronica  de  Espana,  p.  705,)  in  take  the  date  of  this  event  by  a 

this   part  of  his  work,  has  done  month. 


164 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


Cu.  V.J 


REMOVAL  OF  THE  MORISCOES. 


165 


I 


object  of  the  government  was  to  secure  their  safety. 
They  then  submitted  without  any  attempt  at  resist- 
ance. Resistance,  indeed,  would  have  been  hardly 
possible,  destitute  as  they  were  of  weapons  or  oth- 
er  means  of  defence,  and  surrounded  on  all  quar- 
ters by  the  well-armed  soldiery  of  Castile.  They 
accordingly  entered  the  churches  assigned  to  them, 
.at  the  doors  of  which  strong  guards  were  stationed 

during  the  night. 

On  the  following  morning  the  Moriscoes  were 
marched  out  and  formed  into  a  procession,  which 
was  to  take  its  way  to  the  great  hospital  in  the 
suburbs.    This  was  a  noble  building,  erected  by  the 
good  Queen  Isabella  the  Catholic,  not  long  after  the 
Conquest.     Here  they  were  to  stay  till  the  arrange- 
ments were  completed  for  forming  them  into  di- 
visions  according  to  their  several  places  of  desti- 
nation.     It  was  a  sad  and  solemn  spectacle,  that  of 
this  company  of  exiles,  as  they  moved  with  slow 
and  uncertain  step,  bound  together  by  cords,^^  and 
escorted,  or  rather  driven  along  like    a  gang  of 
convicts,  by  the  fierce  soldiery.     There  they  were, 
the  old  and  the  young,  the  rich  and  the  poor,  now, 
alas  !  brought  to  the  same  level,  the  forms  of  most 
of  them  bowed  down,  less  by  the  weight  of  years 
than    of  sorrow,   their    hands    meekly  folded   on 
their  breasts,  their  cheeks  wet  with  tears,  as  they 
gazed  for  the  last  time  on  their  beautiful  city,  the 
sweet  home  of  their  infancy,  the  proud   seat   of 

51  w  Puestos  en  la  cuerda,  con    por  una  i  otra  parte."    Mendoza, 
guarda  de  infanteria  i  cavalleria    Guerra  do  Granada,  p.  147. 


ancient  empire,  endeared  to  them  by  so  many  ten- 
der and  glorious  recollections.^ 

The  march  was  conducted  in  an  orderly  manner, 
with  but   a  single  interruption,   which,   however, 
was   near  being  attended  by  the  most   disastrous 
consequences.      A   Spanish    alguazil,   offended   at 
some  words  that  fell  from  one  of  the  prisoners,  — 
for  so  they  might  be  called,  —  requited  them  with 
a  blow  from  his  staff.     But  the  youth  whom  he 
struck  had  the  fiery  blood  of  the  Arab  in  his  veins. 
Snatching  up  a  broken  tile,  he  dealt  such  a  blow 
on  the  offender  s  head  as  nearly  severed  his  ear 
from  it.     The  act  cost  him  his  life.     He  was  speed- 
ily cut  down  by  the  Spaniards,  who  rushed  to  the 
assistance   of  their  wounded  comrade.     A  rumor 
now  went  round  that  the  Moriscoes  had  attempted 
the  life  of  Don  John,  whose  dress  resembled  in 
its  color  that  of  the  alguazil.      The   passions   of 
the   soldiery   were   roused.     They  flocked    to  the 
scene  of  violence,  uttering  the  most  dreadful  im- 
precations.    Their  swords  and  lances  glittered  in 
the  air,  and  in  a  few  moments  would  have  been 
sheathed  in  the  bodies  of  their  terrified  victims. 

Fortunately,  the  quick  eye  of  Don  John  dis- 
cerned the  confusion.  Surrounded  by  a  body-guard 
of  arquebusiers,  he  was  there  in  person  to  super- 


^  "Fue  un  miserable  especta- 
culo,"  says  an  eyewitness,  "  ver 
tantos  hombres  de  todas  edades, 
las  cabezas  baxas,  las  manos  cruza- 
das  y  los  rostros  banados  de  lagri- 
mas,    con    semblante    doloroso  y 


triste,  viendo  que  dexaban  sus  re- 
galadas  easas,  sus  familias,  su  patria, 
y  tanto  bien  como  tenian,  y  aun  no 
sabian  cierto  lo  que  se  teria  de  sus 
cabezas."  Marmol,  Rebelion  de 
Granada,  torn.  IL  p.  102. 


I! 


166 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


Ch.  v.] 


REMOVAL  OF  THE  MORISCOES. 


167 


intend  the  removal  of  the  Moriscoes.  Spurring 
his  horse  forward  into  the  midst  of  the  tumult,  and 
showing  himself  to  the  troops,  he  exclaimed,  that 
no  one  had  offered  him  any  harm.  He  called  on 
them  to  return  to  their  duty,  and  not  to  dishonor 
him,  as  well  as  themselves,  by  offering  violence  to 
innocent  men,  for  whose  protection  he  had  so 
solemnly  pledged  his  word.  —The  soldiers,  abashed 
by  the  rebuke  of  their  young  chief,  and  satisfied 
with  the  vengeance  they  had  taken  on  the  of- 
fender, fell  back  into  their  ranks.  The  trembling 
Moriscoes  gradually  recovered  from  their  panic, 
the  procession  resumed  its  march,  and  without 
further  interruption  reached  the  hospital  of  Isa- 
bella.^ 

There  the  royal  contadores  were  not  long  in  as- 
certaining  the  number  of  the  exiles.  It  amounted 
to  thirty-five  hundred.  That  of  the  women,  who 
were  soon  to  follow,  was  much  greater.^  The 
names,  the  ages,  and  the  occupations  of  the  men, 
were  all  carefully  registered.  The  following  day 
they  were  marched  into  the  great  square  before  the 
hospital,  where  they  were  distributed  into  compa- 
nies, each  under  a  strong  escort,  to  be  conducted  to 
their  various  places  of  destination.  These,  far  from 
being  confined  to  Andalusia,  reached  into  New 
Castile.     In  this  arrangement  we   may  trust  that 

53  Ibid.,  p.    103.  —  Mendoza,  ^  "Los  que  salieron  por  todos 

Gueira  de  Granada,  p.  147.  tres  mil  i  quinientos,  el  numero  de 

Both  historians  were  present  on  mugeres  mucho  mayor.**   Mendoza, 

this  occasion,  Guerra  de  Granada,  p.  147. 


80  much  respect  was  paid  to  the  dictates  of  hu- 
manity,  as  not  to  separate  those  of  the  same  kin- 
dred  from  one  another.  But  the  chroniclers  give 
no  information  on  the  subject,  —  probably  regard- 
ing  details  of  this  sort  in  regard  to  the  fallen  race 
as  below  the  dignity  of  history. 

In  was  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  June,  1569,  that, 
bidding  a  sad  farewell  to  the  friends  and  compan- 
ions  of  their  youth,  from  whom  they  were  now  to 
be  for  ever  parted,  they  set  forth  on  their  doleful 
pilgrimage.     The  morning  light  had  broken  on  the 
red  towers  of  the  Alhambra,  as  the  bands  of  exiles, 
issuing  from  the  gates  of  their  beloved  capital,  the 
spot  dearest  to  them  upon  earth,  turned  their  faces 
towards  their  new  homes,  —  homes  which  many  of 
them  were  destined  never  to  behold.     The  govern- 
ment, with  shameful  indifference,  had  neglected  to 
provide  for  the  poor  wanderers  the  most  common 
necessaries  of  life.     Some  actually  perished  of  hun- 
ger by  the  way.     Others,  especiaUy  those  accus- 
tomed  from   infancy   to   a  delicate  nurture,  sank 
down  and  died  of  fatigue.    Some  were  seized  by  the 
soldiers,  whose  cupidity  was  roused  by  the  sight  of 
their  helplessness,  and  were  sold  as  slaves.     Others 
were   murdered  by  their   guards   in  cold  blood.^ 
Thus  reduced  far  below  their  original  number,  they 
reached  their  appointed  places,  there  to  linger  out 
the   remainder   of  their  days  in  the  midst  of  a 

ssuMuchos  murieron  por  los  mano  de  los  mismos  que  los  havian 
caminos  de  trabajo,  de  cansancio,  de  guardar,  robados,  vendidos  por 
de  pesar,  de  hambre ;  a  hierro,  por    cautivos."    Ibid.,  p.  148. 


'I 


I 


168 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


population  who  held  them  in  that  abhorrence  with 
which  a  good  Catholic  of  the  sixteenth  century 
regarded  "  the  enemies  of  God."^ 

But  the  evils  which  grew  out  of  this  stem  policy 
of  the  government  were  not  wholly  confined  to  the 
Moriscoes.  This  ingenious  people  were  so  far  su- 
perior to  the  Spaniards  in  the  knowledge  of  hus- 
bandry and  in  the  varioijs  mechanic  arts,  that  they 
formed  the  most  important  part  of  the  population 
of  Granada.  The  only  art  in  which  their  rivals 
excelled  them  was  that  which  thrives  at  the  ex- 
pense of  every  other,  —  the  art  of  war.  Aware  of 
this,  the  government  had  excepted  some  of  the 
best  artisans  in  the  capital  from  the  doom  of  exile 
which  had  fallen  on  their  countrymen,  and  they 
had  accordingly  remained  in  the  city.  But  their 
number  w^as  too  small  to  produce  the  result  de- 
sired ;  and  it  was  not  long  before  the  quarter  of  the 
town  which  had  been  occupied  by  the  Moriscoes 
exhibited  a  scene  of  woful  desolation.  The  light 
and  airy  edifices,  which  displayed  in  their  forms 
the  fantastic  graces  of  Arabian  architecture,  fell 
speedily  into  decay.  The  parterres  and  pleasure- 
grounds,  filled  with  exotics,  and  glowing  in  all  the 
exuberance  of  southern  vegetation,  became  a  wil- 
derness of  weeds ;  and  the  court-yards  and  public 
squares,  where  tanks  and  sparkling  fountains,  fed 
by  the  streams  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  shed  a  re- 

»  "Los  enemigos  de  Dios,"—    now  to  be  denominated  by  the 
the  charitable    phrase    by  which     Christians. 
Moriscoes,  as  well  as  Moors,  came 


Ch.  v.] 


REMOVAL  OF  THE  MORISCOES. 


169 


freshing  coolness  over  the  atmosphere  in  the  sul- 
triest  months  of  summer,  were  soon  converted  into 
a  melancholy  heap  of  rubbish. 

The  mischiefs  growing  out  of  the  removal  of  the 
Moriscoes  fell  sorely  on  the  army.     The  men  had 
been  quartered,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  houses  of 
the  Moriscoes.     From   the  present   occupants,  for 
the   most    part  needy  and    thriftless   speculators, 
they  met  with  very  different  fare  from  what  they 
had  enjoyed  under  the  former  wealthy  and  luxu- 
rious proprietors.     The   troops  supplied  the  defi- 
ciency,  as   far   as  they  could,  by  plundering  the 
citizens.     Hence  incessant  feuds  arose  between  the 
people  and  the  army,  and  a  spirit  of  insubordina- 
tion  rapidly  grew  up  in  the  latter,  which  made  it 
more  formidable  to  its  friends  than  to  its  foes.^^ 

An  eyewitness  of  these  troubles  closes  his  narra- 
tive of  the  removal  of  the  Moriscoes  by  remarking 
that  it  was  a  sad  spectacle  to  one  who  reflected  on 
the  former  policy  and  prosperity  of  this  ill-starred 
race ;  who  had  seen  their  sumptuous  mansions  in 
the  day  of  their  glory,  their  gardens  and  pleasure- 
grounds,  the  scene  of  many  a  gay  revel  and  jocund 
holiday,  and  who  now  contrasted  all  this  wth 
the  ruin  into  which  everything  had  fallen.^  "  It 
seems,"  he   concludes,  "as  if  Providence  had  in- 


57  Mendoza,  Guerra  de  Grana- 
da, pp.  148 -150. 

58  "  Quedd  grandisima  lastima  i. 
los  que  habiendo  visto  la  prosperi- 
dad,  la  policia,  y  el  regalo  de  las 
casas,  cannenes  y  guertas,  donde 

VOL.  III.  ** 


los  Moriscos  tenian  todas  bus  re- 
creaciones  y  pasatiempos,  y  desde 
d  pocos  dias  lo  vieron  todo  asolado 
y  destruido."  Marmol,  Rebelion 
de  Granada,  torn.  II.  p.  104. 


no 


BEBELLION  OF  THE  MOKISCOES.         [Book  V. 


tended  to  show,  by  the  fate  of  this  beautiful  city, 
that  the  fairest  things  in  this  world  are  the  most 
subject  to  decay."  *^  —  To  the  philosopher  of  the 
present  age  it  may  seem  rather  the  natural  result 
of  that  system  of  religious  intolerance  which  had 
converted  into  enemies  those  who,  under  a  benefi- 
cent rule,  would  have  been  true  and  loyal  sub- 
jects, and  who  by  their  industry  and  skill  would 
have  added  incalculably  to  the  resources  of  the 
country. 

»  "  Parecia   bien  estar    sujeta  entre  la  gente  estdn  mas  aparejadas 

iquella  felicisima  ciudad  d  tal  de-  4  los   golpes  de    fortuna."    Mar- 

struicion,  para  que  se  entienda  que  mol,  ubi  supra. 
las  cosas  mas  esplendidas  y  floridas 


CHAPTER    VI. 

REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES. 

Operations  of  Los  Velez.  —  Conspiracy  against  Aben-Humeya.  —  His 
Assassination.  —  Election  of  Aben-Aboo.  —  Vigorous  Prosecution 
of  the  War.  —  Fierce  Combats  in  the  Vega.  —  Impetuous  Spirit  of 
Don  John.  —  Surprise  of  Guejar. 

1569. 


While  the  events  related  in  the  preceding  chap- 
ter were  occurring,  the  marqui%  of  Los  Velez  lay, 
with  a  considerable  force,  at  Adra,  a  port  on  the 
Mediterranean,  at  the  foot  of  the  Alpuj arras,  which 
he  had  selected  chiefly  from  the  facilities  it  would 
afford  him  for  getting  supplies  for  his  army.  In  * 
this  he  was  disappointed.  Before  the  month  of 
June  had  expired,  his  troops  had  begun  to  be 
straitened  for  provisions.  The  evil  went  on  in- 
creasing from  day  to  day.  His  levies,  composed 
chiefly  of  raw  recruits  from  Andalusia,  were  full 
of  that  independent,  and  indeed  turbulent  spirit, 
which  belongs  to  an  ill-disciplined  militia.  There 
was  no  lack  of  courage  in  the  soldiery.  ,  But  the 
same  men  who  had  fearlessly  braved  the  dangers  of 
the  campaign,  now  growing  impatient  under  the 


172 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.  [Book  V. 


pinch  of  hunger,  abandoned  their  colors  in  great 
numbers. 

There  were  various  causes  for  the  deficiency  of 
supplies.  The  principal  one  of  these  may  probably 
be  found  in  the  remissness  of  the  council  of  war, 
several  of  whose  members  regarded  the  marquis 
with  an  evil  eye,  and  were  not  sorry  to  see  his 
embarrassments. 

Some  vigorous  measures  were  instantly  to  be 
taken,  or  the  army,  it  was  evident,  would  soon 
altogether  melt  away.  By  the  king's  command, 
orders  were  despatched  to  Requesens,  who  lay 
with  his  squadron  off  the  port  of  Velez  Malaga, 
to  supply  the  camp  with  provisions,  while  it  re- 
ceived reinforcements,  as  before,  principally  from 
the  Andalusian  militia.  The  army  received  a  still 
more  important  accession  in  the  well-disciplined 
veterans  who  had  followed  the  grand-commander 
from  Italy.  Thus  strengthened,  and  provisioned 
for  a  week  or  more,  Los  Velez,  at  the  head  of 
twelve  thousand  men,  set  forth  on  the  twenty-, 
sixth  of  July,  and  struck  at  once  into  the  Alpu- 
jarras.  He  had  been  directed  by  the  council  to 
establish  himself  at  XJgijar,  which,  by  its  central 
position,  would  enable  him  to  watch  the  move- 
ments of  Aben-Humeya,  and  act  on  any  point  as 
occasion  required. 

The  marquis,  without  difficulty,  defeated  a  force 
of  some  five  or  six  thousand  men,  who  had  been 
stationed  to  oppose  his  entrance  into  the  mountain 
country.     He   then   pressed   forward,  and  on  the 


Ch.  VI.] 


OPERATIONS  OF  LOS   VELEZ. 


173 


high  lands  beyond  Ugijar  —  which  place  he  had 
already  occupied  —  he  came  in  sight  of  Aben- 
Humeya,  with  the  flower  of  his  troops,  drawn  up 
to  receive  him. 

The  two  chiefs,  in  their  characters,  their  per- 
sons, and  their  equipments,  might  be  considered 
as  no  bad  types  of  the  European  and  the  Arab 
chivalry.  The  marquis,  sheathed  in  complete  mail 
of  a  sable  color,  and  mounted  on  his  heavy  war- 
horse  also  covered  with  armor,  was  to  be  seen 
brandishing  a  lance  which,  short  and  thick,  seemed 
rather  like  a  truncheon,  as  he  led  his  men  boldly 
on,  prepared  to  plunge  at  once  into  the  thick 
of  the  fight.^  He  was  the  very  emblem  of  brute 
force.  Aben-Humeya,  on  the  other  hand,  grace- 
fully managing  his  swift-footed,  snow-white  Anda- 
lusian, with  his  Morisco  mantle  of  crimson  float- 
ing lightly  from  his  shoulders,  and  his  Turk- 
ish turban  wreathed  around  his  head,^  instead  of 
force,  suggested  the  opposite  ideas  of  agility  and 
adroitness,  so  characteristic  of  the  children  of  the 
East. 

Riding  along  his  lines,  the  Morisco  prince  ex- 
horted his  followers  not  to  fear  the  name  of  Los 
Velez ;  for  in  the  hour  of  danger  God  would  aid 
his  own;  and  better  was  it,   at   any  rate,  to  die 


1  "  Armado  de  unas  armas  ne-  2  «  Andaba  Aben  Umeya  visto- 

gras  de  la  color  del  acero,  y  una  so  delante  de  todos  en  un  caballo 

celada  en  la  cabeza  Uena  de  pluma-  bianco  con  una  aljuba  de  grana 

ges,  y  una  gruesa  lanza  en  la  mano  vestida,  y  un  turbante  turquesco 

mas  recia  que  larga.**  Marmol,  Re-  en  la  cabeza.**    Ibid.,  p.  134. 
belion  de  Granada,  torn.  II.  p.  133. 


174 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


like  brave  men  in  the  field,  than  to  live  dishon- 
ored.^ Notwithstanding  these  magnanimous  words, 
it  was  far  from  Aben-Humeya's  wish  to  meet  his 
enemy  in  a  fair  field  of  fight.  It  was  contrary  to 
the  genius  and  the  habit  of  his  warfare,  which  was 
of  the  guerilla  kind,  abounding  in  sallies  and  sur- 
prises, in  which,  seeking  some  vulnerable  point,  he 
could  deal  his  blow  and  retreat  precipitately  among 
the  mountains. 

Yet  his  followers,  though  greatly  inferior  in 
numbers  to  the  enemy,  behaved  with  spirit;  and 
the  field  was  well  contested,  till  a  body  of  Anda- 
lusian  horse,  making  a  detour  under  cover  of  some 
rising  ground,  fell  unexpectedly  on  the  rear  of  the 
Moriscoes,  and  threw  them  into  confusion.  The 
marquis  pressing  them  at  the  same  time  vigorously 
in  front,  they  broke,  and  soon  gave  way  on  all  sides. 
Aben-Humeya,  perceiving  the  day  lost,  gave  the 
rein  to  his  high-mettled  genet,  who  swiftly  bore  him 
from  the  field ;  and,  though  hotly  pursued,  he  soon 
left  his  enemies  behind.  On  reaching  the  foot  of 
the  Sierra  Nevada,  the  chief  dismounted,  and,  ham- 
stringing his  noble  animal,  plunged  into  the  depths 
of  the  mountains,  which  again  opened  their  friend- 
ly arms  to  receive  him.''    Yet  he  did  not  remain 


'  "  No  temiesen  el  vano  nombre 
del  Marques  de  los  Velez,  porque 
en  los  mayores  trabajos  acudia  Dios 
i.  los  suyos ;  y  quando  les  faltase, 
no  les  podria  faltar  una  honrosa 
muerte  con  las  annas  en  las  manos, 
que  les  estaba  mejor  que  vivir  des- 
honrados."    Ibid.,  p.  134. 


*  **  Y  apeandose  del  caballo,  le 
hizo  desjarretar,  y  se  embrend  en 
las  sierras.**    Ibid.,  loc.  cit. 

Hita  commemorates  the  flijrht  of 
the  "  little  king  **  of  the  Alpujarra<) 
in  one  of  his  ballads.  Guerras  de 
Granada,  torn.  II.  p.  310. 


Ch.  VI.] 


OPERATIONS  OF  LOS  VELEZ. 


175 


there  long  before  he  was  joined  by  his  follow- 
ers ;  and  no  sooner  was  he  in  sufficient  strength, 
than  he  showed  himself  on  the  eastern  skirts  of  the 
sierra,  whence,  like  an  eagle  stooping  on  his  prey, 
he  rushed  down  upon  the  plains  below,  sweep- 
injg  through  the  rich  valley  of  the  Rio  de  Alman- 
zora,  and  carrying  fire  and  sword  to  the  very  bor- 
ders of  Murcia.  Here  he  revenged  himself  on  Los 
Velez  by  falling  on  his  town  of  Las  Cuevas,  firing 
his  dwellings,  ravaging  his  estates,  and  rousing  his 
Morisco  vassals  to  rebellion.^ 

Meanwhile  the  marquis,  instead  of  following  up 
his  victory,  remained  torpid  within  the  walls  of 
Calahorra.  Here  he  had  desired  the  council  to 
provide  stores  for  the  subsistence  of  his  army.  To 
his  dismay,  none  had  been  provided ;  and,  as  his 
own  attempts  to  procure  them  were  unsuccessful, 
he  soon  found  himself  in  the  same  condition  as  at 
Adra.  The  famine-stricken  troops,  with  little  pay 
and  less  plunder,  first  became  discontented,  then 
mutinous,  and  at  length  deserted  in  great  numbers. 
It  was  in  vain  that  the  irascible  old  chief  poured 
out  his  wrath  in  menaces  and  imprecations.  His 
arrogant  temper  had  made  him  hated  even  more 
than  he  was  feared  by  his  soldiers.  They  now 
went  off,  not  stealthily  and  by  night,  but  in  the 
open  day,  whole  companies  at  a  time,  their  arque- 
buses on  their  shoulders  and  their  matches  lighted.® 


i\ 


5  Mendoza,  Guerra  de  Granada,    Guerras  de  Granada^  torn.  II.  p. 
p.    209.  —  Marmol,  Rebelion    de     233. 
Granada,  torn.  II.  p.  150.  — Hita,        <^  **  I  tan  adelante  pasd  la  desor- 


176 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


i 


I 


When  Don  Diego  Fajardo,  the  marquis's  son,  en- 
deavored to  stay  them,  one,  more  audacious  than 
the  rest,  lodged  a  musket-ball  in  his  body.  It  was 
not  long  before  the  gallant  array  with  which  the 
marquis  had  so  proudly  entered  the  Alpuj  arras, 
was  reduced  to  less  than  three  thousand  men. 
Among  them  were  the  Italian  veterans,  who  re- 
fused to  tarnish  their  well-earned  laurels  by  thus 
basely  abandoning  their  commander. 

The  council  of  war  complained  loudly  to  the  king 
of  the  fatal  inactivity  of  the  marquis,  and  of  his 
neglect  to  follow  up  the  advantages  he  had  gained. 
Los  Velez  angrily  retorted  by  throwing  the  blame 
on  that  body,  for  neglecting  to  furnish  him  with 
the  supplies  which  would  have  enabled  him  to  do 
so.  Philip,  alarmed,  with  reason,  at  the  critical 
aspect  of  affairs,  ordered  the  marquis  of  Mondejar 
to  repair  to  court,  that  he  might  confer  with  him 
on  the  state  of  the  country.  This  was  the  avowed 
motive  for  his  recall.  But  in  truth  it  seems  prob- 
able that  the  king,  aware  of  that  nobleman's  lean- 
ing  to  a  pacific  policy  and  of  his  personal  hostility 
to  Los  Velez,  deemed  it  best  to  remove  him  alto- 
gether from  any  share  in  the  conduct  of  the  war. 
This  he  did  most  effectually,  by  sending  him  into 
honorable  exile,  first  appointing  him  viceroy  of 
Valencia,  and  afterwards  raising  him  to  the  im- 
portant  post   of  viceroy    of  Naples.     From   this 

den,  que  se  juntaron  quatrocientos    campo."     Mendoza,     Guerra   de 
arcabuceros,  i  con  las  mechas  en     Granada,  p.  195. 
las  serpentinas  salieron  a  vista  del 


Cii.  VL] 


OPERATIONS  OF  LOS  VELEZ. 


177 


period  the  name  of  Mondejar  no  more  appears  on 
the  theatre  of  the  Morisco  war.^ 

The  marquis  did  not  win  the  favor  to  which  he 
was   entitled  by   his  deserts.     He   seems   to   have 
possessed  some  of  the  best  qualities  of  a  good  cap- 
tain.    Bold  in  action,  he  was  circumspect  in  coun- 
cil.    Slow  and  sagacious  in  the  formation  of  his 
plans,  he  carried  them  out  with  singular  persever- 
ance.    He  knew  the  country  well  which  was  the 
seat  of  the  insurrection,  and  perfectly  understood 
the  character  of  its  inhabitants.     What  was  more 
rare,  he  made  allowance  for  the  excesses  into  which 
they  had  been  drawn  by  a  long  course  of  insult  and 
oppression.     The  humanity  of  his  disposition  com- 
bined  with  his  views  of  policy  to  make  him  rely 
more  on   conciliatory  measures    than   on  fear,  for 
the  reduction  of  the  enemy.    How  well  this  worked 
we  have  seen.     Had  he  been  properly  supported 
by   those   engaged  with   him  in  the    direction  of 
affairs,  we  can  hardly  doubt  of  his  ultimate  sue- 
cess.     But,  unhappily,  the  two  most  prominent  of 
these,  the  President  Deza  and  the  marquis  of  Los 
Velez,  were  narrow-minded,  implacable  bigots,  who, 
far  from   feeling    compassion   for   the    Moriscoes, 
looked   on    the  whole   race   as   "God's   enemies." 
Unfortunately,    these  views  found   favor  with  the 
government ;  and  Philip,  who  rightly  thought  that 
the  marquis  of  Mondejar  would  only  prove  a  hin- 
derance  to  carrying  on  hostilities  with  vigor,  acted 
consistently  in  sending  him  from  the  country.'  Yet, 

7  ftld.,  p.  198  etseq.  —  Marmol,  Rebelion  de  Granada,  torn.  IL  p.  146. 

YOL.  HI.  23 


178 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MOUISCOES.  [Book  V. 


Ch.  VI.]       CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  ABEN-HUMEYA. 


179 


while  he  was  thus  removed  from  the  conduct  of  the 
war,  it  may  be  thought  an  unequivocal  acknowl- 
edgment of  Mondejar's  deserts,  that  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  most  considerable  post  in  the  gift  of 
the  crown. 

Before  the  marquis's  departure,  Philip  had  trans- 
ferred his  court  to  Cordova,  in  order  to  facilitate 
his  communication  with  the  seat  of  war.  He 
hoped,  too,  that  the  knowledge  of  his  being  so 
near  would  place  some  check  on  the  disorderly 
temper  of  the  soldiery,  and  animate  them  with 
more  loyal  and  patriotic  feelings.  In  this  w^y  of 
proceeding  he  considered  himself  as  imitating  the 
example  of  his  great  ancestors,  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 
bella, who,  during  the  war  of  Granada,  usually 
transferred  their  court  to  one  of  the  capitals  of  the 
south.  He  did  not,  however,  think  it  necessary, 
like  them,  to  lead  his  armies  in  person,  and  share 
in  the  toils  of  the  campaign. 

On  the  nineteenth  of  October,  Philip  published 
an  edict,  which  intimated  his  design  of  following 
up  the  war  with  vigor.  It  commanded  that  such 
of  the  Moriscoes  as  had  hitherto  been  allowed  to 
remain  in  Granada  should  now  be  removed  from  it, 
in  order  that  no  means  of  communication  might  be 
left  to  them  with  their  brethren  in  the  mountains. 
It  was  further  proclaimed,  that  the  war  henceforth 
was  to  be  carried  on  with  "fire  and  blood,"®  — 
in  other  words,  that  no  mercy  was  to  be  shown  the 
insurgents.     This  was  the  first  occasion  on  which 

S  "  Que  se  publicase  la  guerra    Rebelion  de  Granada,  torn.  XL  p. 
i   fuego  y  i    sangre."     Marmol,     160. 


this  fierce  denunciation  had  been  made  by  the  gov- 
ernment. To  reconcile  the  militia  of  the  towns 
to  the  service,  their  pay  was  to  be  raised  to  a  level 
with  that  of  the  Italian  volunteers ;  and  to  relieve 
the  towns,  the  greater  part  of  the  expense  was  to 
be  borne  by  the  crown.  —  Before  the  publication 
of  this  ordinance  the  king  had  received  intelligence 
of  an  event  unexpected  alike  by  Christian  and  by 
Moslem,  —  the  death  of  Aben-Humeya,  and  that 
by  the  hands  of  some  of  his  own  followers. 

The  Morisco  prince,  after  carrying  the  war  up  to 
the  borders  of  Murcia,  laid  siege  to  two  or  three 
places  of  strength  in  that  quarter.  As  might  have 
been  expected,  he  failed  in  these  attempts,  from  his 
want  of  battering  artillery.  Thus  foiled,  he  led  back 
his  forces  into  the  Alpujarras,  and  established  his 
quarters  in  the  ancient  Moorish  palace  of  Lanjaron, 
on  the  slopes  of  the  mountains  commanding  the 
beautiful  valley  of  Lecrin.  Here  the  torpid  condi- 
tion of  the  Spaniards  under  Los  Velez  allowed  the 
young  monarch  to  remain,  and  give  himself  up  to 
those  sensual  indulgences  with  which  the  Moslem 
princes  of  the  East  were  apt  to  solace  their  leisure 
in  the  intervals  of  war.  His  harem  rivalled  that 
of  any  Oriental  satrap  in  the  number  of  its  in- 
mates. This  was  strange  to  the  Moriscoes,  who, 
since  their  nominal  conversion  to  Christianity,  had 
of  course  repudiated  polygamy.  In  the  eyes  of  the 
Moslems,  it  might  pass  for  good  evidence  of  their 
prince's  orthodoxy. 

Ever  since  Aben-Humeya  s  ascent  to  the  throne 


180 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.  [Book  V. 


he  had  been  declining  in  popularity.  His  hand-* 
some  person,  the  courtesy  of  his  manners,  his  chiv- 
alrous spirit,  and  his  devotion  to  the  cause,  had 
easily  won  him  the  affections  of  his  subjects.  But 
a  too  sudden  elevation  had  unfortunately  that 
effect  on  him  which  it  is  wont  to  have  on  weak 
minds,  without  any  settled  principles  or  lofty  aim 
to  guide  them.  Possessed  of  power,  he  became 
tyrannical  in  the  use  of  it.^  His  arbitrary  acts 
created  enemies,  not  the  less  dangerous  that  they 
were  concealed.  The  consciousness  of  the  wrongs 
he  had  committed  made  him  suspicious.  He  sur- 
rounded himself  with  a  body-guard  of  four  hun- 
dred men.  Sixteen  hundred  more  were  quartered  in 
the  place  where  he  was  residing  ;  and  the  principal 
avenues  to  it,  we  are  told,  were  defended  by  barri- 
cades.^^ Those  whom  he  suspected  he  treated  with 
particular  kindness.  He  drew  them  around  his 
person,  overwhelmed  them  with  favors,  and,  when 
he  had  won  them  by  a  show  of  confidence,  he 
struck  the  fatal  blow.^^  During  the  short  period 
of  his  reign,  no  less  than  three  hundred  and  fifty 
persons,  we  are  assured,  fell  victims  to  his  jealousy 
or  his  revenge.^^ 


•  "  Vivia  ya  con  estado  de  Rei, 
pero  con  arbitrio  de  tirano."  Men- 
doza,  Guerra  de  Granada,  p. 
209. 

1®  "  Teniendo  barreadas  las  cal- 
les  del  lugar  de  manera,  que  nadie 
pudlese  entrar  en  el  sin  ser  visto  6 
sentido.**  Marmol,  Kcbelion  de 
Granada,  torn.  II.  p.  163, 


1*  Mendoza,  Guerra  de  Grana- 
da, p.  210. 

Such  is  the  Tiberius-like  por- 
trait given  of  him  by  an  enemy,  — 
by  one,  however,  it  may  be  added, 
who  for  liberal  views  and  for  dis- 
crimination of  character  was  not  sur- 
passed by  any  chronicler  of  his  time. 

1'  ^  Los  cuales  pasaron  de  tre»- 


Ch.  VIl      CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  ABEN-HUMEYA. 


181 


Among  Aben-Humeyas  officers  was  one  named 
Diego  Alguazil,  who  had  a  beautiful  kinswoman, 
with  whom  he  lived,  it  is  said,  on  terms  of  greater 
intimacy  than  was  justified  by  the  relationship  of 
the  parties.  As  he  was  one  day  imprudently  speak- 
ing of  her  to  Aben-Humeya  in  the  glowing  lan- 
guage of  a  lover,  the  curiosity  of  the  king  was  so 
much  inflamed  by  it  that  he  desired  to  see  her. 
In  addition  to  her  personal  charms,  the  fair  Zahara 
was  mistress  of  many  accomplishments  which  ren- 
dered her  still  more  attractive.  She  had  a  sweet 
voice,  which  she  accompanied  bewitchingly  on  the 
lute,  and  in  her  dancing  displayed  all  the  soft  and 
voluptuous  movements  of  the  dark-eyed  beauties  of 
Andalusia."  When  brought  before  the  king,  she 
did  her  best  to  please  him ;  for,  though  attached,  as 
it  seems,  to  her  kinsman,  the  ambitious  coquette 
had  no  objection  to  having  a  royal  suitor  in  her 
chains.  In  this  she  perfectly  succeeded ;  and  the 
enamored  prince  intimated  his  desire  to  Alguazil 
that  he  would  resign  to  him  the  possession  of  his 
mistress.  But  the  Morisco  loved  her  too  well ;  and 
neither  threats  nor  promises  of  the  most  extrava- 


cientos  cincucnta,  segun  yo  he  sido 

informado  de  varios  moriscos  que 

scguian   sus  banderas;    y  de  tal 

manera  procedia  el  reyecillo,  que 

vino  i,  ser  odiosisimo  i.  los  suyos 

por  sus  crueldades.**     Hita,  Guer- 

ras  de  Granada,  torn.  II.  p.  303. 
13  "  Q,ue  no  la  hay  mas  hernuwa 
en  toda  la  Andalucia : 
blanca  es  y  colorada, 
como  la  roM  uiaa  fina ; 


Tane,  danza,  eanta  i  estremo, 
que  es  un  encanto  ei  oirla  ; 
es  inoza,  |)eila  y  graciosa 
nadie  vio  tal  en  su  vida." 

Ibid.,  torn.  If.  p.  394. 

The  severer  pencil  of  Mendoza 
does  not  disdain  the  same  warm 
coloring  for  the  portrait  of  the  Mo- 
risco beauty.  Guerra  lie  Grana- 
da,  p.  213. 


182 


EEBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.  [Book  V. 


Ch.  VI-l      CONSPIRACY  AGAINST  ABENHUMEYA. 


183 


gant  kind  were  able  to  extort  his  consent.  Thus 
baffled,  the  reckless  Aben-Humeya,  consulting  only 
his  passion,  caused  the  perhaps  not  reluctant 
Zahara  to  be  taken  by  force  and  lodged  in  his 
harem.  By  this  act  he  made  a  mortal  enemy  of 
Alguazil. 

Nor  did  he  long  enjoy  the  favor  of  his  new 
mistress,  who,  come  of  an  ancient  lineage  in  Gra- 
nada,^* had  hoped  to  share  the  throne  of  the 
Morisco  monarch.  But  Aben-Humeya's  passion 
did  not  carry  him  to  this  extent  of  complaisance ; 
and  Zahara,  indignant  at  finding  herself  degraded 
to  the  rank  and  file  of  the  seraglio,  soon  breathed 
only  a  desu-e  for  vengeance.  In  this  state  of  things 
she  found  the  means  of  communicating  with  her 
kinsman,  and  arranged  with  him  a  plan  for  carry- 
ing their  murderous  intent  into  execution. 

The  most  important  corps  in  the  Morisco  army 
was  that  of  the  Turkish  mercenaries.  But  they 
were  so  fierce  and  turbulent  a  race,  that  Aben- 
Humeya  paid  dear  for  their  services.  A  strong 
body  of  these  troops  lay  on  the  frontiers  of  Orgiba, 
imder  the  command  of  Aben-Aboo,  —  a  near  rela- 
tive of  the  Morisco  prince,  whose  life,  it  may  be 
remembered,  he  had  once  saved,  by  submitting  to 
every  extremity  of  torture  rather  than  betray  his 
lurking-place.  To  this  commander  Aben-Humeya 
despatched  a  messenger,  directing  him  to  engage 
the  Turks   in  a  certain  expedition,  w^hich  would 

14  «  Muger  igualmente  henuosa  i  de  linage/*    Meadoza,  Guerra  do 
Granada,  p.  213. 


serve  both  to  give  them  employment  and  to  satisfy 
their  appetite  for  plunder. 

The  time  named  for  the  messenger's  departure 
was  communicated  by  Zahara  to  her  kinsman,  who 
caused  him  to  be  waylaid  and  murdered,  and  his 
despatches   to  be  secured.     He  then  had  a  letter 
written  to  Aben-Aboo,  which  bore  apparently  the 
royal   signature.      This   was   counterfeited   by  his 
nephew,  a  young  man  then  holding  the  post  of 
secretary   to   Aben-Humeya,    with  whom   he   had 
lately  conceived  some  cause  of  disgust.     The  let- 
ter stated  that  the   insubordination  of  the  Turks 
made  them   dangerous  to   the   state;  and  that  in 
some  way   or   other  they   must  be  removed,  and 
that  speedily.     With  this   view,   Aben-Aboo   was 
directed  to  march  them  to  Mecina,  on  the  frontiers 
of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  where  he  would  be  joined 
by   Diego   Alguazil,   with  a  party  of  soldiers,  to 
assist  him  in   carrying   the  plan   into   execution. 
The  best  mode,  it  was  suggested,  of  getting   rid 
of  the  Turks,  would  be  by  poison. 

This  letter  was  despatched  by  a  courier,  who 
was  speedily  followed  by  Alguazil  and  a  hundred 
soldiers,  as  the  cunning  conspirator  desired  to  pre- 
sent himself  before  Aben-Aboo  without  leaving^  him 
time  for  consideration. 

He  found  that  commander  in  a  state  of  the  ut- 
most perplexity  and  consternation.  Alguazil  de- 
clared  that  he  had  come  in  consequence  of  certain 
instructions  he  had  received  from  the  king,  of  too 
atrocious  a  nature  for  him  to  execute.     Aben-Aboo 


I 


IS-L 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MOBISCOES.         [Book  V. 


Ch.  vi.]       assassination  of  ABEN-HUMEYA 


185 


il 


I 
ft 


had  as  little  mind  to  perform  the  bloody  work 
assigned  to  him.  He  had  no  distrust  of  the  gen- 
uineness of  the  letter.  Hosceyn,  the  commander 
of  the  Turks,  happening  to  pass  the  house  at  that 
time,  was  called  in,  and  the  despatches  were  shown 
to  him.  The  fiery  chief  insisted  on  communicat- 
ing them  to  some  of  his  comrades.  The  greatest 
indignation  prevailed  among  the  Turkish  leaders, 
outraged  by  this  base  treachery  of  the  very  man 
whom  they  had  come  to  serve  at  the  peril  of  their 
lives.  They  one  and  all  demanded,  not  his  depo- 
sition, but  his  death.  Diego  Alguazil  saw  that  his 
scheme  was  working  well.  He  artfully  fanned  the 
flame,  and  professed  to  share  deeply  in  the  indig- 
nation of  the  Moslems.  It  was  at  length  agreed 
to  put  the  tyrant  to  death,  and  to  offer  the  crown 
to  Aben-Aboo. 

This  chieftain  enjoyed  a  high  reputation  for  sa- 
gacity and  prudence.  His  passions,  unlike  those  of 
Aben-Humeya,  seemed  ever  under  the  control  of 
his  reason ;  and,  far  from  indulging  an  ill-regulated 
ambition,  he  had  been  always  faithful  to  his  trust. 
But  the  present  temptation  was  too  strong  for  his 
virtue.  He  may  have  thought  that,  since  the  throne 
was  to  be  vacant,  the  descendant  of  the  Omeyas 
had  a  better  claim  to  it  than  any  other.  Whatever 
may  have  been  the  sophistry  to  which  he  yielded, 
he  knew  that  those  who  now  promised  him  the 
crown  had  the  power  to  make  their  promise  good. 
He  gave  his  assent,  on  condition  that,  in  the  course 
of  three  months,  his  election  should  be  confirmed 


by  the  dey  of  Algiers,  as  the  representative  of  the 
Turkish  sultan. 

Having  arranged  their  plans,  the  conspirators 
lost  no  time  in  putting  them  in  execution.  They 
set  out  that  very  hour,  on  the  evening  of  the  third 
of  October,  for  Lanjaron,  with  a  body  of  four  hun- 
dred troops,  —  one  half  being  Turks,  the  other 
Moriscoes.  By  midnight  they  reached  their  place 
of  destination.  Diego  Alguazil  and  the  Turkish 
captains  were  too  well  known  as  enjoying  the  con- 
fidence of  Aben-Humeya  to  meet  with  any  oppo- 
sition to  their  entrance  into  the  town.  Nor,  though 
the  Morisco  king  had  retired  to  rest,  did  the  guard 
oppose  any  difficulty  to  their  passing  into  his  dwell- 
ing. Proceeding  to  his  chamber,  they  found  the 
doors  secured,  but  speedily  forced  an  entrance. 
Neither  arm  nor  voice  was  raised  in  his  defence.^* 

Aben-Humeya,  roused  from  sleep  by  the  tumult, 
would  have  sprung  from  his  couch ;  but  the  faith- 
less Zahara  held  him  fast  in  her  embrace,  until 
Diego  Alguazil  and  some  others  of  the  conspira^ 
tors,  rushing  in,  bound  his  arms  together  with  a 
Moorish  veil.^^  Indeed,  he  was  so  much  bewildered 
as  scarcely  to  attempt  resistance. 

The  Turkish  commander  then  showed  him  the 
letter.  Aben-Humeya  recognized  the  writing  of  his 
secretary,  but  declared  that  he  had  never  dictated 
such  a  letter,  nor  was  the  signature  his.     How  far 

15  «  Ninguno  huvo  que  tomase        '«  "  Ataronle  las  manos  con  un 
las  armas,  ni  bolviese  de  palabra    almaizar.'*    Ibid.,  p.  2i8. 
por    el."     Mendoza,    Guerra    de 
Granada,  p.  217. 


VOL.  III. 


24 


186 


KEBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.  [Book  V. 


his  assertion  gained  credit  we  are  not  informed. 
But  the  conspirators  had  already  gone  too  far  to 
be  forgiven.  To  recede  was  death.  Either  Aben- 
Humeya  or  they  must  be  sacrificed.  It  was  in 
vain  that  he  protested  his  innocence,  and  that  he 
offered  to  leave  the  question  to  the  sultan,  or  to 
the  dey  of  Algiers,  or  to  any  person  competent 
to  decide  it.  But  little  heed  was  given  to  his 
protestations,  as  the  conspirators  dragged  him  into 
an  adjoining  apartment.  The  unhappy  young  man 
perceived  that  his  hour  was  come,  —  that  there  was 
no  one  of  all  his  friends  or  menials  to  interpose 
between  him  and  his  fate.  From  that  moment  he 
changed  his  tone,  and  assumed  a  bearing  more 
worthy  of  his  station.  '« They  are  mistaken,"  he 
said,  "who  suppose  me  to  be  a  follower  of  the 
Prophet.  I  die,  as  I  have  lived,  in  the  Christian 
faith.  I  accepted  the  post  of  head  of  the  rebellion 
that  I  might  the  better  avenge  the  wrongs  heaped 
on  me  and  my  family  by  the  Spaniards.  They  have 
been  avenged  in  full  measure,  and  I  am  now  ready 
to  die.  Neither,"  said  he,  turning  to  Aben-Aboo, 
his  destined  successor,  "  do  I  envy  you.  It  will 
not  be  long  before  you  will  follow  me."  He  then, 
with  his  own  hands,  coolly  arranged  around  his 
neck  the  cord  with  which  he  was  to  be  strangled, 
adjusted  his  robes,  and,  covering  his  face  with  his 
mantle,  submitted  himself,  without  a  struggle,  to 
his  executioners.^^ 

*7  "  El  mismo  se  did  la  buelta    certd  la  ropa,  cubridse  el  rostro.'* 
como  le  hlciesen  menos  mal;  con«    Ibid.,  p.  219. 


Ch.  VI.]        ASSASSINATION  OF  ABEN-HUMEYA. 


187 


His  body  was  thrown  into  a  neighboring  sewer, 
with  as  little  concern  as  if  it  had  been  that  of  a 
dog.  There  it-  continued,  till  Don  John  of  Austria, 
hearing  that  Aben-Humeya  had  died  a  Christian, 
caused  his  remains  to  be  removed  to  Guadix,  and 
laid  in  the  ground  with  the  solemnities  of  Chris- 
tian burial.^® 

That  Aben-Humeya  should  have  come  to  so 
miserable  an  end  is  not  strange.  The  recklessness 
with  which  he  sacrificed  all  who  came  between  him 
and  the  gratification  of  his  passions,  surrounded 
him  with  enemies,  the  more  dangerous  in  a  climate 
where  the  blood  is  hot,  and  the  feeling  of  revenge 
is  easily  kindled  in  the  bosom.  At  the  beginning 
of  his  reign  his  showy  qualities  won  him  a  popu- 
larity which,  however,  took  no  root  in  the  affec- 
tions of  the  people,  and  which  faded  away  alto- 
gether when  the  defects  of  his  character  were  more 
fully  brought  to  light  by  the  exigencies  of  his 
situation ;  for  he  was  then  found  to  possess  neither 
the  military  skill  necessary  to  insure  success  in  the 
field,  nor  those  higher  moral  attributes  which  com- 
mand respect  and  obedience  at  home. 

Very  different  was  the  character  of  his  successor, 


W  There  is  less  discrepancy  than 
"usual  in  the  accounts  both  of  Aben- 
Humeya's  assassination  and  of  the 
circumstances  which  led  to  it. 
These  circumstances  have  a  cer- 
tain Oriental  coloring,  which  makes 
them  not  the  less  probable,  con- 
sidering the  age  and  country  in 
which  they  occurred.     Among  the 


different  authorities  in  prose  and 
verse,  see  Marmol,  Rebclion  de 
Granada,  torn.  II.  pp.  162-169; 
Mendoza,  Guerra  de  Granada,  pp. 
212-220;  Rufo,  La  Austriada, 
cantos  13,  14  ;  Hita,  Guerras  de 
Granada,  torn.  II.  p.  ^37  et  seq. ; 
Vanderhammen,  Don  Juan  do 
Austria,  fol.  103-105. 


188 


REBELLION   OF  THE  MOIUSCOES.         [Book  V. 


C«.  VL] 


ELECTION  OF  ABEN-ABOO. 


189 


Aben-Aboo.    Instead  of  displaying  the  frivolous  and 
licentious  tastes  of  Aben-Humeya,  his  private  life 
was  without  reproach.     He  was  much  older  than 
his  predecessor ;  and  if  he  had  not  the  same  fiery 
enthusiasm  and  dashing  spirit  of  adventure  which 
belonged  to  Aben-Humeya,  he  discovered  both  fore- 
cast  in  the  formation  of  his  plans,  and  singular 
courage   in    carrying   them    into   execution.      All 
confided  in  his  integrity;  while  the  decorum  and 
gravity  of  his  demeanor  combined  with  the  more 
substantial  qualities  of  his  character  to  inspire  a 
general  feeling  of  reverence  in   the   people.  ^^     It 
was  not  till  the  time  of  his  proposed  elevation  to 
the  supreme  power,  that  the  lustre  of  these  quali- 
ties  was  darkened  by  the  perpetration  of  one  foul 
deed,  —  his  connivance  at  the   conspiracy  against 
his  sovereign.     But  if  he  were  really  the  dupe,  as 
we  are  told,  of  Alguazil's  plot,  he  might  plead,  to 
some  extent,  the  necessity  of  self-preservation  ;  for 
he  may  well   have  believed  that,  if  he  refused  to 
aid  Aben-Humeya  in  the  execution  of  his  bloody 
purpose  in  reference  to  the  Turks,  the  tyrant  would 
not  long  suffer  him  to  live  in  possession  of  a  secret 
so  perilous  to  himself.     At  all  events,  the  part  he 


13  "  Con  la  reputacion  de  vali- 
ente  i  hombre  del  campo,  con  la 
afabilidad,  gravedad,  autoridad  de 
la  presencia,  fiie  bien  quisto,  respe- 
tado,  obedecido,  tenido  como  Rei 
generalmente  de  todos."  Mendo- 
za,  Guerra  de  Granada,  p.  224. 

This  was  painting  him  en  beau. 
For  a  portrait  of  an  opposite  com- 


plexion, see  Miniana,  who  repre- 
sents him  as  "  audaz,  perfido,  sus- 
picaz,  y  de  pesimas  costumbres.** 
(Ilistoria  de  Espana,  p.  378.)  For- 
tunately for  Aben-Aboo,  the  first- 
mentioned  writer,  a  contemporary, 
must  be  admitted  to  be  the  ])etter 
authority  of  the  two. 


had  taken  in  the  conspiracy  seems  to  have  given  no 
disgust  to  the  people,  who,  weary  of  the  despotism 
under  which  they  had  been  living,  welcomed  with 
enthusiasm  the  accession  of  the  new  sovereign. 
Many  places,  which  had  hitherto  taken  no  part  in 
the  struggle  for  independence,  now  sent  in  their  ad- 
hesion to  Aben-Aboo,  who  soon  found  himself  the 
ruler  over  a  wider  extent  of  territory  than,  at  any 
time,  had  acknowledged  the  sway  of  his  predecessor. 
It  was  not  long  before  the  confirmation  of  his 
election  arrived  from  Algiers ;  and  Aben-Aboo,  as- 
suming the  regal  name  of  Muley  Abdallah  Mo- 
hammed as  a  prefix  to  his  own,  went  through  the 
usual  simple  forms  of  a  coronation  of  a  king  of 
Granada.  In  his  right  hand,  on  this  occasion,  he 
bore  a  banner  inscribed  with  the  legend,  "  More  I 
could  not  desire,  less  would  not  have  contented 
"^      Such  an   inscription  may  be  thought  to 


me. 


intimate  that  a  more  aspiring  temper  lurked  within 
his  bosom  than  the  world  had  given  him  credit  for. 
The  new  sovereign  did  not,  like  his  predeces- 
sor, waste  his  time  in  efieminate  sloth.  He  busied 
himself  with  various  important  reforms,  giving, 
especially,  a  new  organization  to  the  army,  and  im- 
porting a  large  quantity  of  arms  and  munitions 
from  Barbary.  He  determined  not  to  allow  his  men 
time  for  discontent,  but  to  engage  them  at  once  in 
active  service.     The  first  object  he  proposed  was 

20  «  No  pude  desear  mas,  ni  con-  See  also,  for  the  acQpunt  of  this 
tentarme  con  menos."  Marmol,  Re-  martial  ceremony,  Mendoza,  Guer- 
belion  de  Granada,  torn.  II.  p.  168.     ra  de  Granada,  p.  222. 


190 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.  [Book  V. 


Ch.  VI.]    VIGOROUS  PROSECUTION  OF  THE  WAR.         191 


f 


the  capture  of  Orgiba,  a  fortified  place  which  com- 
manded the  route  to  Granada,  and  which  served  as 
a  point  of  communication  between  that  capital  and 
remoter  parts  of  the  country. 

Aben-Aboo  got  everything  in  readiness  with 
such  despatch,  that  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  October, 
a  few  weeks  only  after  the  death  of  Aben-Humeya, 
he  set  out  on  his  expedition  at  the  head  of  a  well- 
appointed  army,  consisting  of  more  than  ten  thou- 
sand men,  partly  foreign  mercenaries  and  partly 
natives.  Hastening  his  march,  he  soon  presented 
himself  before  Orgiba,  and  laid  siege  to  the  place. 
He  pushed  matters  forward  so  vigorously,  that  in 
a  few  days  he  was  prepared  to  storm  the  works. 
Four  times  he  brought  his  men  to  the  assault ;  but 
though  on  the  fourth  he  succeeded  in  throwing 
himself,  with  a  small  body  of  troops,  on  the  ram- 
parts, he  was  met  with  such  determined  resistance 
by  the  garrison  and  their  brave  commander,  Fran- 
cisco de  Molina,  that  he  was  obliged  to  fall  back 
with  loss  into  his  trenches.  Thus  repulsed,  and 
wholly  destitute  of  battering  ordnance,  the  Morisco 
chief  found  it  expedient  to  convert  the  siege  into 
a  blockade. 

The  time  thus  consumed  gave  opportunity  to 
Don  John  of  Austria  to  send  a  strong  force,  under 
the  duke  of  Sesa,  to  the  relief  of  the  garrison. 
Aben-Aboo,  desirous  to  intercept  his  enemy's  march, 
and  occupy  one  of  those  defiles  that  would  give 
him  the  advantage  of  position,  silently  broke  up 
his  encampment,  under  cover  of  the   night,   and 


took  the  direction  of  Lanjaron.  Here  he  came  so 
suddenly  on  the  advanced  guard  of  the  Christians, 
that,  taken  by  surprise,  it  gave  way,  and,  falling 
back,  after  considerable  loss,  on  the  main  body  of 
the  army,  threw  the  whole  into  confusion.  Hap- 
pily, the  duke  of  Sesa,  though  laboring  at  the 
time  under  a  sharp  attack  of  gout,  by  extraordi- 
nary exertions  was  enabled  to  rally  his  men  and 
inspire  them  with  courage  to  repulse  the  enemy,  — 
thus  retrieving  his  own  honor  and  the  fortunes  of 
the  day. 

Meanwhile  the  brave  Molina  and  his  soldiers 
no  sooner  learned  that  the  besiegers  had  aban- 
doned their  works,  than,  eager  to  profit  by  their 
temporary  absence,  the  cause  of  which  they  sus- 
pected, they  dismantled  the  fortress,  and,  burying 
their  guns  in  the  ground,  hastily  evacuated  the 
place.  The  duke  of  Sesa,  finding  that  the  great 
object  of  his  expedition,  the  safety  of  the  garrison, 
was  now  accomplished,  and  not  feeling  himself  in 
sufficient  strength  to  cope  with  the  Morisco  chief, 
instantly  began  his  retreat  on  Granada.  In  this 
he  was  not  molested  by  Aben-Aboo,  who  was  only 
too  glad  to  be  allowed  without  interruption  to  fol- 
low up  the  siege  of  Orgiba.  But  finding  this  place, 
to  his  surprise,  abandoned  by  the  enemy,  he  entered 
it  without  bloodshed,  and  with  colors  flying,  as  a 
conqueror 


31 


«i  Ferreras,  Hist.  d'Espagne,  169-189.  — Mendoza,  Guerra  de 
torn.  X.pp.  111-118.  —  Mannol,  Granada,  p .  2 25  et  seq.  —  Miniana, 
llcbelion  de  Granada,  torn.  II.  pp.     Hist  de  Espana,  p.  378. 


192 


BEBELLION  OS  THE  MOKISCOES.  [Book  V. 


Cii.  VI]  FIERCE   COMBATS  IN  THE  VEGA. 


193 


|i 


These  successes  in  the  commencement  of  his 
reign  furnished  a  brilliant  augury  for  the  future. 
The  fame  of  Aben-Aboo  spread  far  and  wide 
through  the  country;  and  the  warlike  peasantry 
thronged  from  all  quarters  to  his  standard.  Ti- 
dings now  arrived  that  several  of  the  principal 
places  on  the  eastern  skirts  of  the  Alpujarras  had 
proclaimed  their  adherence  to  the  Morisco  cause ; 
and  it  was  expected  that  the  flame  of  insurrection 
would  soon  spread  to  the  adjoining  provinces  of 
Murcia  and  Valencia.  So  widely,  indeed,  had  it 
already  spread,  that,  of  all  the  Morisco  territory 
south  of  Granada,  the  country  around  Malaga  and 
the  sierra  of  Ronda,  on  the  extreme  west,  were  the 
only  portions  that  still  acknowledged  the  author- 
ity of  Castile.^ 

The  war  now  took  the  same  romantic  aspect 
that  it  wore  in  the  days  of  the  conquest  of  Gra- 
nada. Beacon-fires  were  to  be  seen  along  the  high- 
est peaks  of  the  sierra,  throwing  their  ominous 
glare  around  for  many  a  league,  and  calling  the 
bold  mountaineers  to  the  foray.  Then  came  the 
gathering  of  the  wild  militia  of  the  country,  which, 
pouring  down  on  the  lower  levels,  now  in  the  faded 
green  of  autumn,  swept  away  herds  and  flocks,  and 
bore  them  off"  in  triumph  to  their  fastnesses. 

Sometimes  marauders  penetrated  into  the  vega^ 
the  beautiful  vega^  every  inch  of  whose  soil  was 

®  "  Desta  manera  quedaron  le-  Malaga  i  Serrania  de  Ronda." 
Tantados  todos  los  MoriscoB  del  Mendoza,  Guerra  de  Granada,  p. 
Heino,  sino  los  de  la   Hoya    de     241. 


fertilized  with  human  blood,  and  which  now,  as  in 
ancient  times,  became  the  battle-ground  of  Chris- 
tian and  Moslem  cavaliers.  Almost  always  it  was 
the  former  who  had  the  advantage,  as  was  inti- 
mated by  the  gory  trophies,  the  heads  and  hands  of 
the  vanquished,  which  they  bore  on  the  points  of 
their  lances,  when,  amidst  the  shouts  of  the  popu- 
lace, they  came  thundering  on  through  the  gates  of 
the  capital.^ 

Yet  sometimes  fortune  lay  in  the  opposite  scale. 
The  bold  infidels,  after  scouring  the  vega^  would 
burstMnto  the  suburbs,  or  even  into  the  city  of 
Granada,  filling  the  place  with  consternation. 
Then  might  be  seen  the  terror-stricken  citizens, 
hurrying  to  and  fro,  while  the  great  alarm-bell  of 
the  Alhambra  sent  forth  its  summons,  and  the 
chivalry,  mounting  in  haste,  shouted  the  old  war- 
cry  of  Sai7it  lago,  and  threw  themselves  on  the 
invaders,  who,  after  a  short  but  bloody  fray,  were 
sure  to  be  driven  in  confusion  across  the  vega  and 
far  over  the  borders. 

Don  John,  on  these  occasions,  was  always  to  be 
descried  in  the  front  of  battle,  as  if  rejoicing  in  his 
element,  and  courting  danger  like  some  paladin  of 
romance.     Indeed,  Philip  was  obliged,  again  and 


23  "Llevando  los  escuderos  las 
cabozas  y  las  manos  de  los  Moros 
en  los  hieiTos  de  las  lanzas/*  Mar- 
mol,  Rebellon  de  Granada,  torn. 
II.  p.  159. 

The  head  of  an  enemy  was  an 
old  perquisite  of  the  victor  — 
whether    Christian  or  Moslem  — 

VOL.  III.  25 


in  the  wars  with  the  Spanish  Arabs. 
It  is  frequently  commemorated  in 
the  Moorish  romances  as  anion"- 
the  most  honorable  trophies  of  the 
field,  down  to  as  late  a  period  as 
the  war  of  Granada.  Se^,  anions 
others,  the  ballad  beginninfr 
"  A  vista  de  los  dos  Reyes." 


1^/4 


REBELLION   OF   THE   MORISCOES.         [Book  V 


Ch.  VI.]         IMPETUOUS  SPIRIT  OF  DON  JOHN. 


195 


it 


again,  to  rebuke  his  brother  for  thus  wantonly 
exposing  his  life,  in  a  manner,  the  king  intimated, 
wholly  unbecoming  his  rank.^^  But  it  would  have 
been  as  easy  to  rein  in  the  war-horse  when  the 
trumpet  was  sounding  in  his  ears,  as  to  curb  the 
spirits  of  the  high-mettled  young  chieftain  when 
his  followers  were  mustering  to  the  charge.  In 
truth,  it  was  precisely  these  occasions  that  filled 
him  with  the  greatest  glee;  for  they  opened  to 
him  the  only  glimpses  he  was  allowed  of  that  ca- 
reer of  glory  for  which  his  soul  had  so  long  panted/ 
Every  detachment  that  sallied  forth  from  Grana- 
da on  a  warlike  adventure  was  an  object  of  his 
envy  ;  and  as  he  gazed  on  the  blue  mountains  that 
rose  as  an  impassable  barrier  around  him,  he  was 
like  the  bird  vainly  beating  its  plumage  against 
the  gilded  wires  of  its  prison-house,  and  longing  to 
be  free. 

He  wrote  to  the  king  in  the  most  earnest  terms, 
representing  the  forlorn  condition  of  affairs,  —  the 
Spaniards  losing  ground  day  after  day,  and  the  army 
under  the  marquis  of  Los  Velez  wasting  away  its 
energies  in  sloth,  or  exerting  them  in  unprofitable 
enterprises.  He  implored  his  brother  not  to  compel 
him  to  remain  thus  cooped  up  within  the  walls  of 
Granada,  but  to  allow  him  to  have  a  real  as  well 
as  nominal  command,  and  to-  conduct  the  war  in 
person.^ 

^  "  Y  que  salir  d  tales  rebates  es  Juan  de  Austria,  30  de  Setiembre, 

desautoridad  vuestra,  siendo  quien  1569,  MS. 

sois  y  teniendo  el  cargo  que  tenis."  »  "  Le  suplico  mire   que   ni  jI 

Carta  de  Felipe  Segundo  i  Don  quien  soy,  ni  a  la  edad  que  tengo, 


The  views  presented  by  Don  John  were  warmly 
supported  by  Requesens,  who  wrote  to  Philip,  de- 
nouncing, in  unqualified  terms,  the  incapacity  of 
Los  Velez. 

Philip  had  no  objection  to  receive  complaints, 
even  against  those  whom  he  most  favored.  He 
could  not  shut  his  eyes  to  the  truth  of  the  charges 
now  brought  against  the  hot-headed  old  chief  who 
had  so  long  enjoyed  his  confidence,  but  whose  cam- 
paigns of  late  had  been  a  series  pf  blunders.  He 
saw  the  critical  aspect  of  afikirs  and  the  danger 
that  the  rebellion,  which  had  struck  so  deep  root 
in  Granada,  unless  speedily  crushed,  would  spread 
over  the  adjoining  provinces.  —  Mondejar's  removal 
from  the  scene  of  action  had  not  brought  the  rem- 
edy that  Philip  had  expected. 

Yet  it  was  with  reluctance  that  he  yielded  to  his 
brother's  wishes ;  whether  distrusting  the  capacity 
of  one  so  young  for  an  independent  command,  or, 
as  might  be  inferred  from  his  letters,  apprehend- 
ing the  dangers  in  which  Don  John's  impetu- 
ous spirit  would  probably  involve  him.  Having 
formed  his  plans,  he  lost  no  time  in  communi- 
cating them  to  his  brother.  The  young  warrior 
was  to  succeed  Los  Velez  in  the  command  of  the 
eastern  army,  which  was  to  be  strengthened  by 
reinforcements,  whilfe  the  duke  of  Sesa,  under  the 
direction  of  Don  John,  was  to   establish  himself, 

ni  i  otra  cosa  alguna  conviene  en-    de  Austria  al  Rev,  23 'de  Setiem- 
cerrarme,  cuando  mas  razon  es  que     bre,  1569,  MS. 
me  muestre."    Carta  de  Don  Juan 


11)6 


KEBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Dook  V 


with  an  efficient  corps,  in  the  Alpujarras,  in  sucli  u 
position  as  to  cover  the  approaches  to  Granada. 

A  summons  was  then  sent  to  the  principal  towns 
of  Andalusia,  requiring  them  to  raise  fresh  levies 
for  the  war,  who  were  to  be  encouraged  by  prom- 
ises of  better  pay  than  had  before  been  given.  But 
these  promises  did  not  weigh  so  much  with  the 
soldiers  as  the  knowledge  that  Don  Jolyi  of  Austria 
was  to  take  charge  of  the  expedition ;  and  nobles 
and  cavaliers  came  thronging  to  the  war,  with  their 
well-armed  retainers,  in  such  numbers  that  the 
king  felt  it  necessary  to  publish  another  ordinance, 
prohibiting  any,  without  express  permission,  from 
joining  the  service.^ 

All  now  was  bustle  and  excitement  in  Granada, 
as  the  new  levies  came  in,  and  the  old  ones  were 
receiving  a  better  organization.  Indeed,  Don  John 
had  been  closely  occupied,  for  some  time,  with  in- 
troducing reforms  among  the  troops  quartered  in 
the  city,  who,  from  causes  already  mentioned,  had 
fallen  into  a  state  of  the  most  alarming  insubordi- 
nation. A  similar,  spirit  had  infected  the  officers, 
and  to  such  an  extent  that  it  was  deemed  necessary 
to  suspend  no  less  than  thirty-seven  out  of  forty-five 
captains  from  their  commands.^  —  Such  were  the 


*  "Entendidse  por  Espana  la 
faina  de  su  ida  sobre  Galera,  i  mo- 
viose  la  nobleza  della  con  tanto 
calor,  que  fue  necesario  dar  al  Rei 
a  entender  que  no  era  con  su  vo- 
luntad  ir  Cayalleros  sin  licencia  a 
servir  en  aquella  empresa/*  Men- 
doza,  Guerra  de  Granada,  p.  256. 


*7  '»  Havian  las  desordenes  pasa- 
do  tah  adelante,  que  fue  necesario 
para  remedlallas  hacer  demostra- 
cion  no  vista  ni  lei'da  en  los  tiempos 
pasados,  en  la  guerra:  suspender 
treinta  i  dos  Capitanes  de  quarenta 
i  uno  que  havia,  con  nombre  de 
reformacion.'*    Ibid.,  p.  237. 


Cn.  VI.) 


SURPRISE   OF   GUEJAR. 


197 


difficulties  under  which  the  youthful  hero  was  to 
enter  on  his  first  campaign. 

Fortunately,  in  the  retainers  of  the  great  lords 
•and  cavaliers  he  had  a  body  of  well-appointed 
and  well-disciplined  troops,  who  were  actuated  by 
higher  motives  than  the  mere  love  of  plunder.^ 
His  labors,  moreover,  did  much  to  restore  the  an- 
cient discipline  of  the  regiments  quartered  in  Gra- 
nada. But  the  zeal  with  which  he  had  devoted 
himself  to  the  work  of  reform  had  impaired  his 
health.  This  drew  forth  a  kind  remonstrance  from 
Philip,  who  wrote  to  his  brother  not  thus  to 
overtask  his  strength,  but  to  remember  that  he 
had  need  of  his  services ;  telling  him  to  remind 
Quixada  that  he  must  watch  over  him  more  care- 
fully. "  And  God  grant,"  he  concluded,  "  that 
your  health  may  be  soon  re-established."  The 
affectionate  solicitude  constantly  shown  for  his 
brother's  welfare  in  the  king's  letters,  was  hardly 
to  have  been  expected  in  one  of  so  phlegmatic  a 
temperament,  and  who  was  usually  so  little  de- 
monstrative in  the  expression  of  his  feelings. 

Before  entering  on  his  great  expedition,  Don 
John  resolved  to  secure  the  safety  of  Granada,  in 
his  absence,  by  the  reduction  of  "  the  robbers' 
nest,"  as  the  Spaniards  called  it,  of  Guejar.  This 
was  a  fortified  place,  near  the  confines  of  the  Al- 
pujarras,   held   by  a '  warlike    garrison,    that   fre- 


28  "  Tambien  la  gente  embiada    cion  de  virtud  i  deseo  de  acredi- 
por  los    Scnores,   escogida,    igual,    tar  sus  personas."    Ibid.,  p.  234. 
disciplinada,   movidos  por  obliga- 


198 


KEBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V 


Cii.  VI-l 


SURPRISE  OF  GUEJAR. 


199 


ill 
1 

■  ^ , 


quently  sallied  out  over  the  neighboring  country, 
sometimes  carrying  their  forays  into  the  vega  of 
Granada,  and  causing  a  panic  in  the  capital.  Don 
John  formed  his  force  into  two  divisions,  one  o£ 
which  he  gave  to  the  duke  of  Sesa,  while  the  other 
he  proposed  to  lead  in  person.  They  were  to  pro- 
ceed by  different  routes,  and,  meeting  before  the 
place,  to  attack  it  simultaneously  from  opposite 
quarters. 

The  duke,  marching  by  the  most  direct  road 
across  the  mountains,  reached  Guejar  first,  and 
was  not  a  little  surprised  to  find  that  the  inhab- 
itants, who  had  received  notice  of  the  prepara- 
tions of  the  Spaniards,  were  already  evacuating 
the  town ;  while  the  garrison  was  formed  in  order 
of  battle  to  cover  their  retreat.  After  a  short 
skirmish  with  the  rear-guard,  in  which  some  lives 
were  lost  on  both  sides,  the  victorious  Spaniards, 
without  following  up  their  advantage,  marched 
into  the  town,  and  took  possession  of  the  works 
abandoned  by  the  enemy. 

Great  was  the  surprise  of  Don  John,  on  arriving 
some  hours  later  before  Guejar,  to  see  the  Castilian 
flag  floating  from  its  ramparts;  and  his  indigna- 
tion was  roused  as  he  found  that  the  laurels  he 
had  designed  for  his  own  brow  had  been  thus 
unceremoniously  snatched  from  him  by  another, 
"  With  eyes,**  says  the  chronicler,  "  glowing  like 
coals  of  fire,"  ^  he  turned  on  the  duke  of  Sesa, 

*  "  Pusieronsele  los  ojos  encen-    Marmol,    Rebelion   de     Granada, 
didos  como  brasa  de  puro  corage.**    torn.  II.  p.  224. 


and  demanded  an  explanation  of  the  affair.  But 
he  soon  found  that  the  blame,  if  blame  there  were, 
was  to  be  laid  on  one  w^hom  he  felt  that  he  had 
not  the  power  to  rebuke.  This  was  Luis  Quixada, 
who,  in  his  solicitude  for  the  safety  of  his  ward, 
had  caused  the  army  to  be  conducted  by  a  circui- 
tous route,  that  brought  it  thus  late  upon  the  field. 
But  though  Don  John  uttered  no  word  of  rebuke, 
he  maintained  a  moody  silence,  that  plainly  showed 
his  vexation ;  and,  as  the  soldiers  remarked,  not  a 
morsel  of  food  passed  his  lips  until  he  had  reached 
Granada.^'' 

The  constant  supervision  maintained  over  him 
by  Quixada,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  was  encour- 
aged by  the  king,  was  a  subject  of  frequent  re- 
mark among  the  troops.  It  must  have  afforded 
no  little  embarrassment  and  mortification  to  Don 
John,  —  alike  ill  suited,  as  it  was,  to  his  age,  his 
aspiring  temper,  and  his  station.  For  his  station 
as  commander-in-chief  of  the  army  made  him  re- 
sponsible, in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  for  the  measures 
of  the  campaign.  Yet,  in  his  dependent  situation, 
he  had  the  power  neither  to  decide  on  the  plan  of 
operations,  nor  to  carry  it  into  execution.  —  Not 
many  days  were  to  elapse  before  the  death  of  his 
kind-hearted  monitor  was  to  relieve  him  from  the 
jealous  oversight  that  so  much  chafed  his  spirit, 
and  to  open  to  him  an  independent  career  of  glory, 
such  as  might  satisfy  the  utmost  cravings  of  his 
ambition. 

30  "  Sin  comer  bocado  en  todo  aquel  dia  se  volvid  a  la  ciudad  de 
Granada."     Ibid.,  p.  225. 


CJO 


REBELUON   OF   THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


Cu.  VI.] 


MENDOZA. 


201 


I 


If 


One  of  the  authorities  of  the  greatest  importance,  and  most  frequent- 
ly cited  in  this  Book,  as  the  reader  may  have  noticed,  is  Diego  Hurtado 
de  Mendoza.  He  belonged  to  one  of  the  most  illustrious  houses  in  Cas- 
tile, —  a  house  not  more  prominent  for  its  rank  than  for  the  great 
abilities  displayed  by  its  members  in  tlie  various  walks  of  civil  and 
military  life,  as  well  as  for  their  rare  intellectual  culture.  No  one  of 
the  great  families  of  Spain  has  furnished  so  fruitful  a  theme  for  the 
pen  of  both  the  chronicler  and  the  bard. 

He  was  the  fifth  son  of  the  marquis  of  Mondejar,  and  was  bom  in 
the  year  1503  at  Granada,  where  his  father  filled  the  office  held  by  his 
ancestors  of  captain-general  of  the  province.  At  an  early  age  he  was 
sent  to  Salamanca,  and  passed  with  credit  through  the  course  of  stud- 
ies taught  in  its  venerable  university.  While  there  he  wrote  —  for, 
though  printed  anonymously,  there  seems  no  good  reason  to  distrust  the 
authorship  —  his  fcftnous  "  Lazarillo  de  Tormes,"  the  origin  of  that  class 
of  picaresco  novels,  as  they  are  styled,  wliich  constitutes  an  important 
branch  of  Castilian  literature,  and  the  best  specimen  of  which,  strange 
to  say,  was  furnished  by  the  hand  of  a  foreigner,  —  the  "  Gil  Bias  "  of 
I^  Sage. 

Mendoza  had  been  destined  to  the  church,  for  which  the  extensive 
patronage  of  his  family  offered  obvious  advantages.  But  the  taste  of 
the  young  man,  as  might  be  inferred  from  his  novel,  took  another  direc- 
tion, and  he  persuaded  his  father  to  allow  him  to  enter  the  army,  and 
take  service  under  the  banner  of  Charles  the  Fifth.  Mendoza's  love 
of  letters  did  not  desert  him  in  the  camp;  and  he  availed  himself 
of  such  intervals  as  occurred  between  the  campaigns  to  continue  his 
studies,  especially  in  the  ancient  languages,  in  the  principal  univer- 
sities of  Italv. 

It  was  impossible  that  a  person  of  such  remarkable  endowments  as 
Mendoza,  the  more  conspicuous  from  his  social  position,  should  escape 
the  penetrating  eye  of  Charles  the  Fifth,  who,  independently  of  his 
scholarship,  recognized  in  the  young  noble  a  decided  talent  for  political 
affairs.  In  1.538  the  emperor  appointed  him  ambassador  to  Venice,  a 
capital  for  which  the  literary  enterprises  of  the  Aldl  were  ever}^  day 
winning  a  higher  reputation  in  the.  republic  of  letters.  Here  Mendoza 
had  the  best  opportunity  of  accomplishing  a  work  which  he  had  much 
at  heart,  —  the  formation  of  a  library.  It  was  a  work  of  no  small 
difficulty  in  that  day,  when  books  and  manuscripts  were  to  be  gathered 
from  obscure,  oflen  remote  sources,  and  at  the  large  cost  paid  for  objects 
of  virtu.  A  good  office  which  he  had  the  means  of  rendering  the  sul- 
tan, by  the  redemption  from  captivity  of  a  Turkish  prisoner  of  rank» 


was  requited  by  a  magnificent  present  of  Greek  manuscripts,  worth  more 
than  gold  in  the  eyes  of  Mendoza.  It  was  from  his  collection  that  the 
first  edition  of  Josephus  was  given  to  the  world.  While  freely  indulg- 
ing his  taste  for  literary  occupations  in  his  intervals  of  leisure,  he  per- 
formed the  duties  of  his  mission  with  an  ability  that  fully  vindicated  his 
appointment  as  minister  to  the  wily  republic.  On  the  opening  of  the 
Council  of  Trent,  he  was  one  of  the  delegates  sent  to  represent  the 
emperor  in  that  body.  He  joined  freely  in  the  discussions  of  the  con- 
clave, and  enforced  the  views  of  his  sovereign  with  a  strength  of  reason- 
'm<r  and  a  fervid  eloipence  that  produced  a  powerful  impression  on  his 
audience.  The  independence  he  displayed  recommended  him  for  the 
delicate  task  of  presenting  the  remonstrances  of  Charles  the  Fifth  to 
the  papal  court  against  the  removal  of  the  council  to  Bologna.  This  he 
did  with  a  degree  of  frankness  to  which  the  pontifical  ear  was  but  little 
accustomed,  and  which,  if  it  failed  to  bend  the  proud  spirit  of  Paul  the 
Third,  had  its  effect  on  his  successor. 

Mendoza,  from  whatever  cause,  does  not  seem  to  have  stood  so  high 
in  the  favor  of  Philip  the  Second  as  in  that  of  his  father.  Perhaps  he 
had  too  lofty  a  nature  to  stoop  to  that  implicit  deference  which  Philip 
exacted  from  the  highest  as  well  as  the  humblest  who  approached  him. 
At  length,  in  1568,  Mendoza's  own  misconduct  brought  him,  with  good 
reason,  into  disgrace  with  his  master.  He  engaged  in  a  brawl  with 
another  courtier  in  the  palace  ;  and  the  scandalous  scene,  of  which  the 
reader  will  find  an  account  in  the  preceding  volume,  took  place  when 
the  prince  of  Asturias,  Don  Carlos,  was  breathing  his  last.  The  offend- 
ing parties  were  punisheil  first  by  imprisonment,  and  then  by  banish- 
ment from  Jkladrid.  !Mendoza,  who  was  sixty-five  years  of  age  at  this 
time,  withdrew  to  Granada,  his  native  place.  But  he  had  parsed  too 
much  of  his  life  in  the  atmosphere  of  a  court  to  be  content  with  a  pro- 
vincial residence.  He  accordingly  made  repeated  efforts  to  soften  his 
sovereign's  displeasure,  and  to  obtain  some  mitigation  of  his  sentence. 
These  efforts,  as  may  be  believed,  were  unavailing ;  and  the  illustrious 
exile  took  at  length  the  wiser  course  of  submitting  to  his  fate  and  seeking 
consolation  in  the  companionship  of  his  books,  —  steady  friends,  whose 
worth  he  now  fully  proved  in  the  hour  of  adversity.  He  devoted  himself 
to  the  study  of  Arabic,  to  which  he  was  naturally  led  by  his  residence  in 
a  capital  filled  with  the  monuments  of  Arabian  art.  He  also  amused 
his  leisure  by  writing  verses ;  and  his  labors  combined  with  those  of 
Boscan  and  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega  to  naturalize  in  Castile  those  more 
refined  forms  of  Italian  versification  that  made  an  important  epoch  in 
the  national  literature. 


VOL.   III. 


26 


\t 


\ec 


9  V) 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Booiv  \'. 


But  the  great  work  to  which  he  devoted  himself  was  the  history  of 
the  insurrection  of  the  Moriscoes,  which,  occurring  during  his  residence 
in  Granada,  may  be  said  to  have  passed  before  his  eyes.  For  this  he 
had,  moreover,  obvious  facilities,  for  he  was  the  near  kinsman  of  the 
captain-general,  and  was  personally  acquainted  with  those  who  had  the 
direction  of  affairs.  The  result  of  his  labors  was  a  work  of  inestimable 
value,  though  of  no  great  bulk,  — being  less  a  history  of  events  than  a 
commentary  on  such  a  history.  The  author  exploi-cs  the  causes  of  these 
events.  He  introduces  the  reader  into  the  cabinet  of  Madrid,  makes 
him  ac(iuainted  with  the  intrigues  of  the  different  factions,  both  in  the 
court  and  in  the  camp,  unfolds  the  policy  of  the  government  and  the 
plans  of  the  campaigns,  —  in  short,  enables  him  to  penetrate  into  the  in- 
terior, and  see  the  secret  working  of  the  machinery-,  so  carefully  shroud- 
ed from  the  vulgar  eye. 

The  value  which  the  work  derived  from  the  author's  access  to  these 
recondite  sources  of  information  is  much  enhanced  by  its  independent 
spirit.  In  a  country  where  few  dared  even  think  for  themselves, 
Mendoza  both  thought  with  freedom  and  freely  expressed  his  thoughts. 
Proof  of  this  is  afforded  by  the  caustic  tone  of  his  criticism  on  the  con- 
duct of  the  government,  and  by  the  candor  which  he  sometimes  ventures 
to  display  when  noticing  the  wrongs  of  the  Moriscocs.  This  indepen- 
dence of  the  historian,  we  may  well  believe,  could  have  found  little  favor 
with  the  administration.  It  may  have  been  the  cause  that  the  book 
was  not  published  till  afler  the  reign  of  Philip  the  Second,  and  many 
years  afler  its  author's  death. 

The  literary  execution  of  the  work  is  not  its  least  remarkable  fea- 
ture. Instead  of  the  desultory  and  gossiping  style  of  the  Castilian 
chronicler,  every  page  is  instinct  with  the  spirit  of  the  ancient  classics. 
Indeed  Mendoza  is  commonly  thought  to  have  deliberately  formed  his 
style  on  that  of  Sallust ;  but  I  agree  with  my  friend  Mr.  Ticknor,  who, 
in  a  luminous  criticism  on  Mendoza,  in  hb  great  work  on  Spanish 
Literature,  expresses  the  opinion  that  the  Castilian  historian  formed  his 
style  quite  as  much  on  that  of  Tacitus  as  of  Sallust.  Indeed,  some 
of  Mendoza's  most  celebrated  passages  are  obvious  imitations  of  the 
former  historian,  of  whom  he  constantly  reminds  us  by  the  siuf^ular 
compactness  and  energy  of  his  diction,  by  his  power  of  delineatin<»  a 
portrait  by  a  single  stroke  of  the  pencil,  and  by  his  free  criticism  on  the 
chief  actors  of  the  drama,  conveyed  in  language  full  of  tliat  practical 
wisdom  which,  in  Mendoza's  case,  was  the  result  pf  a  large  acquaintance 
with  public  affairs.  We  recognize  also  the  defects  incident  to  the  style 
he  has  chosen,  —  rigidity  and  constraint,  with  a  frequent  use  of  ellipsis, 


C;i.  VI.J 


MENDOZA. 


203 


in  a  way  that  does  violence  to  the  national  idiom,  and,  worst  of  all,  that 
obscurity  which  arises  from  the  effort  to  be  brief.  Mendoza  hurts  his 
book,  moreover,  by  an  unseasonable  display  of  learning,  which,  how- 
ever it  may  be  pardoned  by  the  antiquary,  comes  like  an  impertinent 
episode  to  break  the  thread  of  the  narrative.  But,  with  all  its  defects, 
the  work  is  a  remarkable  production  for  the  time,  and,  appearing  in  the 
midst  of  the  romantic  literature  of  Spain,  we  regard  it  with  the  same 
feeling  of  surprise  which  the  traveller  might  experience  who  should 
meet  with  a  classic  Doric  temple  in  the  midst  of  the  fantastic  structures 
of  China  or  Hindostan. 

Not  long  after  Mendoza  had  completed  his  histor}-,  he  obtained  per- 
mission to  visit  Madrid,  not  to  reside  there,  but  to  attend  to  some  per- 
sonal affairs.  Ho  had  hardly  reached  the  capital  when  he  was  attacked 
by  a  mortal  illness,  which  carried  him  off  in  April,  1575,  in  the  seventy- 
third  year  of  his  age.  Shortly  before  his  death  he  gave  his  rich  collec- 
tion of  books  and  manuscripts  to  his  obdurate  master,  who  placed  them, 
agreeably  to  the  donor's  desire,  in  the  Escorial,  where  tliey  still  form  aa 
interesting  portion  of  a  library  of  which  so  much  has  been  said,  and  so 
little  is  really  known  by  the  world. 

The  most  copious  notice,  with  which  I  am  acquainted,  of  the  life  of 
Mendoza,  is  that  attributed  to  the  pen  of  Inigo  Lopez  de  Avila,  and 
prefixed  to  the  Valencian  edition  of  the  "  Guerra  de  Granada,"  pub- 
lished in  1776.  But  his  countrj^men  have  been  ever  ready  to  do  honor 
to  the  memory  of  one  who,  by  the  brilliant  success  which  he  achieved 
as  a  statesman,  a  diplomatist,  a  novelist,  a  poet,  and  an  historian,  has 
established  a  reputation  for  versatility  of  genius  second  to  none  in  the 
literature  of  Spain. 


CHAPTER    VII. 


REBKLLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES. 

Don  John  takes  the  Field.  —  Investment  of  Galera.  —  Fierce  Assaults. 
—  Preparations  for  a  last  Attack.  —  Explosion  of  the  Klines.  —  Des- 
peration of  the  Moriscoes.  —  Cruel  Massacre.  —  Galera  demolished. 


h 


1570. 

Don  John  lost  no  time  in  completing  the  ar- 
rangements for  his  expedition.  The  troops,  as 
they  reached  Granada,  were  for  the  most  part  sent 
forward  to  join  the  army  under  Los  Velez,  on  the 
east  of  the  Alpujarras,  where  that  commander  was 
occupied  with  the  siege  of  Galera,  though  with  but 
little  prospect  of  reducing  the  place.  He  was  soon, 
however,  to  be  superseded  by  Don  John. 

Philip,  unable  to  close  his  ears  against  the  rep- 
resentations of  his  brother,  as  well  as  those  of  more 
experienced  captains  in  the  service,  had  at  length 
reluctantly  come  to  a  conviction  of  the  unfitness  of 
Los  Velez  for  the  command.  Yet  he  had  a  par- 
tiality for  the  veteran ;  and  he  was  willing  to  spare 
him,  as  far  as  possible,  the  mortification  of  seeing 
himself  supplanted  by  his  young  rival.  In  his  let- 
ters, the  king  repeatedly  enjoined  it  on  his  brothc  r 
to  treat  the  marquis  with  the  utmost  deference,  and 


Cn.  VII] 


DON  JOHN  TAKES   THE  FIELD. 


2x)o 


to  countenance  no  reports  circulated  to  his  preju- 
dice. In  an  epistle  filled  with  instructions  for  the 
campaign,  dated  the  twenty-sixth  of  November,  the 
king  told  Don  John  to  be  directed  on  all  occa- 
sions by  the  ^counsels  of  Quixada  and  Requesens. 
He  was  to  show  the  greatest  respect  for  the  mar- 
quis, and  to  give  him  to  understand  that  he  should 
be  governed  by  his  opinions.  "But  in  point  of 
fact,"  said  Philip,  "should  his  opinion  clash  at 
any  time  with  that  of  the  two  other  counsellors, 
you  are  to  be  governed  by  theirs."^ 

On  Quixada  and  Requesens  he  was  indeed  al- 
ways to  rely,  never  setting  up  his  own  judgment  in 
opposition  to  theirs.  He  was  to  move  with  caution, 
and,  instead  of  the  impatient  spirit  of  a  boy,  to 
show  the  circumspection  of  one  possessed  of  mili- 
tary experience.  "In  this  way,"  concluded  his 
royal  monitor,  "  you  will  not  only  secure  the  favor 
of  your  sovereign,  but  establish  your  reputation 
with  the  world."  ^  —  It  is  evident  that  Philip  had 
discerned  traits  in  the  character  of  Don  John 
which  led  him  to  distrust  somewhat  his  capacity 
for  the  high  station  in  which  he  was  placed.     Per- 


^  *'  Y  porque  podria  ser  que  or- 
denase  al  marques  de  los  Velez 
que  quedase  con  vos  y  os  aconse- 
jase,  convendrd  en  este  caso  que 
vos  le  mostreis  muy  buena  cara  y 
le  trateis  muy  bien  y  le  deis  i.  en- 
tender  que  tomais  su  parecer,  mas 
que  en  efecto  tomeis  el  de  los  que 
he  dicho  cuando  fuesen  diferentes 
del  suyo.**     Carta  del  Rey  d  D. 


Juan  de  Austria,  26  de  Noviembre, 
1569,  MS. 

2  "  Y  que  OS  gobemeis  como  si 
hubiesedes  visto  mucha  guerra  y 
hallddoos  en  ella,  que  os  digo  que 
comigo  y  con  todos  ganeis  harta 
mas  reputacion  en  gobemaros  desta 
manera,  que  no  hai'iendo  alguna 
mocedad  que  d  todos  nos  costare 
caro."    Ibid.,  MS. 


206 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V 


Cii.  Vll.j 


DON  JOHN  TAKES  THE  FIELD. 


207 


^^ 


I 


I 


r 


liil 


II 


haps  it  may  be  thought  that  the  hesitating  and 
timid  policy  of  Philip  was  less  favorable  to  success 
in  military  operations,  than  the  bold  spirit  of  enter- 
prise which  belonged  to  his  brother.  However  this 
may  be,  Don  John,  notwithstanding  Jiis  repeated 
protestations  to  the  contrary,  was  of  too  ardent  a 
temperament  to  be  readily  affected  by  these  admo- 
nitions  of  his  prudent  adviser. 

The  military  command  in  Granada  was  lodged  by 
the  prince  in  the  hands  of  the  duke  of  Sesa,  who, 
as  soon  as  he  had  gathered  a  sufficient  force,  was  to 
march  into  the  western  district  of  the  Alpujarms, 
and  there  create  a  diversion  in  favor  of  Don  John. 
A  body  of  four  thousand  troops  was  to  remain  in 
Granada  ;  and  the  commander-in-chief,  having  thus 
completed  his  dispositions  for  the  protection  of  the 
capital,  set  forth  on  his  expedition  on  the  twenty- 
ninth  of  December,  at  the  head  of  a  force  amount- 
ing only  to  three  thousand  foot  and  four  hundred 
horse.  With  these  troops  went  a  numerous  body 
of  volunteers,  the  flower  of  the  Andalusian  chival- 
ry,  who  had  come  to  win  renown  under  the  banner 
of  the  young  leader. 

He  took  the  route  through  Guadix,  and  on  the 
third  day  reached  the  ancient  city  of  Baza,  mem- 
orable for  the  siege  it  had  sustained  under  his  vic- 
torious ancestors,  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.  Here 
he  was  met  by  Requesens,  who,  besides  a  reinforce- 
ment of  troops,  brought  with  him  a  train  of  heavy 
ordnance  and  a  large  supply  of  ammunition.  The 
guns  were  sent  forward,  under  a  strong  escort,  to 


Galcra ;  but,  on  leaving  Baza,  Don  John  received 
the  astounding  tidings  that  the  marquis  of  Los 
Velez  had  already  abandoned  the  siege,  and  drawn 
off  his  whole  force  to  the  neighboring  town  of 
Guescar. 

In  fact,  the  rumor  had  no  sooner  reached  the  ears 
of  the  testy  old  chief,  that  Don  John  was  speedily 
coming  to  take  charge  of  the  war,  than  he  swore 
in  his  wrath,  that,  if  the  report  were  true,  he  would 
abandon  the  siege  and  throw  up  his  command. 
Yet  those  who  knew  him  best  did  not  think  him 
capable  of  so  mad  an  act.  He  kept  his  word, 
however ;  and  when  he  learned  that  Don  John  was 
on  the  way,  he  broke  up  his  encampment,  and 
withdrew,  as  above  stated,  to  Guescar.  By  this 
course  he  left  the  adjacent  country  open  to  the 
incursions  of  the  Moriscoes  of  Galera;  while  no 
care  was  taken  to  provide  even  for  the  safety  of 
the  convoys  which,  from  time  to  time,  came  laden 
with   supplies  for  the  besieging  army. 

This  extraordinary  conduct  gave  no  dissatisfac- 
tion to  his  troops,  who,  long  since  disgusted  with 
the  fiery  yet  imbecile  character  of  their  general, 
looked  with  pleasure  to  the  prospect  of  joining 
the  standard  of  so  popular  a  chieftain  as  John  of 
Austria.  Even  the  indignation  felt  by  the  latter  at 
the  senseless  proceeding  of  the  marquis  was  for- 
gotten in  the  satisfaction  he  experienced  at  be- 
ing thus  relieved  from  the  embarrassments  which 
his  rival's  overweening  pretensions  could  not  have 
failed  to  cause  him  in  the  campaign.     Don  John 


208 


REBELLION  OF   THE   MORISCOES.         [Book  V 


I 


II 


might  now,  with  a  good  grace,  and  without  any 
cost  to  himself,  make  all  the  concessions  to  the 
veteran  so  strenuously  demanded  by  Philip.  —  It 
was  in  this  amiable  mood  that  the  prince  pushed 
forward  his  march,  eager  to  prevent  the  disastrous 
consequences  which  might  arise  from  the  marquis's 
abandonment  of  his  post. 

As  he  drew  near  to  Guescar,  he  beheld  the  old 
nobleman  riding  towards  him  at  the  head  of  his 
retainers,  with  a  stiff  and  stately  port,  like  one 
who  had  no  concessions  or  explanations  to  make 
for  himself.  Without  alighting  from  his  horse, 
as  he  drew  near  the  prince,  he  tendered  him 
obeisance  by  kissing  the  hand  which  the  latter 
graciously  extended  towards  him.  "Noble  mar- 
quis," said  Don  John,  "  your  great  deeds  have  shed 
a  lustre  over  your  name.  I  consider  myself  fortu- 
nate in  having  the  opportunity  of  becoming  per- 
sonally acquainted  with  you.  Fear  not  that  your 
authority  will  be  in  the  least  abridged  by  mine. 
The  soldiers  under  my  command  will  obey  you  as 
implicitly  as  myself.  I  pray  you  to  look  on  me  as 
a  son,  filled  with  feelings  of  reverence  for  your 
valor  and  your  experience,  and  designing  on  all 
occasions  to  lean  on  your  counsels  for  support."^ 

The  courteous  and  respectful  tone  of  the  prince 
seems  to  have  had  its  effect  on  the  iron  nature  of 


3  "  I  que  seals  obedecido  de  toda  en  todas  ocasiones  de  vuestros  con- 
mi  gente,  haclendolo  yo  asimismo  sejos."    Mendoza,  Guerra  de  Gra- 
como  hijo  vuestro,  acatando  vue-  nada,  p.  260. 
stro  valor  i  canas,  i  amparandome 


fi 


II.  VII.] 


DON  JOHN  TAKES   THE  FIELD. 


201) 


the  marquis,  as  he  replied:  "There   is  no  Span- 
iard  living  who  has  a  stronger  desire  than  I  have 
to  be  personally  acquainted  with  the  distinguished 
brother  of  my  sovereign,  or  who  would  probably 
be  a  greater  gainer  by  serving  under  his  banner. 
But  to  speak   with   my   usual   plainness,    I   wish 
to  withdraw  to  my  own  house ;  for  it  would  never 
do  for  me,   old   as    I   am,  to   hold  the  post  of  a 
subaltern.'"*      He    then    accompanied    Don    John 
back  to  the  town,  giving  him,  as  they  rode  along, 
some   account   of  the   siege   and   of  the  strength 
of  the  place.     On  reaching  the  quarters  reserved 
for  the  commander-in-chief,  Los  Velez  took  leave 
of  the   prince  ;    and,    without    further   ceremony, 
gathering  his  knights  and  followers  about  him,  and 
escorted  by  a  company  of  horse,  he  rode   off  in 
the  direction  of  his  town  of  Velez  Blanco,  which 
was  situated  at  no  great  distance,  amidst  the  wild 
scenery  stretching   toward   the   frontiers  of  Mur- 
cia.     Here   among   the  mountains   he  lived    in   a 
retirement  that  would  have  been  more  honorable 
had  it  not  been  purchased  by  so  flagrant  a  breach 
ofduty.^ 

The  whole  story  is  singularly  characteristic,  not 


^  "  Pues  no  conviene  a  ml  edad 
anciana  haver  de  ser  eabo  de  es- 
quadra.**    Ibid.,  loc.  cit 

5  The  marquis  of  Los  Velez  was 
afterwards  summoned  to  Madrid, 
where  he  long  continued  to  occupy 
an  important  place  in  the  council 
of  state,  apparently  without  any 
diminution  of  the  royal  favor. 

VOL.  III.  S7 


For  the  preceding  pages  consult 
Marmol,  Rebelion  de  Granada, 
tom.  IL  pp.  229  -  232  ;  Mendoza, 
Guerra  de  Granada,  pp.  257  -  260  ; 
Herrera,  Hist.  General,  tom.  L 
pp.  777,  778;  Bleda,  Cronica,  pp. 
733,  734. 


.1 


I 


111'; 


I)  I 


III 


210 


KEBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.  [Book  Y 


merely  of  the  man,  but  of  the  times  in  which  he 
Hved.  Had  so  high-handed  and  audacious  a  pro- 
ceeding occurred  in  our  day,  no  rank,  however 
exalted,  could  have  screened  the  offender  from 
punishment.  As  it  was,  it  does  not  appear  that 
any  attempt  was  made  at  an  inquiry  into  the  mar- 
quis's conduct.  This  is  the  more  remarkable,  con- 
sidering that  it  involved  such  disrespect  to  a  sov- 
ereign little  disposed  to  treat  with  lenity  any  want 
of  deference  to  himself  —  The  explanation  of  the 
lenity  shown  by  him  on  the  present  occasion  may 
perhaps  be  found,  not  in  any  tenderness  for  the 
reputation  of  his  favorite,  but  in  Philip's  per- 
ceiving that  the  further  prosecution  of  the  affair 
would  only  serve  to  give  greater  publicity  to  his 
own  egregious  error  in  retaining  Los  Velez  in  the 
command,  when  his  conduct  and  the  warnings  of 
others  should  long  ago  have  been  regarded  as 
proof  of  his  incapacity. 

On  the  marquis's  departure  Don  John  lost  no 
time  in  resuming  his  march,  at  the  head  of  a  force 
which  now  amounted  to  twelve  thousand  foot  and 
eight  hundred  horse,  besides  a  brilliant  array  of 
chivalry,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  had  come  to  seek 
their  fortunes  in  the  war.  A  few  hours  brought 
the  troops  before  Galera ;  and  Don  John  proceeded 
at  once  to  reconnoitre  the  ground.  In  this  survey 
he  was  attended  by  Quixada,  Requesens,  and  the 
greater  part  of  the  cavalry.  Having  completed 
his  observations,  he  made  his  arrangements  for 
investing  the  place. 


Cu.  VI  I. J 


INVESTMENT  OF  GALERA. 


211 


The  town  of  Galera  occupied  a  site  singularly 
picturesque.  This,  however,  had  been  selected, 
certainly  not  from  any  regard  to  its  romantic 
beauty,  still  less  for  purposes  of  convenience,  but 
for  those  of  defence  against  an  enemy,  —  a  cir- 
cumstance of  the  first  importance  in  a  mountaifl 
country  so  wild  and  warlike  as  that  in  which  Ga- 
lera stood.  The  singular  shape  of  the  rocky  emi- 
nence which  it  covered  was  supposed,  with  its 
convex  summit,  to  bear  some  resemblance  to  that 
of  a  galley  with  its  keel  uppermost.  From  this 
resemblance  the  town  had  derived  its  name.^ 

The  summit  was  crowned  by  a  castle,  which  in 
the  style  of  its  architecture  bore  evident  marks  of 
antiquity.  It  was  defended  by  a  wall,  much  of  it 
in  so  ruinous  a  condition  as  to  be  little  better  than 
a  mass  of  stones  loosely  put  together.  At  a  few 
paces  from  the  fortress  stood  a  ravelm.  But  nei- 
ther this  outwork  nor  the  castle  itself  could  boast 
of  any  other  piece  of  artillery  than  two  falconets, 
captured  from  Los  Velez  during  his  recent  siege  of 
the  place,  and  now  mounted  on  the  principal  edi- 
fice. Even  these  had  been  so  injudiciously  placed 
as  to  give  little  annoyance  to  an  enemy. 

The  houses  of  the  inhabitants  stretched   along: 


^  The  punning  attractions  of 
the  name  were  too  strong  to  be 
resisted  by  the  ballad-makers  of 
the  day.  See  in  particular  the 
romance  (one  of  the  best,  it  may 
be  added,  —  and  no  great  praise,  — 
in  Hita*8  second  volume)  begin- 
ning, 


"  Mastredages  marineros 
de  Hiiescar  y  otro  Iiigar 
han  armado  una  Galera 
que  no  la  hay  tal  en  la  mar. 
No  tiene  velas,  ni  renrtos, 
y  navegar,  y  hace  nial,"  — 

and  so  on,  for  more  stanzas  than 
the  reader  will  care  to  see.  Guer- 
ras  de  Granada,  torn.  II.  p.  469. 


010 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Dooiv  V 


Ch.  VII] 


INVESTMENT  OF  GALERA. 


213 


the  remainder  of  the  summit,  and  descended  by  a 
bold  declivity  the  northwestern  side  of  the  hill  to 
a  broad  plain  known  as  the  Eras,  or  "  Gardens." 
Through  this  plain  flowed  a  stream  of  considerable 
depth,  which,  as  it  washed  the  base  of  the  town  on 
Us  northern  side,  formed  a  sort  of  moat  for  its 
protection  on  that  quarter.  On  the  side  towards 
the  Gardens,  the  town  was  defended  by  a  ditch  and 
a  wall  now  somewhat  dilapidated.  The  most  re- 
maikable  feature  of  this  quarter  was  a  church  with 
its  belfry  or  tower,  now  converted  into  a  fortress, 
which,  in  default  of  cannon,  had  been  pierced  with 
loopholes  and  filled  with  musketeers,  —  forming 
altogether  an  outwork  of  considerable  strength, 
and  commanding  the  approaches  to  the  town. 

On  two  of  its  sides,  the  rock  on  which  Galera 
rested  descended  almost  perpendicularly,  forming 
the  walls  of  a  ravine  fenced  in  on  the  opposite 
quarter  by  precipitous  hills,  and  thus  presenting  a 
sort  of  natural  ditch  on  a  gigantic  scale  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  place.  The  houses  rose  one  above 
another,  on  a  succession  of  terraces,  so  steep  that  in 
many  instances  the  roof  of  one  building  scarcely 
reached  the  foundation  of  the  one  above  it.  The 
houses  which  occupied  the  same  terrace,  and  stood 
therefore  on  the  same  level,  might  be  regarded  as 
so  many  fortresses.  Their  walls,  which,  after  the 
Moorish  fashion,  were  ill  provided  with  lattices, 
were  pierced  with  loopholes,  that  gave  the  marks- 
men within  the  command  of  the  streets  on  which 
they  fronted;  and  these  streets  were  still  further 


protected  by  barricades  thrown  across  them  at  only 
fifty  paces'  distance  from  each  other.'^  Thus  the 
whole  place  bristled  over  with  fortifications,  or 
rather  seemed  like  one  great  fortification  itself, 
which  nature  had  combined  with  art  to  make  im- 
pregnable. 

It  was  well  victualled  for  a  siege,  at  least  with 
grain,  of  which  there  was  enough  in  the  maga- 
zines for  two  years'  consumption.  Water  was 
supplied  by  the  neighboring  river,  to  which  ac- 
cess had  been  obtained  by  a  subtermnean  gallery, 
lately  excavated  in  the  rock.  These  necessaries  of 
life  the  Moriscoes  could  command.  But  they  were 
miserably  deficient  in  what,  in  their  condition,  was 
scarcely  less  important,  — 'fire-arms  and  ammu- 
nition. They  had  no  artillery  except  the  two 
falconets  before  noticed ;  and  they  were  so  poorly 
provided  with  muskets  as  to  be  mainly  dependent 
on  arrows,  stones,  and  other  missiles,  such  as  had 
filled  the  armories  of  their  ancestors.  To  these 
might  be  added  swords  and  some  other  weapons 
for  hand-to-hand  combat.  Of  defensive  armor  they 
were  almost  wholly  destitute.  But  they  were  ani- 
mated by  an  heroic  spirit,  of  more  worth  than 
breastplate  or  helmet,  and  to  a  man  they  were  pre- 
pared to  die  rather  than  surrender. 

7  "  Las  tenlan  los  Moros  barrea-  do/'    Marmol,  Rebelion   de   Gra- 

das    de    cincuenta  en    cincuenta  nada,  torn.  IL  p.  234. 

pasos,  y  liechos  muchos  traveses  de  The  best  and  by  far  the  most 

una  parte  y  de  otro  en  las  puertas  minute   account    of  Ihe    topogrft- 

y  paredes  do  las  cassis,  para  herir  phy   of  Galera   is  given   by   this 

u  su  salvo  a  los  que  fuesen  pasan-  author. 


I  ' 


If 


:r- 


II 

III 


llf 


214 


REBELLION  OF   THE   MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


The  fighting  men  of  the  place  amounted  to  three 
thousand,  not  induding  four  hundred  mercenaries, 
chiefly  Turks  and  adventurers  from  the  Barbary 
shore.  The  town  was,  moreover,  encumbered  w  ith 
some  four  thousand  women  and  children ;  though, 
as  far  as  the  women  were  concerned,  they  should 
not  be  termed  an  encumbrance  in  a  place  where 
there  was  no  scarcity  of  food ;  for  they  shelved  all 
the  constancy  and  contempt  of  danger  possessed 
by  the  men,  whom  they  aided  not  only  by  tending 
the  sick  and  wounded,  but  by  the  efficient  services 
they  rendered  them  in  action.  The  story  of  this 
siege  records  several  examples  of  these  Morisco  her- 
oines, whose  ferocious  valor  emulated  the  doughti- 
est achievements  of  the  other  sex.  It  is  not  strange 
that  a  place  so  strong  in  itself,  where  the  women 
were  animated  by  as  brave  a  spirit  as  the  men, 
should  have  bid  defiance  to  all  the  efforts  of  an 
enemy  like  Los  Velez,  though  backed  by  an  army 
in  the  outset  at  least  as  formidable  in  point  of 
numbers  as  that  which  now  sat  down  before  it 
under  the  command  of  John  of  Austria.® 

Having  concluded  his  survey  of  the  ground,  the 


8  Ibid.,  p.  233  et  seq.  — Yan- 
derhammen,  Don  Juan  de.  Austria, 
fol.  112,  113.  — Hita,  Guerras  de 
Granada,  torn.  II.  p.  377  et  seq. 

I£ta  tells  us  he  vras  not  present 
at  the  siege  of  Galera ;  but  he  had 
in  his  possession  the  diar}'  of  a 
Murcian  officer  named  Tomas  Pe- 
rez de  Hevia,  who  served  through 
the  siege,  and  of  whom  Hita  speaks 


as  a  person  well  known  for  his 
militarj'  science.  He  says  he  has 
conformed  implicitly  to  Hevia's 
journal,  which  he  commends  for 
its  scrupulous  veracity.  According 
to  the  judgment  of  some  critics,  the 
Murcian  officer,  if  he  merits  this 
encomium,  may  be  thought  to  have 
the  advantasie  of  Hita  himself. 


Cii.  VII.] 


INVESTMENT  OF  GALERA. 


215 


Spanish  general  gave  orders  for  the  construction 
of  three  batteries,  to  operate  at  the  same  time  on 
different  quarters  of  the  town.  The  first  and 
largest  of  these  batteries,  mounting  ten  pieces  of 
ordnance,  was  raised  on  an  eminence  on  the  eastern 
side  of  the  ravine.  Though  at  a  greater  distance 
than  was  desirable,  the  position  was  sufficiently 
elevated  to  enable  the  guns  to  command  the  castle 
and  the  highest  parts  of  the  town. 

The  second  battery,  consisting  of  six  heavy  can- 
non, was  established  lower  down  the  ravine,  towards 
the  south,  at  the  distance  of  hardly  more  than  sev- 
enty paces  from  the  perpendicular  face  of  the  rock. 
The  remaining  battery,  composed  of  only  three  guns 
of  smaller  calibre,  was  erected  in  the  Gardens,  and 
so  placed  as  to  operate  against  the  tower,  which, 
as  already  noticed,  was  attached  to  the  church. 

The  whole  number  of  pieces  of  artillery  belong- 
ing to  the  besiegers  did  not  exceed  twenty.  But 
they  were  hourly  expecting  a  reinforcement  of  thir- 
teen more  from  Cartagena.  The  great  body  of  the 
forces  was  disposed  behind  some  high  ground  on 
the  east,  which  effectually  sheltered  the  men  from 
the  fire  of  the  besieged.  The  corps  of  Italian  vet- 
erans, the  flower  of  the  army,  was  stationed  in 
the  Gardens,  under  command  of  a  gallant  officer 
named  Pedro  de  Padilla.  Thus  the  investment  of 
Galera  was  complete. 

The  first  object  of  attack  was  the  tower  in  the 
Gardens,  from  which  the  Moorish  garrison  kept  up 
a  teasing  fire  on  the  Spaniards,  as  they  were  em- 


I 


21G 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.  [Book  V. 


ployed  in  the  construction  of  the  batterj%  as  well  as 
in  digging  a  trench,  in  that  quarter.  No  sooner 
were  the  guns  in  position  than  they  delivered  their 
fire,  with  such  effect  that  an  opening  was  speedily 
made  in  the  flimsy  masonry  of  the  fortress.  Pa- 
dilla,  to  whom  the  assault  was  committed,  led  for- 
ward his  men  gallantly  to  the  breach,  where  he 
was  met  by  the  defenders  with  a  spirit  equal  to  his 
own.  A  fierce  combat  ensued.  It  was  not  a  long 
one;  for  the  foremost  assailants  were  soon  rein- 
forced by  others,  until  they  overpowered  the  little 
garrison  by  numbers,  and  such  as  escaped  the 
sword  took  refuge  in  the  defences  of  the  town 
that  adjoined  the  church. 

Flushed  with  his  success  in  thus  easily  carrying 
the  tower,  which  he  garrisoned  with  a  strong  body 
of  arquebusiers,  Don  John  now  determined  to  make 
a  regular  assault  on  the  town,  and  from  this  same 
quarter  of  the  Gardens,  as  affording  the  best  point 
of  attack.  The  execution  of  the  affair  he  intrusted, 
as  before,  to  Juan  de  Padilla  and  his  Italian  re^i- 
ment.  The  guns  were  then  turned  against  the 
rampart  and  the  adjoining  buildings.  Don  John 
pushed  forward  the  siege  with  vigor,  stimulating 
the  men  by  his  own  example,  carrying  fagots  on 
his  shoulders  for  constructing  the  trenches,  and, 
in  short,  performing  the  labors  of  a  common  sol- 
dier.^ 

*  "  Para  que  los  soldados  se  ani-  como  cada  iino,  hasta  ponerlo  en  la 
masen  al  trabajo,  iba  delante  de  trinchea."  Marmol,  Rebelion  de 
todos  a  pie,  y  traia  su  haz  acuestas     Granada,  torn.  IL  p.  237. 


Ch.  VII.] 


FIERCE  ASSAULTS. 


217 


By  the  twenty-fourth  of  January,  practicable 
breaches  had  been  effected  in  the  ancient  wall; 
and  at  the  appointed  signal,  Padilla  and  his  vet- 
erans moved  swiftly  forward  to  the  attack.  They 
met  with  little  difficulty  from  the  ditch  or  from  the 
wall,  which,  never  formidable  from  its  height,  now 
presented  more  than  one  opening  to  the  assailants. 
They  experienced  as  little  resistance  from  the  garri- 
son. But  they  had  not  penetrated  far  into  the  town 
before  the  aspect  of  things  changed.  Their  progress 
was  checked  by  one  of  those  barricades  already 
mentioned  as  stretched  across  the  streets,  behind 
which  a  body  of  musketeers  poured  well-directed 
volleys  into  the  ranks  of  the  Christians.  At  the 
same  time,  from  the  loopholes  in  the  walls  of  the 
buildings  came  incessant  showers  of  musket-balls, 
arrows,  stones,  and  other  missiles,  which  swept  the 
exposed  files  of  the  Spaniards,  soon  covering  the 
streets  with  the  bodies  of  the  slain  and  the  wound- 
ed. It  was  in  vain  that  the  assailants  storaied 
the  houses,  and  carried  one  intrenchment  after  an- 
other. Each  house  was  a  separate  fortress ;  and 
each  succeeding  barricade,  as  the  ascent  became 
steeper,  gave  additional  advantage  to  its  defenders, 
by  placing  them  on  a  greater  elevation  above  their 
enemy. 

Thus  beset  in  front,  flank,  and  rear,  the  soldiers 
were  completely  blinded  and  bewildered  by  the 
pitiless  storm  which  poured  on  them  from  their 
invisible  foe.  Huddled  together,  in  their  confu^ 
sion  they  presented  an  easy  mark  to  the  enemy, 


VOL.   III. 


28 


218 


KEBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


Ch.  VII.] 


FIERCE  ASSAULTS. 


219 


who  shot  at  random,  knowing  that  every  mis- 
sile would  carry  its  errand  of  death.  It  seemed 
that  the  besieged  had  purposely  drawn  their  foes 
into  the  snare,  by  allowing  them  to  enter  the  town 
without  resistance,  until,  hemmed  in  on  all  sides, 
they  were  slaughtered  like  cattle  in  the  sham- 
bles. 

The  fight  had  lasted  an  hour,  when  Padilla, 
seeing  his  best  and  bravest  falling  around  him, 
and  being  himself  nearly  disabled  by  a  wound, 
gave  the  order  to  retreat,  —  an  order  obeyed  with 
such  alacrity,  that  the  Spaniards  left  numbers  of 
their  wounded  comrades  lyi»g  in  the  street,  vain- 
ly imploring  not  to  be  abandoned  to  the  mercy 
of  their  enemies.  A  greater  number  than  usual 
of  officers  and  men  of  rank  perished  in  the  as- 
sault, their  rich  arms  making  them  a  conspicuous 
mark  amidst  the  throng  of  assailants.  Among 
others  was  a  soldier  of  distinction  named  Juan  de 
Pacheco.  He  was  a  knight  of  the  order  of  St. 
James.  He  had  joined  the  army  only  a  few  min- 
utes before  the  attack,  having  just  crossed  the  seas 
from  Africa.  He  at  once  requested  Padilla,  who 
was  his  kinsman,  to  allow  him  to  share  in  the 
glory  of  the  day.  In  the  heat  of  the  struggle, 
Padilla  lost  sight  of  his  gallant  relative,  whose 
insignia,  proclaiming  him  a  soldier  of  the  Cross, 
made  him  a  peculiar  object  of  detestation  to  the 
Moslems ;  and  he  soon  fell,  under  a  multitude  of 
wounds.  ^° 


10 


Ibid.,  pp.   236-288 — Hevia,  ap.  Hita,  Guerras  de   Granada, 


The  disasters  of  the  day,  however  mortifying, 
were  not  a  bad  lesson  to  the  young  commander-in- 
chief,  who  saw  the  necessity  of  more  careful  prep- 
aration, before  renewing  his  attempt  on  the  place. 
He  acknowledged  the  value  of  his  brother's  coun- 
sel, to  make  free  use  of  artillery  and  mines  be- 
fore coming  to  close  quarters  with  the  enemy.^^ 
He  determined  to  open  a  mine  in  the  perpen* 
dicular  side  of  the  rock,  towards  the  east,  and 
to  run  it  below  the  castle  and  the  neighboring 
houses  on  the  summit.  For  this  he  employed 
the  services  of  Francesco  de  Molina,  who  had  so 
stoutly  defended  Orgiba,  and  who  was  aided  in 
the  present  work  by  a  skilful  Venetian  engineer. 
The  rock,  consisting  of  a  light  and  brittle  sand- 
stone, was  worked  with  even  less  difficulty  than 
had  been  expected.  In  a  short  time  the  gallery 
was  completed,  and  forty-five  barrels  of  powder 
were  lodged  in  it.  Meanwhile  the  batteries  con- 
tinued to  play  with  great  vivacity  on  the  dif- 
ferent quarters  of  the  town  and  castle.  A  small 
breach  was  opened  in  the  latter,  and  many  build- 
ings on  the  summit  of  the  rock  were  overthrown. 
By  the  twenty-seventh  of  January  all  was  ready  for 

the  assault. 

It  was  Don  John's  purpose  to  assail  the  place 

torn.  II.  pp.  386,  887.  —  Vander-  todo  lo  que  sea  posible   con  las 

hammen,   Don  Juan   de   Austria,  minas  y  artilleria,  dntes  de  venir  a 

fol.    113.  — Ferreras,   Hist.   d'Es-  las  manos."     Carta  del  Rey  i,  D. 

pagne,  torn.  X.  p.  140.  Juan  de  Austriav  6  de   Febrero, 

11  "  Convendra  por  no  aventu-  1570,  MS.  ^ 
rar  mas  gente  buena  que  se  haga 


220 


REBELLION  OF  TIIE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


m 


on  opposite  quarters.  Padilla,  who  still  smart- 
ed from  Lis  wound,  was  to  attack  the  town,  as 
before,  on  the  side  towards  the  Gardens.  The 
chief  object  of  this  manoeuvre  Avas  to  create  a  di- 
version in  favor  of  the  principal  assault,  which 
was  to  be  made  on  the  other  side  of  the  rock, 
where  the  springing  of  the  mine,  it  was  expected, 
would  open  a  ready  access  to  the  castle.  The 
command  on  this  quarter  was  given  to  a  brave 
pfficer  named  Antonio  Moreno.  Don  John,  at 
the  head  of  four  thousand  men,  occupied  a  po- 
sition which  enabled  him  to  overlook  the  scene  of 
action. 

On  the  twenty-seventh,  at  eight  in  the  morning, 
the  signal  was  given  by  the  firing  of  a  cannon  ; 
and  Padilla,  at  the  head  of  his  veterans,  moved 
forward  to  the  attack.    They  effected  their  entrance 
into  the  town,  with  even  less  opposition  than  be- 
fore;   for   the   cannonade   from  the  Gardens  had 
blown  away  most  of  the  houses,  garrisoned  by  the 
Moslems,   near   the   wall.     But  as   the   assailants 
pushed  on,  they  soon  became  entangled,  as  before, 
in  the  long  and  narrow  defiles.     The  enemy,  in- 
trenched behind  their  redoubts  thrown  across  the 
streets,  poured  down  their  murderous  volleys  into 
the  close  ranks  of  the  Spaniards,  who  were  o%^er- 
whelmed,  as  on  the  former  occasion,  with  deadly 
missiles  of  all  kinds  from  the   occupants  of  the 
houses.     But   experience  had   prepared   them   for 
this ;  and  they  had  come  provided  with  mantelets, 
to  shelter  them  from  the  tempest     Yet,  when  tlio 


C;i.  VIL] 


FIERCE  ASSAULTS. 


0)1 


annoyance  became  intolerable,  they  would  storm 
the  dwellings ;  and  a  bloody  struggle  usually  end- 
ed in  putting  their  inmates  to  the  sword.  Each 
barricade  too,  as  the  Spaniards  advanced,  became 
the  scene  of  a  desperate  combat,  where  the  musket 
was  cast  aside,  and  men  fought  hand  to  hand,  with 
sword  and  dagger.  Now  rose  the  fierce  battle-cries 
of  the  combatants,  one  party  calling  on  Saint  Jago, 
the  other  on  Mohammed,  thus  intimating  that  it 
was  still  the  same  war  of  the  Cross  and  the  Cres- 
cent which  had  been  carried  on  for  more  than  eight 
centuries  in  the  Peninsula.  ^^  The  shouts  of  the 
combatants,  the  clash  of  weapons,  the  report  of 
musketry  from  the  adjoining  houses,  the  sounds  of 
falling  missiles,  filled  the  air  with  an  unearthly 
din,  that  was  reverberated  and  prolonged  in  count- 
less echoes  through  the  narrow  streets,  converting 
the  once  peaceful  city  into  a  Pandemonium.  Still 
the  Spaniards,  though  slowly  winning  their  way 
through  every  obstacle,  were  far  from  the  table- 
land on  the  summit,  where  they  hoped  to  join  their 
countrymen  from  the  other  quarter  of  the  town. 
At  this  crisis  a*  sound  arose  which  overpowered 
every  other  sound  in  this  wild  uproar,  and  for  a 
few  moments  suspended  the  conflict. 

This  was  the  bursting  of  the  mine,  which  Don  . 
John,  seeing  Padilla  well  advanced  in  his  assault, 
had  now  given  the  order  to  fire.     In  an  instant 
came  the  terrible  explosion,  shakmg  Galera  to  its 

12  "  Unog  llaman  A  Mahomi  Otroa  gritan  cierra  Espana^ 

otros  dicen  Santiago,  muera  d  hando  rmegado.^* 

Romance,  ap.  Hita,  Guerras  de  Granada,  torn.  11.  p.  456. 


'    w 


('il 


i!i 


009 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


centre,  rending  the  portion  of  the  rock  above  the 
gallery  into  fragments,  toppling  down  the  houses 
on  its  summit,  and  burying  more  than  six  hundred 
Moriscoes  in  the  ruins.     As  the  smoke  and  dust  of 
the  falling  buildings  cleared  away,  and  the  Span- 
iards from   below  beheld  the  miserable  survivors 
crawling  forth,    as   well   as  their  mangled   limbs 
would  allow,  they  set  up  a  fierce  yell  of  triumph. 
The  mine,  however,  had   done  but   half  the  mis- 
chief intended ;  for  by  a  miscalculation  in  the  di- 
rection,  it  had  passed  somewhat   to   the   right  of 
the  castle,  which,  as  well  as  the  ravelin,  remained 
uninjured.     Yet  a  small  breach  had  been  opened 
by   the   artillery   in  the   former ;    and   what   was 
more   important,  through   the   shattered   sides   of 
the  rock  itself  a  passage  had  been  made,  which, 
though    strewn   with    the    fallen    rubbish,    might 
afford    a    practicable    entrance    to    the    stonnino- 
party. 

The  soldiers,  seeing  the  chasm,  now  loudly  called 
to  be  led  to  the  assault.     Besides  the  thirst  for 
vengeance  on  the  rebels  who  had  so  long  set  them 
at  defiance,  they  were  stimulated  by  the  desire  of 
plunder;  for  Galera,  from  its  great  strength,  had 
been  selected  as  a  place  of  deposit  for  the  jewels, 
rich  stuffs,  and  other  articles  of  value  belonging  to 
the  people  in  the  neighborhood.  The  officers,  before 
making  the  attack,  were  anxious  to  examine  the 
breach  and  have  the  rubbish  cleared  away,  so  as  to 
make  the  ascent  easier  for  the   troops.     But  the 
fierce  and  ill-disciplined  levies  were  too  impatient 


Cii.  YIL] 


FIERCE  ASSAULTS. 


223 


for  this.  Without  heeding  the  commands  or  re- 
monstrances of  their  leaders,  one  after  another 
they  broke  their  ranks,  and,  crying  the  old  national 
war-cries,  "  San  Jago !  "  "  Cierra  Espana ! "  "  St. 
James !  "  and  "  Close  up  Spain ! "  they  rushed  mad- 
ly forward,  and,  springing  lightly  over  the  ruins 
in  their  pathway,  soon  planted  themselves  on  the 
summit.  The  officers,  thus  deserted,  were  not  long 
in  following,  resolved  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  men. 

Fortunately  the  Moriscoes,  astounded  by  the 
explosion,  had  taken  refuge  in  the  town,  and  thus 
left  undefended  a  position  which  might  have  giv- 
en great  annoyance  to  the  Spaniards.  Yet  the 
cry  no  sooner  rose  that  the  enemy  had  scaled  the 
heights,  than,  recovering  from  their  panic,  they 
hurried  back  to  man  the  defences.  When  the 
assailants,  therefore,  had  been  brought  into  order 
and  formed  into  column  for  the  attack,  they  were 
received  with  a  well-directed  fire  from  the  falco- 
nets, and  with  volleys  of  musketry  from  the  rave- 
lin, that  for  a  moment  checked  their  advance. 
But  then  rallying,  they  gallantly  pushed  forward 
through  the  fiery  sleet,  and  soon  found  themselves 
in  face  of  the  breach  which  had  been  made  in  the 
castle  by  their  artillery.  The  opening,  scarcely 
wide  enough  to  allow  two  to  pass  abreast,  was 
defended  by  men  as  strong  and  stout-hearted  as 
their  assailants.  A  desperate  struggle  ensued,  in 
which  the  besieged  bravely  held  their  ground, 
though   a   Castilian    ensign,   named    Zapata,   sue- 


224 


REBELLION  OF   THE  MORISCOES.  [Book  V. 


ceeded  in  forcing  his  way  into  the  place,  and  even 
in  planting  his  standard  on  the  battlements.  But 
it  was  speedily  torn  down  by  the  enemy,  while  the 
brave  cavalier,  pierced  with  wounds,  was  thrown 
headlong  on  the  rocky  ground  below,  still  clutch- 
ing the  standard  with  his  dying  grasp. 

Meanwhile  the  defenders  of  the  ravelin  kept,  up 
a   plunging  fire   of  musketry  on    the    assailants; 
while  stones,   arrows,  javelins,  fell   thick  as  rain- 
drops  on  their   heads,  rattling  on  the  harness  of 
the  cavaliers,  and  inflicting  many  a  wound  on  the 
ill-protected  bodies  of  the  soldiery.     The  Morisco 
women  bore  a  brave  part  in  the   fight,    showing 
the  same  indifference  to  danger  as  their  husbands 
and  brothers,  and  rolling  down  heavy  weights  on 
the  ranks  of  the  besiegers.     These  women  had  a 
sort   of  military   organization,    being  formed  into 
companies.     Sometimes  they  even  joined  in  hand- 
to-hand    combats    with    their    enemies,    wielding 
their  swords  and  displaying  a  prowess  worthy  of 
the  stronger  sex.     One  of  these  Amazons,  whose 
name  became  famous  in  the  siege,  was  seen  on  this 
occasion  to  kill  her  antagonist  and  bear  away  his 
armor  as  the  spoils  of  victory.     It  was  said  that, 
before  she  received  her  mortal  wound,  several  Span- 
iards fell  by  her  hand.*^ 


13  No  less  than  eighteen,  accord- 
ing to  Hevia.  But  this  number, 
notwithstanding  Hita's  warrant  for 
the  writer's  scrupulous  accuracy,  is 
somewhat  too  heavy  a  tax  on  the 
credulity  of  the  reader.  —  "Esta 
brava  mora  se  llamaba  la  Zarza- 


modonia,  era  corpulenta,  recia  de 
miembros,  y  alcanzaba  grandisima 
fuerza;  se  averigud  que  en  este 
dia  matd  ella  sola  por  su  mano  & 
diez  y  ocho  soldados,  no  de  los 
peores  del  campo."  Hita,  Guerras 
de  Granada,  tom.  IL  p.  393. 


Ch.  VIL] 


FIERCE  ASSAULTS. 


225 


Thus,  while  the  besieged,  secure  within  their 
defences,  suffered  comparatively  little,  the  attack- 
ing column  was  thrown  into  disorder.  Most  of  its 
leaders  were  killed  or  wounded.  Its  ranks  were 
thinned  by  the  incessant  fire  from  the  ravelin  and 
castle;  and,  though  it  still  maintained  a  brave 
spirit,  its  strength  was  fast  ebbing  away.  Don 
John,  who,  from  his  commanding  position,  had 
watched  the  field,  saw  the  necessity  of  sending 
to  the  support  of  his  troops  six  companies  of  the 
reserve,  which  were  soon  followed  by  two  others. 
Thus  reinforced,  they  were  enabled  to  keep  their 
ground. 

Meanwhile  the  Italian  regiment  under  Padilla 
had  penetrated  far  into  the  town.  But  they  had 
won  their  way  inch  by  inch,  and  it  hud  cost  them 
dear.  There  was  not  an  officer,  it  was  said,  that 
had  not  been  wounded.  Four  captains  had  fallen. 
Padilla,  who  had  not  recovered  from  his  former 
wound,  had  now  received  another  still  more  se- 
vere. His  men,  though  showing  a  bold  front,  had 
been  so  roughly  handled,  that  it  was  clear  they 
could  never  fight  through  the  obstacles  in  their  way, 
and  join  their  comrades  on  the  heights.  While 
little  mindful  of  his  own  wounds,  Padilla  saw  with 
anguish  the  blood  of  his  brave  followers  thus 
poured  out  in  vain ;  and,  however  reluctantly,  he 
gave  the  order  to  retreat.  This  command  was 
the  signal  for  a  fresh  storm  of  missiles  from  the 
enemy.  But  the  veterans  of  Naples,  closing  up 
their  ranks  as  a  comrade  fell,  effected  their  retreat 


VOL.  III. 


29 


226 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MOUISCOES.  Book  V. 


Ch.  VII.] 


FIERCE  ASSAULTS. 


227 


ii 


in  the  same  cool  and  orderly  manner  in  which  they 
had  advanced,  and,   though  wofuUy   crippled,  re- 
gained their  position  in  the  trenches. 
""  Thus  disengaged  from  the  conflict  on  this  quar- 
ter,  the  victorious  Moslems  hastened  to  the  sui> 
port  of  their  countrymen  in  the  castle,  where  they 
served  to  counterbalance  the  reinforcement  received 
by  the  assailants.     They  fell  at  once  on  the  rear 
of  the  Christians,  whose  front  ranks  were  galled 
by  the  guns  from  the  enemy's  battery,  —  though 
clumsily  served,— while  their  flanks  were  sorely 
scathed  by  the  storm  of  musketry  that  swept  down 
from  the  ravelin.     Thus  hemmed  in  on  all  sides, 
they  were  indeed  in  a  perilous  situation.     Several 
of  the  captains  were  killed.     All  the  oflicers  were 
either  killed  'or  wounded ;  and  the  narrow  ground 
on  which  they  struggled  for  mastery  was  heaped 
with   the  bodies   of   the   slain.     Yet  their  spirits 
were  not  broken  ;  and  the  tide  of  battle,  after  three 
hours'  duration,  still  continued  to  rage  with  impo- 
tent  fury  around  the  fortress.     They  still  strove, 
with   desperate  energy,  to  scale  the  walls  of  the 
ravelm,   and  to  force  a  way  through  the   narrow 
breach  in  the  castle.     But  the  besieged  succeeded 
in  closing  up  the  opening  with  heavy  masses  of 
stone  and  timber,  which  defied  the  failing  strength 

of  the  assailants. 

Another  hour  had  now  elapsed,  and  Don  John, 
as  from  his  station  he  watched  the  current  of  the 
fight,  saw  that  to  prolong  the  contest  would  only 
be  to  brmg  wider  ruin  on  his  followers.     He  ac- 


cordingly gave  the  order  to  retreat.  But  the  men 
who  had  so  impetuously  rushed  to  the  attack  in 
defiance  of  the  commands  of  their  officers,  now 
showed  the  same  spirit  of  insubordination  when 
commanded  to  leave  it ;  like  the  mastiff",  who,  mad- 
dened by  the  wounds  he  has  received  in  the  con- 
flict, refuses  to  loosen  his  hold  on  his  antagonist, 
in  spite  of  the  chiding  of  his  master.  Seeing  his 
orders  thus  unheeded,  Don  John,  accompanied  by 
his  staff,  resolved  to  go  in  person  to  the  scene  of 
action  and  enforce  obedience  by  his  presence.  But 
on  reaching  the  spot,  he  was  hit  on  his  cuirass 
by  a  musket-ball,  which,  although  it  glanced  from 
the  well-tempered  metal,  came  with  sufficient  force 
to  bring  him  to  the  ground.  The  watchful  Quixa- 
da,  not  far  distant,  sprang  to  his  aid;  but  it  ap- 
peared he  had  received  no  injury.  His  conduct, 
however,  brought  down  an  affectionate  remonstrance 
from  his  guardian,  who,  reminding  him  of  the  king's 
injunctions,  besought  him  to  retire,  and  not  thus 
expose  a  life,  so  precious  as  that  of  the  commander- 
in-chief,  to  the  hazards  of  a  common  soldier. 

The  account  of  the  accident  soon  spread,  with 
the  usual  exaggerations,  among  the  troops,  who, 
after  the  prince's  departure,  yielded  a  slow  and 
sullen  obedience  to  his  commands.  Thus  for  a 
second  time  the  field  of  battle  remained  in  posses- 
sion of  the  Moslems ;  and  the  banner  of  the  Cres- 
cent still  waved  triumphantly  from  the  battlements 
of  Galera." 

1*  For  an  account  of  the  second  assault,  see  Mendoza,  Guerra  <T<j 


228 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.  [Book  V. 


The  loss  was  a  heavy  one  to  the  Spaniards, 
amounting,  according  to  their  own  accounts, — 
which  will  not  be  suspected  of  exaggeration,  —  to 
not  less  than  four  hundred  killed  and  five  hundred 
wounded.  That  of  the  enemy,  screened  by  his  de- 
fences, must  have  been  comparatively  light.  The 
loss  fell  most  severely  on  the  Spanish  chivalry, 
whose  showy  dress  naturally  drew  the  attention  of 
the  well-trained  Morisco  marksmen.  The  bloody 
roll  is  inscribed  with  the  names  of  many  a  noble 
house  in  both  Andalusia  and  Castile. 

This  second  reverse  of  his  arms  stung  Don  John 
to  the  quick.  The  eyes  of  his  countrymen  were 
upon  him  ;  and  he  well  knew  the  sanguine  antici- 
pations they  had  formed  of  his  campaign,  and  that 
they  would  hold  him  responsible  for  its  success. 
His  heart  was  filled  with  mourning  for  the  loss  of 
his  brave  companions  in  arms.  Yet  he  did  not 
give  vent  to  unmanly  lamentation ;  but  he  showed 
his  feelings  in  another  form,  which  did  little  hon- 
or to  his  heart.  Turning  to  his  officers,  he  ex- 
claimed :  "  The  infidels  shall  pay  dear  for  the  Chris- 
tian blood  they  have  spilt  this  day.  The  next 
assault  will  place  Galera  in  our  power ;  and  every 
soul  within  its  walls  —  man,  wom^n,  and  child  — 
shall  be  put  to  the  sword.  Not  one  shall  be 
spared.     The  houses  shall  be  razed  to  the  ground ; 

Granada,  pp.  264,  265 ;  Mannol,  Hevia,  ap.  Hita,  Guerras  de  Gra- 

Kebelion  de  Granada,  torn.  11.  pp.  nada,  torn.  IL  p.  389  et  seq. ;  Ca- 

240-243;   Vanderhammen,    Don  brera,   Filipe    Segundo,  pp.    629, 

Juan  de  Austria,  fol.   113,   IM;  630. 


Ch.  vil]  preparations  for  a  last  attack.       229 

and  the  ground  they  covered  shall  be  sown  with 
salt."'^  This  inhuman  speech  was  received  with 
general  acclamations.  As  the  event  proved,  it  was 
not  an  empty  menace. 

The  result  of  his  operations  showed  Don  John 
the  prudence  of  his  brother's  recommendation, — 
to  make  good  use  of  his  batteries  and  his  mines 
before  coming  to  close  quarters  with  the  enemy. 
Philip,  in  a  letter  written  some  time  after  this 
defeat,  alluding  to  the  low  state  of  discipline  in 
the  camp,  urged  his  brother  to  give  greater  atten- 
tion to  the  morals  of  the  soldiers,  —  to  guard 
especially  against  profanity  and  other  offences  to 
religion,  that  by  so  doing  he  might  secure  the  favor 
of  the  Almighty.^^  Don  John  had  intimated  to 
Philip,  that,  under  some  circumstances,  it  might  be 
necessary  to  encourage  his  men  by  leading  them 
in  person  to  the  attack.  But  the  king  rebuked  the 
spirit  of  the  knight-errant,  as  not  suited  to  the 
commander,  and  admonished  his  brother  that  the 
place  for  him  was  in  the  rear ;  that  there  he  might 
be  of  service  in  stimulating  the  ardor  of  the  remiss  ; 
adding,  that  those  who  went  forward  promptly  in 


15  "  Yo  hundire  d  Galera,  y  la 
asolare,  y  seinbrare  toda  de  sal ; 
y  por  el  riguroso  filo  de  la  espada 
pasarin  chicos  y  grandes,  quantos 
estan  dentro,  por  castigo  de  su  per- 
tlnacla,  y  en  venganza  de  la  sangre 
que  ban  derramado."  Marniol, 
Rebellon  de  Granada,  torn.  II.  p. 
244. 

16  "  No  puedo  yo  dejar  de  en- 
cargaros  que  le  tengais  muy  grande 


de  que  el  no  sea  deservido  en  ese 
eampo,  ni  haya  las  nialtlades  y  des- 
drdenes  que  decis,  que  siendo  tales 
no  pueden  haeer  cosa  buena,  y  asi 
lo  procurad,  y  que  no  haya  jura- 
nientos  ni  otras  ofensas  de  Dios, 
que  eon  esto  el  nos  ayudar^  y  to<]o 
se  hara  bien."  Cart^  del  Rey  d 
D.  Juan  de  Austria,  6  de  Febrero, 
1570,  MS. 


230 


HEBELLION   OF  THK  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


Cii.  VII]    rREPARATIONS  FOR  A  LAST  ATTACK. 


231 


the  fight,  had  no  need  of  his  presence  to  encourage 
them.^^ 

Don  John  lost  no  time  in  making  his  prepara- 
tions for  a  third  and  last  assault.  He  caused  two 
new  mines  to  be  opened  in  the  rock,  on  either  side 
of  the  former  one,  and  at  some  thirty  paces'  distance 
from  it.  While  this  was  going  on,  he  directed 
that  all  the  artillery  should  play  without  intermis- 
sion on  the  town  and  castle.  His  battering-train, 
meantime,  was  reinforced  by  the  arrival  of  fourteen 
additional  pieces  of  heavy  ordnance  from  Cartagena, 

The  besieged  were  no  less  busy  in  preparing  for 
theu'  defence.  The  women  and  children  toiled  equal- 
ly with  the  men  in  repairing  the  damages  in  the 
works.  The  breaches  were  closed  with  heavy  stones 
and  timber.  The  old  barricades  were  strengthened, 
and  new  ones  thrown  across  the  streets.  The  mag- 
azines were  filled  with  fresh  supplies  of  stones  and 
arrows.  Long  practice  had  made  the  former  mis- 
sile a  more  formidable  weapon  than  usual  in  the 
hands  of  the  Moriscoes.  They  were  amply  pro- 
vided with  water,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  were  well 
victualled  for  a  siege  longer  than  this  was  likely  to 
prove.  But  in  one  respect,  and  that  of  the  last 
importance,  they  w^ere  miserably  deficient.  Their 
powder  was  nearly  all  expended.  They  endeavored 
to  obtain  supplies  of  ammunition,  as  well  as  rein- 
forcements of  men,  from  Aben-Aboo.     But  the  Mo- 


'7  "  Y  con  esa  gente,  aegun  lo  gdndolos  que  no  delante,  pues  para 
que  decis,  mas  importara  estar  de-  los  que  lo  estan  y  hacen  lo  que 
tras  delios  deteniendolos  y  casti*    deben  no  es  menester."    Ibid. 


risco  prince  was  fully  occupied  at  this  time  with 
maintaining  his  ground  against  the  duke  of  Sesa 
in  the  west.  His  general,  El  Habaqui,  who  had 
charge  of  the  eastern  army,  encouraged  the  people 
of  Galera  to  remain  firm,  assuring  them  that  before 
long  he  should  be  able  to  come  to  their  assistance. 
But  time  was  precious  to  the  besieged.^^ 

The  Turkish  auxiliaries  in  the  garrison  greatly 
doubted  the  possibility  of  maintaining  themselves, 
with  no  better  ammunition  than  stones  and  arrows, 
against  the  well-served  artillery  of  the  Spaniards. 
Their  leaders  accordingly,  in  a  council  of  war,  pro- 
posed that  the  troops  should  sally  forth  and  cut 
their  way  through  the  lines  of  the  besiegers,  while 
the  Avomen  and  children  might  pass  out  by  the 
subterranean  avenue  which  conducted  to  the  river, 
the  existence  of  which,  we  are  told,  was  unknown 
to  the  Christians.  The  Turks,  mere  soldiers  of 
fortune,  had  no  local  attachment  or  patriotic  feel- 
ing to  bind  them  to  the  soil.  But  when  their 
proposal  was  laid  before  the  inhabitants,  they  all, 
women  as  well  as  men,  treated  the  proposition 
with  disdain,  showing  their  determination  to  de- 
fend the  city  to  the  last,  and  to  perish  amidst  its 
ruins  rather  than  surrender. 

Still   sustained  by  the  hope  of  succor,   the   be- 


18  It  is  sinjnilar  that  no  one  of 
the  chroniclers  gives  us  the  name 
of  the  Moorish  chief  who  com- 
manded in  Galera.  A  romance 
of  the  time  calls  him  Abenhoz- 
min. 


''  Marinero  que  la  rige 
Sarracino  es  natural, 
criado  aci  en  nuestra  Espana 
por  Bu  raal  y  nuestro  nial : 
Abenhozmin  ha  poi^nombre, 
J  es  hombre  de  gran  caudal.** 
Hita,  Guerras  de  Granada,  torn.  II.  p.  47Qt 


ii 


;i 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.  [Book  V. 


sieged  did  what  they  could  to  keep  off  the  day  of 
the  assault.  They  did  not,  indeed,  attempt  to  coun- 
termine ;  for,  if  they  had  possessed  the  skill  for 
this,  they  had  neither  tools  nor  powder.  But  they 
made  sorties  on  the  miners,  and,  though  always 
repulsed  with  loss,  they  contrived  to  hold  the  camp 
of  the  besiegers  in  a  constant  state  of  alarm. 

On  the  sixth  of  February  the  engineers  who  had 
charge  of  the  mines  gave  notice  that  their  work 
was  completed.  The  following  morning  was  named 
for  the  assault.  The  orders  of  the  day  prescribed 
that  a  general  cannonade  should  open  on  the  town 
at  six  in  the  morning.  It  was  to  continue  an  hour, 
when  the  mines  were  to  be  sprung.  The  artillery 
would  then  play  for  another  hour ;  after  which  the 
signal  for  the  attack  would  be  given.  The  signal 
was  to  be  the  firing  of  one  gun  from  each  of  the 
batteries,  to  be  followed  by  a  simultaneous  dis- 
charge from  all.  The  orders  directed  the  troops  to 
show  no  quarter  to  man,  woman,  or  child. 

On  the  seventh  of  February,  the  last  day  of  the 
Carnival,  the  besiegers  were  under  arms  with  the 
earliest  dawn.  Their  young  commander  attracted 
every  eye  by  the  splendor  of  his  person  and  ap- 
pointments. He  was  armed  cap-a-pie,  and  wore  a 
suit  of  burnished  steel  richly  inlaid  with  gold. 
His  casque,  overshadowed  by  brilliant  plumes, 
was  ornamented  with  a  medallion  displaying  the 
image  of  the  Virgin.'^     In  his  hand  he   carried 

^*  "  Relumbrante     y     fortisimo    bello  y  elegante,  scntado  sobre  una 
morrion  adornado  do  un  penacho    rica  medalla  de  la  imaf^ea  de  nu- 


Ch.  VILJ 


EXPLOSION  OF  THE  JVUNES. 


233 


the  baton  of  command ;  and  as  he  rode  along  the 
lines,  addressing  a  few  words  of  encouragement 
to  the  soldiers,  his  perfect  horsemanship,  his 
princely  bearing,  and  the  courtesy  of  his  man- 
ners, reminded  the  veterans  of  the  happier  days 
of  his  father,  the  emperor.  The  cavaliers  by 
whom  he  was  surrounded  emulated  their  chief  in 
the  richness  of  their  appointments ;  and  the  Mur- 
cian  chronicler,  present  on  that  day,  dwells  with 
complacency  on  the  beautiful  array  of  Southern 
chivalry  gathered  together  for  the  final  assault 
upon  Galera.^ 

From  six  o'clock  till  seven,  a  furious  cannonade 
was  kept  up  from  the  whole  circle  of  batteries  on 
the  devoted  town.  Then  came  the  order  to  fire 
the  mines.  The  deafening  roar  of  ordnance  was  at 
once  hushed  into  a  silence  profound  as  that  of 
death,  while  every  soldier  in  the  trenches  waited, 
with  nervous  suspense,  for  the  explosion.  At 
length  it  came,  overturning  houses,  shaking  down 
a  fragment  of  the  castle,  rending  wider  the  breach 
in  the  perpendicular  side  of  the  rock,  and  throw- 
ing off  the  fragments  with  the  force  of  a  volcano. 
Only  one  mine,  however,  exploded.  It  was  soon 
followed  by  the  other,  which,  though  it  did  less 
damage,  spread  such  consternation  among  the  gar- 
rison, that,  fearing  there  might  still  be  a  third  in 


estra   Senora  de  la  Concepcion.**  jor  que  pudo  toda  la  caballeria,  y 

Hevia,  ap.  Hita,  Guerras  do  Gra-  era  eosa  digna  de  ver  la  eleganeia 

nada,  torn.  II.  p.  429.     ^  y  hermosura  de  un   ejercito  tan 

20  "  Igualmente  se  aired  lo  me-  lucido  y  gallardo."    Ibid.,  loc.  cit. 

30 


o 
VOL.   III. 


234 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MOEISCOES.         [Book  V. 


Ch.  VIL]       DESPERATION  OF  THE  MORISCOES. 


235 


reserve,  the  men  abandoned  their  works,  and  took 
refuge  in  the  town. 

AMien  the  smoke  and  dust  had  cleared  away,  an 
officer  with  a  few  soldiers  was  sent  to  reconnoitre 
the  breach.  They  soon  returned  with  the  tidings 
that  the  garrison  had  fled,  and  left  the  works  wholly 
unprotected.  On  hearing  this,  the  troops,  with 
furious  shouts,  called  out  to  be  led  at  once  to  the 
assault.  It  was  in  vain  that  the  officers  remon- 
strated, enforcing  their  remonstrances,  in  some  in- 
stances, by  blows  with  the  flat  of  their  sabres. 
The  blood  of  the  soldiery  was  up ;  and,  like  an  ill- 
disciplined  rabble,  they  sprang  from  their  trenches 
in  wild  disorder,  as  before,  and,  hurrying  their 
officers  along  with  them,  soon  scaled  the  perilous 
ascent,  and  crowned  the  heights  without  opposi- 
tion from  the  enemy.  Hurrying  over  the  debris 
that  strewed  the  ground,  they  speedily  made  them- 
selves masters  of  the  deserted  fortress  and  its  out- 
works, —  filling  the  air  with  shouts  of  victory. 

The  fugitives  saw  their  mistake,  as  they  beheld 
the  enemy  occupying  the  position  they  had  aban- 
doned. There  w^as  no  more  apprehension  of  mines. 
Eager  to  retrieve  their  error,  they  rushed  back,  as 
by  a  common  impulse,  to  dispute  the  possession  of 
the  ground  with  the  Spaniards.  It  was  too  late. 
The  guns  were  turned  on  them  from  their  own 
battery.  The  arquebusiers  who  lined  the  ravelin 
showered  down  on  their  heads  missiles  more  for- 
midable than  stones  and  arrows.  But,  though  their 
powder  was  nearly  gone,  the  Mofiscoes  could  still 


make  fight  with  sword  and  dagger,  and  they  boldly 
closed,  in  a  hand-to-hand  contest  with  their  enemy. 
It  was  a  deadly  struggle,  calling  out  —  as  close  per- 
sonal contest  is  sure  to  do  —  the  fiercest  passions 
of  the  combatants.  No  quarter  was  given ;  none 
was  asked.  The  Spaniard  was  nerved  by  the  con- 
fidence of  victory,  the  Morisco  by  the  energy  of 
despair.  Both  fought  like  men  who  knew  that  on 
the  issue  of  this  conflict  depended  the  fate  of  Ga- 
lera.  Again  the  war-cries  of  the  two  religions 
rose  above  the  din  of  battle,  as  the  one  party  in- 
voked their  military  apostle,  and  the  other  called 
on  Mahomet.  It  was  the  same  war-cry  which  for 
more  than  eight  centuries  had  sounded  over  hill 
and  valley  in  unhappy  Spain.  These  were  its  dy- 
ing notes,  soon  to  expire  with  the  exile  or  extermi- 
nation of  the  conquered  race. 

The  conflict  was  at  length  terminated  by  the 
arrival  of  a  fresh  body  of  troops  on  the  field  with 
Padilla.  That  chief  had  attacked  the  town  by 
the  same  avenue  as  before ;  everywhere  he  had 
met  with  the  same  spirit  of  resistance.  But  the 
means  of  successful  resistance  were  gone.  Many 
of  the  houses  on  the  streets  had  been  laid  in 
ruins  by  the  fire  of  the  artillery.  Such  as  still 
held  out  were  defended  by  men  armed  with  no 
better  weapons  than  stones  and  arrows.  One  after 
another,  most  of  them  were  stormed  and  fired 
by  the  Spaniards;  and  those  within  were  put  to 
the  sword,  or  perished  in  the  flames.' 

It  fared   no   better  with   the   defenders  of  the 


236 


KEBELLION   OF  THE  MOKISCOES.         [Book  V. 


barricades.  Galled  by  the  volleys  of  the  Chris- 
tians, against  whom  their  own  rude  missiles  did 
comparatively  little  execution,  they  were  driven 
from  one  position  to  another ;  as  each  redoubt 
was  successively  carried,  a  shout  of  triumph  w^ent 
up  from  the  victors,  which  fell  cheerily  on  the 
ears  of  their  countrymen  on  the  heights ;  and  when 
Padilla  and  his  veterans  burst  on  the  scene  of 
action,  it  decided  the  fortunes  of  the  day. 

There  was  still  a  detachment  of  Turks,  whose 
•  ammunition  had  not  been  exhausted,  and  who 
were  maintaining  a  desperate  struggle  with  a  body 
of  Spanish  infantry,  in  which  the  latter  had  been 
driven  back  to  the  very  verge  of  the  precipice. 
But  the  appearance  of  their  friends  under  Pa- 
dilla gave  the  Spaniards  new  heart;  and  Turk 
and  Morisco,  overwhelmed  alike  by  the  superior- 
ity of  the  numbers  and  of  the  weapons  of  their 
antagonists,  gave  way  in  all  directions.  Some 
fled  down  the  long  avenues  which  led  from  the 
summit  of  the  rock.  They  were  hotly  pursued 
by  the  Spaniards.  Others  threw  themselves  into 
the  houses,  and  prepared  to  make  a  last  defence. 
The  Spaniards  scrambled  along  the  terraces,  let- 
ting themselves  down  from  one  level  to  another 
by  means  of  the  Moorish  ladders  used  for  that 
purpose.  They  hewed  openings  in  tl^c  wooden 
roofs  of  the  buildings,  through  which  they  fired  on 
those  within.  The  helpless  Moriscoes,  driven  out 
by  the  pitiless  volleys,  sought  refuge  in  the  street. 
But  the  fierce  hunters  were  there,  waiting  for  their 


Ch.  VII.J       DESPERATION  OF   THE   MORISCOES. 


I! 


237 


miserable  game,  which  they  shot  down  without 
mercy,  —  men,  women,  and  children ;  none  were 
spared.  Yet  they  did  not  fall  unavenged ;  and  the 
corpse  of  many  a  Spaniard  might  be  seen  stretched 
on  the  bloody  pavement,  lying  side  by  side  with 
that  of  his  Moslem  enemy. 

More  than  one  instance  is  recorded  of  the  des- 
perate courage  to  which  the  women  as  well  as  the 
men  were  roused  in  their  extremity.  A  Morisco 
girl,  whose  father  had  perished  in  the  first  assault 
in  the  Gardens,  after  firing  her  dwelling,  is  said 
to  have  dragged  her  two  little  brothers  along  with 
one  hand,  and,  wielding  a  scymitar  with  the  other, 
to  have  rushed  against  the  foe,  by  whom  they  were 
all  speedily  cut  to  pieces.  Another  instance  is  told, 
of  a  man  who,  after  killing  his  wife  and  his  two 
daughters,  sallied  forth,  and  calling  out,  "  There  is 
nothing  more  to  lose ;  let  us  die  together ! "  threw 
himself  madly  into  the  thick  of  the  enemy.^^  Some 
fell  by  their  own  weapons,  others  by  those  of  their 
friends,  preferring  to  receive  death  from  any  hands 
but  those  of  the  Spaniards. 

Some  two  thousand  Moriscoes  were  huddled  to- 
gether in  a  square  not  far  from  the  gate,  where  a 
strong  body  of  Castilian  infantry  cut  off  the  means 
of  escape.  Spent  with  toil  and  loss  of  blood,  with- 
out ammunition,  without  arms,  or  with  such  only 
as  were  too  much  battered  or  broken  for  service, 
the   wretched  fugitives   would   gladly   have   made 

21  These  anecdotes  are  given  by  Hevia,  ap.  Hita,  Guerras  de  Gra- 
nada, torn.  II.  pp.  449-451. 


238 


REBELLION  OF  TUE  MORISCOES.         IBook  V. 


some  terms  with  their  pursuers,  who  now  closed 
darkly  around  them.  But  the  stag  at  bay  might 
as  easily  have  made  terms  with  his  hunters  and  the 
fierce  hounds  that  were  already  on  his  haunches. 
Their  prayers  were  answered  by  volley  after  volley, 
until  not  a  man  was  left  alive. 

More  than  four  hundred  women  and  children 
were  gathered  together  without  the  walls,  and  the 
soldiers,  mindful  of  the  value  of  such  a  booty, 
were  willing  to  spare  their  lives.  This  was  re- 
marked by  Don  John,  and  no  sooner  did  he  ob- 
serve the  symptoms  of  lenity  in  the  troops,  than 
the  flinty-hearted  chief  rebuked  their  remissness, 
and  sternly  reminded  them  of  the  orders  of  the 
day.  He  even  sent  the  halberdiers  of  his  guard 
and  the  cavaliers  about  his  person  to  assist  the 
soldiers  in  their  bloody  work ;  while  he  sat,  a 
calm  spectator,  on  his  horse,  as  immovable  as  a 
marble  statue,  and  as  insensible  to  the  agonizing 
screams  of  his  victims  and  their  heai't-breaking 
prayers  for  mercy .^ 

While  this  was  going  on  without  the  town, 
the  work  of  death  was  no  less  active  within.  Every 
square  and  enclosure  that  had  afforded  a  tempo- 
rary refuge  to  the  fugitives  was  heaped  with  the 
bodies  of  the  slain.  Blood  ran  down  the  kennels 
like  water  after  a  heavy  shower.  The  dwellings 
were   fired,    some    by   the    conquerors,    others    by 

29  "  Los  quales  mataron  mas  fu  presenola  d  los  alabarderos  de 
de  quatrocientas  mugeres  y  niiios  su  guardia."  Marmol,  Kebelion 
....  7  aiisi  hizo  luatar  muchod  en    de  Granada,  torn.  IL  p.  248. 


Cii.  VILJ 


CKUEL  MASSACRE. 


239 


the  inmates,  who  threw  themselves  madly  into 
the  flames  rather  than  fall  into  the  hands  of  their 
enemies.  The  gathering  shadows  of  evening  — 
for  the  fight  had  lasted  nearly  nine  hours  ^  — 
were  dispelled  by  the  light  of  the  conflagration, 
which  threw  an  ominous  glare  for  many  a  league 
over  the  country,  proclaiming  far  and  wide  the 
downfall  of  Galera. 

At  length  Don  John  was  so  far  moved  from  his 
original  purpose  as  to  consent  that  the  women,  and 
the  children  under  twelve  years  of  age,  should  be 
spared.  This  he  did,  not  from  any  feeling  of  com- 
punction, but  from  deference  to  the  murmurs  of 
his  followers,  whose  discontent  at  seeing  their  cus- 
tomary booty  snatched  from  them  began  to  show 
itself  in  a  way  not  to  be  disregarded.-^  Some  fif- 
teen hundred  women  and  children,  in  consequence 
of  this,  are  said  to  have  escaped  the  general  doom 
of  their  countrymen.^^  All  the  rest,  soldiers  and 
citizens,  Turks,  Africans,  and  Moriscoes,  were  mer- 


23  "  Durd  el  combate,  despiies 
de  entrado  el  lugar,  desde  las  oeho 
dc  la  maiiana  hasta  las  cineo  de 
la  tarde.**  Hevia,  ap.  Hita,  Guer- 
ras  de  Granada,  torn.  IL  p.  448. 

24  "  Y  no  pararan  hasta  acabar- 
las  a  todas,  si  las  quejas  de  los 
soldados,  a  quien  se  quitaba  el  pre- 
mio  de  la  vitoria,  no  le  movieran ; 
mas  esto  fue  quando  se  entendid 
que  la  villa  estaba  ya  por  nosotros, 
y  no  quiso  que  se  perdonase  a 
varon  que  pasgise  de  doce  anos." 
Marmol,  Rebelion  de  Granada, 
torn.  II.  p.  248. 


25  "  Se  cauti varon  hasta  otras 
mil  }'  quinientas  personas  de  mu- 
geres y  niiios,  porque  ^  hombre 
ningimo  se  tomd  con  vida,  habien- 
do  muerto  todos  sin  quedar  uno  en 
este  dia,  y  en  los  asaltos  pasados.** 
Hevia,  ap.  Hita,  Guerras  de  Gra- 
nada, tom.  II.  p.  448. 

Marmol,  while  he  admits  that 
not  a  man  was  spared,  estimates 
the  number  of  women  and  chil- 
dren saved  at  three  times  that 
given  in  the  text 


f 


240 


BEBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Cook  V. 


Cii.  VII.] 


GALERA  DEMOLISHED 


241 


,  I 


cilessly  butchered.  Not  one  man,  if  we  ma^  trust 
the  Spaniards  themselves,  escaped  alive !  It  would 
not  be  easy,  even  in  that  age  of  blood,  to  find  a 
parallel  to  so  wholesale  and  indiscriminate  a  mas- 
sacre. * 

Yet, .  to  borrow  the  words  of  the  Castilian  prov- 
erb, "  If  Africa  had  cause  to  weep,  Spain  had  little 
reason  to  rejoice."^  No  success  during  the  war 
was  purchased  at  so  high  a  price  as  the  capture  of 
Galera.  The  loss  fell  as  heavily  on  the  officers 
and  men  of  rank  as  on  the  common  file.  We 
have  seen  the  eagerness  with  which  they  had 
flocked  to  the  standard  of  John  of  Austria.  They 
showed  the  same  eagerness  to  distinguish  them- 
selves under  the  eye  of  their  leader.  The  Spanish 
chivalry  were  sure  to  be  found  in  the  post  of  dan- 
ger. Dearly  did  they  pay  for  that  pre-eminence ; 
and  many  a  noble  house  in  Spain  wept  bitter  tears 
when  the  tidings  came  of  the  conquest  of  Galera.^ 

Don  John  himself  was  so  much  exasperated, 
says  the  chronicler,  by  the  thought  of  the  grievous 
loss  which  he  had  sustained  through  the  obstinate 
resistance  of  the   heretics,^   that   he   resolved   to 


«  «  Si  Africa  Uora,  Espaiia  no 

rie." 

27  For  the  account  of  the  final 
assault,  as  told  by  the  various  writ- 
ers, with  sufficient  inconsistency  in 
the  details,  compare  Marmol,  Rc- 
belion  de  Granada,  torn.  II.  pp. 
244-249;  Mendoza,  Guerra  de 
Granada,  pp.  266  -  268  ;  Vander- 
hammcn,  Don  Juan  de  Austria, 
fol.   114,   115;  Ilevia,  ap.   Hita, 


Guerras  de  Granada,  torn.  II.  p. 
429  et  seq. ;  Cabrera,  Filipe  Se- 
gundo,  pp.  630,  631  ;  Bleda,  Cro- 
nica,  p.  734 ;  Ferreras,  Hist.  d'Es- 
pagne,  torn.  X.  pp.  143,  144. 

28  "  Tanto  le  crecia  la  ira,  pen- 
sando  en  el  dano  que  aquellos  he- 
reges  habian  hecho."  Marmol, 
Kebelion  de  Granada,  torn.  II.  p. 
248. 


carry  at  once  into  effect  his  menace  of  demolish- 
ing the  town,  so  that  not  one  stone  should  be  left 
on  another.  Every  house  was  accordingly  burnt 
or  levelled  to  the  ground,  which  was  then  strewed 
with  salt,  as  an  accursed  spot,  on  which  no  man 
was  to  build  thereafter.  A  royal  decree  to  that 
effect  was  soon  afterwards  published ;  and  the  vil- 
lage of  straggling  houses,  which,  undefended  by 
a  wall,  still  clusters  round  the  base  of  the  hill, 
in  the  Gardens  occupied  by  Padilla,  is  all  that 
now  serves  to  remind  the  traveller  of  the  once 
flourishing  and  strongly  fortified  city  of  Galera. 

In  the  work  of  demolition  Don  John  was  some- 
what retarded  by  a  furious  tempest  of  sleet  and 
rain,  which  set  in  the  day  after  the  place  was 
taken.  It  was  no  uncommon  thing  at  that  season 
of  the  year.  Had  it  come  on  a  few  days  earlier, 
the  mountain  torrents  would  infallibly  have  broken 
up  the  camp  of  the  besiegers,  and  compelled  them 
to  suspend  operations.  That  the  storm  was  so  long 
delayed,  was  regarded  by  the  Spaniards  as  a  special 
interposition  of  Heaven 

The  booty  was  great  which  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  victors  ;  for  Galera,  from  its  great  strength, 
had  been  selected  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  neigh- 
boring country  as  a  safe  place  of  deposit  for  their 
effects,  —  especially  their  more  valuable  treasures  of 
gold,  pearls,  jewels,  and  precious  stuffs.  Besides 
these  there  was  a  great  quantity  of  wheat,  barlev, 
and  other  grain  stored  in  the  magazines,  which 
afforded  a  seasonable  supply  to  the  army. 


VOL.   III. 


31 


i 


040 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MOllISCOES.         [Book  V 


|t| 


H 


No  sooner  was  Don  John  master  of  Galera,  than 
he  sent  tidings  of  his  success  to  his  brother.  'J'hc 
king  was  at  that  time  paying  his  devotions  at  the 
shrine  of  Our  Lady  of  Guadalupe.  The  tidings 
were  received  with  exultation  by  the  court,  —  by 
Philip  with  the  stolid  composure  with  which  he 
usually  received  accounts  either  of  the  success  or 
the  discomfiture  of  his  arms.  He  would  allow 
no  public  rejoicings  of  any  kind.  The  only  way 
in  which  he  testified  his  satisfaction  was  by  offer- 
ing up  thanks  to  God  and  the  Blessed  Virgin,  "  to 
whom,"  says  the  chronicler,  "  he  thought  the  cause 
should  be  especially  commended,  as  one  in  which 
more  glory  was  to  be  derived  from  peace  than 
from  a  bloody  victory."^  With  such  humane  and 
rational  sentiments,  it  is  marvellous  that  he  did 
not  communicate  them  to  his  brother,  and  thus 
spare  the  atrocious  massacre  of  his  Morisco  vassals 
at  Galera. 

But,  however  revolting  this  massacre  may  ap- 
pear in  our  eyes,  it  seems  to  have  left  no  stain 
on  the  reputation  of  John  of  Austria  in  the  eyes 
of  his  contemporaries.  In  reviewing  this  cam- 
paign, we  cannot  too  often  call  to  mind  that  it 
was  regarded  not  so  much  as  a  war  with  rebel- 
lious vassals,  as  a  war  with  the  enemies  of  the 
Faith.     It  was  the  last  link  in  that  long  chain  of 


29  "  Solo  dar  gracias  i  Dios  y  a  deseaba  mas  gloria  de  la  coneordia 

la  gloriosa  virgen  Maria,  encomen-  y  paz,  que  de  la  vitoria  sangTienr 

dandoles  el  CathoHco  Rey   fM\ue\  ta."    Marmol,  Rebelion  de  Grana- 

negocio,  por  ser  de  calidad,  que  da,  torn.  IL  p.  249. 


Ch.  VII  ] 


GALERA  DEMOLISHED. 


24:3 


hostilities  which  the  Spaniard  for  so  many  cen- 
turies had  been  waging  for  the  recovery  of  his 
soil  from  the  infidel.  The  sympathies  of  Chris- 
tendom were  not  the  less  on  his  side,  that  now, 
when  the  trumpet  of  the  crusader  had  ceased  to 
send  forth  its  notes  in  other  lands,  they  should  still 
be  heard  among  the  hills  of  Granada.  The  Mo- 
riscoes  were  everywhere  regarded  as  infidels  and 
apostates;  and  there  were  few  Christian  nations 
whose  codes  would  not  at  that  day  have  punished 
infidelity  and  apostasy  with  death.  It  was  no  hard- 
er for  them  that  they  should  be  exterminated  by 
the  sword  than  by  the  fagot.  So  far  from  the  mas- 
sacre of  the  Moriscoes  tarnishing  the  reputation 
of  their  conqueror,  it  threw  a  gloomy  eclat  over 
his  achievement,  which  may  have  rather  served  to 
add  to  its  celebrity.  His  own  countrymen,  think- 
ing only  of  the  extraordinary  difficulties  which  he 
had  overcome,  with  pride  beheld  him  entering  on  a 
splendid  career,  that  would  place  his  name  among 
those  of  the  great  paladins  of  the  nation.  In  Rome 
he  was  hailed  as  the  champion  of  Christendom ; 
and  it  was  determined  to  offer  him  the  baton  of 
generalissimo  of  the  formidable  league  which  the 
pope  was  at  this  time  organizing  against  the  Ot- 
toman Empire.^ 

^  "  Cela  faict,  par  sa  renommee  faict  general  de  la  salncte  ligue." 
qui  voloit  par  le  monde,  tant  des  Brantome,  (Euvres,  torn.  L  p. 
chrestiens  que  des  infidelles,  il  fut    326. 


J! 


M 


'i 


>  I 


! 


h  1 


A 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

REBELLION   OF   THE   MORISCOES. 

Disaster  at  Seron.  —  Death  of  Quixada.  —  Rapid  Successes  of  Don 
John.  —  Submission  of  the  Moriscoes.  —  Fate  of  El  Habaqui. — 
Stem  Temper  of  Aben-Aboo.  —  Renewal  of  the  War.  —  Expulsion 
of  the  Moors.  — Don  John  returns  to  ^ladrid.  —  Munler  of  Aben- 
Aboo.  —  Fortunes  of  the  Moriscoes. 

1570-1571. 

Don  John  was  detained  some  days  before  Ga- 
lera  by  the  condition  of  the  roads,  which  the  stomi 
had  rendered  impassable  for  heavy  wagons  and 
artillery.  When  the  weather  improved  he  be- 
gan his  march,  moving  south  in  the  direction  of 
Baza.  Passing  through  that  ancient  town,  the 
scene  of  one  of  the  most  glorious  triumphs  of  the 
good  Queen  Isabella  the  Catholic,  he  halted  at 
Caniles.  Here  he  left  the  main  body  of  his  army, 
and,  putting  himself  at  the  head  of  a  detachment 
of  three  thousand  foot  and  two  hundred  horse, 
hastened  forward  to  reconnoitre  Seron,  which  he 
purposed  next  to  attack. 

Seron  was  a  town  of  some  strength,  situated  on 
the  slope  of  the  sierra,  and  defended  by  a  castle 
held  by  a  Morisco  garrison.  On  his  approach, 
most  of  the  inhabitants,  and  many  of  the  soldiers, 


Ch.  VHL] 


DISASTER  AT   SEROX. 


245 


evacuated  the  place,  and  sought  refuge  amon 
the  mountains.  Don  John  formed  liis  force  into 
two  divisions,  one  of  which  he  placed  under  Qui- 
xada, the  other  under  Requesens.  He  took  up  a 
position  himself,  with  a  few  cavaliers  and  a  small 
body  of  arquebusiers,  on  a  neighboring  eminence, 
which  commanded  a  view  of  the  whole  ground. 

The  two  captains  were  directed  to  reconnoitre 
the  environs  by  making  a  circuit  from  opposite 
sides  of  the  town.  Quixada,  as  he  pressed  forward 
with  his  column,  drove  the  Morisco  fugitives  before 
him,  until  they  vanished  in  the  recesses  of  the 
mountains.  In  the  mean  time  the  beacon-fires, 
which  for  some  hours  had  been  blazing  from  the  top- 
most peaks  of  the  siex'ra,  had  spread  intelligence  far 
and  wide  of  the  coming  of  the  enemy.  The  whole 
country  was  in  arms ;  and  it  was  not  long  before 
the  native  warriors,  mustering  to  the  number  of  six 
thousand,  under  the  Morisco  chief,  El  Habaqui, 
who  held  command  in  that  quarter,  came  pouring 
through  the  defiles  of  the  mountains,  and  fell  with 
fury  on  the  front  and  flank  of  the  astonished  Span- 
iards. The  assailants  were  soon  joined  by  the  fugi- 
tives from  Seron;  and  the  Christians,  unable  to 
withstand  this  accumulated  force,  gave  way,  though 
slowly  and  in  good  order,  before  the  enemy. 

Meanwhile  a  detachment  of  Spanish  infantry, 
under  command  of  Lope  de  Figueroa,  maestro  del 
campo,  had  broken  into  the  town,  where  they 
were  busily  occupied  in  plundering  the  deserted 
houses.     This  was  a  part  of  the  military  profession 


246 


EEBELLIOX  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


I 


I 


wliicli  the  rude  levies  of  Andalusia  well  understood. 
While  they  were  thus  occupied,  the  advancing  Mo- 
riscoes,  burning  for  revenge,  burst  into  the  streets 
of  the  town,  and,  shouting  their  horrid  war-cries, 
set  furiously  on  the  marauders.  The  Spaniards, 
taken  by  surprise,  and  encumbered  with  their  booty, 
offered  little  resistance.  They  were  seized  with  a 
panic,  and  fled  in  all  directions.  They  were  soon 
mingled  with  their*  retreating  comrades  under  Qui- 
xada,  everywhere  communicating  their  own  ter- 
ror, till  the  confusion  became  general.  It  was  in 
vain  that  Quixada  and  Figueroa,  with  the  other 
captains,  endeavored  to  restore  order.  The  panic- 
stricken  soldiers  heard  nothing,  saw  nothing,  but 
the  enemy. 

At  this  crisis  Don  John,  who  from  his  elevated 
post  had  watched  the  impending  ruin,  called  his 
handful  of  brave  followers  around  him,  and  at 
once  threw  himself  into  the  midst  of  the  tumult. 
"  What  means  this,  Spaniards  1 ''  he  exclaimed  ; 
"  From  whom  are  you  flying  ]  Where  is  the  honor 
of  Spain?  Have  you  not  John  of  Austria,  your 
commander,  with  youl  At  least,  if  you  retreat, 
do  it  like  brave  men,  with  your  front  to  the  ene- 
my.*'^ It  was  in  vain.  His  entreaties,  his  men- 
aces, even  his  blows,  which  he  dealt  with  the  flat 
of  his  sabre,   were  ineffectual   to   rouse   anything 


I  **  Que  es  esto,  £spanolcs  ?  de  de  que  temels  ?    Retiraos  con  or- 

qud  huis  ?  ddnde  estd  la  honra  de  den  como  hombres  de  guerra  coa 

Espana  ?  No  teneis  delante  a  Don  el  rostro  al  enemigo.**  Marmol,  Ro- 

Juan  de  Austria,  vuestro  capitan  ?  belion  de  Granada,  torn.  II.  p.  257. 


Ch.  VIIL] 


DISASTER  AT   SERON. 


247 


like  a  feeling  of  shame  in  the  cowardly  troops. 
The  efforts  of  his  captains  were  equally  fruitless, 
though  in  making  them  they  exposed  their  lives 
with  a  recklessness  which  cost  some  of  them  dear. 
Figueroa  was  disabled  by  a  wound  in  the  leg. 
Quixada  was  hit  by  a  musket-ball  on  the  left 
shoulder,  and  struck  from  his  saddle.  Don  John, 
who  was  near,  sprang  to  his  assistance,  and  placed 
him  in  the  hands  of  some  troopers,  with  directions 
to  bear  him  at  once  to  Caniles.  In  doing  this  the 
young  commander  himself  had  a  narrow  escape; 
for  he  was  struck  on  his  helmet  by  a  ball,  which, 
however,  fortunately  glanced  off*  without  doing  him 
injury.^  He  was  now  hurried  along  by  the  tide  of 
fugitives,  who  made  no  attempt  to  rally  for  the 
distance  of  half  a  league,  when  the  enemy  ceased 
his  pursuit.  Six  hundred  Spaniards  were  left  dead 
on  the  field.  A  great  number  threw  themselves 
into  the  houses,  prepared  to  make  good  their  de- 
fence. But  they  were  speedily  enveloped  by  the 
Moriscoes,  the  houses  were  stormed  or  set  on  fire, 
and  the  inmates  perished  to  a  man.^ 

Don  John,  in  a  letter  dated  the  nineteenth  of 
February,  two  days  after  this  disgraceful  affxiir, 
gave  an  account  of  it  to  the  king,  declaring  that 


2  "  Acudlendo  d  todas  las  ne- 
cesidades  con  peligro  de  su  perso- 
na, porque  le  dieron  un  escopetazo 
en  la  cabeza  sobre  una  celada  fu- 
erte  que  llevaba,  que  a  no  ser  tan 
buena,  le  mataran."    Ibid.,  p.  258. 

3  Carta  de  D.  Juan  de  Austria 


al  Rey,  19  de  Febrero,  1570,  MS. 
—  Marmol,  Rel)elion  de  Granada, 
torn.  II.  p.  253  et  seq.  —  Mcndoza, 
Guerra  de  Granada,  p.  273.  — 
Villafane,  Vida  de  Magdalena  de 
Ulloa.  —  VandorTiammen,  Don  Ju- 
an de  Austria,  fol.  116,  117. 


218 


REpELLlON   OF   THE   MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


Cn.  VIII.] 


DEATH  OF   l^UIXADA. 


249 


I 


II 


the  dastardly  conduct  of  the  troops  exceeded  any- 
thing he  had  ever  witnessed,  or  indeed  could  have 
believed,  had  he  not  seen  it  with  his  own  eyes. 
"  They  have  so  little  heart  in  the  service,"  he  adds, 
"  that  no  effort  that  I  can  make,  not  even  the  fear 
of  the  galleys  or  the  gibbet,  can  prevent  them  from 
deserting.  Would  to  Heaven  I  could  think  that 
they  are  moved  to  this  by  the  desire  to  return  to 
their  families,  and  not  by  fear  of  the  enemy.'"' 
He  gave  the  particulars  of  Quixada's  accident,  stat- 
ing that  the  surgeons  had  made  six  incisions  before 
they  could  ascertain  where  the  ball,  which  had 
penetrated  the  shoulder,  was  lodged ;  and  that,  with 
all  their  efforts,  they  had  as  yet  been  unable  to  ex- 
tract it.  "  I  now  deeply  feel,"  he  says,  "  how  much 
I  have  been  indebted  to  his  military  experience,  his 
diligence  and  care,  and  how  important  his  preser- 
vation is  to  the  service  of  your  majesty.  I  trust  in 
(jod  he  may  be  permitted  to  regain  his  health, 
Avhich  is  now  in  a  critical  condition."  ^ 

In  his  reply  to  this  letter,  the  king  expressed 
liis  sense  of  the  great  loss  which  both  he  and  his 
brother  would  sustain  by  the  death  of  Quixada. 
"  You  will  keep  me  constantly  advised  of  the  state 
of  his  health,"  he  says.  '•  I  know  well,  it  is  un- 
necessary for  me  to  impress  upon  you  the  necessitv 

^  "  Conforme  i  eato  entenderd  jI  Dlos  que  cl  amor  d*^  los  hijos  v 

V.  M.  la  po<*a  costancia  y  aficion  paricntt's  sea  la  causa  y  no  micdo 

que  tienen  d  la  guerra,  estos  que  la  de   los   enemigos."     Carta   de  D. 

dejan  al  mejor  tiempo  sin  poderles  Juan  de   Austria  al  Rey,  19  do 

reprimir  galeras,  ni  horca  ni  cuan-  Febrero,  1570,  MS. 

tas  diligencias  se  hacen.     Y  plega  ^  Ibid, 


of  watching  carefully  over  him."  Philip  did  not 
let  the  occasion  pass  for  administering  a  gentle 
rebuke  to  Don  John,  for  so  lightly  holding  the 
promise  he  had  made  to  him  from  Galera,  not  again 
to  expose  himself  heedlessly  to  danger.  "AVhen 
I  think  of  your  narrow  escape  at  Seron,  I  cannot 
express  the  pain  I  have  felt  at  your  rashly  in- 
curring such  a  risk.  In  war,  every  one  should 
confine  himself  to  the  duties  of  his  own  station; 
nor  should  the  general  affect  to  play  the  part  of 
the  soldier,  any  more  than  the  soldier  that  of  the 
general."^ 

It  seems  to  have  been  a  common  opinion,  that 
Don  John  was  more  fond  of  displaying  his  per- 
sonal prowess  than  became  one  of  his  high  rank  ; 
in  short,  that  he  showed  more  the  qualities  of  a 
knight-errant  than  those  of  a  great  commander.' 

Meanwhile  Quixada's  wound,  which  from  the 
first  had  been  attended  with  alarming  symptoms, 
grew  so  much  worse  as  to  bafHc  all  the  skill  of  the 
surgeons.     His    sufferings   were    great,  and  every 


8  "  Que  cada  uno  ha  de  Inoor 
su  ofu'io  y  no  el  general  de  soldado, 
ni  el  soldado  el  de  general."  Car- 
la  del  Roy  d  D.  Juan  de  Austria, 
24  de  Febrero,  1570,  MS. 

"f  One  evidence  of  this  is  aflTonl- 
ed  by  the  frankness  of  his  friend, 
Ruy  Gomez  de  Silva.  "  La  pri- 
mera,**  he  writes  to  Don  John, 
"  que  por  cuanto  V.  Ex.*  estd  re- 
putado  de  atrevido  y  de  hombre 
que  quiore  mas  ganar  credito  de 
soldado  que  de  general,  que  mudo 

VOL.  III.  32 


cste  estilo  y  se  deje  gobemar.** 
(Carta  de  4  de  IVIarzo,  1570,  MS.) 
It  is  to  Don  John's  credit  that,  in 
his  reply,  he  thanks  Ruy  Gomez 
warmlv   for  his   admonition,    and 

ml  ' 

begs  his  monitor  to  reprove  him 
without  hesitation,  whenever  he 
deems  it  necessary,  since,  now  that 
his  guardian  is  gone,  there  is  no 
other  who  can  take  this  liberty. 
Carta  de  D.  Juan  de  Austria  si  Ruv 
Gomez  de  Silva,  MS. 


250 


REBELLION  OF 'THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


I' 


hour  he  grew  weaker.  Before  a  week  had  elapsed, 
it  became  evident  that  his  days  were  numbered. 

The  good  knight  received  the  intelligence  with 
composure,  —  for  he  did  not  fear  death.  He  had 
not  the  happiness  in  this  solemn  hour  to  have 
her  near  him  on  whose  conjugal  love  and  tender- 
ness he  had  reposed  for  so  many  years.^  But  the 
person  whom  he  cherished  next  to  his  wife,  Don 
John  of  Austria,  was  by  his  bedside,  watching  over 
him  with  the  affectionate  solicitude  of  a  son,  and 
ministering  those  kind  offices  which  soften  the 
bitterness  of  death.  The  dying  man  retained  his 
faculties  to  the  last,  and  dictated,  though  he  had 
not  the  strength  to  sign,  a  letter  to  the  king,  re- 
questing some  favor  for  his  widow  in  consideration 
of  his  long  services.  He  then  gave  himself  up 
wholly  to  his  spiritual  concerns  ;  and  on  the  twen- 
ty-fourth of  February,  1570,  he  gently  expired,  in 
the  arms  of  his  foster-son. 

Quixada  received  a  soldier's  funeral.  His  obse- 
quies were  celebrated  with  the  military  pomp  suited 
to  his  station.  His  remains,  accompanied  by  the 
whole  army,  with  arms  reversed  and  banners  trail- 


5  According  to  Villafane,  Doila 
Magdalena  left  Madrid  on  learninor 
her  husband's  illness,  and  travelled 
with  such  despatch  that  she  arrived 
in  time  to  receive  his  last  sighs. 
Hita  also  speaks  of  her  presence 
at  his  bedside.  But  as  seven  days 
only  elapsed  between  the  date  of 
the  knight's  wound  and  that  of  his 
death,  pne  finds  it  difficult  to  be- 


lieve that  this  could  have  allowed 
time  for  the  courier  who  brought 
the  tidings,  and  for  the  lady  after- 
wards, whether  in  the  saddle  or 
litter,  to  have  travelled  a  distance 
of  over  four  hundred  and  fifty  mile^, 
along  execrable  roads,  with  much 
of  the  way  lying  through  the  wild 
passes  of  the  Alpujarras, 


Ch.  VIILJ 


DEATH  or  QUIXADA. 


251 


ing  in- the  dust,  were  borne  in  solemn  procession  to 
the  church  of  the  Jeronymites  in  Caniles ;  and 
*'  we  may  piously  trust,"  says  the  chronicler,  "  that 
the  soul  of  Don  Luis  rose  up  to  Heaven  with  the 
sweet  incense  which  burned  on  the  altars  of  St. 
Jerome ;  for  he  spent  his  life,  and  finally  lost  it,  in 
fighting  like  a  valiant  soldier  the  battles  of  the 
faith."  ^ 

Quixada  was  austere  in  his  manners,  and  a 
martinet  in  enforcing  discipline.  He  was  loyal  in 
his  nature,  of  spotless  integrity,  and  possessed  so 
many  generous  and  knightly  qualities,  that  he  com- 
manded the  respect  of  his  comrades ;  and  the  re- 
gret for  his  loss  was  universal.  Philip,  writing 
to  Don  John,  a  few  days  after  the  event,  remarks: 
"  I  did  not  think  that  any  letter  from  you  could 
have  given  me  so  much  pain  as  that  acquainting 
me  with  the  death  of  Quixada.  I  fully  compre- 
hend the  importance  of  his  loss  both  to  myself  and 
to  you,  and  cannot  wonder  you  should  feel  it  so 
keenly.  It  is  impossible  to  allude  to  it  without 
sorrow.  Yet  we  may  be  consoled  by  the  reflection 
that,  living  and  dying  as  he  did,  he  cannot  fail  to 
have  exchanged  this  world  for  a  better."  ^° 

Quixada's  remains  Mere  removed,  the  year  fol- 
lowing, to  his  estate  at  Villagarcia,  where  his  dis- 


9  "  Creemos  piadosamente  que 
el  alma  de  D.  Luis  subiria  al  cielo 
con  el  oloroso  incienso  que  se  que- 
md  en  los  altares  de  S.  Gerdnimo, 
jjonjue  siempre  habia  enipleado  la 
\'nh\  en  pelear  contra  enemigos  de 


nuestra  santa  fe',  y  por  ultimo  mu- 
rid  batallando  con  ellos  como  sol- 
dado  valeroso.*'  Hita,  Guerras  de 
Granada,  torn.  II.  p.  487. 

10  Carta  del  Rey  d  D.  Juan  do 
Austria,  3  de  Marzo,  1570,  MS. 


252 


liEBELLION   OF   THE   MOIUSCOES.         [Book  V. 


consolate  widow  continued  to  reside.  Immediately 
after  her  lord's  decease,  Don  John  wrote  to  DoRa 
Magdalena,  from  the  camp,  a  letter  of  affectionate 
condolence,  which  came  from  the  fulness  of  his 
heart :  "  Luis  died  as  became  him,  fighting  for  the 
glory  and  safety  of  his  son,  and  covered  with  im- 
mortal honor.  Whatever  I  am,  whatever  I  shall 
l>e,  I  owe  to  him,  by  whom  I  was  formed,  or  rather 
begotten  in  a  nobler  birth.  Dear  sorrowing  wid- 
owed mother !  I  only  am  left  to  you  ;  and  to  you 
indeed  do  I  of  right  belong,  for  whose  sake  Luis 
died,  and  you  have  been  stricken  with  this  woe. 
Moderate  your  grief  with  your  wonted  wisdom. 
AVould  that  I  were  near  you  now,  to  dry  your  tears, 
or  mingle  mine  with  them  !  Farewell,  dearest  and 
most  honored  mother !  and  pray  to  God  to  send 
back  your  son  from  these  wars  to  your  bosom."" 

Dona  Magdalena  survived  her  husband  many 
years,  employing  her  time  in  acts  of  charity  and 
devotion.  From  Don  John  she  ever  experienced 
the  same  filial  tenderness  which  he  evinces  in  the 
letter  above  quoted.  Never  did  he  leave  the  coun- 
try or  return  to  it  without  first  paying  his  respects 
to  his  motheV,  as  he  always  called  her.  She 
watched  with  maternal  pride  his  brilliant  career; 
and  when  that  was  closed  by  an  early  death, 
the  last  link  which  had  bound  her  to  this  world 


^1  The  letter  is   translated    by  National  Library  at  ^ladrld.     See 

Stirling  from    a    manuscript,   en-  Cloister  Life  of  Charles  the  Fifth, 

titled   "  Joannis    Austriaci    Vita,  (Am.  ed.,)  p.  286. 
auctore   Antonio    Ossorlo/*  in  the 


Cii.  VIII]       RAPID   SUCCESSES   OF   DON  JOIIX. 


253 


was  snapped  for  ever.  Yet  she  continued  to  live 
on  till  near  the  close  of  the  century,  dying  in  1598, 
and  leaving  behind  her  a  reputation  for  goodness 
and  piety  little  less  than  that  of  a  saint. 

Don  John,  having  paid  the  last  tribute  of  re- 
spect to  the    memory  of  his    guardian,    collected 
his  whole  strength,  and  marched  at  once  against 
Seron.     But  the  enemy,  shrinking  from  an  encoun- 
ter with  so  formidable  a  force,  had  abandoned  the 
place  before  the  approach  of  the  Spaniards.     The 
Spanish  commander  soon  after  encountered  El  Ha- 
baqui  in  the  neighborhood,  and  defeated  him.     He 
then  marched  on  Tijola,  a  town  perched  on  a  bold 
cliff,  which  a  resolute  garrison  might  have  easily 
held  against  an  enemy.     But  the  Moriscoes,  avail- 
ing themselves  of  the  darkness  of  the  night,  stole 
out  of  the  place,  and  succeeded,  without  much  loss, 
in   escaping  through  the  lines  of  the   besiegers. ^'^ 
The  fall  of  Tijola  was  followed  by  that  of  Pur- 
chena.     In   a   short   time   the   Mhole  Rio   de  Al- 
manzora  was  overrun,  and  the  victorious  general, 
crossing  the  southeastern  borders  of  the  Alpujarras, 
established  his  quarters,  on  the  second  of  May,  at 
Padules,  about  two  leagues  from  Andarax. 

These   rapid  successes  are  not  to  be  explained 
simply  by  Don  John's  superiority  over  the  enemy 


^2  Tijola  is  the  scene  of  the  stor}-, 
famiUar  to  every  lover  of  Castilian 
romance,  and  better  suited  to  ro- 
mance than  history,  of  the  Moor 
Tuzani  and  his  unfortunate  mis- 
tress,   the    beautiful    Maleha.     It 


forms  a  most  pleasing  episode  in 
Hita's  second  volume,  (pp.  523- 
540,)  and  is  translated  with  pathos 
and  delicacy  by  Crrcourt,  Hist,  des 
Arabes  d'Espagne,  torn.  III.  p. 
345  et  seq. 


254 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


in  strength  or  military  science.     Philip  had  turned 
a  favorable  ear  to  the  pope's  invitation  to  join  the 
league  against  the  Turk,  in  which  he  was  compli- 
mented by  having  the  post  of  commander-in-chief 
offered  to  his  brother,  John  of  Austria.     But  before 
engaging  in  a  new  war,  it  was  most  desirable  for 
him  to  be  released  from  that  in  which  he  was  in- 
volved with  the  Moriscoes.     He  had  already  seen 
enouf^h  of  the  sturdy  spirit  of  that  race  to  be  satis- 
fied that  to  accomplish  his  object  by  force  would  be 
a  work  of  greater  time  than  he  could  well  afford. 
The  only  alternative,  therefore,  was  to  have  recourse 
to  the  conciliatory  policy  which  had  been  so  much 
condemned  in  the  marquis  of  Mondejar.     Instruc- 
tions to  that  effect  were  accordingly  sent  to   Don 
John,  who,  heartily  weary  of  this  domestic  contest, 
and  longing  for  a  wider  theatre  of  action,  entered 
warmly  into  his  brother's  views.     Secret  negotia- 
tions  were  soon   opened    with    El   Habaqui,   the 
Morisco  chief,  who  received  the  offer  of  such  teims 
for  himself  and  his  countrymen  as  left  him  in  no 
doubt,  at  least,  as  to  the  side  on  which  his  own  in- 
terest lay.     As  a  preliminary  step,  he  was  to  with- 
draw his  support  from  the  places  in  the  Rio  de 
Almanzora ;  and  thus  the  war,  brought  within  the 
narrower  range  of  the  Alpujarras,  might  be  more 
easily  disposed  of     This  part  of  his  agreement  had 
been  faithfully  executed  ;  and  the  rebellious  district 
on  the  eastern  borders  of  the  Alpujarras  had,  as 
we  have  seen,  been  brought  into  subjection,  with 
little  cost  of  life  to  the  Spaniards. 


Ch.  viil]     rapid  successes  of  don  joun.  255 

^  Don  John  followed  this  up  by  a  royal  proclama- 
tion, promising  an  entire  amnesty  for  the  past  to 
all  who  within  twenty  days  should  tender  their 
submission.  They  were  to  be  allowed  to  state  the 
grievances  which  had  moved  them  to  take  up  arms, 
with  an  assurance  that  these  should  be  redressed.' 
All  who  refused  to  profit  by  this  act  of  grace,  with 
the  exception  of  the  women,  and  of  children  under 
fourteen  years  of  age,  would  be  put  to  the  sword 
without  mercy. 

AVhat  was  the  effect  of  the  proclamation  we  are 
not  informed.     It  was  probably  not  such  as  had 
been  anticipated.    The  Moriscoes,  distressed  as  they 
were,  did  not  trust  the  promises  of  the  Spaniards. 
At  least  we  find  Don  John,  who  had  now  received 
a  reinforcement  of  two  thousand  men,  distributing 
liis  army  into  detachments,  with  orders  to  scour  the 
country  and  deal  with  the  inhabitants  in  a  way 
that  should  compel  them  to  submit.     Such  of  the 
wretched  peasantry  as  had  taken  refuge  in  their 
fastnesses  were  assailed  with  shot  and  shell,  and 
slaughtered  by  hundreds.     Some,  who  had  hidden 
with  their  families  in  the  caves  in  which  the  coun- 
try abounded,  were  hunted  out  by  their  pursuers, 
or  suffocated  by  the  smoke  of  burning  fagots  at 
the   entrance    of  their   retreats.      Everywhere  the 
land  was  laid  waste,  so   as   to   afford   sustenance 
for  no  living  thing.     Such  were  the   conciliatory 
measures  employed  by  the  government  for  the  re- 
duction of  the  rebels.  ^^ 

W  Marmol,  Rebelion  de  Granada,  torn.  II.  pp.  290  -  a20,  340  -  34C.  ^ 


256 


REBELLION  OF  THE   MOUISCOES.         [Book  V. 


Meanwhile  the  duke  of  Sesa  had  taken  the  field 
on  the  northern  border  of  the  Alpujarras,  with  an 
army  of  ten  thousand  foot  and  two  thousand  horse. 
He  was  opposed  by  Aben-Aboo  with  a  force  which 
in  point  of  numbers  was  not  inferior  to  his  own. 
The  two  commanders  adopted  the  same  policy  ; 
^  avoiding  pitched  battles,  and  confining  themselves 
to  the  desultory  tactics  of  guerilla  warfare,  —  to 
skirmishes  and  surprises ;  while  each  endeavored 
to  distress  his  adversary  by  cutting  off  his  con- 
voys and  by  wasting  the  territory  with  fire  and 
sword.  The  Morisco  chief  had  an  advantage  in 
the  familiarity  of  his  men  with  this  wild  mountain 
fighting,  and  in  their  better  knowledge  of  the 
intricacies  of  the  country.  But  this  was  far  more 
than  counterbalanced  by  the  superiority  of  the 
Spaniards  in  military  organization,  and  by  their 
possession  of  cavalry,  artillery,  and  muskets,  in 
all  of  which  the  Moslems  were  lamentably  de- 
ficient. Thus,  although  no  great  battle  was  won 
by  the  Christians,  although  they  were  sorely  an- 
noyed, and  their  convoys  of  provisions  frequently 
cut  off,  by  the  skirmishing  parties  of  the  enemy, 
they  continued  steadily  to  advance,  driving  the 
Moriscoes  before  them,  and  securing  the  perma- 
nency of  their  conquests  by  planting  a  line  of  forts, 
well  garrisoned,  along  the  wasted  territory  in  their 
rear.  By  the  beginning  of  May,  the  duke  of  Sesa 
had  reached  the  borders  of  the  Mediterranean,  and 

Vanderhammen,    Don    Juan    de    ras,  Hist.  d'Espagne,  torn.  X.  p. 
Austria,  fol.   119  et  seq.  —  Ferre-     ITOetseq. 


Cir.  VIILJ       KAPID   SUCCESSES   OF  DON  JOHN.  '    257 

soon  after  united  his  forces,  greatly  diminished  by 
desertion,   to   those  of  Don   John   of  Austria   at 

Negotiations  during  this  time  had  been  resumed 
with  El  Habaqui,  who  with  the  knowledge,  if  not 
the  avowed  sanction,  of  Aben-Aboo,  had  come  to 
a  place  called  Fondon  de  Andarax,  not  far  distant 
from  the  head-quarters  of  the  Spanish  commander- 
ni-chief     He  was  accompanied  by  several  of  the 
principal  Moriscoes,  who  were  to  take  part  in  the 
discussions.     On  the  thirteenth  of  May  they  were 
met   by   the   deputies    from    the    Castilian    camp, 
and  the  conference  was  opened.     It  soon  appeared 
that  the  demands  of  the  Moriscoes   were   wholly 
inadmissible.     They  insisted,  not  only  on  a  general 
amnesty,  but  that  things  should  be  restored  to  the 
situation  in  wliich  they  were  before  the  edicts  of 
Philip  the  Second  had  given  rise  to  the  rebellion. 
The  Moorish  commissioners  were  made  to  under- 
stand  that  they  were  to  negotiate  only  on  the  foot- 
ing  of  a  conquered   race.     They  were  advised  to 
prepare   a   memorial   preferring   such   requests  as 
might  be  reasonably  granted ;    and  they  were  of- 
fered the  services  of  Juan  de   Soto,  Don  John^s 


>4  Mendoza,  Ouerrade  Granada, 
p.  271  et  seq.  —  Marmol,  Rebelion 
de  Granada,  torn.  II.  pp.  283  -  289, 
303-315,321  etseq. 

In  a  letter  without  date,  of  the 
duke  of  Sesa,  forming  part  of  a 
mass  of  correspondence  which  I 
Avas  so  fortunate  as  to  obtain  from 
the  collection  at  Holland  House, 


VOL.   III. 


33 


he  insists  on  starvation  as  a  much 
more  effectual  means  of  reducing 
the  enemy  than  the  sword.  "  Esta 
guerra  parece  que  no  puede  aca- 
barse  por  medio  mas  cierto  que  el 
de  la  hambre  que  necesitara  ^  loi 
enemigos  a  rendirse  d  perecer,  r 
esta  los  acabard  primero  que  el 
espada."    MS. 


258 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.  [Book  V. 


secretary,  to  aid  them  in  drafting  the  document. 
They  were  counselled,  moreover,  to  see  their  mas- 
ter, Aben-Aboo,  and  obtain  full  powers  from  him 
to  conclude  a  definitive  treaty. 

Aben-Aboo,  ever  since  his  elevation  to  the  stormy 
sovereignty  of  the  Alpuj arras,  had  maintained  his 
part  with  a  spirit  worthy  of  his  cause.  But  as  he 
beheld  town  after  town  fall  away  from  his  little 
empire,  his  people  butchered  or  swept  into  slavery, 
his  lands  burned  and  wasted,  until  the  fairest  por- 
tions were  converted  into  a  wilderness,  —  above  all, 
when  he  saw  that  his  cause  excited  no  sympathy  in 
the  bosoms  of  the  Moslem  princes,  on  whose  sup- 
port he  had  mainly  relied,  —  he  felt  more  and 
more  satisfied  of  the  hopelessness  of  a  contest  with 
the  Spanish  monarchy.  His  officers,  and  indeed 
the  people  at  large,  had  come  to  the  same  convic- 
tion ;  and  nothing  but  an  intense  hatred  of  the 
Spaniards,  and  a  distrust  of  their  good  faith,  had 
prevented  the  Moriscoes  from  throwing  down  their 
arms  and  accepting  the  promises  of  grace  which 
had  been  held  out  to  them.  The  disastrous  re- 
sult of  the  recent  campaign  against  the  duke  of 
Sesa  tended  still  further  to  the  discouragement 
of  the  Morisco  chief;  and  El  Habaqui  and  his  as- 
sociates returned  with  authority  from  their  mas- 
ter to  arrange  terms  of  accommodation  with  the 
Spaniards. 

On  the  nineteenth  of  May,  the  commissioners 
from  each  side  again  met  at  Fondon  de  Andarax. 
A   memorial   drafted   by   Juan   de   Soto  was  laid 


Ch.  viil]     submission  of  the  moriscoes. 


259 


before  Don  John,  whose  quarters,  as  we  have  seen, 
were  in  the  immediate  neighborhood.  No  copy  of 
the  instrument  has  been  preserved,  or  at  least  none 
has  been  published.  From  the  gracious  answer 
returned  by  the  prince,  we  may  infer  that  it  con- 
tained nothing  deemed  objectionable  by  the  con- 
querors. 

The  deputies  were  not  long  in  agreeing  on  tenns 
of  accommodation,  —  or  rather,  of  submission.  It 
was  settled  that  the  Morisco  captain  should  proceed 
to  the  Christian  camp,  and  there  presenting  himself 
before  the  commander-in-chief,  should  humbly  crave 
forgiveness  and  tender  submission  on  behalf  of  his 
nation  ;  that,  in  return  for  this  act  of  humilia- 
tion, a  general  amnesty  should  be  granted  to  his 
countrymen,  who,  though  they  were  no  longer  to 
be  allowed  to  occupy  the  Alpuj  arras,  would  be 
protected  by  the  government  wherever  they  might 
be  removed.  More  important  concessions  were 
made  to  Aben-Aboo  and  El  Habaqui.  The  last- 
mentioned  chief,  as  the  chronicler  tells  us,  obtamed 
all  that  he  asked  for  his  master,  as  well  as  for  him- 
self and  his  friends. ^^  —  Such  politic  concessions  by 
the  Spaniards  had  doubtless  their  influence  in  open- 
ing the  eyes  of  the  Morisco  leaders  to  the  folly  of 
protracting  the  war  in  their  present  desperate  cir- 
cumstances. 

The  same  evening  on  which   the   arrangement 

^^  "  Con  estas  cosas  y  otras  par-  gos,  y  para  si  mismo,  que  todas  so 
ticulares  que  El  Habaqui  pidid  le  concedieron.**  Marmol,  Rehe- 
])ara  Aben  Aboo,  y  para  los  ami-    lion  de  Granada,  torn.  II.  p.  3G0. 


1 


260 


iu:bi:llion  of  the  moriscoes.       [book  v. 


was  concluded,  El  Ilabaqui  proceeded  to  his  inter- 
view with  tlie  Spanish  commander.  He  was  ac- 
companied by  one  only  of  the  Morisco  deputies. 
The  others  declined  to  witness  the  spectacle  of  their 
nation's  humiliation.  He  was  attended,  however, 
by  a  body  of  three  hundred  arquebusiers.  On 
entering  the  Christian  lines,  his  little  company  was 
surrounded  by  four  regiments  of  Castilian  infantry 
and  escorted  to  the  presence  of  John  of  Austria, 
w^io  stood  before  his  tent,  attended  by  his  officers, 
from  whom  his  princely  bearing  made  him  easily 
distinguished. 

El  Habaqui,  alighting  from  his  horse,  and  pros- 
trating himself  before  the  prince,  exclaimed :  "  Mer- 
cy! We  implore  your  highness,  in  the  name  of 
his  majesty,  to  show  us  mercy,  and  to  pardon  our 
transgressions,  which  we  acknowledge  have  been 
great ! "  ^^  Then  unsheathing  his  scymitar,  he  pre- 
sented it  to  Don  John,  saying  that  he  surrendered 
his  arms  to  his  majesty  in  the  name  of  Aben-Aboo 
and  the  rebel  chiefs  for  whom  he  was  empowered  to 
act.  At  the  same  time  the  secretary,  Juan  de  Soto, 
who  had  borne  the  Moorish  banner,  given  him  by 
El  Habaqui,  on  the  point  of  his  lance,  cast  it  on 
the  ground  before  the  feet  of  the  prince.  The 
whole  scene  made  a  striking  picture,  in  which  the 
proud  conqueror,  standing  with  the  trophies  of 
victory   around  him,   looked  down  on  the   repre- 

W  "  Misericordia,  Senor,  mlsen-  don  de  nuestras  culpas,  que  cono- 
eordia  nos  conceda  vuestra  Alteza  cemos  liaber  sido  graves."  Ibid., 
en  nombre  de  su  Magestad,  y  per-    p.  361. 


Cu.  VIII.]       SUBMISSION  OF  THE  MOUISCOES. 


2G1 


sentative  of  the  conquered  race,  as  he  crouched 
in  abject  submission  at  his  feet.  Don  John,  the 
predominant  figure  in  the  tableau^  by  his  stately 
demeanor  tempered  with  a  truly  royal  courtesy, 
reminded  the  old  soldiers  of  his  father  the  emperor, 
and  they  exclaimed  :  "  This  is  the  true  son  of 
Charles  the  Fifth!" 

Stooping  forward,  he  graciously  raised  the  Mo- 
risco chief  from  the  ground,  and,  returning  him 
his  SAvord,  bade  him  employ  it  henceforth  in  the 
service  of  the  king.  The  ceremony  was  closed  by 
flourishes  of  trumpets  and  salvoes  of  musketry,  as 
if  in  honor  of  some  great  victory. 

El  Habaqui  remained  some  time  after  his  follow- 
ers had  left  the  camp,  where  he  met  with  every 
attention,  was  feasted  and  caressed  by  the  princi- 
pal officers,  and  was  even  entertained  at  a  banquet 
by  the  bishop  of  Guadix.  He  received,  however, 
as  we  have  seen,  something  more  substantial  than 
compliments.  Under  these  circumstances  it  was 
natural  that  he  should  become  an  object  of  jealousy 
and  suspicion  to  the  Moriscoes.  It  was  soon  whis- 
pered that  El  Habaqui,  in  his  negotiations  with 
the  Christians,  had  been  more  mindful  of  his  own 
interests  than  of  those  of  his  countrjmen.^^ 

Indeed,  the  Moriscoes  had  little  reason  to  con- 
gratulate themselves  on  the  result  of  a  treaty, 
which  left  them  in  the  same  forlorn  and  degrraded 
condition  as  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  rebel- 

ft 

^"^  The  fullest  account  of  these     ^larmol,    Rt^bcllon    de    Granada, 
proceedings    is    to    be    found    in     torn.  II.  pp.  355-362. 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  Y. 


lion,  —  which  in  one  important  respect,  indeed,  left 
them  in  a  worse  condition,  since  they  were  hence- 
forth to  become  exiles  from  the  homes  of  their 
fathers.  Yet  cruel  and  pitiable  in  the  extreme  as 
was  the  situation  of  the  Moriscoes,  the  Spanish 
monks,  as  Don  John  complains  to  his  brother, 
inveighed  openly  in  their  pulpits  against  the  be- 
nignity and  mercy  of  the  king ;  ^®  and  this  too,  he 
adds,  when  it  should  rather  have  been  their  duty 
to  intercede  for  poor  wretches,  who  for  the  most 
part  had  sinned  through  ignorance.^^  The  eccle- 
siastic on  whom  his  censure  most  heavily  falls,  is 
the  President  Deza,  —  a  man  held  in  such  ab- 
horrence by  the  Moriscoes  as  to  have  been  one 
principal  cause  of  their  insurrection;  and  he  be- 
seeches the  king  to  consult  the  interests  of  Gra- 
nada, by  bestowing  on  him  a  bishopric,  or  some 
other  dignity,  which  may  remove  him  from  the 
present  scene  of  liis  labors.^*^ 

Among  those  disappointed  at  the  terms  of  the 
treaty,  as  it  soon  appeared,  was  Aben-Aboo  him- 
self.    At  first  he  affected  to  sanction  it,  and  prom- 


18  "Predicando  en  los  pulpites 
publicamente  contra  la  ben!«rnidad 
}'  elcmencia  que  V.  M.  ha  man- 
dado  usar  con  esta  jrente."  Carta 
de  D.  Juan  de  Austria  al  Rev,  7  de 
Junio,  1570,  MS. 

19  "  Que  los  religiosos  que  ha- 
brian  de  interceder  eon  V.  M.  por 
estos  miserables,  qud  cierto  la  ma- 
}*or  j)arte  ha  pecado  eori  ignorancia, 
hagan  su  esfuerzo  en  reprender  la 
clemencia."    Ibid. 


so  "  The  wise  king,"  as  Bleda 
tells  us,  "  did  not  forget  Deza's  emi- 
nent services.  He  became  one  of 
the  richest  cardinals,  passing  the  re- 
mainder of  his  days  in  Rome,  where 
he  built  a  sumptuous  palace  for  his 
residence.**  (Cronica  de  Espana, 
p.  753.)  Unfortunately  this  happy 
preferment  did  not  take  place  till 
some  time  later,  —  too  late  for  tho 
j)oor  Moriscoes  to  profit  by  it. 


Cii.  VIII  j        SUBMISSION  OF  THE  MORISCOES. 


263 


ised  to  do  all  he  could  to  enforce  its  execution. 
But  he  soon  cooled,  and,  throwing  the  blame 
on  El  Habaqui,  declared  that  this  officer  had  ex- 
ceeded his  powers,  made  a  false  report  to  him  of 
his  negotiations,  and  sacrificed  the  interests  of  the 
nation  to  his  own  ambition.^*  The  attentions 
lavished  on  that  chief  by  the  Spaniards,  his  early 
correspondence  with  them,  and  the  liberal  conces- 
sions secured  to  him  by  the  treaty,  furnished  plau- 
sible grounds  for  such  an  accusation. 

According  to  the  Spanish  accounts,  however, 
Aben-Aboo  at  this  time  received  a  reinforcement 
of  two  hundred  soldiers  from  Barbary,  with  the 
assurance  that  he  would  soon  have  more  effectual 
aid  from  Africa.  This,  we  are  told,  changed  his 
views.  Nor  is  it  impossible  that  the  Morisco  chief, 
as  the  hour  approached,  found  it  a  more  difficult 
matter  than  he  had  anticipated  to  resign  his  royal 
state  and  descend  into  the  common  rank  and  file 
of  the  vassals  of  Castile,  —  the  degraded  caste  of 
Moorish  vassals,  whose  condition  was  little  above 
that  of  serfs. 

However  this  may  be,  the  Spanish  camp  was 
much  disquieted  by  the  rumors  which  came  in 
of  Aben-Aboo's  vacillation.  It  was  even  reported 
that,  far  from  endeavoring  to  enforce  the  execution 
of  the  treaty,  Ife  was  secr^ly  encouraging  his  peo- 

• 

21  «  Que  el  Habaqui  habia  mira-  conceder,  y  procurando  el  bien  y 

do  mal  jK)r  el  bien  comun,  conten-  provecho  para  si  y  para  sus  deu- 

tandose  con  lo  que  solamente  Don  dos.'*    Marmol,  Rebclion  de  Gra- 

Juan  de  Austria  le  habia  querido  nada,  torn.  II.  p.  390, 


2G4 


KEBELLION  OF   THE  MOIUSCOES.  [Book  V. 


Ch.  VIIL] 


FATE  OF  EL  IIABAQUI. 


265 


pie   to  further  resistance.     Xo    one   felt  more  in- 
dignant at  his  conduct  than  El  Habaqui,  who  had 
now   become  as   loyal  a  subject  as  any  other  in 
Philip's  dominions.     Not  a  little  personal  resent- 
ment was  mingled  with  his  feeling  towards  Aben- 
Aboo;  and  he  offered,  if  Don  John  would  place 
him  at  the  head  of  a  detachment,  to  go  himself, 
brave  the  Morisco  prince  in  his  own  quarters,  and 
bring  him  as  a  prisoner  to  the  camp.     Don  John, 
though  putting  entire  confidence  in  El  Ilabaqui's 
fidelity,^   preferred,  instead  of  men,  to  give  him 
money ;  and  he  placed  eight  hundred  gold  ducats 
in  his  hands,  to  enable  him  to  raise  the  necessary 
levies  among  his  countrymen. 

Thus   fortified.    El    Habaqui    set    out   for   the 
head-quarters  of  Aben-Aboo,   at   his  ancient  resi- 
dence   in  Mecina  de  Bombaron.     On  the   second 
day  the  Morisco  captain  fell  in  with  a  party  of  his 
countrymen  lingering  idly  by  the  way,  and  he  in- 
quired, with  an  air  of  authority,  why  they  did  not 
go   and   tender   their   submission   to  the   Spanish 
authorities,   as   others   had    done.      They   replied, 
they  were  waiting  for  their  master's  orders.     To 
this  El  Habaqui  rejoined,  "  All  are  bound  to  sub- 
mit ;  and  if  Aben-Aboo,  on  his  part,  shows  unwill- 
ingness to  do  so,  I  will  arrest  him  at  once,  and 
drag   him   at   my    horse's    tail   to  'the    Christian 

"2  "  En  lo  que  i  esto  toca,  no  resoe  hombre  que  tracta  venhd,  y 

tengo  mas  prendas  que  la  palabra  tal  faina  tieno."    Carta  de  D.  Ju'aii 

del  Habaqui,  el  cual  me  podria  en-  do  Austria  al  Key,  21  de  Mavo 

ganar;  pero  certifico  d  V.  M.  que  1570,  MS. 
en  su  mauera  de  proceder  me  pa- 


camp."^  —  This   foolish  vaunt  cost   the   braggart 
his  life. 

One  of  the  party  instantly  repaired  to  Mecina 
and  reported  the  words  to  Aben-Aboo.  The  Mo- 
risco prince,  overjoyed  at  the  prospect  of  having 
his  enemy  in  his  power,  immediately  sent  a  de- 
tachment of  a  hundred  and  fifty  Turks  to  seize  the 
offender  and  bring  him  to  Mecina.  They  found 
El  Habaqui  at  Burchal,  where  his  family  were 
living.  The  night  had  set  in,  when  the  chief- 
tain received  tidings  of  the  approach  of  the  Turks ; 
and  under  cover  of  the  darkness  he  succeeded  in 
making  his  escape  into  the  neighboring  mountains. 
The  ensuing  morning  the  soldiers  followed  closely 
on  his  track ;  and  it  was  not  long  before  they  de- 
scried a  person  skulking  among  the  rocks,  whose 
white  mantle  and  crimson  turban  proved  him  to 
be  the  object  of  their  pursuit.  He  was  immediate-  ' 
ly  arrested  and  carried  to  Mecina.  His  sentence 
was  already  passed.  Aben-Aboo,  upbraiding  him 
with  his  treachery,  ordered  him  to  be  removed  to 
an  adjoining  room,  where  he  was  soon  after  stran- 
gled. His  corpse,  denied  the  rights  of  burial,  hav-  . 
ing  been  first  rolled  in  a  mat  of  reeds,  was  igno- 
miniously  thrown  into  a  sewer ;  and  the  fate  of 
the  unhappy  man  was  kept  a  secret  for  more  than 
a  month.^* 

23  "  Que  quando  Aben  Aboo  de  te,  y  mandd  ecliar  el  cuerpo  en  un 
8U  voluntad  no  lo  hicicse,  le  lleva-  muladar  envuelto  en  un  zarzo  de 
ria  el  atado  d  la  cola  de  su  cabal-  canas,  donde  estuvo  mas  de  treinta 
lo."  Mannol,  Robellon  de  Grana-  dias  sin  saberse  de  su  muerte.** 
da,  torn.  II.  p.  392.  Ibid.,  p.  393.  - 

24  "  Ijo  bizo  abogar  secretamen- 
voL.  III.  34 


'JhG  REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.  [Book  V. 

His  absence,  after  some  time,  naturally  excited 
suspicions  in  the  Spanish  camp.    A  cavalier,  known 
to  Aben-Aboo,  wrote  to  him  to  obtain  information 
respecting  El  Habaqui,  and  was  told  in  answer, 
by  the  wily  prince,  that  he  had  been  arrested  and 
placed  in  custody  for  his  treacherous  conduct,  but 
that  his  family  and  friends  need  be  under  no  alarm, 
as  he  was  perfectly  safe.     Aben-Aboo  hinted,  more^ 
over,  that  it  would  be  well  to  send  to  him  some  con- 
fidential person  with  whom  he  might  arrange  the 
particulars  of  the  treaty,  — as  if  these   had   not 
been  already  settled.    After  some  further  delay,  Don 
John  resolved   to  despatch  an  agent  to  ascertain 
the  real  dispositions  of  the'  Moriscocs  towards  the 
Christians,  and  to  penetrate,  if  possible,  the  mys- 
tery that  hung  round  the  fate  of  El  Habaqui. 

The  envoy  selected  was  Hernan  Valle  de  Pala- 
cios,  a  cavalier  possessed  of  a  courageous  heart, 
yet  tempered   by  a   caution   that   well  fitted  him 
for  the  delicate  and  perilous   office.     On  the  thir- 
teenth of  July  he  set  out  on  his  mission.     On  the 
way  he  encountered  a  Morisco,  a  kinsman  of  the 
late   monarch,    Aben-Humeya,    and   naturally   no 
friend   to  Aben-Aboo.     He    was   acquainted   with 
'  the  particulars  of  El  Habaqui's  murder,  of  which 
he  gave  full  details  to  Palacios.     He  added,  that 
the  Morisco  prince,  far  from  acquiescing  in  the  re- 
cent treaty,  was  doing  all  in  his  power  to  prevent 
its  execution.     He  could  readily  muster,  at  short 
notice,  said  the  informer,  a  force  of  five  thousand 
men,  well  armed,  and  provisioned  for  three  months ; 


Ch.  VIIL]  STERN  TEMPER  OF   ABEN-ABOO. 


267 


and  he  was  using  all  his  efforts  to  obtain  further 
reinforcements  from  Algiers. 

Instructed  in  these  particulars,  the  envoy  re- 
sumed his  journey.  He  was  careful,  however,  first 
to  obtain  a  safe-conduct  from  Aben-Aboo,  which 
was  promptly  sent  to  him.  On  reaching  Mecina, 
he  found  the  place  occupied  by  a  body  of  five  hun- 
dred  arquebusiers ;  but  by  the  royal  order  he  was 
allowed  to  pass  unmolested.  Before  entering  the 
presence  of  "  the  little  king  of  the  Alpuj arras,"  as 
Aben-Aboo,  like  his  predecessor,  was  familiarly 
styled  by  the  Spaniards,  Palacios  was  carefully 
searched,  and  such  weapons  as  he  carried  about 
him  were  taken  away. 

He  found  Aben-Aboo  stretched  on  a  divan,  and 
three  or  four  Moorish  girls  entertaining  him  with 
their  national  songs  and  dances.  He  did  not  rise, 
or  indeed  change  his  position,  at  the  approach  of 
the  envoy,  but  gave  him  audience  with  the  lofty 
bearing  of  an  independent  sovereign. 

Palacios  did  not  think  it  prudent  to  touch  on 
the  fate  of  El  Habaqui.  After  expatiating  on  the 
liberal  promises  which  he  was  empowered  by  Don 
John  of  Austria  to  make,  he  expressed  the  hope 
that  Aben-Aboo  would  execute  the  treaty,  and  not 
rekindle  a  war  which  must  lead  to  the  total  de- 
struction of  his  country.  The  chief  listened  in 
silence ;  and  it  w^as  not  till  he  had  called  some  of 
his  principal  captains  around  him,  that  he  con- 
descended to  reply.  He  then  said,  that  God  and 
the   whole   world  knew  it  was   not  by  his   own 


268 


KEBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


desire,  but  by  the  will  of  the  people,  that  he  had 
been  placed  on  the  throne.     "  I  shall  not  attempt," 
he  said,  "  to  prevent  any  of  my  subjects  from  sub- 
mitting that  prefer  to  do  so.    But  tell  your  master," 
he  added,  "  that,  while  I  have  a  single  shirt  to  my 
back,  I  shall  not  follow  their  example.    Though  no 
other  man  should  hold   out  in  the  Alpuj arras,  I 
would  rather  live  and  die  a  Mussulman  than  possess 
all  the  favors  which  King  Philip  can  heap  on  me. 
At  no  time,  and  in  no  manner,  will  I  ever  consent 
to  place  myself  in  his  power."  ^    He  concluded  this 
spirited  declaration  by  adding,  that,  if  driven  to  it 
by  necessity,  he  could   bury  himself  in  a  cavern, 
which  he  had  stowed  with  supplies  for  six  years  to 
come,  during  which  it  would  go  hard  but  he  would 
find  some  means  of  making  his  way  to  Barbary. 
The   desperate   tone  of  these   remarks  effectually 
closed   the   audience.     Palacios   was   permitted  to 
return  unmolested,  and  to  report  to  his  commander 
the  failure  of  his  mission. 

The  war,  which  Don  John  had  flattered  himself 
he  had  so  happily  brought  to  a  close,  now,  like  a 
fire  smothered,  but  not  quenched,  burst  forth  again 
with  redoubled  fury.  The  note  of  defiance  was 
heard  loudest  among  the  hills  of  Honda,  a  wild 
sierra  on  the  western  skirts  of  the  Alpujarras, 
inhabited  by  a  bold  and  untamed  race,  more  for- 

^  "  Que  quando     no    queclase  FHipe  le  podia  hacer ;  y  que  fuesc 

otro  sino  el  en  la  Alpuxarra  con  cierto,  que  en  ninrrun  tiempo,  ni 

sola  la  eamlsa  que  tenia  vestida,  por  ninguna  nianera,  se   pondria 

estimaba  mas  vivir  y  morir  Moro,  en  su  poder."    Marmol,  R^^belion 

que  todas  quantas  mercedesel  Rey  de  Granada,  torn.  II.  p.  410. 


Ch.  VIII.] 


RENEWAL   OF   THE   WAR. 


269 


midable  than  the  mountaineers  of  any  other  dis- 
trict of  Granada.  Aben-Aboo  did  all  he  could  to 
fan  the  flame  of  insurrection  in  this  quarter,  and 
sent  his  own  brother,  El  Galipe,  to  take  the  com- 
mand. 

The  Spanish  government,  now  fully  aroused, 
made  more  vigorous  efforts  to  crush  the  spirit 
of  rebellion  than  at  any  time  during  the  war. 
Don  John  was  ordered  to  occupy  Guadix,  and 
thence  to  scour  the  country  in  a  northerly  di- 
rection. Another  army,  under  the  Grand-Com- 
mander Requesens,  marching  from  Granada,  was  to 
enter  the  Alpujarras  from  the  north,  and,  taking 
a  route  different  from  that  of  the  duke  of  Sesa 
in  the  previous  campaign,  was  to  carry  a  war  of 
extermination  into  the  heart  of  the  mountains. 
Finally,  the  duke  of  Arcos,  the  worthy  descendant 
of  the  great  marquis  of  Cadiz,  whose  name  was 
so  famous  in  the  first  war  of  Granada,  and  whose 
large  estates  in  this  quarter  he  had  inherited,  was 
intrusted  with  the  operations  against  the  rebels  of 
the  Serrania  de  Ronda. 

The  grand-commander  Qxecuted  his  commission 
in  the  same  remorseless  spirit  in  which  it  had  been 
dictated.  Early  in  September,  quitting  Granada, 
he  took  the  field  at  the  head  of  five  thousand  men. 
He  struck  at  once  into  the  heart  of  the  country. 
All  the  evils  of  war  in  its  most  horrid  form  fol- 
lowed in  his  train.  All  along  his  track,  it  seemed 
as  if  the  land  had  been  swept  by  a  conflagration. 
The   dwellings   were    sacked   and   burned   to   the 


270 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


Ch.  VUL 


RENEWAL  OF  THE  WAR. 


271 


tl 


ground.     The  mulberry  and  olive  groves  were  cut 
dovm;  the  vines  were  torn  up  by  the  roots;  and 
the  ripening  harvests  were  trampled  in  the  dust. 
The  country  was  converted  into  a  wilderness.     Oc- 
casionally  small  bodies  of  the  Moriscoes  made  a 
desperate  stand.     But  for  the  most  part,  without 
homes  to  shelter  or  food  to  nourish   them',   they 
were    driven,    like   unresisting    cattle,    to   seek   a 
refuge  in  the  depths  of  the  mountains,  and  in  the 
caves  in  which  this  part  of  the  country  abounded. 
Their   pursuers   followed  up   the  chase  with  the 
fierce  glee  with  which  the  hunter  tracks  the  wild 
animal  of  the  forest  to  his  lair.     There  they  were 
huddled  together,  one  or  two  hundred  frequently 
in  the  same  cavern.     It  was  not  easy  to  detect  the 
hiding-place  amidst  the  rocks  and  thickets  which 
covered  up  and  concealed  the  entrance.     But  when 
it  was  detected,  it  was  no  difficult  matter  to  de- 
stroy the  inmates.     The  green    bushes   furnished 
the  materials   for   a   smouldering  fire,   and   those 
within   were    soon   suffocated   by   the   smoke,  or, 
rushing   out,  threw   themselves  on  the   mercy   of 
their  pursuers.     Some  were  butchered  on  the  spot ; 
others  were  sent   to    the   gibbet   or   the    galleys; 
while  the  greater  part,  with  a  fate  scarcely  less 
terrible,  were  given  up  as  the  booty  of  the  soldiers, 
and  sold  into  slavery.^ 


SB  It  is  the  language  of  Marmol,  to  regard  them  as  cruelties.  "  Unos 

who  will  not  be  suspected  of  exag-  enviaba  el  Comendador  mayor  a 

gerating  the  cruelties  of  his  couh-  las  galeras,  otros  hacia  justicia  d»* 

tr}*men.  He  does  not  seem,  indeed,  ellos,  y  los  mas  consentia  que  los 


Aben-Aboo  had  a  narrow  escape  in  one  of  these 
caverns,  not  far  from  Berchul,  where  he  had  se- 
creted himself  with  a  wife  and  two  of  his  daugh- 
ters. The  women  were  suffocated,  with  about 
seventy  other  persons.  The  Morisco  chief  suc- 
ceeded in  making  his  escape  through  an  aperture 
at  the  farther  end,  which  was  unknown  to  his 
enemies.^ 

Small  forts  were  erected  at  short  intervals  along 
the  ruined  country.  No  less  than  eighty-four  of 
these  towers  were  raised  in  different  parts  of  the 
land,  twenty-nine  of  which  were  to  be  seen  in  the 
Alpuj  arras  and  the  vale  of  Lecrin  alone.^^  There 
they  stood,  crowning  every  peak  and  eminence  in 
the  sierra,  frowning  over  the  horrid  waste,  the  sad 
memorials  of  the  conquest.  This  was  the  stem 
policy  of  the  victors.  Within  this  rocky  girdle, 
long  held  as  it  wus  by  the  iron  soldiery  of  Castile, 
it  was  impossible  that  rebellion  should  again  gather 
to  a  head. 

The  months  of  September  and  October  were 
consumed  in  these  operations.  Meanwhile  the 
duke  of  Arcos  had  mustered  his  Andalusian  levies, 
to  the  number  of  four  thousand  men,  including  a 
thousand  of  his  own  vassals.  He  took  with  him 
his  son,  a  boy  of  not  more  than  thirteen  years  of 

vendiesen  los  soldados    para  que  meration  of  the  fortresses  in  differ- 

fuesen    aprovechados.'*     Rebelion  ent  districts  of  the  countrj'.     Hist 

de  Granada,  torn.  II.  p.  436.  des  Arabes  d'Espagne,  torn.  Ill 

97  Ibid.,  p.  433.  PP-  135,  136. 

98  Circourt  gives  a  precise  enu- 


272 


REBELLION  OF  TUE  I^IORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


Cii.  VIII] 


RENEWAL   OF  THE   WAR. 


273 


II'' 


P 


age,  —  following  in  this,  says    the  chronicler,  the 
ancient  usage  of  the  valiant  house    of  Ponce   de 
Leon.^     About  the  middle  of  September   he  be- 
gan his  expedition    into    the  Sierra  Vermeja,   or 
Red  Sierra.     It  was  a  spot  memorable  in  Spanish 
history   for   the   defeat   and   death   of  Alonso   de 
Aguilar,    in    the   time  of  Ferdinand  and    Isabella, 
and  has  furnished  the  theme  of  many  a  plaintive 
romance  in  the  beautiful  minstrelsy  of  the  South. 
The  wife  of  the  duke  of  Arcos  was  descended  from 
Alonso  de  Aguilar,  as  he  himself  was  the  grandson 
of  the  good  count  of  Urefia,  who,  with  better  for- 
tune  than  his  friend,  survived  the  disasters  of  that 
day.     The  route  of  the  army  led  directly  across  the 
fatal  field.     As   they  traversed  the  elevated  plain 
of  Calaluz,  the   soldiers   saw  everywhere   around 
the  traces  of  the  fight.     The  ground  was  still  cov- 
ered  with  fragments  of  rusty  armor,  bits  of  broken 
sword-blades,  and  heads  of  spears.     More  touching 
evidence   was   afforded  by  the  bones  of  men  and 
horses,  which,   in  this    solit%  region,  had    been 
whitening  in  the  blasts  of  seventy  winters.     The 
Spaniards  knew  well  the  localities,  with  which  they 
had  become  familiar  from  boyhood  in  the  legends 
and  traditions  of  the  countiy.     Here  was  the  spot 
where  the  vanguard,  under  its  brave  commander, 
had  made  its  halt  in  the  obscurity  of  the  night. 

»  "  Llevando  cerca  de  sf  a  su  muchachos  peleando  con  los  Moros, 

hijo,  mozo  quasi  de  trece  anos  Don  i  tener  a  sus  padres  por  maestros.'' 

Luis  Ponce  de  Leon,  cosa  usada  Mendoza,  Guerra  de  Granada,  p. 

en  otra  edad  en  aquella  Casa  de  318. 
los  Ponces  de    Leon,   criarse  los 


There  were  the  faint  remains  of  the  enemy's  in- 
trenchments,  which  time  had  nearly  levelled  with 
the  dust ;  and  there,  too,  the  rocks  still  threw  their 
dark  shadows  over  the  plain,  as  on  the  day  when 
the  valiant  Alonso  de  Aguilar  fell  at  their  base  in 
combat  with  the  renowned  Feri  de  Ben  Estepar. 
The  whole  scene  was  brought  home  to  the  hearts 
of  the  Spaniards.  As  they  gazed  on  the  unburied 
relics  lying  around  them,  the  tears,  says  the  elo- 
quent  historian  who  records  the  incident,  fell  fast 
down  their  iron  cheeks ;  and  they  breathed  a  sol- 
dier's prayer  for  the  repose  of  the  noble  dead.  But 
these  holier  feelings  were  soon  succeeded  by  others 
of  a  fierce  nature,  and  they  loudly  clamored  to  be 
led  against  the  enemy.^^ 

The  duke  of  Arcos,  profiting  by  the  errors  of 
Alonso  de  Aguilar,  had  made  his  arrangements 
with  great  circumspection.  He  soon  came  in  sight 
of  the  Moriscoes,  full  three  thousand  strong.  But, 
though  well  posted,  they  made  a  defence  little  wor- 
thy of  their  ancient  reputation,  or  of  the  notes  of 
defiance  which  they  had  so  boldly  sounded  at  the 
opening  of  the  campaign.  They  indeed  showed  met- 
tle at  first,  and  inflicted  some  loss  on  the  Christians. 
But    the   frequent    reverses   of  their  countrymen 


30  For  the  celebrated  descrip- 
tion of  this  event  by  Mendoza,  see 
Guerra  de  Granada,  pp.  301,  302. 
The  Castilian  historian,  who  prob- 
ably borrowed  the  hint  of  it  from 
Tacitus,  (Annales,  lib.  I.  sec.  31,) 
has  painted  the  scene  with  a  con- 

VOL.  III.  35 


summate  art  that  raises  him  from 
the  rank  of  an  imitator  to  that  of  a 
rival.  The  reader  may  find  a  cir- 
cumstantial account  of  Alonso  de 
Aguilar's  disastrous  expedition,  in 
1501,  in  the  History  of  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella,  part  II.  ch.  7. 


!lli 


m 


274 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.  [Book  V. 


seemed  to  have  broken  their  spirits,  and  they  were 
soon  thrown  into  disorder,  and  fled  in  various  direc- 
tions into  the  more  inaccessible  tracts  of  the  sierra. 
The  Spaniards  followed  up  the  fugitives,  who  did 
not   attempt   to   rally.     Nor   did  they  ever  again 
assemble   in  any   strength,    so    effectual  were  the 
dispositions  made  by  the  victorious  general.     The 
insurrection  of  the  Sierra  Vermeja  was  at  an  end.^^ 
The  rebellion,  indeed,  might  be  said  to  be  every- 
where  crushed   within    the   borders    of  Granada. 
The  more  stout-hearted  of  the  insurgents  still  held 
out  among  the  caves  and  fastnesses  of  the  Alpu- 
jarras,  supporting  a  precarious  existence  until  they 
were  hunted  down   by  detachments  of  the  Span- 
iards, who  were  urged  to  the  pursuit  by  the  promise 
from  government  of  twenty  ducats  a  head  for  every 
Morisco.     But  nearly  all  felt  the  impracticability 
of  further  resistance      Some  succeeded  in  making 
their  escape  to  Barbary.    The  rest,  broken  in  spirit, 
and  driven  to  extremity  by  want  of  food  in  a  coun- 
try now  turned  into  a  desert,  consented  at  length 
to  accept  the  amnesty  offered  them,  and  tendered 
their  submission. 

On  the  twenty-eighth  of  October  Don  John  re- 
ceived advices  of  a  final  edict  of  Philip,  command- 
ing that  all  the  Moriscoes  in  the  kingdom  of  Gra- 
nada should  be  at  once  removed  into  the  interior 
of  the  country.  None  were  to  be  excepted  from 
this  decree,  not  even  the  Moriscos  de  la  Paz^  as 

31  Mendoza,  Guerra  de  Grana-    bclion  de  Granada,  torn.  IL  pp. 
da,  pp.  298-314.  — Marmol,  Re-    425-43L 


Ch.  VIII.] 


EXl'ULSION  OF  THE  MOORS. 


275 


those  were  called  wlio  had  loyally  refused  to  take 
part  in  the  rebellion."^  The  arrangements  for  this 
important  and  difficult  step  were  made  with  singu- 
lar prudence,  and,  under  the  general  direction  of 
Don  John  of  Austria,  the  Grand-Commander  Re- 
quesens,  and  the  dukes  of  Sesa  and  Arcos,  were 
carried  into  effect  with  promptness  and  energy. 

By  the  terms  of  the  edict,  the  lands  and  houses 
of  the  exiles  were  to  be  forfeited  to  the  crown. 
But  their  personal  effects  —  their  flocks,  their 
herds,  and  their  grain  —  would  be  taken,  if  they 
desired  it,  at  a  fixed  valuation  by  the  government. 
Every  regard  was  to  be  paid  to  their  personal  con- 
venience and  security  ;  and  it  was  forbidden,  in  the 
removal,  to  separate  parents  from  children,  hus- 
bands from  wives,  in  short,  to  divide  the  members 
of  a  family  from  one  another ;  —  "an  act  of  clem- 
ency," says  a  humane  chronicler,  "  which  they  little 
deserved ;  but  his  majesty  was  willing  in  this  to 
content  them."^ 

The  country  was  divided  into  districts,  the  inhab- 


32  Circourt  quotes  a  remarkable 
passage  from  the  Ordenanzas  de 
Granada^  which  well  illustrates  the 
conscientious  manner  in  which  the 
government  dealt  with  the  Moris- 
coes. It  forms  the  preamble  of  the 
law  of  February  24,  1571.  "  The 
Moriscoes  who  took  no  part  in  the 
insurrection  ought  not  to  be  pun- 
ished. We  should  not  desire  to 
injure  them ;  but  they  cannot  here- 
after cultivate  their  lands;  and 
then  it  would  be  an  endless  task  to 


attempt  to  separate  the  innocent 
from  the  guilty.  We  shall  indem- 
nify them,  certainly.  Meanwhile 
their  estates  must  be  confiscated, 
like  those  of  the  rebel  IMoriscoes." 
Hist,  des  Arabes  d'Espagne,  torn. 
III.  p.  148. 

33  "  Que  las  casas  fuesen  y  estu- 
viesen  juntas;  porque  aunque  lo 
merecian  poco,  quiso  su  Magestad 
que  se  les  diese  este  contento.*' 
Marmol,  Rebelion  de  Granada, 
tom.  II.  p.  439. 


27G 


KEBELLION   OF   THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


itants  of  which  were  to  be  conducted,  under  the 
protection  of  a  strong  military  escort,  to  their  sev- 
eral places  of  destination.  These  seem  to  have  been 
the  territory  of  La  Mancha,  the  northern  borders 
of  Andalusia,  the  Castiles,  Estremadura,  and  even 
the  remote  province  of  Galicia.  Care  was  taken 
that  no  settlement  should  be  made  near  the  borders 
of  Murcia  or  Valencia,  where  large  numbers  of  the 
Moriscoes  were  living  in  comparative  quiet  on  the 
estates  of  the  great  nobles,  who  were  exceedingly 
jealous  of  any  interference  with  their  vassals. 

The  first  of  November,  All-Saints'  Day,  was  ap- 
pointed for  the  removal  of  the  Moriscoes  through- 
out Granada.  On  that  day  they  were  gathered  in 
the  principal  churches  of  their  districts,  and,  after 
being  formed  into  their  respective  divisions,  began 
their  march.  The  grand-commander  had  occupied 
the  passes  of  the  Alpujarras  with  strong  detach- 
ments of  the  military.  The  different  columns  of 
emigrants  were  placed  under  the  direction  of  per- 
sons of  authority  and  character.  The  whole  move- 
ment was  conducted  with  singular  order,  —  re- 
sistance being  attempted  in  one  or  two  places 
only,  where  the  blame,  it  may  be  added,  as  inti- 
mated by  a  Castilian  chronicler,  was  to  be  charged 
on  the  brutality   of  the  soldiers.^     Still,  the  re- 


34  "  Saquearon  los  soldados  las        The  better  feelings  of  the  old 

casas  del  lugar,  y  tomaron  todas  soldier  occasionally  —  and  it  is  no 

las  mugeres  por  esclavas ;  cosa  que  small  praise,  considerin<r  the  times 

did  harta  sospecha  de  que  la  desor-  —  triumph  over  his  national  an- 

den  habia  nacido  de  su  cudicia/'  tipathies. 
Ibid.,  p.  444. 


Ch   Vlll.] 


EXPULSION  OF  THE  MOOllS. 


277 


moval  of  the  Moriscoes,  on  the  present  occasion, 
was  attended  with  fewer  acts  of  violence  and  ra- 
pacity than  the  former  removal,  from  Granada.  At 
least  this  would  seem  to  be  inferred  by  the  silence 
of  the  chroniclers;  though  it  is  true  such  silence 
is  far  from  being  conclusive,  as  the  chroniclers,  for 
the  most  part,  felt  too  little  interest  in  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  Moriscoes  to  make  a  notice  of  them 
indispensable.  However  this  may  be,  it  cannot  be 
doubted  that,  whatever  precautions  may  have  been 
takf  n  to  spare  the  exiles  any  unnecessary  suffering, 
the  simple  fact  of  their  being  expelled  from  their 
native  soil  is  one  that  suggests  an  amount  of  mis- 
ery not  to  be  estimated.  For  what  could  be  more 
dreadful  than  to  be  thus  torn  from  their  pleasant 
homes,  the  scenes  of  their  childhood,  where  ev- 
ery mountain,  valley,  and  stream  were  as  familiar 
friends,  —  a  part  of  their  own  existence ;  to  be 
rudely  thrust  into  a  land  of  strangers,  of  a  race  dif- 
fering from  themselves  in  faith,  language,  and  in- 
stitutions, with  no  sentiment  in  common  but  that 
of  a  deadly  hatred?  That  the  removal  of  a  whole 
nation  should  have  been  so  quietly  accomplished, 
proves  how  entirely  the  strength  and  spirit  of  the 
Moriscoes  must  have  been  broken  by  their  reverses.^ 


35  For  the  removal  and  disper- 
sion of  the  Moriscoes,  see  Marmol, 
Rebelion  de  Granada,  torn.  II.  pp. 
437-444;  Ferreras,  Hist.  d'Es- 
pagne,  tom.  X.  pp.  227,  228  ;  Van- 
derhammen,  Don  Juan  de  Austria, 
fol    126. 


It  may  well  seem  strange  that  aji 
event  of  such  moment  as  the  re- 
moval of  the  Moriscoes  should  have 
been  barely  noticed,  when  indeed 
noticed  at  all,  by  the  general  his- 
torian. It  is  still  more  strange  that 
it  should  have  been  passed  over  in 


i 


i 


i 

i 


' 


278 


REBELLION  OF  TIIE  MORISCOES.         [Book  Y 


The  war  thus  tenninated,  there  seemed  no  reason 
for  John  of  Austria  to  prolong  his  stay  in  the  prov- 
ince. For  some  time  he  had  been  desirous  to 
obtain  the  king's  consent  to  his  return.  His  am- 
bitious spirit,  impatient  of  playing  a  part  on  what 
now  seemed  to  him  an  obscure  field  of  action,  pent 
up  within  the  mountain  barrier  of  the  Alpujarras, 
longed  to  display  itself  on  a  bolder  theatre  before 
the  world.  He  aspired,  too,  to  a  more  independent 
command.  He  addressed  repeated  letters  to  the 
king's  ministers,  —  to  the  Cardinal  Espinosa  and 
Ruy  Gomez  de  Silva  in  particular,  —  to  solicit 
their  influence  in  his  behalf  '« I  should  be  srlad," 
he  wrote  to  the  latter,  "  to  serve  his  majesty,  if 
I  might  be  allowed,  on  some  business  of  impor- 
tance. I  wish  he  may  understand  that  I  am  no 
longer  a  boy.  Thank  God,  I  can  begin  to  fly 
without  the  aid  of  others'  wings,  and  it  is  full 
time,  as  I  believe,  that  I  was  out  of  swaddling- 
clothes."^^  In  another  letter  he  expresses  his  desire 
to  have  some  place  more  fitting  the  brother  of  such 
a  monarch  as  Philip,  and  the  son  of  such  a  father 


silence  by  a  writer  like  ISIendoza, 
to  whose  narrative  it  essentially 
belonged,  and  who  could  bestow 
thirty  pages  or  more  on  the  expe- 
dition into  the  Serrania  de  Ron- 
da.  But  this  was  a  tale  of  Span- 
ish glory.  The  haughty  Castilian 
chronicler  held  the  race  of  unbe- 
lievers in  too  great  contempt  to 
waste  a  thought  on  their  calamities, 
except  so  far  as  they  enabled  him 


to  exhibit  the  prowess  of  his  coun- 
tninen. 

36  "  Querria  tambien  que  alia 
se  entendiese  que  ya  no  soy  mo- 
chacho,  y  que  puedo,  a  Dios  gra- 
cias,  comenzar  en  alguna  manera 
a  volar  sin  alas  ajenas,  y  sospecho 
ques  ya  tiempo  de  salir  de  pana- 
les."  Carta  de  D.  Juan  de  Aus- 
tria a  Ruy  Gomez  de  Silva,  16  de 
Mayo,  1570,  MS. 


Ch.  VIII.J       don  JOHN  RETURNS  TO  MADRID. 


279 


as  Charles  the  Fifth.^  On  more  than  one  occasion 
he  alludes  to  the  command  against  the  Turk  as  the 
great  object  of  his  ambition. 

His  importunity  to  be  allowed  to  resign  his 
present  office  had  continued  from  the  beginning 
of  summer,  some  months  before  the  proper  close 
of  the  campaign.  It  may  be  thought  to  argue  an 
instability  of  character,  of  which  a  more  memorable 
example  was  afforded  by  him  at  a  later  period  of 
life.  —  At  length  he  was  rejoiced  by  obtaining  the 
royal  consent  to  resign  his  command  and  return 
to  court. 

On  the  eleventh  of  November,  Don  John  re- 
paired to  Granada.  Till  the  close  of  the  month  he 
was  occupied  with  making  the  necessary  arrange- 
ments preparatory  to  his  departure.  The  greater 
part  of  the  army  was  paid  off  and  disbanded.  A 
sufficient  number  was  reserved  to  garrison  the  for- 
tresses, and  to  furnish  detachments  which  were  to 
scour  the  country  and  hunt  down  'such  Moriscoes 
as  still  held  out  in  the  mountains.  As  Reque- 
sens  was  to  take  part  in  the  expedition  against  the 
Ottomans,  the  office  of  captain-general  was  placed 
in  the  hands  of  the  valiant  duke  of  Arcos.  On  the 
twenty-ninth  of  November,  Don  John,  having  com- 
pleted his  preparations,  quitted  Granada  and  set 
forth  on  his  journey  to  Madrid,  where  the  popular 
chieftain   was   welcomed  with   enthusiasm  by  the 

37  "  No  teniendo  el  lugar  y  auc-  Carta  de  D.  Juan  de  Austria  i 
toridad  que  ha  de  tener  hijo  de  tal  Ruy  Gromez  de  Silya,  4  de  Junio, 
padre,  y  hermano  de  tal  hermano."    1570,  MS. 


<; 


{ 


^\ 


\\ 


280 


KEBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.  [Book  V. 


citizens,  as  a  conqueror  returned  from  a  victorious 
campaign.  By  Philip  and  his  newly-married  bride, 
Anne  of  Austria,  he  was  no  less  kindly  greeted ; 
and  it  was  not  long  before  the  king  gave  a  substan- 
tial proof  of  his  contentment  with  his  brother,  by 
placing  in  his  hands  the  baton  offered  by  the  allies 
of  generalissimo  in  the  war  against  the  Turks. 

There  was  still  one  Morisco  insurgent  who  re- 
fused to  submit,  and  who  had  hitherto  eluded  every 
attempt   to  capture  him,  but  whose  capture  was 
of  more  importance  than  that  of  any  other  of  his 
nation.     This  was  Aben-Aboo,  the  "  little  king  "  of 
the  Alpujarras.     His  force  of  five  thousand  men 
had  dwindled    to    scarcely   more   than   four   hun- 
dred.    But   they  were    men    devoted  to  his   per- 
son,   and   seemed    prepared  to    endure  every   ex- 
tremity rather  than  surrender.     Like    the  rest   of 
his  nation,  the  Morisco  chief  took  refuge  in  the 
mountain  caves,  in  such  remote  and   inaccessible 
districts  as  had  hitherto  baffled   every  attempt  to 
detect  his  retreat.     In  March,  1571,  an  opportu- 
nity presented  itself  for  making  the  discovery. 

Granada  was  at  this  time  the  scene  of  almost 
daily  executions.  As  the  miserable  insurgents  were 
taken,  they  were  brought  before  Deza's  tribunal, 
where  they  were  at  once  sentenced  by  the  inexo- 
rable  president  to  the  galleys  or  the  gibbet,  or  the 
more  horrible  doom  of  being  torn  in  pieces  with 
red-hot  pincers.  Among  the  prisoners  sentenced  to 
death  was  one  Zatahari,  who  was  so  fortunate  as  to 
obtain  a  respite  of  his  punishment  at  the  interces- 


Ch.  vin.] 


MURDER  OF  ABEN-ABOO. 


281 


Bion  of  a  goldsmith  named  Barredo,  a  person  of 
much  consideration  in  Granada.     From  gratitude 
for  this  service,  or  perhaps  as  the  price  of  it,  Zata- 
hari made  some  important  revelations  to  his  bene- 
factor   respecting   Aben-Aboo.     He   disclosed   the 
place   of  his   retirement   and   the  number   of  his 
followers,  adding,  that  the  two  persons  on  whom 
he  most  relied  were  his  secretary,  Abou-Amer,  and 
a  Moorish  captain  named  El  Senix.     The  former 
of  these  persons  was  known  to  Barredo,  who,  in 
the  course  of  his  business,  had  frequent  occasion  to 
make  journeys  into  the  Alpujarras.     He  resolved 
to  open  a  correspondence  with  the  secretary,  and, 
if  possible,  win  him  over  to  the  Spanish  interests. 
Zatahari  consented  to  bear  the  letter,  on  condition 
of  a   pardon.     This   was   readily   granted  by  the 
president,  who  approved   the  plan,  and  who   au- 
thorized the  most  liberal  promises  to  Abou-Amer 
in  case  of  his  co-operation  with  Barredo. 

Unfortunately,  —  or,  rather,  fortunately  for  Zata- 
hari,  as  it  proved,  —  he  was  intercepted  by  El  Se- 
nix,  who,  getting  possession  of  the  letter,  carried  it 
to  Abou-Amer.  The  loyal  secretary  was  outraged 
by  this  attempt  to  corrupt  him.  He  would  have 
put  the  messenger  to  death,  had  not  El  Senix  repre- 
sented  that  the  poor  wretch  had  undertaken  the 
mission  only  to  save  his  life. 

Privately  the  Moorish  captain  assured  the  mes- 
senger that  Barredo  should  have  sought  a  confer- 
ence with  him,  as  he  was  ready  to  enter  into 
negotiations  with  the  Christians.     In  fact.  El  Senix 


'I 


\ 


VOL.   III. 


36 


282 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


had  a  grudge  against  his  master,  and  had  already 
made  an  attempt  to  leave  his  service  and  escape 
to  Barbary. 

A  place  of  meeting  was  accordingly  appointed  in 
the  Alpujarras,  to  which  Barredo  secretly  repaired. 
El  Senix  was  furnished  with  an  assurance,  under 
the  president's  own  hand,  of  a  pardon  for  himself 
and  his  friends,  and  of  an  annual  pension  of  a 
hundred  thousand  maravedis,  in  case  he  should 
bring  Aben-Aboo,  dead  or  alive,  to  Granada. 

The  interview  could  not  be  conducted  so  secretly 
but  that  an  intimation  of  it  reached  the  ears  of 
Aben-Aboo,  who  resolved  to  repair  at  once  to  the 
quarters  of  El  Senix,  and  ascertain  the  truth  for 
himself  That  chief  had  secreted  himself  in  a 
cavern  in  the  neighborhood.  Aben-Aboo  took 
with  him  his  faithful  secretary  and  a  small  body 
of  soldiers.  On  reaching  the  cave,  he  left  his 
followers  without,  and,  placing  two  men  at  the  en- 
trance, he,  with  less  prudence  than  was  usual  with 
him,  passed  alone  into  the  interior. 

There  he  found  El  Senix,  surrounded  by  several 
of  his  friends  and  kinsmen.  Aben-Aboo,  in  a 
peremptory  tone,  charged  him  with  having  held  a 
secret  correspondence  with  the  enemy,  and  demand- 
ed the  object  of  his  late  interview  with  Barredo. 
Senix  did  not  attempt  to  deny  the  charge,  but  ex- 
plained  his  motives  by  saying  that  he  had  been 
prompted  only  by  a  desire  to  serve  his  master. 
He  had  succeeded  so  well,  he  said,  as  to  obtain 
from  the  president  an  assurance  that,  if  the  Morisco 


Cii.  vin.] 


MURDER  OF  ABEX-ABOO. 


283 


would  lay  aown  his  arms,  he  should  receive  an 
amnesty  for  the  past,  and  a  liberal  provision  for 
the  future. 

Aben-Aboo  listened  scornfully  to  this  explana- 
tion ;  then,  muttering  the  word  "  Treachery ! "  he 
turned  on  his  heel,  and  moved  towards  the  mouth 
of  the  cave,  where  he  had  left  his  soldiers,  intend- 
ing probably  to  command  the  arrest  of  his  per- 
fidious officer.  But  he  had  not  given  them,  it 
appears,  any  intimation  of  the  hostile  object  of  his 
visit  to  El  Senix ;  and  the  men,  supposing  it  to  be 
on  some  matter  of  ordinary  business,  had  left  the 
spot  to  see  some  of  their  friends  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. El  Senix  saw  that  no  time  was  to  be  lost. 
On  a  signal  which  he  gave,  his  followers  attacked 
the  two  guards  at  the  door,  one. of  whom  was  killed 
on  the  spot,  while  the  other  made  his  escape.  They 
then  all  fell  upon  the  unfortunate  Aben-Aboo.  He 
made  a  desperate  defence.  But  though  the  strug- 
gle was  fierce,  the  odds  were  too  great  for  it  to  be 
long.  It  was  soon  terminated  by  the  dastard  Senix 
coming  behind  his  master,  and  with  the  butt-end 
of  his  musket  dealing  him  a  blow  on  the  back  of 
his  head,  that  brought  him  to  the  ground,  where 
he  was  quickly  despatched  by  a  multitude  of 
wounds.^ 

The  corpse  was  thrown  out  of  the  cavern.     His 


»  Marmol,  Eebelion  de  Grana-  Espafia,  p.  752.  —  Herrera,   HIs- 

da,  torn.  IL  pp.  449-454. — Men-  toria  General,  torn.  L  p.   781.— 

doza,   Guerra    de    Granada,   pp.  Vanderhammen,    Don    Juan    do 

324-327.— -Bleda,     Cronica    de  Austria,  fol.  123, 


i 


i 


284 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


followers,  soon  learning  their  master's  fate,  ^dis- 
persed in  different  directions.  The  faithful  secre- 
tary fell  shortly  after  into  the  hands  of  the  Span- 
iards, who,  with  their  usual  humanity  in  this  war, 
caused  him  to  be  drawn  and  quartered. 

The  body  of  Aben-Aboo  was  transported  to  the 
neighborhood  of  Granada,  where  preparations  were 
made  for  giving  the  dead  chief  a  public  entrance 
into  the  city,  as  if  he  had  been  still  alive.  The 
corpse  was  set  astride  on  a  mule,  and  supported 
erect  in  the  saddle  by  a  wooden  frame,  which  was 
concealed  beneath  ample  robes.  On  one  side  of 
the  body  rode  Barredo ;  on  the  other.  El  Senix, 
bearing  the  scymitar  and  arquebuse  of  his  mur- 
dered master.  Then  followed  the  kinsmen  and 
friends  of  the  Morisco  prince,  with  their  arms  by 
their  side.  A  regiment  of  Castilian  infantry  and 
a  troop  of  horse  brought  up  the  rear.  As  the  pro- 
cession defiled  along  the  street  of  Zacatin,  it  was 
saluted  by  salvoes  of  musketry,  accompanied  by 
peals  of  artillery  from  the  ancient  towers  of  the 
Alhambra,  while  the  population  of  Granada,  with 
eager  though  silent  curiosity,  hurried  out  to  gaze 
on  the  strange  and  ghastly  spectacle. 

In  this  way  the  company  reached  the  great 
square  of  Vivarambla,  where  were  assembled  the 
president,  the  duke  of  Arcos,  and  the  principal 
cavaliers  and  magistrates  of  the  city.  On  coming 
into  their  presence.  El  Senix  dismounted,  and, 
kneeling  before  Deza,  delivered  to  him  the  arms 
of  Aben-Aboo.     He  was  graciously  received  by  the 


Ch.  vm.] 


MURDER  OF  ABEN-ABOO. 


285 


president,  who  confirmed  the  assurances  which  had 
been  given  him  of  the  royal  favor.  The  miserable 
ceremony  of  a  public  execution  was  then  gone 
through  with.  The  head  of  the  dead  man  was 
struck  off*.  His  body  was  given  to  the  boys  of  the 
city,  who,  after  dragging  it  through  the  streets 
with  scoffs  and  imprecations,  committed  it  to  the 
flames.  Such  was  one  of  the  lessons  by  which  the 
Spaniards  early  stamped  on  the  minds  of  their  chil- 
dren an  indelible  hatred  of  the  Morisco. 

The  head  of  Aben-Aboo,  enclosed  in  a  cage,  was 
set  up  over  the  gate  which  opened  on  the  Alpu- 
jarras.  There,  with  the  face  turned  towards  his 
native  hills,  which  he  had  loved  so  well,  and  which 
had  witnessed  his  brief  and  disastrous  reign,  it 
remained  for  many  a  year.  None  ventured,  by 
removing  it,  to  incur  the  doom  which  an  inscrip- 
tion on  the  cage  denounced  on  the  offender :  "  This 
is  the  head  of  the  traitor,  Aben-Aboo.  Let  no  one 
take  it  down,  under  penalty  of  death."  ^^ 

Such  was  the  sad  end  of  Aben-Aboo,  the  last 
of  the  royal  line  of  the  Omeyades  who  ever  ruled 
in  the  Peninsula.  Had  he  lived  in  the  peaceful  and 
prosperous  times  of  the  Arabian  empire  in  Spain, 
he  might  have  swayed  the  sceptre  with  as  much 
renown  as  the  best  of  his  dynasty.  Though  the 
blood  of  the  Moor  flowed  in  his  veins,  he  seems  to 


39  "  Esta  es  la  cabeza  del  tral-  ^larmol,    Rebelion    de    Granada, 

dor  de  Abenabd.     Nadie  la  quite  torn.    II.   pp.  455,  456.— Bleda, 

so  pena  de    muerte.*'    Mendoza,  Cronica  de  Espafia,  p.  752.  —  Mi- 

Guerra  de    Granada,   p.   329.  —  niana,  Hist,  de  Espaiia,  p.  383. 


286 


EEBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.  [Book  V. 


!» 


have  been  remarkably  free  from  some  of  the  great- 
est defects  in  the  Moorish  character.  He  was  tem- 
perate in  his  appetites,  presenting  in  this  respect  a 
contrast  to  the  gross  sensuality  of  his  predecessor. 
He  had  a  lofty  spirit,  was  cool  and  circumspect  in 
his  judgments,  and,  if  he  could  not  boast  that  fiery 
energy  of  character  which  belonged  to  some  of  his 
house,  he  had  a  firmness  of  purpose  not  to  be  intimi- 
dated by  suffering  or  danger.  Of  this  he  gave  sig- 
nal proof  when,  as  the  reader  may  remember,  the 
most  inhuman  tortures  could  not  extort  from  him 
the  disclosure  of  the  lurking-place  of  his  friends.'*** 
His  qualities,  as  I  have  intimated,  were  such  as 
peculiarly  adapted  him  to  a  time  of  prosperity  and 
peace.  Unhappily  he  had  fallen  upon  evil  times, 
when  his  country  lay  a  wreck  at  his  feet ;  when  the 
people,  depressed  by  long  servitude,  were  broken 
down  by  the  recent  calamities  of  war;  when,  in 
short,  it  would  not  have  been  possible  for  the  wisest 
and  most  warlike  of  his  predecessors  to  animate 
them  to  a  successful  resistance  against  odds  so 
overwhelming  as  those  presented  by  the  Spanish 
monarchy  in  the  zenith  of  its  power. 

The  Castilian  chroniclers  have  endeavored  to  fix 
a  deep  stain  on  his  memory,  by  charging  him  with 
the  murder  of  El  Habaqui,  and  with  the  refusal  to 
execute  the  treaty  to  which  he  had  given  his  sanc- 
tion. But  in  criticising  the  conduct  of  Aben-Aboo, 
we  must  not  forget  the  race  from  which  he  sprung, 
or  the  nature  of  its  institutions.     He  was  a  despot, 

«  Ante,  p.  103. 


Cii.  VIII.l 


MURDER  OF  ABEN-ABOO. 


287 


and  a  despot  of  the  Oriental  type.  He  was  placed 
in  a  situation  —  much  against  his  will,  it  may  be 
added  —  which  gave  him  absolute  control  over  the 
lives  and  fortunes  of  his  people.  His  word  was 
their  law.  He  passed  the  sentence,  and  enforced 
its  execution.  El  Habaqui  he  adjudged  to  be  a 
traitor;  and,  in  sentencing  him  to  the  bowstring, 
he  inflicted  on  him  only  a  traitor's  doom. 

With  regard  to  the  treaty,  he  spoke  of  himself 
as  betrayed,  saying  that  its  provisions  were  not  such 
as  he  had  intended.  And  when  we  consider  that 
the  instrument  was  written  in  the  Spanish  tongue, 
that  it  was  drafted  by  a  Spaniard,  finally,  that  the 
principal  Morisco  agent  who  subscribed  the  treaty 
was  altogether  in  the  Spanish  interest,  as  the  fa- 
vors heaped  on  him  without  measure  too  plainly 
proved,  it  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  there  were 
good  grounds  for  the  assertion  of  Aben-Aboo. 
From  the  hour  of  his  accession,  he  seems  to  have 
devoted  himself  to  the  great  work  of  securing  the 
independence  of  his  people.  He  could  scarcely 
have  agreed  to  a  treaty  which  was  to  leave  that 
people  in  even  a  worse  state  than  before  the  rebel- 
lion. From  what  we  know  of  his  character,  we 
may  more  reasonably  conclude  that  he  was  sincere 
w^hen  he  told  the  Spanish  envoy  Palacios,  who  had 
come  to  press  the  execution  of  the  treaty,  and  to 
remind  him  of  the  royal  promises  of  grace,  that 
"  his  people  might  do  as  they  listed,  but,  for  him- 
self, he  would  rather  live  and  die  a  IMussulman 
than  possess  all  the  favors  which  the  king  of  Spain 


i 


288 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MOKISCOES.         [Book  V. 


i 
I 


could  heap  on  him."  His  deeds  corresponded  with 
his  words ;  and,  desperate  as  was  his  condition,  he 
still  continued  to  bid  defiance  to  the  Spanish  gov- 
ernment, until  he  was  cut  off  by  the  hand  of  a 
traitor. 

The  death  of  Aben-Aboo  severed  the  last  bond 
which  held  the  remnant  of  the  Moriscoes  togeth- 
er. In  a  few  years  the  sword,  famine,  and  the 
gallows  had  exterminated  the  outcasts  who  still 
lurked  in  the  fastnesses  of  the  mountains.  Their 
places  were  gradually  occupied  by  Christians,  drawn 
thither  by  the  favorable  terms  which  the  govern- 
ment offered  to  settlers.  But  it  was  long  before  the 
wasted  and  famine-stricken  territory  could  make  a 
suitable  return  to  the  labors  of  the  colonists.  They 
were  ignorant  of  the  country,  and  were  altogether 
deficient  in  the  agricultural  skill  necessary  for  turn- 
ing its  unpromising  places  to  the  best  account. 
The  Spaniard,  adventurous  as  he  was,  and  reckless 
of  danger  and  difficulty  in  the  pursiiit  of  gain,  was 
impatient  of  the  humble  drudgery  required  for  the 
tillage  of  the  soil ;  and  many  a  valley  and  hill-side, 
which  under  the  Moriscoes  had  bloomed  with  all 
the  rich  embroidery  of  cultivation,  now  relapsed 
into  its  primitive  barrenness. 

The  exiles  carried  their  superior  skill  and  indus- 
try into  the  various  provinces  where  they  were 
sent.  Scattered  as  they  were,  and  wide  apart,  the 
presence  of  the  Moriscoes  was  sure  to  be  revealed 
by  the  more  minute  and  elaborate  culture  of  the 
soil,  —  as  the  secret  course  of  the  mountain  stream 


Ch.  VIII.]         FORTUNES   OF  THE  MORISCOES. 


289 


is  betrayed  by  the  brighter  green  of  the  meadow. 
With  their  skill  in  husbandry  they  combined  a 
familiarity  with  various  kinds  of  handicraft,  espe- 
cially those  requiring  dexterity  and  fineness  of  exe- 
cution, that  was  unknown  to  the  Spaniards.  As 
the  natural  result  of  this  superiority,  the  products 
of  their  labor  were  more  abundant,  and  could  be 
afforded  at  a  cheaper  rate  than  those  of  their 
neighbors.  Yet  this  industry  was  exerted  under 
every  disadvantage  which  a  most  cruel  legislation 
could  impose  on  it.  It  would  be  hard  to  find  in 
the  pages  of  history  a  more  flagrant  example  of 
the  oppression  of  a  conquered  race,  than  that  af- 
forded by  the  laws  of  this  period  in  reference  to 
the  Moriscoes.  The  odious  law  of  1566,  which 
led  to  the  insurrection,  was  put  in  full  force.  By 
this  the  national  songs  and  dances,  the  peculiar 
baths  of  the  Moriscoes,  the  fetes  and  ceremonies 
which  had  come  down  to  them  from  their  ances- 
tors, were  interdicted  under  heavy  penalties.  By 
another  ordinance,  dated  October  6,  1572,  still 
more  cruel  and  absurd,  they  were  forbidden  to 
speak  or  to  write  the  Arabic,  under  penalty  of 
thirty  days'  imprisonment  in  irons  for  the  first 
offence,  double  that  term  for  the  second,  and  for 
the  third  a  hundred  lashes  and  four  years'  con- 
finement in  the  galleys.  By  another  monstrous 
provision  in  the  same  edict,  whoever  read,  oar  even 
had  in  his  possession,  a  work  written  or  printed 
in  the  Arabic,  was  to  be  punished  with  a  hun- 
dred stripes  and  four  years  in  the  galleys.     Any 


VOL.   III. 


37 


ii 


290 


KEBELLION  OF   THE  MORISCOES.  [Book  V. 


I 


•    1 


11 


contract  or  public  instrument  made  in  that  tongue 
was  to  be  void,  and  the  parties  to  it  were  con- 
demned to  receive  two  hundred  lashes  and  to  tug 
at  the  oar  for  six  years.'*^ 

But  the  most  oppressive  part  of  this  terrible 
ordinance  related  to  the  residence  of  the  Moriscoes. 
No  one  was  allowed  to  change  his  abode,  or  to  leave 
the  parish  or  district  assigned  to  him,  without  per- 
mission from  the  regular  authorities.  Whoever 
did  so,  and  was  apprehended  beyond  these  limits, 
was  to  be  punished  with  a  hundred  lashes  and  four 
years'  imprisonment  in  the  galleys.  Should  he  be 
found  within  ten  leagues  of  Granada,  he  was  con- 
demned, if  between  ten  and  seventeen  years  of  age, 
to  toil  as  a  galley-slave  the  rest  of  his  days ;  if 
above  seventeen,  he  was  sentenced  to  death  !  ^  On 
the  escape  of  a  Morisco  from  his  limits,  the  hue 
and  cry  was  to  be  raised  as  for  the  pursuit  of  a 
criminal.  Even  his  own  family  were  required  to 
report  his  absence  to  the  magistrate ;  and  in  case 
of  their  failure  to  do  this,  although  it  should  be 
his  wife  or  his  children,  says  the  law,  they  incurred 
the  penalty  of  a  whipping  and  a  month's  imprison- 
ment in  the  common  jail.^^ 

Yet  in  the  face  of  these  atrocious  enactments,  we 
find  the  Moriscoes  occasionally  making  their  escape 

<i  Nueva  Recopilacion,  lib.  VIII.  eercanas  a  el,  caygan  e  hicurran 

tit.  ii.  ley  19.  ^^  pena  de  muerte,  que  sea  en  sua 

<3  "  Si  estos  tales  que  se  huvie-  personas  executada."     Ibid.,   ubi 

ren  huydo,  y  ausentado  ftieren  hal-  supra, 
lados  en  el  dicho  Reyno  de  Gra-        ^  Ibid.,  loc.  cit 
nada,    o   dentro  de    diez    leguas 


Cn.  VIIL]         FORTUNES  OF  THE  MORISCOES. 


291 


into  the  province  of  Valencia,  where  numbers  of 
their  countrj  men  were  living  as  serfs  on  the  estates 
of  the  great  nobles,  under  whose  powerful  protec- 
tion they  enjoyed  a  degree  of  comfort,  if  not  of  in- 
dependence, unknown  to  their  race  in  other  parts 
of  the  country.  Some  few  also,  finding  their  way 
to  the  coast,  succeeded  in  crossing  the  sea  to  Bar- 
bary.  The  very  severity  of  the  law  served  in  some 
measure  to  defeat  its  execution.  Indeed,  Philip,  in 
more  than  one  instance  in  which  he  deemed  that 
the  edicts  pressed  too  heavily  on  his  Moorish  vas- 
sals, judged  it  expedient  to  mitigate  the  penalty, 
or  even  to  dispense  with  it  altogether,  —  an  act 
of  leniency  which  seems  to  have  found  little  favor 
with  his  Castilian  subjects.'" 

Yet,  strange  to  say,  under  this  iron  system  the 
spirits  of  the  Moriscoes,  which  had  been  crushed 
by  their  long  sufferings  in  the  war  of  the  rebellion, 
gradually  rose  again  as  they  found  a  shelter  in  their 
new  homes,  and  resumed  their  former  habits  of 
quiet  industry.  Though  deprived  of  their  cus- 
tomary amusements,  their  fetes,  their  songs,  and 
their  dances,  —  though  debarred  from  the  use  of 
the  language  which  they  had  lisped  from  the  cra- 
dle, which  embodied  their  national  traditions,  and 
was  associated  with  their  fondest  recollections,  — 
they  were  said  to  be  cheerful,  and  even  gay.  They 
lived  to  a  good  age,  and  examples  of  longevity 
were  found  among  them  to  which  it  was  not  easy 

4*  Examples  of  this  are  cited  by  Circourt,  Hist,  des  Arabes  d'Es- 
pagne,  torn.  III.  pp.  150,  151. 


232 


REBELLION  OF   THE   MORISCOES.         (Book  V. 


Ch.  VllI]        FORTUNES   OF   THE  MORISCOES. 


293 


III 


i 


to  find  a  parallel  amongst  the  Spaniards.  The  Moor- 
ish stock,  like  the  Jewish,  seems  to  have  thriven 
under  persecution."*^ 

One  would  be  glad  to  find  any  authentic  data 
for  an  account  of  the  actual  population  at  the 
time  of  their  expulsion  from  Granada.  But  I 
have  met  with  none.  They  must  have  been  sorely 
thinned  by  the  war  of  the  insurrection,  and  the 
countless  woes  it  brought  upon  the  country.  One 
fact  is  mentioned  by  the  chroniclers,  which  shows 
that  the  number  of  the  exiles  must  have  been  very 
considerable.  The  small  remnant  still  left  in  Gra- 
nada, with  its  lovely  vega  and  the  valley  of  Lecrin, 
alone  furnished,  we  arc  told,  over  six  thousand.^^ 
In  the  places  to  which  they  were  transported  they 
continued  to  multiply  to  such  an  extent,  that  the 
cortes  of  Castile,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  century, 
petitioned  the  king  not  to  allow  the  census  to 
be  taken,  lest  it  might  disclose  to  the  Moriscocs 
the  alarming  secret  of  their  increase  of  numbers.'*^ 
Such  a  petition  shows,  as  strongly  as  language 
can  show,  the  terror  in  which  the  Spaniards  still 
stood  of  this  persecuted  race. 

Yet  the  Moriscoes  were  scattered  over  the  coun- 
trj'  in  small  and  isolated  masses,  hemmed  in  all 


«  Ibid.,  p.  163. 

M.  de  Circourt  has  collected, 
from  some  authentic  and  not  very 
accessible  sources,  much  curious  in- 
formation relative  to  this  part  of  his 
subject. 

<6  Ferreras,  Hist.  d'Espagne, 
torn.  X.  p.  227. 


^  "lis  representerent  que  ce 
recensement  allait  leur  reveler  le 
secret  de  leur  nombre  effrayant; 
qu'ils  fourmillaient.**  Circourt, Hist 
des  Arabes  d'Espagne,  torn.  III.  p 
164. 


around  by  the  Spaniards.  They  were  transplanted 
to  the  interior,  where,  at  a  distance  from  the  coast, 
they  had  no  means  of  communicating  with  their 
brethren  of  Africa.  They  were  without  weapons 
of  any  kind  ;  and,  confined  to  their  several  districts, 
they  had  not  the  power  of  acting  in  concert  to- 
gether. There  would  seem  to  have  been  little  to 
fear  from  a  people  so  situated.  But  the  weakest 
individual,  who  feels  that  his  wrongs  are  too  great 
to  be  forgiven,  may  well  become  an  object  of  dread 
to  the  person  who  has  wronged  him. 

The  course  of  the  government  in  reference  to 
the  Mori'scoes  was  clearly  a  failure.  It  was  as 
impolitic  as  it  was  barbarous.  Nothing  but  the 
blindest  fanaticism  could  have  prevented  the  Span- 
iards from  perceiving  this.  The  object  of  the 
government  had  been  to  destroy  every  vestige  of 
nationality  in  the  conquered  race.  They  were 
compelled  to  repudiate  their  ancient  usages,  their 
festivals,  their  religion,  their  language,  —  all  that 
gave  them  a  separate  existence  as  a  nation.  But 
this  served  only  to  strengthen  in  secret  the  senti- 
ment of  nationality.  They  were  to  be  divorced 
for  ever  from  the  past.  But  it  was  the  mistake  of 
the  government  that  it  opened  to  them  no  future. 
Having  destroyed  their  independence  as  a  nation,  it 
should  have  offered  them  the  rights  of  citizenship, 
and  raised  them  to  an  equality  with  the  rest  of  the 
community.  Such  was  the  policy  of  ancient  Rome 
towards  the  nations  which  she  conquered;  and 
such  has  been  that  of  our  own  country  towards  the 


i'l  , 


294 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MORISCOES.         [Book  V. 


If- 


II 


countless  cmigmnts  who  have  thronged  to  our 
shores  from  so  many  distant  lands.  The  Moriscoes, 
on  the  contrary,  under  the  policy  of  Spain,  were  con- 
demned to  exist  as  foreigners  in  the  country,  —  as 
enemies  in  the  midst  of  the  community  into  which 
they  were  thrown.  Experience  had  taught  them 
prudence  and  dissimulation ;  and  in  all  outward 
observances  they  conformed  to  the  exactions  of  the 
law.  But  in  secret  they  were  as  much  attached  to 
their  national  institutions  as  were  their  ancestors 
when  the  caliphs  of  Cordova  ruled  over  half  the 
Peninsula.  The  Inquisition  rarely  gleaned  an  apos- 
tate  from  among  them  to  swell  the  horrors  of  an 
auto  de  fe  ;  but  whoever  recalls  the  facility  with 
which,  in  the  late  rebellion,  the  whole  population 
had  relapsed  into  their  ancient  ftiith,  will  hardly 
doubt  that  they  must  have  still  continued  to  be 
Mahometans  at  heart. 

Thus  the  gulf  which  separated  the  two  races 
grew  wider  and  wider  every  day.  The  Moriscoes 
hated  the  Spaniards  for  the  wrongs  which  they  had 
received  from  them.  The  Spaniards  hated  the 
Moriscoes  the  more,  that  they  had  themselves  in- 
flicted these  wrongs.  Their  hatred  was  further 
embittered  by  the  feeling  of  jealousy  caused  by 
the  successful  competition  of  their  rivals  in  the 
various  pursuits  of  gain,  —  a  circumstance  which 
forms  a  fruitful  theme  of  complaint  in  the  petition 
of  the  cortes  above  noticed.^*     The  feeling  of  hate 

«  "  Quils  accaparaient  tous  les  metiers,  tout  lo  commerce,'*    Ibid, 
loo.  cit. 


Cii.  VIII.] 


MARMOL. 


295 


became  in  time  mingled  with  that  of  fear,  as  the 
Moriscoes  increased  in  opulence  and  numbers; 
and  men  are  not  apt  to  be  over  scrupulous  in 
their   policy  towards  those  whom  they  both  hate 

and  fear. 

With  these  evil  passions  rankling  in  their  bo- 
soms, the  Spaniards  were  gradually  prepared  for 
the  consummation  of  their  long  train  of  persecu- 
tions by  that  last  act,  reserved  for  the  reign  of  the 
imbecile  Philip  the  Third,  —  the  expulsion  of  the 
Moriscoes  from  the  Peninsula,  —  an  act  which  de- 
prived  Spain  of  the  most  industrious  and  ingenious 
portion  of  her  population,  and  which  must  be 
regarded  as  one  of  the  principal  causes  of  the 
subsequent  decline  of  the  monarchy. 


An  historian  less  renowned  than  IVIendoza,  but  of  more  importance 
to  one  who  would  acquaint  himself  with  the  story  of  the  IMorisco  re- 
bellion, is  Luis  del  Marmol  Carbajal.     Little  is  known  of  him  but  what 
is  to  be  gathered  from  brief  notices  of  himself  in  his  works.     He  was 
a  native  of  Granada,  but  we  are  not  informed  of  the  date  of  his  birth. 
He  was  of  a  good  family,  and  followed  the  profession  of  amis.     When 
a  mere   youth,   as   he  tells   us,  he  was  present  at  the  famous  siege 
of  Tunis,  in   1535.      He  continued  in  the  imperial  service    two  and 
twenty  years.     Seven  years  he  was  a  captive,  and  followed  the  victori- 
ous  banner  of  ISIohammed,  Scherif  of  ISIorocco,  in  his  campaigns  in  the 
west  of  Africa.     His  various  fortunes  and  his  long  residence  in  different 
parts  of  the  African  continent,  especially  in  Barbary  and  Egypt,  sup- 
plied him  with  abundant  information  in  respect  to  the  subjects  of  h.s^ 
historical  inquiries ;  and,  as  he  knew  the  Arabic,  he  made  hunself  ac- 
quainted  with  such  facts    as   were  to  be   gleaned  from  books  m  that 
lan-ua<re.     The  fruits  of  his  study  and  observation  he  gave  to  the  world 
in  his  ^'  Descrlpcion  General  de  Afnca^  a  work  in  three  volumes  foho. 
the  first  part  of  which  appeared  at  Granada,  in  1573.  -The  i-emamdev 
was  not  published  till  the  close  of  the  century. 


236 


REBELLION  OF  THE  MOKISCOES.         [Book  V. 


ill 


The  book  obtained  a  high  reputation  for  its  author,  who  was  much 
(*ommen(led  for  the  fidelity  and  diligence  with  which  he  had  pushed  his 
researches  in  a  field  of  letters  into  which  the  European  scholar  had  as 
yet  rarely  ventured  to  penetrate. 

In  the  year  ICOO  appeared,  at  iVIalaga,  his  second  work,  the  "//<>/(>- 
ria  del  Itehelion  y  Castigo  de  los  Moritcos  del  Reyno  de  Granada,**  in 
one  volume,  folio.  For  the  composition  of  this  history  the  author  was 
admirably  qualified,  not  only  by  his  familiarity  with  all  that  relate<l  to 
the  character  and  condition  of  the  ^loriscoes,  but  by  the  part  which 
he  had  personally  taken  in  the  war  of  the  insurrection.  He  held  the 
office  of  commissary  in  the  royal  army,  and  served  in  that  capacity  from 
the  commencement  of  the  war  to  its  close.  In  the  wanu  colonng  of 
the  narrative,  and  in  the  minuteness  of  its  details,  we  feel  that  we  arc 
reatling  the  report  of  one  who  has  himself  beheld  the  scenes  which  he 
describes.  Indeed,  the  interest  which,  as  an  actor,  he  naturally  takes 
in  the  operations  of  the  war,  leads  to  an  amount  of  detail  which  may 
well  be  condemned  as  a  blemish  by  those  who  do  not  feel  a  similar  in- 
terest in  the  particulars  of  the  struggle.  But  if  his  style  have  some- 
what of  the  rambling,  discursive  manner  of  the  old  Castilian  chroni- 
cler, it  has  a  certain  elegance  in  the  execution,  which  brings  it  much 
nearer  to  the  standard  of  a  classic  author.  Far  from  being  chargeable 
with  the  obscurity  of  Mendoza,  Marmol  is  uncommonly  perspicuous. 
With  a  general  facility  of  expression,  his  language  takes  the  varied  char- 
acter suited  to  the  theme,  sometimes  kindled  into  eloquence  and  occa- 
sionally softened  into  pathos,  for  which  the  melancholy  character  of  his 
story  aflfonled  too  many  occasions.  Though  loyal  to  his  country  and  his 
faith,  yet  he  shows  but  few  gleams  of  the  fiery  intolerance  tliat  belonged 
to  his  nation,  and  especially  to  that  portion  of  it  which  came  into  col- 
lision with  the  Moslems.  Indeed,  in  more  than  one  passage  of  his  work 
we  may  discern  gleams  of  that  Christian  charity  which  in  Castile  was 
the  rarest,  as  it  was,  unhappily,  the  least  precious  of  virtues,  in  the 
ase  in  which  he  lived. 

In  the  extensive  plan  adopted  by  ^larmol,  his  history  of  the  rebellion 
embraces  a  preliminary  notice  of  the  conquest  of  Granada,  an<l  of  that 
cruel  policy  of  the  conquerors  which  led  to  the  insurrection.  The 
narrative,  thus  complete,  supplied  a  most  important  hiatus  in  the  annals 
of  the  country.  Yet  notwithstanding  its  importance  in  this  view,  and 
its  acknowledged  merit  as  a  literary  composition,  such  was  the  indiffer- 
ence of  the  Spaniards  to  their  national  history  that  it  was  not  till  the 
close  of  the  last  centurj',  in  1797,  that  a  second  edition  of  Marmol's 
work  was  permitted  to  appear.     This  was  in  two  volumes,  octavo,  from 


Cu.  VIIL] 


CIRCOI*RT. 


297 


the  press  of  Sancha,  at  Madrid,  —  tlie  edition  used  in  the  preparation 
of  these  pages. 

The  most  comprehensive,  and  by  far  the  most  able  history  of  the 
Moors  of  Si^in  with  which  I  am  actjuainted,  is  that  of  the  Count  Albert 
de  Circourt,  —  "  Histoire  des  Arahes  en  Espagne.**  Beginning  with  the 
beginning,  the  author  opens  his  narrative  with  the  conciuest  of  the 
Peninsula  by  the  Moslems.  He  paints  in  glowing  colors  the  magnificent 
empire  of  the  Sjianish  caliphs.  He  dwells  with  sufficient  minuteness  on 
those  interminable  feuds  which,  growing  out  of  a  diversity  of  races  and 
tribes,  baffled  every  attempt  at  a  permanent  consolidation  under  one 
iTovemment  Then  comes  the  famous  war  of  Granada,  with  the  con- 
quest of  the  country  by  the  "  Catholic  Kings " ;  and  the  work  closes 
with  the  sad  tale  of  the  subsetjuent  fortunes  of  the  conquered  rac  es 
until  their  final  expulsion  from  the  Peninsula.  Tims  the  rapidly  shift- 
ing scenes  of  this  most  picturesque  drama,  sketched  by  a  master's 
hand,  are  brought  in  regular  succession  before  the  eye  of  the  reatler. 

In  conducting  his  long  story,  the  author,  far  from  confining  himself 
to  a  dry  rcconl  of  events,  diligently  explores  the  causes  of  these 
events.  He  scrutinizes  with  care  every  inch  of  debatable  ground 
which  lies  in  his  path.  He  enriches  his  narrative  with  copious  dis- 
quisitions on  the  condition  of  the  arts,  and  the  progress  made  by  the 
Spanish  Arabs  in  science  and  letters,  thus  presenting  a  complete 
view  of  that  peculiar  civilization  which  so  curiously  blended  together 
the  characteristic  elements  of  Euroi>ean  and  Oriental  culture. 

If,  in  pursuing  his  speculations,  M.  de  Circourt  may  be  sometimes 
thouf^ht  to  refine   too   much,   it  cannot  be  denied  that  they  are  dis- 
tinguished  by  candor  and  by  a  philosophical  spirit.     Even  when  we 
may  diffiir  from  his  conclusions,  we  must  allow  that  they  are  the  re- 
sult of  careful   study,  and  display  an  independent   way  of  thinking. 
I  may  regret  that  in  one  important  instance  —  the  policy  of  the  gov- 
ernment of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  —  he  should  have  been  led  to  dis- 
sent from  the  opinions  wTiich  I  had  expressed  in  my  history  of  those  sov- 
ereigns.    It  is  possible  tliat  the  predilection  which  the  writer,  whether 
historian  or  novelist,  naturally  feels  for  his  hero  when  his  conduct  affords 
any  ground  for  it,  may  have  sometimes  seduced  me  from  the  strict  line 
of  impartiality  in  my  estimate  of  character  and  motives  of  action.     I 
see,  however,  no  reason  to  change  the  conclusions  at  which  I  had  ar- 
rived aft«r  a  careful  study  of  the  subject.     Yet  I  cannot  deny  that  the 
labors  of  the  French  historian  have  shed  a  light  upon  more  than  one 
obscure  passage  in  the  administration  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  "for 
which  the  student  of  Spanish  history  owes  him  a  debt  of  gratitude. 


VOL.   III. 


38 


\i* 


^^^¥ 


CHAPTER    IX. 


WAR    WITH    THE    TURKS. 


•  Br 


I^eague  against  the  Turks.  —  Preparations  for  the  War.  —  Don  John 
Commander-in-Chief.  —  His  Reception  at  Naples.  —  His  Depart- 
ure from  Messina. 

1570-1571. 

While  Philip  was  occupied  with  the  Morisco 
insurrection,  his  attention  was  called  to  another 
quarter,  where  a  storm  was  gathering  that  menaced 
Spain  in  common  with  the  rest  of  Christendom. 
In  1566,  Solyman  the  Magnificent  closed  his  long 
and  prosperous  reign.  His  son  and  successor,  Se- 
lim  the  Second,  possessed  few  of  the  qualities  of 
his  great  father.  Bred  in  the  seraglio,  he  showed 
the  fruits  of  his  education  in  his  indolent  way  of 
life,  and  in  the  free  indulgence  of  the  most  licen- 
tious  appetites.  With  these  effeminate  tastes,  he 
inherited  the  passion  for  conquest  which  belonged, 
not  only  to  his  father,  but  to  the  whole  of  his  war- 
like dynasty.  Not  that,  like  them,  he  headed  his 
armies  in  the  field.  These  were  led  by  valiant 
commanders,  who  had  learned  the  art  of  war  under 
Solyman.  Selim  was,  above  all,  fortunate  in  pos- 
sessing for  his  grand  vizier  a  minister  whose  untir- 


Ch.  IX.] 


LEAGUE  AGAINST  THE  TURKS. 


299 


ing  industry  and  remarkable  talents  for  business 
enabled  him  to  bear  on  his  own  shoulders  the 
whole  burden  of  government.  It  was  fortunate  for 
the  state,  as  well  as  for  the  sultan,  that  Mahomet 
had  the  art  to  win  the  confidence  of  his  master, 
and  to  maintain  it  unshaken  through  the  whole 
of  his  reign. 

The  scheme  which  most  occupied  the  thoughts 
of  Selim  was  the  conquest  of  Cyprus.  This  island, 
to  which  Nature  had  been  so  prodigal  of  her  gifts, 
belonged  to  Venice.  Yet,  placed  at  the  extremity 
of  the  Mediterranean,  it  seemed  in  a  manner  to 
command  the  approaches  to  the  Dardanelles,  while 
its  line  of  coast  furnished  convenient  ports,  from 
which  swarms  of  cruisers  might  sally  forth  in  time 
of  war  and  plunder  the  Turkish  commerce. 

Selim,  resolved  on  the  acquisition  of  Cyprus,  was 
not  slow  in  devising  a  pretext  for  claiming  it  from 
Venice  as  a  part  of  the  Ottoman  empire.  The 
republic,  though  willing  to  make  almost  any  con- 
cession rather  than  come  to  a  rupture  with  the 
colossal  power  under  whose  shadow  she  lay,  was 
not  prepared  to  surrender,  without  a  struggle  the 
richest  gem  in  her  colonial  diadem.  War  was 
accordingly  declared  against  her  by  the  Porte,  and 
vast  preparations  were  made  foi;  fitting  out  an  ar- 
mament against  Cyprus.  Venice,  in  her  tuni, 
showed  her  usual  alacrity  in  providing  for  the  en- 
counter. She  strained  her  resources  to  the  utmost. 
In  a  very  short  time  she  equipped  a  powerful 
fleet,   and  took   measures    to    place   the   fortifica- 


300 


WAli  WITH  THE   TURKS. 


[Hook  V. 


tions  of  Cyprus  in  a  proper  state  of  defence.  But 
Venice  no  longer  boasted  a  navy  such  as  in  ear- 
lier days  had  enabled  her  to  humble  the  pride  of 
Genoa,  and  to  ride  the  unquestioned  mistress  of  the 
Mediterranean.  The  defences  of  her  colonies,  more- 
over, during  her  long  repose,  had  gradually  fallen 
into  decay.  In  her  extremity,  she  turned  to  the 
Christian  powers  of  Europe,  and  besought  them  to 
make  common  cause  with  her  against  the  enemy 
of  Christendom. 

Fortunately  the  chair  of  St.  Peter  was  occupied, 
at  this  crisis,  by  Pius  the  Fifth,  one  of  those  pon- 
tiffs who  seem  to  have  been  called  forth  by  the 
exigencies  of  the  time,  to  uphold  the  pillars  of  Ca- 
tholicism as  they  were  yet  trembling  under  the 
assaults  of  Luther.  Though  he  was  near  seventy 
years  of  age,  the  fire  of  youth  still  glowed  in  his 
veins.  He  possessed  all  that  impetuous  eloquence 
which,  had  he  lived  in  the  days  of  Peter  the  Her- 
mit, would  have  enabled  him,  like  that  enthusiast, 
to  rouse  the  nations  of  Europe  to  a  crusade  against 
the  infidel.  But  the  days  of  the  crusades  were  past  ; 
and  a  summons  from  the  Vatican  had  no  longer 
the  power  to  stir  the  souls  of  men  like  a  voice  from 
Heaven.  The  great  potentates  of  Europe  were  too 
intent  on  their  o^n  selfish  schemes  to  be  turned 
from  these  by  the  apprehension  of  a  danger  so  re- 
mote as  that  which  menaced  them  from  the  East. 
The  forlorn  condition  of  Venice  had  still  less  power 
to  move  them ;  and  that  haughty  republic  was  now 
made  to  feel,  in  the  hour  of  her  distress,  how  coni- 


Cii.  IX.] 


LrAGUE  AGAINST  THE  TURKS. 


301 


pletely  her  perfidious  and  unscrupulous  policy  had 
estranged  from  her  the  sympathies  of  her  neigh- 
bors. 

There  was  one  monarch,  however,  who  did  not 
close  his  ears  against  the  appeal  of  Venice,  —  and 
that  monarch,  one  of  more  importance  to  her  cause 
than  any  other,  perhaps  all  others  united.  In 
the  spring  of  1570,  Luigi  Torres,  clerk  of  the 
apostolic  chamber,  was  sent  to  Spain  by  Pius  the 
Fifth  to  plead  the  cause  of  the  republic.  He  found 
the  king  at  Ecija,  on  the  route  from  Cordova, 
where  he  had  been  for  some  time  presiding  over  a 
meeting  of  the  cortes.  The  legate  was  graciously 
received  by  Philip,  to  whom  he  presented  a  letter 
from  his  Holiness,  urging  the  monarch,  in  the  most 
earnest  and  eloquent  language,  to  give  succor  to 
Venice,  and  to  unite  with  her  in  a  league  against 
the  infidel.  Philip  did  not  hesitate  to  promise  his 
assistance  in  the  present  emergency ;  but  he  had 
natural  doubts  as  to  the  expediency  of  binding 
himself  by  a  league  with  a  power  on  whose  good 
faith  he  had  little  reliance.  He  postponed  his  de- 
cision until  his  arrival  at  Seville.  Accompanied 
by  the  legate,  on  the  first  of  May  he  made  his 
solemn  entry  into  the  great  commercial  cajDital  of 
the  South.  It  was  his  first  visit  there,  and  he  was 
received  with  tumultuous  joy  by  the  loyal  inhab- 
itants. Loyalty  to  their  monarchs  has  ever  been 
a  predominant  trait  of  the  Spaniards ;  and  to  none 
of  their  princes  did  they  ever  show  it  in  larger 
measure   than  to  Philip  the  Second.     No  one   of 


302 


WAR  WITH   THE    TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


them,  certainly,  was  more  thoroughly  Spanish  in 
his  own  nature,  or  more  deeply  attached  to  Spain. 
After  swearing  to  respect  the  privileges  of  the 
city,  the  king  received  the  homage  of  the  authori- 
ties. He  then  rode  through  the  streets  under  a 
gorgeous  canopy,  upheld  by  the  principal  magis- 
trates, and  visited  the  churches  and  monasteries, 
hearing  Te  Deum,  and  offering  up  his  prayers  in 
the  cathedral.  He  was  attended  by  a  gay  proces- 
sion of  nobles  and  cavaliers,  while  the  streets  of 
the  populous  city  were  thronged  with  multitudes, 
filled  with  enthusiasm  at  the  presence  of  their 
sovereign.  By  this  loyal  escort  Philip  was  ac- 
companied to  the  place  of  his  residence,  the  royal 
alcazar  of  Seville.  Here  he  prolonged  his  stay 
for  a  fortnight,  witnessing  the  shows  and  festi- 
vals which  had  been  prepared  for  his  entertain- 
ment. At  his  departure  he  received  a  more  sub- 
stantial proof  of  the  attachment  of  the  citizens,  in 
a  donation  of  six  hundred  thousand  ducats.  The 
object  of  this  magnificent  present  was  to  defray  in 
part  the  expenses  of  the  king  s  approaching  mar- 
riage with  his  fourth  wife,  Anne  of  Austria,  the 
daughter  of  his  cousin,  the  Emj^eror  Maximilian. 
The  fair  young  bride  had  left  her  father's  court, 
and  was  already  on  her  way  to  Madrid,  where  her 
nuptials  were  to  be  celebrated,  and  where  she  was 
to  take  the  place  of  the  lovely  Isabella,  whose 
death,  not  two  years  since,  had  plunged  the  nation 
in  mourning.^ 

^  Ferreras,   Hist.  d'Espagne,   torn.  X.    pp.  239,    240.  —  Cabrera, 


Ch.  IX.] 


LEAGUE  AGAINST  THE  TURKS. 


303 


While  at  Seville,  Philip  laid  the  subject  of  the 
league  before  his  ministers.     Some  of  these,  and 
among  the  number  Espinosa,  president  of  the  coun- 
cil of  Castile,  entertained  great  doubts  as  to  the 
policy  of  binding  Spain  by  a  formal  treaty  with  the 
Venetian  republic.     But,  with  all  his  distrust  of 
that  power,  Philip  took  a  broader  view  of  the  mat- 
ter than  his  ministers.     Independently  of  his  will- 
ingness to  present  himself  before  the  wprld  as  the 
great  champion  of  the  Faith,  he  felt  that  such  an 
alliance  offered  the  best  opportunity  for  crippling 
the  maritime  power  of  Turkey,  and  thus  providing 
for  the  safety  of  his   own  colonial  possessions  in 
the  Mediterranean.     After   much   deliberation,  he 
dismissed  the  legate  with  the  assurance  that,  not- 
withstanding the  troubles   which  pressed  on  him 
both  in  the    Low  Countries  and  in  Granada,  he 
would  furnish  immediate  succors  to  Venice,    and 
would  send  commissioners  to  Rome,  with  full  pow- 
ers to  unite  with  those  of  the  pope  and  the  republic 
in  forming  a  treaty  of  alliance  against  the  Ottoman 
Porte.     The  papal  envoy  was  charged  with  a  letter 
to  the  same  effect,  addressed  by  Philip  to  his  ho- 
liness. 

The  ensuing  summer,  the  royal  admiral,  the  fa- 
mous John  Andrew  Doria,  who  was  lying  with  a 

Filipe  Segundo,  p.  641.  —  Zufiiga,  place  among  the  great  commercial 

Anales  de  Sevilla,  pp.  536  -  538.  capitals  of  Christendom  in  the  six- 

The  chroniclers  paint  in  glowing  teenth  centurj-.     It  was  a  common 

colors  the  splendors  of  the   royal  saying, 

reception  at   Seville,    which,   en-  "  auien  no  ha  visto  4  Sevilla 

riched  by  the  Indian  trade,  took  its  No  ha  visto  a  maravilla." 


301 


WAR  WITH  THE   TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


strong  squadron  off  Sicily,  put  to  sea,  by  the  king's 
orders.  He  was  soon  after  reinforced  by  a  few 
galleys  which  were  furnished  by  his  holiness,  and 
placed  under  the  command  of  Mark  Antonio  Co- 
lonna,  the  representative  of  one  of  the  most  ancient 
and  illustrioui^  houses  in  Rome.  On  the  last  of 
August,  1570,  the  combined  fleet  effected  its  junc- 
tion with  the  Venetians  at  Candia,  and  a  plan  of 
operations  was  immediately  arranged.  It  was  not 
long  before  the  startling  intelligence  arrived  that 
Nicosia,  the  capital  of  Cyprus,  had  been  taken  and 
sacked  by  the  Turks,  with  all  the  circumstances 
of  cruelty  which  distinguish  wars  in  which  the  feel- 
ing of  national  hostility  is  embittered  by  religious 
hatred.  The  plan  was  now  to  be  changed.  A 
dispute  arose  among  the  commanders  as  to  the 
course  to  be  pursued.  No  one  had  authority 
enough  to  enforce  compliance  with  his  own  opinion. 
The  dispute  ended  in  a  rupture.  The  expedition 
was  abandoned;  and  the  several  commanders  re- 
turned home  with  their  squadrons,  without  having 
struck  a  blow  for  the  cause.  It  was  a  bad  omen 
for  the  success  of  the  league.^ 

Still  the  stout-hearted  pontiff  was  not  discour- 
aged. On  the  contrary,  he  endeavored  to  infuse 
his  own  heroic  spirit  into  the  hearts  of  his  allies, 
ffivinff  them  the  most  cheering  assurances  for  the 
future,  if  they  would  but  be  true  to  themselves. 

«  Herrera,    Historia     General,    —  Sagredo,  Monarcas  Othomanos, 
torn.  I.  p.  798et8eq. —  Cabrera,     p.  277. 
FUi[)e  Segundo,  lib.  VI.  cap.  17. 


Cii.  IX.]  LEAGUE  AGAINST  THE  TURKS. 


305 


Philip  did  not  need  this  encouragement.  Once 
resolved,  his  was  not  a  mind  lightly  to  be  turned 
from  its  purpose.  Venice,  on  the  other  hand,  soon 
showed  that  the  Catholic  king  had  good  reason  for 
distinisting  her  fidelity.  Appalled  by  the  loss  of 
Nicosia,  with  her  usual  inconstancy,  she  despatched 
a  secret  agent  to  Constantinople,  to  see  if  some 
terms  might  not  yet  be  made  with  the  sultan.  The 
negotiation  could  not  be  managed  so  secretly,  how- 
ever, but  that  notice  of  it  reached  the  ears  of  Pius 
the  Fifth.  He  forthwith  despatched  an  envoy  to 
the  republic  to  counteract  this  measure,  and  to 
persuade  the  Venetians  to  trust  to  their  Christian 
allies  rather  than  to  the  Turks,  the  enemies  of 
their  country  and  their  religion.  The  person  se- 
lected for  this  mission  was  Colonna,  who  was  quite 
as  much  distinguished  for  his  address  as  for  his 
valor.  He  performed  his  task  well.  He  repre- 
sented so  forcibly  to  the  government  that  the 
course  he  recommended  was  the  one  dictated  not 
less  by  interest  than  by  honor,  that  they  finally 
acquiesced,  and  recalled  their  agent  from  Constan- 
tinople. It  must  be  acknowledged  that  Colonna's 
arguments  were  greatly  strengthened  by  the  cold 
reception  given  to  the  Venetian  envoy  at  Con- 
stantinople, where  it  was  soon  seen  that  the  con- 
quest of  the  capital  had  by  no  means  tended  to 
make  the  sultan  relax  his  hold  on  Cyprus.^ 

Towards  the  close  of  1570,  the   deputies  from 

3  Cabrera,   Filipe    Segundo,   p.   667.  —  Sagredo,    Monarcas    Otho- 
manos, p.  277. 

VOL.   III. 


306 


WAR  WITH  TUE  TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


the  three  powers  met  in  Rome  to  arrange  the 
terms  of  the  league.  Spain  was  represented  by  the 
Cardinals  Granvelle  and  Pacheco,  together  with 
the  ambassador,  Juan  de  Zuniga,  all  three  at  that 
time  being  resident  in  Rome.  It  will  readily  be 
believed  that  the  interests  of  Spain  would  not  suf- 
fer in  the  hands  of  a  commission  with  so  skilful 
a  tactician  as  Granvelle  to  direct  it. 

Yet  though  the  parties  seemed  to  be  embarked 
in  a  common  cause,  there  was  found  much  diffi- 
culty in  reconciling  their  different  pretensions.  The 
deputies  from  Venice,  in  the  usual  spirit  of  her 
diplomacy,  regarded  the  league  as  exclusively  de- 
signed for  her  benefit,  —  in  other  words,  for  the 
protection  of  Cyprus  against  the  Turks.  The 
Spanish  commissioners  took  a  wider  view,  and 
talked  of  the  war  as  one  waged  by  the  Christian 
against  the  Infidel,  —  against  the  Moors  no  less 
than  the  Turks.  In  this  politic  view  of  the  mat- 
ter, the  Catholic  King  was  entitled  to  the  same 
protection  for  his  colonies  on  the  coast  of  Africa, 
as  Venice  claimed  for  Cyprus. 

Another  cause  of  disagreement  was  the  claim  of 
each  of  the  parties,  to  select  a  commander-in-chief 
for  the  expedition  from  its  own  nation.  This  pre- 
eminence was  finally  conceded  to  Spain,  as  the 
power  that  was  to  bear  the  largest  share  of  the 

expenses. 

It  was  agreed  that  the  treaty  should  be  perma- 
nent in  its  duration,  and  should  be  directed  against 
the  Moors  of  Tunis,  Tripoli,  and  Algiers,  as  well 


Ch.  IX] 


LEAGUE  AGAINST  THE  TURKS. 


307 


as  against  the  Turks  ;  that  the  contracting  parties 
should  furnish  two  hundred  galleys,  one  hundred 
transports  and  smaller  vessels,  fifty  thousand  foot, 
and  four  thousand   five  hundred  horse,  with  the 
requisite  artillery  and  munitions ;  that  by  April,  at 
farthest,  of  every  succeeding  year,  a  similar  force 
should  be  held  in  readiness  by  the  allies  for  expe- 
ditions to  the  Levant ;  and  that  any  year  in  which 
there  was  no  expedition   in   common,  and  either 
Spain  or  the  republic  should  desire  to  engage  in 
one   on   her  own  account  against  the  infidel,  the 
other  confederates  should  furnish  fifty  galleys  to- 
wards it ;    that  if  the  enemy  should  invade   the 
dominions  of  any  of  the  three  powers,  the  others 
should  be  bound  to  come  to  the  aid  of  their  ally ; 
that  three  sixths  of  the  expenses  of  the  war  should 
be  borne  by  the  Catholic  King,  two  sixths  by  the 
republic,  the  remaining   sixth  by  the  Holy  See; 
that  the  Venetians  should  lend  his  holiness  twelve 
galleys,  which  he  was  to  man   and  equip  at  his 
own  charge,  as  his  contribution  towards  the  arma- 
ment ;  that  each  power  should  appoint  a  captain- 
general  ;  that  the  united  voices  of  the  three  com- 
manders should  regulate  the  plan  of  operations ; 
that  the  execution  of  this  plan  should  be  intrusted 
to  the  captain-general  of  the  league,  and  that  this 
high  office  should  be  given  to  Don  John  of  Aus- 
tria; that,  finally,  no   one   of  the   parties   should 
make  peace,  or  enter  into  a  truce  with  the  enemy, 
without  the  knowledge  and  consent  of  the  others.'* 

4  A  cop7  of  the  treaty  in  Latio,  dated  May  25,  1571,  exists  in  the 


\ 


303 


WAR  WITH  THE  TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


Such  were  the  principal  provisions  of  the  famous 
treaty  of  the  Holy  League.  The  very  first  article 
declares  this  treaty  perpetual  in  its  nature.  Yet 
we  should  be  slow  to  believe  that  the  shrewd  and 
politic  statesmen  who  directed  the  affairs  of  Spain 
and  the  republic  could  for  a  moment  believe  in  the 
perpetuity  of  a  contract  which  imposed  such  bur- 
densome obligations  on  the  parties.  In  fact,  the 
league  did  not  hold  together  two  years.  But  it  held 
together  long  enough  to  accomplish  a  great  result, 
and  as  such  occupies  an  important  place  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  times. 

Although  a  draft  of  the  treaty  had  been  prepared 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  preceding  year,  it  was  not 
ratified  till  1571.^  On  the  twenty-fourth  of  May, 
the  pope  caused  it  to  be  read  aloud  in  full  consis- 
tory. He  then,  laying  his  hand  on  his  breast, 
solemnly  swore  to  the  observance  of  it.  The  am- 
bassadors of  Spain  and  Venice  made  oath  to  the 
same  effect,  on  behalf  of  their  governments,  placing 
their  hands  on  a  missal  with  a  copy  of  the  Gospels 
beneath  it.  On  the  day  following,  after  mass  had 
been  performed,  the  treaty  was  publicly  proclaimed 
in  the  church  of  St.  Peter.^ 

The  tidings  of  the  alliance  of  the  three  powers 


Ch.  IX]  PREPARATIONS  FOR  THE  WAR. 


309 


library  of  the  Academy  of  History, 
at  Madrid.  Seiior  Bosell  has  trans- 
ferred it  to  the  appendix  of  his 
work,  Historia  del  Combate  Naval 
de  Lepanto,  (Madrid,  1853,)  pp. 
180-189. 
*  A  copy  from  the  first  draft  of 


the  treaty,  as  prepared  in  1570,  is 
incorporated  in  the  Documentos 
Ineditos  (torn.  III.  pp.  337  et  seq.). 
The  original  is  in  the  library  of  the 
duke  of  Ossuna. 

^  Rosell,  Combate  Naval  de  Le* 
panto,  p.  56. 


caused  a  great  sensation  throughout  Christendom. 
Far  from  dismaying   the  sultan,  however,  it  only 
stimulated  him  to  greater  exertions.    Availing  him- 
self  of  the  resources  of  his  vast  empire,  he  soon  got 
together  a  powerful  fleet,  partly  drawn  from  his 
omi  dominions,  and  in  part  from  those  of  the  Mos- 
lem  powers  on  the  Mediterranean,  who  acknowl- 
edged  allegiance  to  the  Porte.     The  armada  was 
placed  under  the  command  of  Selim's  brother-in- 
law,  the  Pacha  Piali,  a  man  of  an  intrepid  spirit, 
who  had  given  many  proofs  of  a  humane  and  gener- 
ous  nature,  —  qualities  more  rare  among  the  Turks, 
l^erhaps   among   all   nations,   than   mere    physical 

courage. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1571,  the  Ottoman  admi- 
ral sailed  out  of  the  Golden  Horn,  and  directed  his 
course  towards  Candia.     Here  he  remained  untU 
joined  by  a  strong  Algerine   force  under  the  re- 
doubtable  corsair,  Uluch  Ali,  —  a  Calabrian  rene- 
gade, who  had  risen  from  the  humblest  condition 
to  the  post  of  dey  of  Algiers.     Early  in  the  sea- 
son the  combined  fleets  sailed  for  the  Adriatic ;  and 
Piali,  after  landing  and  laying  waste  the  territoij 
belonging  to  the  republic,  detached  Uluch  with  his 
squadron  to  penetrate  higher  up  the    gulf     The 
Algerine,  in  executing  these   orders,   advanced  so 
near  to  Venice  as  to  throw  the  inhabitants  of  that 
capital  into  a  consternation  such  as  they  had  not 
felt  since  the  cannon  of  the  Genoese,  two  centuries 
before,  had  resounded  over  their  waters.     But  it 
was   not   the  dey's  purpose  to   engage  in  so  for- 


310 


WAR  WITH  THE  TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


Ch.  IX] 


TRErARATIONS  FOR  THE  WAR. 


311 


midable  an  enterprise  as  an  assault  upon  Venice ; 
and  soon  drawing  off,  he  joined  the  commander-in- 
chief  at  Corfu,  where  they  waited  for  tidings  of  the 
Christian  fleet  J 

The  indefatigable  Pius,  even  before  the  treaty 
was  signed,  had  despatched  his  nephew,  Cardi- 
nal Alessandrino,  to  the  different  courts,  to  rouse 
the  drooping  spirits  of  the  allies,  and  to  persuade 
other  princes  of  Christendom  to  join  the  league. 
In  the  middle  of  May,  the  legate,  attended  by 
a  stately  train  of  ecclesiastics,  appeared  at  Ma- 
drid. Philip  gave  him  a  reception  that  fully  tes- 
tified his  devotion  to  the  Holy  See.  The  king's 
brother,  Don  John,  and  his  favorite  minister,  Ruy 
Gomez  de  Silva,  with  some  of  the  principal  nobles, 
waited  at  once  on  the  cardinal,  who  had  taken 
up  his  quarters  in  the  suburbs,  at  the  Dominican 
monastery  of  Atocha,  tenanted  by  brethren  of  his 
own  order.  On  the  following  morning  the  papal 
envoy  made  his  entrance  in  great  state  into  the 
capital.  He  was  mounted  on  a  mule,  gorgeously 
caparisoned,  the  gift  of  the  city,  John  of  Austria 
rode  on  his  right ;  and  he  was  escorted  by  a  pom- 
pous array  of  prelates  and  grandees,  who  seemed  to 
vie  with  one  another  in  the  splendor  of  their  cos- 
tumes. On  the  way  he  was  met  by  the  royal  caval- 
cade. As  the  legate  paid  his  obeisance  to  the 
monarch,  he  remained  with  his  head  uncovered ; 
and  Philip,  with  a  similar  act  of  courtesy,  while  he 

■y  Panita,  Guerra  di  Cipro,  p.  120  et  aeq.  —  Herrera,  Hist.  Gene- 
ral, torn.  II.  pp.  14,  15, 


addressed  a  few  remarks  to  the  churchman,  held 
his  hat  in  his  hand.^  He  then  joined  the  proces- 
sion, riding  between  the  legate  on  the  right  and  his 
brother  on  the  left,  who  was  observed,  from  time 
to  time,  to  take  part  in  the  conversation,  a  circum- 
stance occasioning  some  surprise,  says  an  historian, 
as  altogether  contrary  to  the  established  etiquette 
of  the  punctilious  Castilian  court.^ 

The  ceremonies  were  concluded  by  religious  ser- 
vices in  the  church  of  Santa  Maria,  where  the 
legate,  after  preaching  a  discourse,  granted  all 
present  a  full  remission  of  the  pains  of  Purgatory 
for  two  hundred  years.^^  A  gift  of  more  worth,  in 
a  temporal  view,  was  the  grant  to  the  king  of  the 
cruzada,  the  excusada,  and  other  concessions  of 
ecclesiastical  revenue,  which  the  Roman  see  knows 
so  well  how  to  bestow  on  the  champions  of  the 
Faith.  These  concessions  came  in  good  time  to 
supply  the  royal  coffers,  sorely  drained  by  the  cost- 
ly preparations  for  the  war. 

Meanwhile  the  Venetians  were  pushing  forward 
their  own  preparations  with  their  wonted  alacrity, 
—  indeed  with  more  alacrity  than  thoroughness. 
They  were   prompt  in   furnishing  their  quota  of 


8  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib. 
IX.  cap  22.  —  Ferreras,  Hist. 
d*Espagne,  torn.  X.  pp.  247,  248. 
—  Vanderhammen,  Don  Juan  do 
Austria,  fol.  152. 

8  "  No  poco  se  maravillaron  los 
curiosos,  viendole,  6  por  casualidad 
d  bien  de  intento,  terciar  Uana- 


mente  en  la  coi;iversacion,  contra 
las  etiquetas  hasta  entonces  obser- 
vadas."  Rosell,  Combate  Naval 
do  Lepanto,  p.  59. 

10  «  Y  concede  dozientos  aftos 
de  perdon  a  los  prcsentes." —  Van- 
derhammen,  Don  Juan  de  Austria, 
fol.  152. 


|i 


f 


i| 


312 


WAR  WITH     THE  TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


Ch.  IX.]  PREPARATIONS  FOR  THE  WAR. 


313 


vessels,  but  discreditably  remiss  in  their  manner  of 
equipping  them.     The  fleet  was  placed  under  the 
charge  of  Sebastian   Veniero,  a   noble   who   had 
grown  gray  in  the  service  of  his  country.     Zanne, 
who   had   had   the  command   of  the  fleet  in  the 
preceding  summer,  was  superseded  on  the  charge 
of  incapacity,  shown  especially  in  his  neglect  to 
bring  the  enemy  to  action.     His  process  continued 
for  two  years,  without  any  opportunity  being  al- 
lowed to  the  accused  of  appearing  in  his  own  vin- 
dication.    It  was  finally  brought  to  a  close  by  his 
death,  —  the  consequence,  as  it  is  said,  of  a  broken 
heart     If  it  were  so,  it  would  not  be  a  solitary 
instance  of  such  a  fate  in  the  annals  of  the  stern 
republic.      Before    midsummer   the   new   admiral 
sailed  with  his  fleet,  or  as  much  of  it  as  was  then 
ready,  for  the  port  of  Messina,  appointed  as  the 
place  of  rendezvous  for  the  allies.     Here  he  was 
soon  joined  by  Colonna,  the  papal  commander,  with 
the  little  squadron  furnished  by  his  holiness ;  and 
the  two  fleets  lay  at  anchor,  side  by  side,  in  the 
capacious  harbor,  waiting  the  arrival  of  the  rest  of 
the  confederates  and  of  John  of  Austria. 

Preparations  for  the  war  were  now  going  actively 
forward  in  Spain.  Preparations  on  so  large  a  scale 
had  not  been  seen  since  the  war  with  Paul  the 
Fourth  and  Henry  the  Third,  which  ushered  in 
Philip's  accession.  All  the  great  ports  in  the 
Peninsula,  as  well  as  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples, 
in  Sicily,  in  the  Balearic  Isles,  in  every  part  of 
the  empire,  in  short,  swarmed  with  artisans,  busily 


engaged  in  fitting  out  the  fleet  which  was  to 
form  Philip's  contingent  to  the  armament.  By  the 
terms  of  the  treaty  he  was  to  bear  one  half  of 
the  charges  of  the  expedition.  In  his  naval  prep- 
arations he  spared  neither  cost  nor  care.  Ninety 
royal  galleys,  and  more  than  seventy  ships  of  small- 
er dimensions,  were  got  in  readiness  in  the  course 
of  the  summer.  They  were  built  and  equipped  in 
that  thorough  manner  which  vindicated  the  pre- 
eminence in  naval  architecture  claimed  by  Spain, 
and  formed  a  strong  contrast  to  the  slovenly  exe- 
cution of  the  Venetians." 

Levies  of  troops  were  at  the  same  time  diligently 
enforced  in  all  parts  of  the  monarchy.  Even  a  corps 
of  three  thousand  German  mercenaries  was  subsi- 


n  "  De  las  mejores  que  Jamas  se 
han  visto,**  —  "  among  the  best  gal- 
leys that  were  ever  seen," — says 
Don  John  in  a  letter,  from  Mes- 
sina, to  Don  Garcia  de  Toledo. 
Documentos  Ineditos,  tom.  III. 
p.  15. 

The  earlier  part  of  the  third 
volume  of  the  Documentos  Ineditos 
is  taken  up  with  the  correspond- 
ence between  John  of  Austria  and 
Garcia  de  Toledo,  in  which  the 
former  asks  information  and  ad- 
vice in  respect  to  the  best  mode 
of  conducting  the  war.  Don  Gar- 
cia de  Toledo,  fourth  marquis  of 
Villafranca,  was  a  man  of  high 
family,  and  of  great  sagacity  and 
experience.  He  had  filled  some  of 
the  highest  posts  in  the  government, 
and,  as  the  reader  may  remember, 


was  viceroy  of  Sicily  at  the  time 
when  Malta  was  besieged  by  the 
Turks.  The  coldness  which  on 
that  occasion  he  appeared  to  show 
to  the  besieged,  excited  general  in- 
dignation ;  and  I  ventured  to  state, 
on  an  authority  which  I  did  not 
profess  to  esteem  the  best,  that  in 
consequence  of  this  he  fell  into  dis- 
grace, and  was  suffered  to  pass  the 
remainder  of  his  years  in  obscurity. 
(Ante,  vol.  II.  p.  497.)  An  in- 
vestigation of  documents  which  I 
had  not  then  seen  shows  this  to  have 
been  an  error.  The  ample  corre- 
spondence which  both  Philip  the 
Second  and  Don  John  carried  on 
with  him,  gives  undeniable  proofs 
of  the  confidence  he  continued  to 
enjoy  at  court,  and  the  high  defer- 
ence which  was  pai4,  to  his  opinion* 


VOL.  III. 


40 


I 


314 


WAR  WITH  TIIE  TURKS. 


[Book:  V. 


dized  lov  the  campaign.  Troops  were  drawn  from 
the  veteran  garrisons  in  Lombardy  and  the  king- 
dom of  Naples.  As  the  Morisco  insurrection  was 
fortunately  quelled,  the  forces  engaged  in  it,  among 
whom  were  the  brave  Neapolitan  battalion  and  its 
commander,  Padilla,  could  now  be  employed  in  the 
war  against  the  Turk. 

But  it  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  required  ex- 
traordinary efforts  to  fill  the  ranks  on  the  present 
occasion ;  for  seldom  had  a  war  been  so  popular 
with  the  nation.  Indeed,  the  Spaniards  entered 
into  it  with  an  alacrity  which  might  well  have 
suggested  the  idea  that  their  master  had  engaged 
in  it  on  his  own  account  rather  than  as  an  ally. 
It  was  in  truth  a  war  that  appealed  in  a  peculiar 
manner  to  the  sensibilities  of  the  Castilian,  famil- 
iar from  his  cradle  with  the  sound  of  the  battle- 
cry  against  the  infidel.  The  whole  number  of 
infantry  raised  by  the  confederates  amounted  to 
twenty-nine  thousand.  Of  this  number  Spain 
alone  sent  over  nineteen  thousand  well-appointed 
troops,  comprehending  numerous  volunteers,  many 
of  whom  belonged  to  the  noblest  houses  of  the 
Peninsula.  ^^ 

On  the  sixth  of  June,  Don  John,  after  receiving 
the  last  instructions  of  his  brother,  set  out  from 
Madrid  on  his  journey  to  the  South.  Besides  his 
own  private    establishment,   making   a   numerous 

^  Authorities  differ  as  usual  as  the  estimate  of  Rosell,  who  dis- 
to  the  precise  number  both  of  ves-  erectly  avoids  the  extremes  on 
seb  and  troops.    I  have  accepted    either  side. 


Ch.  IX.]  don  JOHN  COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. 


315 


train,  he  was  escorted  by  a  splendid  company  of 
lords  and  cavaliers,  eager  to  share  with  him  in  the 
triumphs  of  the  Cross.  Anxious  to  reach  the  goal, 
he  pushed  forward  at  a  more  rapid  rate  than  was 
altogether  relished  by  the  rest  of  the  cavalcade. 
Yet  notwithstanding  this  speed  on  the  road,  there 
were  matters  that  claimed  his  attention  in  the 
towns  through  which  he  passed,  that  occasioned 
some  delay.  His  journey  had  the  appearance  of  a 
royal  progress.  The  castles  of  the  great  lords  were 
thrown  open  with  princely  hospitality  to  receive 
him  and  his  suite.  In  the  chief  cities,  as  Saragossa 
and  Barcelona,  he  was  entertained  by  the  viceroys 
with  all  the  pomp  and  ceremony  that  could  have 
been  shown  to  the  king  himself  He  remained 
some  days  in  the  busy  capital  of  Catalonia,  and 
found  there  much  to  engage  his  attention  in  the 
arsenals  and  dock-yards,  now  alive  with  the  bustle 
of  preparation.  He  then  made  a  brief  pilgrimage 
to  the  neighboring  Hermitage  of  Our  Lady  of 
Montserrat,  where  he  paid  his  devotions,  and  con- 
versed with  the  holy  fathers,  whom  he  had  always 
deeply  reverenced,  and  had  before  visited  in  their 
romantic  solitudes. 

Embarking  at  Barcelona,  he  set  sail  with  a  squad- 
ron of  more  than  thirty  galleys,  —  a  force  strong 
enough  to  guard  against  the  Moslem  corsairs  in 
the  Mediterranean,  and  landed,  -on  the  twenty-fifth, 
at  Genoa.  The  doge  and  the  senate  came  out  to 
welcome  him,  and  he  was  lodged  during  his  stay 
in  the  palace  of  Andrew  Doria.     Here,  he  received 


316 


WAU  WITH   THE  TUKKS. 


[Book  V. 


embassies  and  congratulatory  addresses  from  the 
different  princes  of  Italy.  He  had  already  been 
greeted  with  an  autograph  letter,  couched  in  the 
most  benignant  terms,  from  the  sovereign  pontiff. 
To  all  these  communications  Don  John  was  careful 
to  reply.  He  acquainted  his  holiness,  in  particular, 
with  the  whole  course  of  his  proceedings.  While 
on  the  way  he  had  received  a  letter  from  his 
brother,  giving  him  a  full  catalogue  of  the  appro- 
priate  titles  by  which  each  one  of  his  correspond- 
ents should  be  addressed.  Nor  was  this  list  con- 
fined to  crowned  heads,  but  comprehended  nobles 
and  cavaliers  of  every  degtee."  In  no  country 
has  the  perilous  code  of  etiquette  been  more  dili- 
gently studied  than  in  Spain,  and  no  Spaniard  was 
better  versed  in  it  than  Philip. 

Pursuing  his  route  by  water,  Don  John,  in  the 
month  of  August,  dropped  anchor  in  the  beautiful 
bay  of  Naples.  Arrangements  had  been  made  in 
that  city  for  his  reception  on  a  more  magnificent 
scale  than  any  he  had  witnessed  on  his  journey. 
Granvelle,  who  had  lately  been  raised  to  the  post 
of  viceroy,  came  forth,  at  the  head  of  a  long  and 
brilliant  procession,  to  welcome  his  royal  guest. 
The  houses  that  lined  the  streets  were  hung  with 
richly-tinted  tapestries,  and  gayly  festooned  with 
flowers.  The  windows  and  verandas  were  graced 
with  the  beauty  and  fashion  of  that  pleasure-loving 
capital ;  and  many  a  dark  eye  sparkled  as  it  gazed 

"  Vanderhammen  has  been  care-    logtie.     Don  Juan  de  Austria,  Col 
ful  to  transcribe  this  precioua  oata-     156  et  seq. 


Cii.  IX.] 


RECEPTION  AT  NAPLES. 


317 


on  the  fine  form  and  features  of  the  youthful  hero, 
who  at  the  age  of  twenty-four  had  come  to  Italy  to 
assume  the  baton  of  command,  and  lead  the  cru- 
sade against  the  Moslems.  His  splendid  dress  of 
white  velvet  and  cloth  of  gold  set  ofi"  his  grace- 
ful person  to  advantage.  A  crimson  scarf  float- 
ed loosely  over  his  breast;  and  his  snow-white 
plumes,  drooping  from  his  cap,  mingled  with  the 
yellow  curls  that  fell  in  profusion  over  his  shoul- 
ders. It  was  a  picture  which  the  Italian  maiden 
might  love  to  look  on.  It  was  certainly  not  the 
picture  of  the  warrior  sheathed  in  the  iron  panoply 
of  war.  But  the  young  prince,  in  his  general 
aspect,  might  be  relieved  from  the  charge  of  effem- 
inacy, by  his  truly  chivalrous  bearing  and  the 
dauntless  spirit  which  beamed  from  his  clear  blue 
eye.  In  his  own  lineaments  he  seemed  to  combine 
all  that  was  most  comely  in  the  lineaments  of  his 
race.  Fortunately  he  had  escaped  the  deformity  of 
the  heavy  Burgundian  lip,  which  he  might  perhaps 
have  excused,  as  establishing  his  claims  to  a  descent 
from  the  imperial  house  of  Hapsburg.^* 

Don  John  had  found  no  place  more  busy  with 
preparations  for  the  campaign  than  Naples.  A 
fleet  was  riding  at  anchor  in  her  bay,  ready  to  sail 
under  the  command  of  Don  Alvaro  Bazan,  first 
marquis  of  Santa  Cruz,  a  nobleman  who  had  distin- 
guished himself  by  more  than  one  gallant  achieve- 
ment in  the  Mediterranean,  and  who  was  rapidly 

1*  Ibid.,  fol.  159  et  seq.  —  Fer-     251.  —  Heirera,     Hist     General, 
reras,  Hist.  d'Espagne,  torn.  X.  p.     torn.  II.  p.  15  et  seq. 


318 


WAR  WITH  THE  TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


Ch.  IX.] 


RECEPTION  AT  NAPLES. 


319 


laying  the  foundations  of  a  fame  that  was  one  day 
to  eclipse  that  of  every  other  admiral  in  Castile. 

Ten  days  Don  John  remained  at  Naples,  de- 
tained by  contrary  winds.  Though  impatient  to 
reach  Messina,  his  time  passed  lightly  amidst  the 
fetes  and  brilliant  spectacles  which  his  friendly  hosts 
had  provided  for  his  entertainment.  He  entered 
gayly  into  the  revels ;  for  he  was  well  skilled  in 
the  courtly  and  chivalrous  exercises  of  the  day. 
Few  danced  better  than  he,  or  rode,  or  fenced,  or 
played  at  tennis  with  more  spirit  and  skill,  or 
carried  off  more  frequently  the  prizes  of  the  tour- 
ney. Indeed,  he  showed  as  much  ambition  to  excel 
in  the  mimic  game  of  war  as  on  the  field  of  battle. 
With  his  accomplishments  and  personal  attractions, 
we  may  well  believe  that  Don  John  had  little  reason 
to  complain  of  coldness  in  the  fair  dames  of  Italy. 
But  he  seems  to  have  been  no  less  a  favorite  with 
the  men.  The  young  cavaliers,  in  particular,  re- 
garded him  as  the  very  mirror  of  chivalry,  and  stu- 
diously formed  themselves  on  him  as  their  model. 
His  hair  clustered  thickly  round  his  temples,  and 
he  was  in  the  habit  of  throwing  it  back,  so  as 
to  display  his  fine  forehead  to  advantage.  This 
suited  his  physiognomy.  It  soon  became  the 
mode  with  the  gallants  of  the  court ;  and  even 
those  whose  physiognomies  it  did  not  suit  were 
no  less  careful  to  arrange  their  hair  in  the  same 
manner. 

While  at  Naples  he  took  part  in  a  ceremony 
of  an  interesting  and  significant  character.     It  was 


on  the  occasion  of  the  presentation  of  a  standard 
sent  by  Pius  the  Fifth  for  the  Holy  War.  The 
ceremony  took  place  in  the  church  of  the  Francis- 
can convent  of  Santa  Chiara,  Granvelle  officiated 
on  the  occasion.  Mass  was  performed  by  the  car- 
dinal-viceroy in  his  pontificals.  Te  Deum  was  then 
chanted,  after  which  Don  John,  approaching  the 
altar  with  a  slow  and  dignified  step,  gracefully 
knelt  before  the  prelate,  who,  first  delivering  to 
him  the  baton  of  generalissimo,  in  the  name  of  his 
holiness,  next  placed  in  his  hands  the  consecrated 
standard.  It  was  of  azure  damask.  A  crucifix 
was  embroidered  on  the  upper  part  of  the  ban- 
ner, while  below  were  the  arms  of  the  Church, 
with  those  of  Spain  on  the  right  and  of  Venice 
on  the  left,  united  by  a  chain,  from  which  were 
suspended  the  arms  of  John  of  Austria.  The 
prelate  concluded  the  ceremony  by  invoking  the 
blessing  of  Heaven  on  its  champion,  and  beseech- 
ing that  he  might  be  permitted  to  carry  the  banner 
of  the  Cross  victorious  over  its  enemies.  The  choir 
of  the  convent  then  burst  forth  into  a  triumphant 
peal,  and  the  people  from  every  quarter  of  the  vast 
edifice  shouted  "  Amen  ! "  ^^ 

It  was  a  striking  scene,  pregnant  with  matter 
for  meditation  to  those  who  gazed  on  it.  For  what 
could  be  more  striking  than  the  contrast  afforded 
by  these  two  individuals,  —  the  one  in  the  morning 
of  life,  his  eye  kindling  with  hope  and  generous 

15  "Luego  8u  Alteza,  el  Coro,  y    y  alegm;   Amen."     Yanderliam- 
Pueblo  dixeron  con  musica,  vozes,    men,  Juan  de  Austria,  fol.  159. 


320 


WAR  WITH  THE  TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


Ch.  IX.] 


ARRIVAL  AT  MESSINA. 


321 


r 

\ 


4 


II 


ambition,  as  he  looked  into  the  future  and  prepared 
to  tread  the  path  of  glory  under  auspices  as  bril- 
liant as  ever  attended  any  mortal ;  the  other  draw- 
ing near  to  the  evening  of  his  day,  looking  to  the 
past  rather  than  the  future,  with  pale  and  thought- 
ful brow,  as  of  one  who,  after  many  a  toilsome 
day  and  sleepless  night,  had  achieved  the  proud 
eminence  for  which  his  companion  was  panting,  — 
and  had  found  it  barren! 

The  wind  having  become  more  favorable,  Don 
John  took  leave  of  the  gay  capital  of  the  South,  and 
embarked  for  Messina,  which  he  reached  on  the 
twenty-fifth  of  August.  If  in  other  places  he  had 
seen  preparations  for  war,  here  he  seemed  to  be 
brought  on  the  very  theatre  of  war.  As  he  entered 
the  noble  port,  he  was  saluted  with  the  thunders 
of  hundreds  of  pieces  of  ordnance  from  the  com- 
bined fleets  of  Rome  and  Venice,  which  lay  side  by 
side  awaiting  his  arrival.  He  landed  beneath  a 
triumphal  arch  of  colossal  dimensions,  embossed 
with  rich  plates  of  silver,  and  curiously  sculptured 
with  emblematical  bas-reliefs  and  with  complimen- 
tary legends  in  Latin  verse,  furnished  by  the  classic 
poets  of  Italy.^®  He  passed  under  two  other  arches 
of  similar  rich  and  elaborate  construction,  as  he 
rode  into  the  city  amidst  the  ringing  of  bells,  the 
cheers  of  the  multitude,  the  waving  of  scarfs  and 
handkerchiefs  from  the  balconies,  and  other  lively 
demonstrations  of  the  public  joy,  such  as  might 

**  For  a  minute  account  of  these    tions,    see    Vanderhammen,    Don 
aruhes  and  their  manifold  inscrip-    Juan  de  Austria,  fol.  160-162. 


have  intoxicated  the  brain  of  a  less  ambitious  sol- 
dier than  John  of  Austria.  The  festivities  were 
closed  in  the  evening  by  a  general  illumination  of 
the  city,  and  by  a  display  of  fireworks  that  threw 
a  light  far  and  wide  over  the  beautiful  harbor  and 
the  countless  ships  that  floated  on  its  waters. 

Nothing  could  be  finer,  indeed,  whether  by  day 
or  by  night,  than  the  spectacle  presented  by  the 
port  of  Messina.  Every  day  a  fresh  reinforcement 
of  squadrons,  or  of  single  galleys  or  brigantines, 
under  some  brave  adventurer,  entered  the  harbor 
to  swell  the  numbers  of  the  great  armada.  Many 
of  these  vessels,  especially  the  galleys,  were  richly 
carved  and  gilt,  after  the  fashion  of  the  time,  and 
with  their  many-colored  streamers,  and  their  flags 
displaying  the  arms  of  their  several  states,  made  a 
magnificent  show  as  they  glanced  over  the  waters. 
None,  in  the  splendor  of  their  decorations,  exceeded 
the  Real,  as  the  galley  of  the  commander-in-chief 
was  termed.  It  was  of  great  size,  and  had  been 
built  in  Barcelona,  famous  for  its  naval  architecture, 
all  the  world  over.  The  stern  of  the  vessel  was 
profusely  decorated  with  emblems  and  devices 
drawn  from  history.  The  interior  was  furnished  in 
a  style  of  luxury  that  seemed  to  be  designed  for 
pleasure,  rather  than  for  the  rough  duties  of  war. 
But  the  galley  was  remarkable  for  both  strength 
and  speed,  —  the  two  most  essential  qualities  in  the 
construction  of  a  ship.  Of  this  she  gave  ample 
evidence  in  her  contest  with  the  Turk.*^ 

^7  Rosell,  Combate  Naval  de  Lepanto,  p.  84. 

TOL.  III.  41 


I  ■ 


322 


WAR  WITH  THE  TUEKS. 


[Book  V. 


1^ 


The  whole  number  of  vessels  in  the  armada, 
great  and  small,  amounted  to  something  more  than 
three  hundred.  Of  these  full  two  thirds  were 
"royal  galleys."  Venice  alone  contributed  one 
hundred  and  six,  besides  six  galeazzas.  These  were 
ships  of  enormous  bulk,  and,  as  it  would  seem,  of 
clumsy  construction,  carrying  each  more  than  forty 
pieces  of  artillery.  The  Spaniards  counted  a  score 
of  galleys  less  than  their  Venetian  confederates. 
But  they  far  exceeded  them  in  the  number  of  their 
frigates,  brigantines,  and  vessels  of  smaller  size. 
They  boasted  a  still  greater  superiority  in  the 
equipment  of  their  navy.  Indeed,  the  Venetian 
squadron  was  found  so  indifferently  manned,  that 
Don  .John  ordered  several  thousand  hands  to  be 
drafted  from  the  ships  of  the  other  Italian  powers, 
and  from  the  Spanish,  to  make  up  the  necessary 
complement.  This  proceeding  conveyed  so  direct 
a  censure  on  the  remissness  of  his  countrymen, 
as  to  give  great  disgust  to  the  admiral,  Veniero. 
But  in  the  present  emergency  he  had  neither  the 
power  to  resist  nor  to  resent  it.'® 

The  number  of  persons  on  board  of  the  fleet, 
soldiers  and  seamen,  was  estimated  at  eighty  thou- 
sand. The  galleys,  impelled  by  oars  more  than 
by   sails,   required   a   large   number   of  hands   to 


18  Don  John,  in  his  correspond- 
ence with  his  friend  Don  Garcia 
de  Toledo,  speaks  with  high  dis- 
<nist  of  the  neghgence  shown  in 
equipping  the  Venetian  galleys. 
In  a  letter  dated  Messina,  August 


30,  he  says :  "  Pdneme  cierta  con- 
goja  ver  que  el  raundo  me  obliga 
i.  haeer  alguna  cosa  de  momento, 
contando  las  galeras  por  numero  y 
no  por  cualidad.**  Documentor 
Ineditos,  torn.  III.  p   18. 


Ch.  IX.] 


DEPARTURE  FROM  MESSINA. 


323 


navigate  them.     The  soldiers,  as  we  have  seen,  did 
not  exceed  twenty-nine  thousand ;  of  which  num- 
her  more  than  nineteen  thousand  were  furnished 
by  Spain.     They  were  well-appointed  troops,  most 
of  them  familiar  Avith  war,  and  officered  by  men, 
many  of  whom  had  already  established  a  high  rep^ 
utation  in  the  service.     On  surveying  the  muster- 
roll  of  cavaliers  who  embarked  in  this  expedition, 
one  may  well  believe  that  Spain  had  never  beforJ 
sent  forth  a  fleet  in  which  were  to  be  found  the 
names  of  so  many  of  her  sons  illustrious  for  rank 
and   military   achievement.     If  the   same   can  be 
said  of  Venice,  we  must  consider  that  the  present 
war  was  one  in  which  the  prosperity,  perhaps  the 
very  existence,  of  the  republic  was  involved.     The 
Spaniard  was  animated  by  the  true  spirit  of  the 
Crusades,  when,  instead  of  mercenary  motives,  the 
guerdon  for  which  men  fought  was  glory  in'  this 
world  and  paradise  in  the  next. 

Sebastian  Veniero,  trembling  for  the  posses- 
sions  of  the  republic  in  the  Adriatic,  would  have 
put  to  sea  without  further  delay,  and  sought  out 
the  enemy.  But  Don  John,  with  a  prudence 
hardly  to  have  been  expected,  declined  moving 
until  he  had  been  strengthened  by  all  his  reinforce- 
ments.  He  knew  the  resources  of  the  Ottoman 
empire;  he  could  not  doubt  that  in  the  present 
emergency  they  would  be  strained  to  the  utmost  to 
equip  a  formidable  armament;  and  he  resolved 
not  to  expose  himself  unnecessarUy  to  the  chances 
of  defeat,  by  neglecting  any  means  in  his  power  to 


I  'I 


324 


AVAR  WITH  THE  TURKS. 


[Book  V 


Ch.  IX.] 


DEPARTURE  FROM  MESSINA. 


325 


it 


£  i 


prepare  for  the  encounter.  It  was  a  discreet  deter- 
mination,  which  must  have  met  the  entire  appro- 
bation of  his  brother. 

While  he  was  thus  detained  at  Messina,  a  papal 
nuncio,  Odescalco,  bishop  of  Pena,  arrived  there. 
He  was  the  bearer  of  sundry  spiritual  favors  from 
the  pontiff,  whose   real  object,  no  doubt,  was  to 
quicken  the  movements  of  John  of  Austria.     The 
nuncio  proclaimed  a  jubilee;  and  every  man  in  the 
armada,  from  the  captain-general  downwards,  hav- 
ing fasted  three  days,  confessed  and  partook  of  the 
communion.     The  prelate,  in  the  name  of  his  holi- 
ness, then  proclaimed  a  full  remission  of  their  sins  ; 
and  he  conceded  to  them  the  same  indulgences  as 
had  been  granted  to  the   deliverers  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre.     To  Don  John  the  pope  communicated 
certain   revelations   and   two   cheering    prophecies 
from  St.  Isidore,  which  his  holiness  declared  had 
undoubted  reference  to  the  prince.     It  is  further 
stated,  that  Pius  appealed  to  more  worldly  feelings, 
by  intimating  to  the  young  commander  that  suc- 
cess could  not  fail  to  open  the  way  to  the  acqui- 
sition of  some  independent  sovereignty  for  himself  ^^ 


W  Rosell,    Combate   Naval   de 
Lepanto,  p.  82. 

The  clearest  and  by  far  the  most 
elaborate  account  of  the  battle 
of  Lepanto  is  to  be  found  in  the 
memoir  of  Don  Cayetan  Rosell, 
which  received  the  prize  of  the 
Koyal  Academy  of  History  of  Ma- 
drid, in  1853.  It  is  a  narrative 
which  may  be  read  with  pride  by 
S[)aniards,  for  the  minute  details  it 


gives  of  the  prowess  shown  by  their 
heroic  ancestors  on  that  memorable 
day.  The  author  enters  with  spirit 
into  the  stormy  scene  he  describes. 
If  his  language  may  be  thought 
sometimes  to  betray  the  warmth 
of  national  partiality,  it  cannot  be 
denied  that  he  has  explored  the 
best  sources  of  information,  and  en- 
deavored to  place  the  result  fair- 
ly before  the  reader. 


Whether  this  suggestion  first  awakened  so  pleasing 
an  idea  in  Don  John's  mind,  or  whether  the  wary 
pontiff  was  aware  that  it  already  existed  there,  it  is 
certain  that  it  became  the  spectre  which  from  this 
time  forward  continued  to  haunt  the  imagination 
of  the  aspiring  chieftain,  and  to  beckon  him  on- 
ward in  the  path  of  perilous  ambition  to  its  melan- 
choly  close. 

All  being  now  in  readiness,  orders  were  given  to 
weigh  anchor;  and  on  the  sixteenth  of  Septem- 
ber the  magnificent  armament  —  unrivalled  by  any 
which  had  rode  upon  these  waters  since  the  days 
of  imperial  Rome  —  stood  out  to  sea.  The  papal 
nuncio,  dressed  in  his  pontificals,  took  a  prominent 
station  on  the  mole ;  and  as  each  vessel  passed  suc- 
cessively before  him,  he  bestowed  on  it  his  apos- 
tolic benediction.  Then,  without  postponing  a 
moment  longer  his  return,  he  left  Messina  and 
hastened  back  to  Rome  to  announce  the  joyful 
tidings  to  his  master.* 


20 


«  Torres  y  Aguilera,  Chronica  g09a,   1579,)    fol.    54.  — Vandcr- 

de  Guerra  que  ha  acontescido  en  hammen,   Don   Juan   de   Austiia, 

Italia  y  partes  de  Levante  y  Ber-  fol.  1G5  et  seq.  —  Cabrera,  Filipc 

beria  desde  1570  en  1574,  (^ara-  Segundo,  lib.  IX.  cap.  23. 


Cii.  X.) 


PLAN  OF  OPERATIONS. 


327 


CHAPTER    X. 


WAR  WITH  TIIK  TURKS. 


Plan    of  Operations.  —  Tidings   of   the    Enemy.  —  Preparations   for 
Combat.  — Battle  of  Lepanto.  —  Rout  of  the  Turkish  Armada. 

1571. 

As  the  allied  fleet  coasted  along  the  Calabrian 
shore,  it  was  so  much  baffled  by  rough  seas  and 
contrary  winds,  that  its  progress  was  slow.  Not 
long  before  his  departure  Don  John  had  sent  a 
small  squadron  under  a  Spanish  captain,  Gil  de 
Andrada,  to  collect  tidings  of  the  enemy.  On  his 
return  that  commander  met  the  Christian  fleet,  and 
reported  that  the  Turks,  with  a  powerful  armament, 
were  still  in  the  Adriatic,  where  they  •had  com- 
mitted fearful  ravages  on  the  Venetian  territories. 
Don  John  now  steered  his  course  for  Corfu,  which, 
however,  he  did  not  reach  till  the  twenty-sixth  of 
September.  He  soon  had  ample  opportunities  of 
seeing  for  himself  the  traces  of  the  enemy,  in  the 
smoking  hamlets  and  desolated  fields  along  the 
coast  The  allies  were  welcomed  with  joy  by  the 
islanders,  who  furnished  them  with  whatever  sup- 
plies they  needed.  Here  Don  John  learned  that 
the  Ottoman  fleet  had  been  seen  standing  into  the 


gulf  of  Lepanto,  where  it  lay  as  if  waiting  the 
coming  of  the  Christians. 

The  young  commander-in-chief  had  now  no  hesi- 
tation as  to  the  course  he  ought  to  pursue.  But 
he  chose  to  call  a  council  of  his  principal  captains 
before  deciding.  The  treaty  of  alliance,  indeed,  re- 
quired him  to  consult  with  the  other  commanders 
before  taking  any  decisive  step  in  matters  of  impor- 
tance ;  and  this  had  been  strenuously  urged  on 
him  by  the  king,  ever  afraid  of  his  brother's  im- 
petuosity. 

The  opinions  of  the  council  were  divided.  Some 
who  had  had  personal  experience  of  the  naval 
prowess  of  the  Turks  appeared  to  shrink  from  en- 
countering so  formidable  an  armament,  and  would 
have  confined  the  operations  of  the  fleet  to  the 
siege  of  some  place  belonging  to  the  Moslems. 
Even  Doria,  whose  life  had  been  spent  in  fight- 
ing with  the  infidel,  thought  it  was  not  advisable 
to  attack  the  enemy  in  his  present  position,  sur- 
rounded by  friendly  shores,  whence  he  miglit  easily 
obtain  succor.  It  would  be  better,  he  urged,  to 
attack  some  neighboring  place,  like  Navarino, 
which  might  have  the  effect  of  drawing  him  from 
the  gulf,  and  thus  compel  him  to  give  battle  in 
some  quarter  more  advantageous  to  the  allies. 

But  the  majority  of  the  council  took  a  ver)' 
different  view  of  the  matter.  To  them  it  appeared 
that  the  great  object  of  the  expedition  was  to  de- 
stroy the  Ottoman  fleet,  and  that  a  better  oppor- 
tunity could  not  be  offered  than  the  present  one. 


i  i 


n 


)♦ 


: 


328 


WAR  WITH  THE  TURJCS. 


[Book  V. 


while  the  enemy  was  shut  up  in  the  gulf,  from 
which,  if  defeated,  he  would  find  no  means  of  es- 
cape. Fortunately  this  was  the  opinion,  not  only  of 
the  majority,  but  of  most  of  those  whose  opinions 
were  entitled  to  the  greatest  deference.  Among 
these  were  the  gallant  marquis  of  Santa  Cruz,  the 
Grand-Commander  Requesens,  who  still  remained 
near  the  person  of  Don  John  and  had  command  of 
a  galley  in  his  rear,  Cardona,  general  of  the  Si- 
cilian squadron,  Barbarigo,  the  Venetian  provvedi" 
tare,  next  in  authority  to  the  captain-general  of  his 
nation,  the  Roman  Colonna,  and  Alexander  Farnese, 
the  young  prince  of  Parma,  Don  John's  nephew, 
who  had  come,  on  this  memorable  occasion,  to  take 
his  first  lesson  in  the  art  of  war,  —  an  art  in  which 
he  was  destined  to  remain  without  a  rival. 

The  commander-in-chief,  with  no  little  satisfac- 
tion, saw  himself  so  well  supported  in  his  own 
judgment ;  and  he  resolved,  without  any  unneces- 
sary delay,  to  give  the  Turks  battle  in  the  position 
they  had  chosen.  He  was  desirous,  however,  to 
be  joined  by  a  part  of  his  fleet,  which,  baffled  by 
the  winds,  and  without  oars,  still  lagged  far  be- 
hind. For  the  galley,  with  its  numerous  oars  in 
addition  to  its  sails,  had  somewhat  of  the  properties 
of  a  modem  steamer,  which  so  gallantly  defies  both 
wind  and  wave.  As  Don  John  wished  also  to  re- 
view  his  fleet  before  coming  to  action,  he  deter- 
mined to  cross  over  to  Comenizza,  a  capacious  and 
well-protected  port  on  the  opposite  coast  of  Al- 
bania. 


Ch.  X.] 


PLAN  OF  OPERATIONS. 


329 


This  he  did  on  the  thirtieth  of  September.  Here 
the  vessels  were  got  in  readiness  for  immediate 
action.  They  passed  in  review  before  the  com- 
mander-in-chief, and  went  through  their  various 
evolutions,  while  the  artillerymen  and  musketeers 
showed  excellent  practice.  Don  John  looked  with 
increased  confidence  to  the  approaching  combat. 
An  event,  however,  occurred  at  this  time,  which 
might  have  been  attended  with  the  worst  conse- 
quences. 

A  Roman  officer  named  Tortona,  one  of  those 
who  had  been  drafted  to  make  up  the  comple- 
ment of  the  Venetian  galleys,  engaged  in  a  brawl 
with  some  of  his  crew.  This  reached  the  ears  of 
Veniero,  the  Venetian  captain-general.  The  old 
mdn,  naturally  of  a  choleric  temper,  and  still  smart- 
ing from  the  insult  which  he  fancied  he  had  re- 
ceived by  the  introduction  of  the  allies  on  board 
of  his  vessels,  instantly  ordered  the  arrest  of  the 
offender.  Tortona  for  a  long  while  resisted  the 
execution  of  these  orders ;  and  when  finally  seized, 
with  some  of  his  companions,  they  were  all  sen- 
tenced by  the  vindictive  Veniero  to  be  hung  at  the 
yard-arm.  Such  a  high-handed  proceeding  caused 
the  deepest  indignation  in  Don  John,  who  regarded 
it,  moreover,  as  an  insult  to  himself.  In  the  first 
moments  of  his  wrath  he  talked  of  retaliating  on 
the  Venetian  admiral  by  a  similar  punishment. 
But,  happily,  the  remonstrances  of  Colonna  —  who, 
as  the  papal  commander,  had  in  truth  the  most 
reason  to  complain  —  and  the  entreaties  of  other 


n 


4 


til 

t 


VOL.   III. 


42 


330 


WAR  WITH  THE    TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


friends  prevailed  on  the  angry  chief  to  abstain  from 
any  violent  act.  He  insisted,  however,  that  Veniero 
should  never  again  take  his  place  at  the  council- 
board,  but  should  be  there  represented  by  the 
provveditore  Barbarigo,  next  in  command,  —  a  man, 
fortunately,  possessed  of  a  better  control  over  his 
temper  than  was  shown  by  his  superior.  Thus  the 
cloud  passed  away,  which  threatened  for  a  moment 
to  break  up  the  harmony  of  the  allies,  and  to  bring 
ruin  on  the  enterprise.^ 

On  the  third  of  October,  Don  John,  without 
waiting  longer  for  the  missing  vessels,  again  put  to 
sea,  and  stood  for  the  gulf  of  Lepanto.  As  the 
fleet  swept  down  the  Ionian  Sea,  it  passed  many  a 
spot  famous  in  ancient  story.  None,  we  may 
imagine,  would  be  so  likely  to  excite  an  intercsC^t 
this  time  as  Actium,  on  whose  waters  was  fought 
the  greatest  naval  battle  of  antiquity.  But  the 
mariner,  probably,  gave  little  thought  to  the  past, 
as  he  dwelt  on  the  conflict  that  awaited  him  at 
Lepanto.  On  the  fifth,  a  thick  fog  enveloped  the 
armada,  and  shut  out  every  object  from  sight.  For- 
tunately the  vessels  met  with  no  injury,  and,  pass- 
ing by  Ithaca,  the  ancient  home  of  Ulysses,  they 
safely  anchored  off  the  eastern  coast  of  Cephalonia. 
For  two  days  their  progress  was  thwarted  by  hcad- 


l  Torres  y  Aguilera,  Chronica,  entre  Christianos  y  Turcos  hubo  el 

fol.    64. — Vanderhammen,    Don  ano  1571,  MS.  —  Otra  Rclacion, 

Juan  de  Austria,  fol.  1 73.  —  Pa-  Documentos  Ineditos,  torn.  III.  p. 

ruta,  Guerra  di  Cipro,  p.  149. —  865. 
Relacion  de  la  Batalla  Naval  que 


Ch.  X] 


TIDINGS  OF  THE  ENEMY. 


331 


winds.  But  on  the  seventh,  Don  John,  impatient 
of  delay,  again  put  to  sea,  though  wind  and  weather 
were  still  unfavorable. 

While  lying  oif  Cephalonia  he  had  received  ti- 
dings that  Famagosta,  the  second  city  of  Cyprus, 
had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  and  this 
under  circumstances  of  unparalleled  pei*fidy  and 
cruelty.  The  place,  after  a  defence  that  had  cost 
hecatombs  of  lives  to  the  besiegers,  was  allowed 
to  capitulate  on  honorable  terms.  Mustapha,  the 
Moslem  commander,  the  same  fierce  chief  who 
had  conducted  the  siege  of  Malta,  requested  an 
interview  at  his  quarters  with  four  of  the  principal 
Venetian  captains.  After  a  short  and  angry  con- 
ference, he  ordered  them  all  to  execution.  Three 
were  beheaded.  The  other,  a  noble  named  Braga- 
dino,  who  had  held  the  supreme  command,  he 
caused  to  be  flayed  alive  in  the  market-place  of 
the  city.  The  skin  of  the  wretched  victim  was 
then  stuffed ;  and  with  this  ghastly  trophy  dangling 
from  the  yard-arm  of  his  galley,  the  brutal  monster 
sailed  back  to  Constantinople,  to  receive  the  reward 
of  his  services  from  Selim.^  These  services  were 
great.  The  fall  of  Famagosta  secured  the  fall  of 
Cyprus,  which  thus  became  permanently  incorpo- 
rated in  the  Ottoman  empire.^ 

*  Paruta,  Guerra  di  Cipro,  pp.  la    Suria."     Torres    y    Aguilera, 

143,  144.  — "  Despues  hizo  que  lo  Chronica,  fol.  45. 
degollassen  vivo,  y  lleno  el  pellejo        3  Ibid.,   fol.   44,  45. —  Paruta, 

de  paja  lo  hizo  colgar  de  la  en-  Guerra  di  Cipro,  pp.  130-144. — 

tena  de  una  galeota,  y  desta  ma-  Sagredo,    Monarcas     Othomanos, 

nera  lo  llevo  por  toda  la  ribera  de  pp.  283  -  289. 


<l 


il 


332 


WAR  WITH  THE  TUKKS. 


[DooK  V. 


The  tidings  of  these  shocking  events  filled  the 
breast  of  every  Venetian  with  an  inextinguishable 
thirst  for  vengeance.  The  confederates  entered 
heartily  into  these  feelings;  and  all  on  board  of 
the  armada  were  impatient  for  the  hour  that  was 
to  bring  them  hand  to  hand  with  the  enemies  of 
the  Faith. 

It  was  two  hours  before  dawn,  on  Sunday,  the 
memorable   seventh   of  October,    when    the   fleet 
weighed  anchor      The  wind  had  become  lighter; 
but  it  was  still  contrary,  and  the  galleys  were  in- 
debted for  their  progress  much  more  to  their  oars 
than  their  sails.     By  sunrise  they  were  abreast  of 
the  Curzolari,  —  a  cluster  of  huge  rocks,  or  rocky 
islets,  which    on   the   north  defends  the  entrance 
of  the  gulf  of  Lepanto.     The  fleet  moved  labori- 
ously along,  while  every  eye  was  strained  to  catch 
the  first  glimpse  of  the  hostile  navy.     At  length 
the  watch  on  the  foretop  of  the  Real  called  out 
'•  A  sail ! "  and  soon  after  declared  that  the  whole 
Ottoman  fleet  was  in  sight.     Several  others,  climb- 
ing up  the  rigging,  confirmed  his  report;  and  in 
a  few  moments  more,  word  was  sent  to  the  same 
effect  by  Andrew  Doria,  who  commanded  on  the 
right     There  was  no  longer  any  doubt ;  and  Don 
.John,  ordering  his  pennon  to  be  displayed  at  the 
inizzen-peak,  unfurled  the  great   standard   of  the 
League,  given  by  the  pope,  and  directed  a  gun  to 
be  fired,  the  signal  for  battle.     The  report,  as  it 
ran   along  the   rocky  shores,  fell  cheerily  on  the 
ears  of  the  confederates,   who,  raisins  their  eves 


Cii.  X.] 


PREPAPvATIONS  FOR  COMBAT. 


333 


towards  the  consecrated  banner,  filled  the  air  with 
their  shouts.'* 

The  principal  captains  now  came  on  board  the 
Real,  to  receive  the  last  orders  of  the  commander- 
in-chief  Even  at  this  late  hour,  there  were  some 
who  ventured  to  intimate  their  doubts  of  the  ex- 
pediency of  engaging  the  enemy  in  a  position  where 
he  had  a  decided  advantage.  But  Don  John  cut 
short  the  discussion.  "  Gentlemen,"  he  said,  "  this 
is  the  time  for  combat,  not  for  counsel.'*  He  then 
continued  the  dispositions  he  was  making  for  the 
attack. 

He  had  already  given  to  each  commander  of  a 
galley  written  instructions  as  to  the  manner  in 
which  the  line  of  battle  was  to  be  formed  in  case  of 
meeting  the  enemy.  The  armada  was  now  disposed 
in  that  order.  It  extended  on  a  front  of  three  miles. 
Far  on  the  right,  a  squadron  of  sixty-four  galleys 
was  commanded  by  the  Genoese  admiral,  Andrew 
Doria,  —  a  name  of  terror  to  the  Moslems.  The 
centre,  or  battle,  as  it  was  called,  consisting  of  sixty- 
three  galleys,  was  led  by  John  of  Austria,  who  was 
supported  on  the  one  side  by  Colonna,  the  captain- 
general  of  the  pope,  and  on  the  other  by  the  Vene- 
tian captain-general,  Veniero.  Immediately  in  the 
rear  was  the  galley  of  the  Grand-Commander  Reque- 
sens,  who  still  remained  near  the  person  of  his  for- 
mer pupil ;  though  a  difference  which  arose  between 
them  on  the  voyage,  fortunately  now  healed,'  showed 

*  Torres  y  Aguilera,  Chronica,    torn.  III.  p.  241.  — Rosell,  Histo- 
fol.    65.  —  Documentos    Ineditos,     ria  del  Combate  Naval,  pp.  93,  94. 


A 


r^ 


I 


i 


334 


WAR  WITH  THE  TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


that  the  young  commander-in-chief  was  wholly  in- 
dependent of  his  teacher  in  the  art  of  war. 

The  left  wing  was  commanded  by  the  noble 
Venetian,  Barbarigo,  whose  vessels  stretched  along 
the  ^tolian  shore,  to  which  he  approached  as  near 
as,  in  his  ignorance  of  the  coast,  he  dared  to  ven- 
ture,  so  as  to  prevent  his  being  turned  by  the 
enemy.  Finally,  the  reserve,  consisting  of  thirty- 
five  galleys,  was  given  to  the  brave  marquis  of 
Santa  Cruz,  with  directions  to  act  in  any  quarter 
where  he  thought  his  presence  most  needed.  The 
smaller  craft,  some  of  which  had  now  arrived,  seem 
to  have  taken  little  part  in  the  action,  which  was 
thus  left  to  the  galleys. 

Each  commander  was  to  occupy  so  much  space 
with  his  galley  as  to  allow  room  for  manoeuvring  it 
to  advantage,  and  yet  not  enough  to  allow  the 
enemy  to  break  the  line»  He  was  directed  to  single 
out  his  adversary,  to  close  with  him  at  once,  and 
board  as  soon  as  possible.  The  beaks  of  the  gal- 
leys were  pronounced  to  be  a  hinderance  rather 
than  a  help  in  action.  They  were  rarely  strong 
enough  to  resist  a  shock  from  an  antagonist,  and 
they  much  interfered  with  the  working  and  firing 
of  the  guns.  Don  John  had  the  beak  of  his  vessel 
cut  away.  The  example  was  followed  through- 
out the  fleet,  and,  as  it  is  said,  with  eminently 
good  effect.  —  It  may  seem  strange  that  this  dis- 
covery should  have  been  reserved  for  the  crisis  of 
a  battle.^ 

5  Torres  y  Aguilera,  Chronica,  fol.  53.  —  Herrera,  Hist.  General, 


Ch.  X.] 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  COMBAT. 


335 


When  the  officers  had  received  their  last  instruc- 
tions, they  returned  to  their  respective  vessels ;  and 
Don  John,  going  on  board  of  a  light  frigate,  passed 
rapidly  through  the  part  of  the  armada  lymg  on 
his  right,  while  he  commanded  Requesens  to  do  the 
same  with  the  vessels  on  his  left.     His  object  was 
to  feel  the  temper  of  his  men,  and  to  rouse  their 
mettle   by  a  few  words   of  encouragement.     The 
Venetians   he   reminded   of  their  recent   injuries. 
The  hour  for  vengeance,  he  told  them,  had  arrived. 
To  the  Spaniards  and  other  confederates  he  said : 
"  You  have  come  to  fight  the  battle  of  the  Cross  ; 
to  conquer  or  to  die.    But  whether  you  are  to  die  or 
conquer,  do  your  duty  this  day,  and  you  will  secure 
a  glorious  immortality."     His  words  were  received 
with  a  burst  of  enthusiasm  which  went  to  the  heart 
of  the  commander,  and  assured  him  that  he  could 
rely  on  his  men  in  the  hour  of  trial.     On  returning 
to  his  vessel,  he  saw  Veniero  on  his  quarter-deck ; 
and  they   exchanged   salutations   in  as  friendly  a 
manner   as   if  no  difference  had  existed  between 
them.     At  this  solemn  hour  both  these  brave  men 
were  willing  to  forget  all  personal  animosity  in  a 
common  feeling  of  devotion  to  the  great  cause  in 
which  they  were  engaged.^ 

The  Ottoman   fleet   came   on    slowly   and  with 
difficulty.     For,  strange  to   say,  the  wind,  which 

torn.  H.  p.   30.  —  Relacion  de  la  fol.  67  et  seq.  —  Relacion  de  la 

Batalla  Naval,  MS.  —  Resell,  His-  Batalla  Naval,  MS.  —  Otras  Rela- 

torla  del  Corabate  Naval,  pp.  95,  ciones,  Documentos  Ineditos,  torn. 

59,  100.  HI.  pp.  242,  262.    - 
6  Torres  y  Aguilera,  Chronica, 


1' 


i 


336 


WAR  WITH  THE  TURKS. 


|i 


[Book  V. 


had  hitherto  been  adverse  to  the  Christians,  after 
lulling  for  a  time,  suddenly  shifted  to  the  opposite 
quarter  and  blew  in  the  face  of  the  enemy/  As 
the  day  advanced,  moreover,  the  sun,  which  had 
shone  in  the  eyes  of  the  confederates,  gradually 
shot  its  rays  into  those  of  the  Moslems.  Both 
circumstances  were  of  good  omen  to  the  Christians, 
and  the  first  was  regarded  as  nothing  short  of  a 
direct  interposition  of  Heaven.  Thus  ploughing 
its  way  along,  the  Turkish  armament,  as  it  came 
more  into  view,  showed  itself  in  greater  strength 
than  had  been  anticipated  by  the  allies.  It  con- 
sisted of  nearly  two  hundred  and  fifty  royal  gal- 
leys, most  of  them  of  the  largest  class,  besides  a 
number  of  smaller  vessels  in  the  rear,  which,  like 
those  of  the  allies,  appear  scarcely  to  have  come 
into  action.  The  men  on  board,  of  every  descrip- 
tion, were  computed  at  not  less  than  a  hundred 
and  tw'enty  thousand.^  The  galleys  spread  out, 
as  usual  with  the  Turks,  in  the  form  of  a  regular 
half-moon,  covering  a  wider  extent  of  surface  than 
the  combined  fleets,  which  they  somewhat  ex- 
ceeded in  number.      They   presented,   indeed,   as 


"^  Most  of  the  authorities  notice 
this  auspicious  change  of  the  winci. 
Among  others,  see  Relacion  de  la 
Batalla  Naval,  MS.  ;  Relacion 
escrita  por  Miguel  Servia,  confesor 
de  Don  Juan,  Documentos  Indditos, 
torn.  XI.  p.  368 ;  Torres  y  Agui- 
lera,  Chronica,  fol.  75.  The  testi- 
mony is  that  of  persons  present  in 
the  action. 


8  Amidst  the  contradictory  esti- 
mates of  the  number  of  the  vessels 
and  the  forces  in  the  Turkish  ar- 
mada to  be  found  in  different  writ- 
ers and  even  in  official  relations,  I 
have  conformed  to  the  statement 
given  in  Seiior  Rosell's  Memoria^ 
prepared  after  a  careful  comparison 
of  the  various  authorities.  Histo- 
ria  del  Combate  Naval,  p.  94. 


Ch.  X.] 


PREPAKATIOXS  FOR  COMBAT. 


337 


they  drew  nearer,  a  magnificent  array,  with  their 
gilded  and  gaudily-painted  prows,  and  their  myriads 
of  pennons  and  streamers,  fluttering  gayly  in  the 
breeze  ;  while  the  rays  of  the  morning  sun  glanced 
on  the  polished  scymitars  of  Damascus,  and  on  the 
superb  aigrettes  of  jewels  which  sparkled  in  the 
turbans  of  the  Ottoman  chiefs. 

In  the  centre  of  the  extended  line,  and  directly 
opposite   to  the  station    occupied  by  the  captain- 
general  of  the  League,  was  the  huge  galley  of  Ali 
Tasha.     The  right  of  the  armada  was  commanded 
by  Mahomet  Sirocco,  viceroy  of  Egypt,  a  circum- 
spect  as    well  as   courageous  leader;  the  left,  by 
Uluch  Ali,  dey  of  Algiers,  the  redoubtable  corsair 
of  the  Mediterranean.     Ali  Pasha  had  experienced 
a  difficulty  like  that  of  Don  John,  as  several  of 
his  officers  had    strongly  urged    the  inexpediency 
of  engaging  so  formidable  an  armament  as  that  of 
the  allies.     But  Ali,  like  his  rival,  was  young  and 
ambitious.     He   had    been  sent  by  his   master  to 
fight  the  enemy ;  and  no  remonstrances,  not  even 
those  of  Mahomet  Sirocco,  for  whom  he  had  great 
respect,  could  turn  him  from  his  purpose. 

He  had,  moreover,  received  intelligence  that  the 
allied  fleet  was  much  inferior  in  strength  to  what 
it  proved.  In  this  error  he  was  fortified  by  the 
first  appearance  of  the  Christians ;  for  the  extrem- 
ity  of  their  left  wing,  commanded  by  Barbarigo, 
stretching  behind  the  .Etolian  shore,  was  hidden 
from  his  view.  As  he  drew  nearer  and  saw  the 
whole  extent  of  the  Christian  lines,  it  is  'said  his 


VOL.    III. 


43 


I        ,! 


338 


WAR  WITH  THE  TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


countenance  fell.  If  so,  he  still  did  not  abate  one 
jot  of  his  resolution.  He  spoke  to  those  around 
him  with  the  same  confidence  as  before,  of  the 
result  of  the  battle.  He  urged  his  rowers  to  strain 
every  nerve.  Ali  was  a  man  of  more  humanity  in 
his  nature  than  often  belonged  to  his  nation.  His 
galley-slaves  were  all,  or  nearly  all,  Christian  cap- 
tives ;  and  he  addressed  them  in  this  brief  and 
pithy  manner :  "  If  your  countrymen  are  to  win 
this  day,  Allah  give  you  the  benefit  of  it ;  yet  if  I 
win  it,  you  shall  certainly  have  your  freedom.  If 
you  feel  that  I  do  well  by  you,  do  then  the  like 
by  me."^ 

As  the  Turkish  admiral  drew  nearer,  he  made  a 
change  in  his  order  of  battle,  by  separating  his 
wings  farther  from  his  centre,  thus  conforming  to 
the  dispositions  of  the  allies.  Before  he  had  come 
within  cannon-shot,  he  fired  a  gun  by  way  of  chal- 
lenge to  his  enemy.  It  was  answered  by  another 
from  the  galley  of  John  of  Austria.  A  second  gun 
discharged  by  Ali  was  as  promptly  replied  to  by 
the  Christian  commander.  The  distance  between 
the  two  fleets  was  now  rapidly  diminishing.  At  this 
solemn  moment  a  deathlike  silence  reigned  through- 
out the  armament  of  the  confederates.  Men  seemed 
to  hold  their  breath,  as  if  absorbed  in  the  expecta- 


9  "  Si  hoy  68  vuestro  dia,  Dios 
OS  lo  dc  ;  pero  estad  ciertos  que  si 
gano  la  Jornada,  os  dar^  libertad : 
por  lo  tanto  haced  lo  que  debeis  d 
las  obras  que  de  mi  habeis  recebi- 
do."  Rosell,  Historia  del  Combate 
Naval,  p.  101. 


For  the  last  pages  see  Paruta, 
Guerra  di  Cipro,  pp.  150,  151 ; 
Sagredo,  Monarcas  Othomanos,  p. 
292 ;  Torres  y  Aguilera,  Chronica, 
fol.  65,  66  ;  Relacion  de  la  Batalla 
Naval,  MS. 


Ch.  X.] 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  COMBAT. 


339 


tion  of  some  great  catastrophe.  The  day  was  mag- 
nificent. A  light  breeze,  still  adverse  to  the  Turks, 
played  on  the  waters,  somewhat  fretted  by  the  con- 
trary winds.  It  was  nearly  noon  ;  and  as  the  sun, 
mounting  through  a  cloudless  sky,  rose  to  the 
zenith,  he  seemed  to  pause,  as  if  to  look  down  on 
the  beautiful  scene,  where  the  multitude  of  galleys, 
moving  over  the  water,  showed  like  a  holiday  spec- 
tacle  rather  than  a  preparation  for  mortal  combat 

The  illusion  was  soon  dispelled  by  the  fierce  yells 
which  rose  on  the  air  from  the  Turkish  armada. 
It  was  the  customary  war-cry  with  which  the  Mos- 
lems entered  into  battle.     Very  different  was  the 
scene  on  board  of  the  Christian  galleys.    Don  John 
might  be  there  seen,  armed  cap-a-pie,  standing  on 
the   prow   of  the    Real,    anxiously   awaiting   the 
conflict.     In   this    conspicuous   position,  kneeling 
down,  he  raised  his  eyes  to  Heaven,  and  humbly 
prayed  that  the  Almighty  would  be  with  his  peo- 
ple on  that  day.     His  example   was   followed  by 
the  whole  fleet.      Officers  and  men,   all  prostrat- 
ing themselves  on  their  knees,  and  turning  their 
eyes  to  the  consecrated  banner  which  floated  from 
the  Real,  put  up  a  petition  like  that  of  their  com- 
mander.    They  then  received  absolution  from  the 
priests,  of  whom  there  were  some  in  every  vessel ; 
and  each  man,  as  he  rose  to  his  feet,  gathered  new 
strength,  as  he  felt  assured  that  the  Lord  of  Hosts 
would  fight  on  his  side.^° 

1^  This  fact  is  told  by  most  of    author  of  the  manuscript  so  often 
the  historians  of  the  battle.     The    cited  by  me  further  says,  that  it  was 


uo 


WAR  WITH  THE   TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


When  the  foremost  vessels  of  the  Turks  had 
come  within  cannon-shot,  they  opened  their  fire  on 
the  Christians.  The  firing  soon  ran  along  the  whole 
of  the  Turkish  line,  and  was  kept  up  without  in- 
terruption as  it  advanced.  Don  John  gave  orders 
for  trumpet  and  atabal  to  sound  the  signal  for  ac- 
tion ;  which  was  followed  by  the  simultaneous  dis- 
charge of  such  of  the  guns  in  the  combined  fleet  as 
could  be  brought  to  bear  on  the  enemy.  The  Span- 
ish commander  had  caused  the  galeazzas,  those 
mammoth  war-ships  of  which  some  account  has 
been  already  given,  to  be  towed  half  a  mile  ahead 
of  the  fleet,  where  they  might  intercept  the  advance 
of  the  Turks.  As  the  latter  came  abreast  of  them, 
the  huge  galleys  delivered  their  broadsides  right 
and  left,  and  their  heavy  ordnance  produced  a  start- 
ling effect.  All  Pasha  gave  orders  for  his  galleys  to 
open  their  line  and  pass  on  either  side,  without 
engaging  these  monsters  of  the  deep,  of  which  he 
had  had  no  experience.  Even  so  their  heavy  guns 
did  considerable  damage  to  several  of  the  nearest 
vessels,  and  created  some  confusion  in  the  pacha's 
line  of  battle.  They  were,  however,  but  unwieldy 
craft,  and,  having  accomplished  their  object,  seem 
to  have  taken  no  further  part  in  the  combat. 

The  action  began  on  the  left  wing  of  the  allies. 


wbile  ihe  fleet  was  thus  engajjed  m 
prayer  for  aid  from  the  Almighty 
that  the  change  of  wind  took  place. 
**  Y  en  este  medio,  que  en  la  ora- 
cion  se  pedia  i,  Dios  la  victoria, 
estaba  el  mar  alterado  de  que  nu- 


estra  armada  recibia  gran  dano  y 
antes  que  se  acabase  la  dicha  ora- 
cion  el  mar  estuvo  tan  quieto  y 
sosegado  que  jamas  se  a  visto,  y  fud 
fuer^a  d  la  armada  enemiga  amai- 
nar  y  venir  al  remo." 


Cn.  X.J 


BATTLE  OF  LEPANTO. 


341 


which  Mahomet  Sirocco  was  desirous  of  turning. 
This  had  been  anticipated  by  Barbarigo,  the  Vene- 
tian admiral,  who  commanded  in  that  quarter.     To 
prevent  it,  as  we  have  seen,  he  lay  with  his  vessels 
as  near  the  coast  as  he  dared.     Sirocco,  better  ac- 
quainted with  the  soundings,  saw  there  was  space 
enough  for  him  to  pass,  and  darting  by  wdth  all 
the  speed  that  oars  could  give  him,  he  succeeded 
in  doubling  on  his  enemy.     Thus  placed  between 
two  fires,  the  extreme  of  the  Christian  left  fought 
at  terrible  disadvantage.    No  less  than  eight  galleys 
went  to  the  bottom,  and  several  others  were  cap- 
tured.     The  brave  Barbarigo,  throwing  himself  into 
the  heat  of  the  fight,  without  availing  himself  of 
his  defensive  armor,  was  pierced  in  the  eye  by  an 
arrow,  and,  reluctant  to   leave   the   glory  of  the 
field  to  another,  was  borne  to  his  cabin.     The  com- 
bat still  continued  with  unabated  fury  on  the  part 
of  the  Venetians.     They  fought  like  men  who  felt 
that  the  war  was  theirs,  and  who  Avere  animated 
not  only  by  the  thirst  for  glory,  but  for  revenge." 

Far  on   the  Christian  right   a  manoeuvre  simi- 
lar  to  that  so  successfully  executed  by  Sirocco  was 


"  Torres  y  Aguilera,  Chronica, 
fol.  71.— Panita,Guerradi  Cipro, 
p.  156.  —  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segun- 
do,  p.  688.  —  Relacion  de  la  Ba- 
talla  Naval,  MS.  —  Otra  Relacion, 
Documentos  Ineditos,  torn.  XI.  p. 
S68. 

The  inestimable  collection  of  the 
Documentos  Ineditos  contains  sev- 
eral narratives  of  the    battle  of 


Lepanto  by  contemporary'  pens. 
One  of  these  is  from  the  manu- 
script of  Fray  Miguel  Servia,  the 
confessor  of  John  of  Austria,  and 
present  with  him  in  the  engage- 
ment. The  different  narratives 
have  much  less  discrepancy  with 
one  another  than  is  usual  on  such 
occasions. 


f 


'' 


342 


WAR  WITH  THE  TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


attempted  by  Ulucli  Ali,  the  dey  of  Algiers. 
Profiting  by  his  superiority  in  numbers,  he  en- 
deavored to  turn  the  right  wing  of  the  confeder- 
ates. It  was  in  this  quarter  that  Andrew  Doria 
commanded.  He  had  foreseen  this  movement  of 
his  enemy,  and  he  succeeded  in  foiling  it.  It 
was  a  trial  of  skill  between  the  two  most  accom- 
plished seamen  in  the  Mediterranean.  Doria  ex- 
tended his  line  so  far  to  the  right  indeed,  to  prevent 
being  surrounded,  that  Don  John  was  obliged  to 
remind  him  that  he  left  the  centre  too  much  ex- 
posed. His  dispositions  were  so  far  unfortunate 
for  himself,  that  his  own  line  was  thus  weakened, 
and  afforded  some  vulnerable  points  to  his  assail- 
ant. These  were  soon  detected  by  the  eagle  eye  of 
Uluch  Ali;  and,  like  the  king  of  birds  swooping 
on  his  prey,  he  fell  on  some  galleys  separated  by  a 
considerable  interval  from  their  companions,  and, 
sinking  more  than  one,  carried  off  the  great  Capi- 
tana  of  Malta  in  triumph  as  his  prize. ^^ 

While  the  combat  opened  thus  disastrously  to 
the  allies  both  on  the  right  and  on  the  left,  in  the 
centre  they  may  be  said  to  have  fought  with  doubt- 
ful fortune.     Don  John  had  led  his  division  gal- 


M  Torres  y  Aguilera,  Chronica, 
fol.  72.  — Relacion  de  la  Batalla 
Naval,  MS. 

The  last-mentioned  manuscript 
B  one  of  many  left  us  by  parties 
engaged  in  the  fight.  The  author 
of  this  relation  seems  to  have  writ- 
ten it  on  board  one  of  the  galleys, 
while  lying  at  Petala,  during  the 


week  after  the  engagement.  The 
events  are  told  in  a  plain,  unaffect- 
ed manner,  that  invites  the  confi* 
dence  of  the  reader.  The  origi-  ■ 
nal  manuscript,  from  which  my 
copy  was  taken,  is  to  be  found  in 
the  library  of  the  University  of 
Leydea, 


Cn.  X.] 


BATTLE   OF  LEPANTO. 


343 


lantly  forward.  But  the  object  on  which  he  was 
intent  was  an  encounter  with  Ali  Pasha,  the  foe 
most  worthy  of  his  sword.  The  Turkish  com- 
mander had  the  same  combat  no  less  at  heart.  The 
galleys  of  both  were  easily  recognized,  not  only 
from  their  position,  but  from  their  superior  size 
and  richer  decoration.  The  one,  moreover,  dis- 
played the  holy  banner  of  the  League ;  the  other, 
the  great  Ottoman  standard.  This,  like  the  ancient 
standard  of  the  caliphs,  was  held  sacred  in  its  char- 
acter. It  was  covered  with  texts  from  the  Koran, 
emblazoned  in  letters  of  gold,  and  had  the  name  of 
Allah  inscribed  upon  it  no  less  than  twenty-eight 
thousand  nine  hundred  times.  It  was  the  banner 
of  the  sultan,  having  passed  from  father  to  son 
since  the  foundation  of  the  imperial  dynasty,  and 
was  never  seen  in  the  field  unless  the  grand  sei- 
gneur or  his  lieutenant  was  there  in  person." 

Both  the  chiefs  urged  on  their  rowers  to  the 
top  of  their  speed.  Their  galleys  soon  shot  ahead 
of  the  rest  of  the  line,  driven  through  the  boil- 
ing surges  as  by  the  force  of  a  tornado,  and  closed 
with  a  shock  that  made  every  timber  crack,  and 
the  two  vessels  quiver  to  their  very  keels.  So 
powerful,  indeed,  was  the  impetus  they  received, 
that  the  pacha's  galley,  which  was  considerably 
the  larger  and  loftier  of  the  two,  was  thrown  so 
far  upon  its  opponent  that  the  prow  reached  the 

13  A  minute  description  of  the  given  in  the  Coleccion  de  Docu- 
Ottoman  standard,  taken  from  a  mentos  Ineditos,  torn.  III.  p.  270 
manuscript  of  Luis  del  Marmol,  b    ct  seq. 


344 


WAR  WITH   THE   TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


Ch.  X.] 


BATTLE   or  LEPANTO. 


345 


fourth  bench  of  rowers.  As  soon  as  the  vessels 
were  disengaged  from  each  other,  and  those  on 
board  had  recovered  from  the  shock,  the  work  of 
death  began.  Don  John's  chief  strength  consisted 
in  some  three  hundred  Spanish  arquebusiers,  culled 
from  the  flower  of  his  infantry.  Ali,  on  the  other 
hand,  was  provided  with  an  equal  number  of  jani- 
zaries. He  was  followed  by  a  smaller  vessel,  in 
which  two  hundred  more  were  stationed  as  a  corps 
de  reserve.  He  had,  moreover,  a  hundred  archers 
on  board.  The  bow  was  still  as  much  in  use  with 
the  Turks  as  with  the  other  Moslems. 

The  pacha  opened  at  once  on  his  enemy  a  terri- 
ble fire  of  cannon  and  musketry.  It  was  returned 
with  equal  spirit  and  much  more  effect;  for  the 
Turks  were  observed  to  shoot  over  the  heads  of 
their  adversaries.  The  Moslem  galley  was  unpro- 
vided with  the  defences  which  protected  the  sides 
of  the  Spanish  vessels;  and  the  troops,  crowded 
together  on  the  lofty  prow,  presented  an  easy  mark 
to  their  enemy's  balls.  But  though  numbers  of 
them  fell  at  every  discharge,  their  places  were 
soon  supplied  by  those  in  reserve.  They  were 
enabled,  therefore,  to  keep  up  an  incessant  fire, 
which  wasted  the  strength  of  the  Spaniards ;  and 
as  both  Christian  and  Mussulman  fought  with  in- 
domitable spirit,  it  seemed  doubtful  to  which  side 
victory  would  incline. 

The  affair  was  made  more  complicated  by  the 
entrance  of  other  parties  into  the  conflict.  Both 
Ali  and  Don  John  were  supported  by  some  of  the 


most  valiant  captains  in  their  fleets.  Next  to  the 
Spanish  commander,  as  we  have  seen,  were  Co- 
lonna  and  the  veteran  Veniero,  who,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-six,  performed  feats  of  arms  worthy  of  a 
paladin  of  romance.  In  this  way  a  little  squadron 
of  combatants  gathered  round  the  principal  leaders, 
who  sometimes  found  themselves  assailed  by  several 
enemies  at  the  same  time.  Still  the  chiefs  did  not 
lose  sight  of  one  another;  but,  beating  off"  their 
inferior  foes  as  well  as  they  could,  each,  refusing  to 
loosen  his  hold,  clung  with  mortal  grasp  to  his 
antagonist.^^ 

Thus  the  fight  raged  along  the  whole  extent  of 
the  entrance  to  the  gulf  of  Lepanto.  The  volumes 
of  vapor  rolling  heavily  over  the  waters  effectually 
shut  out  from  sight  whatever  was  passing  at  any 
considerable  distance,  unless  when  a  fresher  breeze 
dispelled  the  smoke  for  a  moment,  or  the  flashes  of 
the  heavy  guns  threw  a  transient  gleam  on  the 
dark  canopy  of  battle.  If  the  eye  of  the  spectator 
could  have  penetrated  the  cloud  of  smoke  that 
enveloped  the  combatants,  and  have  embraced  the 
whole  scene  at  a  glance,  he  would  have  perceived 
them  broken  up  into  small  detachments,  separately 
engaged  one  with  another,  independently  of  the 
rest,  and  indeed  ignorant  of  all  that  was  doing 
in  other  quarters.  The  contest  exhibited  few  of 
those  large  combinations  and  skilful  manoeuvres  to 

^*  Documentos    Ineditos,    torn.  70. — Paruta,  Guerra  di  Cipro,  pp. 

III.  p.   265  ;  torn.  XL  p.  368.  —  156,  157.  —  Relacionde  la  Batalla 

Torres  y  Aguilera,  Chronica,  fol.  Naval,^  MS. . 

VOL.  III.  44 


346 


WAR  WITH  THE  TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


be  expected  in  a  great  naval  encounter.  It  was 
rather  an  assemblage  of  petty  actions,  resembling 
those  on  land.  The  galleys,  grappling  together, 
presented  a  level  arena,  on  which  soldier  and 
galley-slave  fought  hand  to  hand,  and  the  fate  of 
the  engagement  was  generally  decided  by  board- 
ing. As  in  most  hand-to-hand  contests,  there  was 
an  enormous  waste  of  life.  The  decks  were  loaded 
^vith  corpses.  Christian  and  Moslem  lying  promis- 
cuously together  in  the  embrace  of  death.  In- 
stances are  recorded  where  every  man  on  board 
was  slain  or  wounded.^*  It  was  a  ghastly  spec- 
tacle, where  blood  flowed  in  rivulets  down  the 
sides  of  the  vessels,  staining  the  waters  of  the  gulf 
for  miles  around. 

It  seemed  as  if  a  hurricane  had  swept  over 
the  sea,  and  covered  it  with  the  wreck  of  the 
noble  armaments  which  a  moment  before  were 
so  proudly  riding  on  its  bosom.  Little  had  they 
now  to  remind  one  of  their  late  magnificent  array, 
with  their  hulls  battered,  their  masts  and  spars 
gone  or  splintered  by  the  shot,  their  canvas  cut 
into  shreds  and  floating  wildly  on  the  breeze, 
while  thousands  of  wounded  and  drownin<y  men 
were  clinging  to  the  floating  fragments,  and  call- 


's Ilerrera  notices  one  galley, 
•*  La  Piamontesa  de  Saboya  degol- 
lada  en  ella  toda  la  gente  de  cabo 
y  remo  y  despedazado  con  once 
heridas  D.  Francisco  de  Saboya.** 
Another,  "  La  Florencia,**  says  Ro- 
sell,   **perdi(5  todos  los  soldados, 


chusma,  galeotes  y  caballeros  do 
San  Esteban  que  en  ella  habia, 
excepto  su  capitan  Tomas  de  Mc'- 
dicis  y  diez  y  seis  hombres  mas, 
aunque  todos  heridos  y  estropea- 
dos.**  Historia  del  Combate  Na- 
val, p.  US. 


Cii.  X.] 


BATTLE  OF  LEPANTO. 


347 


ing  piteously  for  help.  Such  was  the  wild  uproar 
which  succeeded  the  Sabbath-like  stillness  that 
two  hours  before  had  reigned  over  these  beautiful 
solitudes. 

The  left  wing  of  the  confederates,  commanded 
by  Barbarigo,  had  been  sorely  pressed  by  the  Turks, 
as  we  have  seen,  at  the  beginning  of  the  fight. 
Barbarigo  himself  had  been  mortally  wounded. 
His  line  had  been  turned.  Several  of  his  galleys 
had  been  sunk.  But  the  Venetians  gathered  cour- 
age from  despair.  By  incredible  efforts,  they  suc- 
ceeded in  beating  off  their  enemies.  They  became 
the  assailants  in  their  turn.  Sword  in  hand,  they 
carried  one  vessel  after  another.  The  Capuchin 
was  seen  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  waving  aloft 
his  crucifix,  and  leading  the  boarders  to  the  as- 
sault. ^^  The  Christian  galley-slaves,  in  some  in- 
stances, broke  their  fetters,  and  joined  their  coun- 
trymen against  their  masters.  Fortunately,  the 
vessel  of  Mahomet  Sirocco,  the  Moslem  admiral, 
was  sunk ;  and  though  extricated  from  the  water 
himself,  it  was  only  to  perish  by  the  sword  of  his 
conqueror,  Giovanni  Contarini.  The  Venetian  could 
find  in  his  heart  no  mercy  for  the  Turk. 

The  fall  of  their  commander  gave  the  final  blow 
to  his  followers.  Without  further  attempt  to  pro- 
long the  fight,  they  fled  before  the  avenging  swords 

*8  "  Tomo  una  Alabarda  o  Per-  que  entro  en  la  Galera  Turquesca, 

tesana,  y  ligando  en  ella  el  Sancto  haziendo  con  su    Alabarda  cosas 

Crucifixo,   verdadera  pendon,    se  que  ponian  admiracion.**     Torres 

puso  delante  de  todos  assi  desar-  y  Aguilera,  Chronicas,  fol.  75. 
mado  como  estava,  y  fue  el  primero 


n 


348 


WAR  WITH  THE  TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


Ch.  X.] 


BATTLE  OF  LEP^VNTO. 


349 


of  the  Venetians,  Those  nearest  the  land  endeav- 
ored to  escape  by  running  their  vessels  ashore, 
where  they  abandoned  them  as  prizes  to  the  Chris- 
tians. Yet  many  of  the  fugitives,  before  gaining 
the  land,  perished  miserably  in  the  waves.  —  Bar- 
barigo,  the  Venetian  admiral,  who  was  still  linger- 
ing in  agony,  heard  the  tidings  of  the  enemy's 
defeat,  and,  utte/ing  a  few  words  expressive  of  his 
gratitude  to  Heaven,  which  had  permitted  him  to 
see  this  hour,  he  breathed  his  last.^^ 

During  this  time  the  combat  had  been  going  for- 
ward in  the  centre  between  the  two  commanders- 
in-chief,  Don  John  and  Ali  Pasha,  whose  galleys 
blazed  with  an  incessant  fire  of  artillery  and  mus- 
ketry, that  enveloped  them  like  "  a  martyr's  robe 
of  flames."  The  parties  fought  with  equal  spirit, 
though  not  with  equal  fortune.  Twice  the  Span- 
iards had  boarded  their  enemy,  and  both  times  they 
had  been  repulsed  with  loss.  Still  their  superiority 
in  the  use  of  fire-arms  would  have  given  them  a 
decided  advantage  over  their  opponents,  if  the  loss 
they  had  inflicted  had  not  been  speedily  repaired 
by  fresh  reinforcements.  More  than  once  the  con- 
test between  the  two  chieftains  was  interrupted  by 
the  arrival  of  others  to  take  part  in  the  fray.  They 
soon,  however,  returned  to  each  other,  as  if  un- 
willing to  waste  their  strength  on  a  meaner  enemy. 

17  "Vivid  hasta  que    sabiendo  comun  enemigo  que  tanto  desed 

que  la  vitoria  era  ganada    dijo:  ver  destruido."   Herrera,  Relacion 

que   daba  gracias  i  Dies    que  lo  de  la  Guerra  de  Cipro,  Documen- 

hubiese  guardado  tanto  que  viese  tos  Ineditos,  torn.  XXI.  p.  360. 
vcncida  la   batalla  y  roto  aquel 


Through  the  whole  engagement  both  commanders 
exposed  themselves  to  danger  as  freely  as  any  com- 
mon soldier.  In  such  a  contest  even  Philip  must 
have  admitted  that  it  would  be  difficult  for  his 
brother  to  find,  with  honor,  a  place  of  safety.  Don 
John  received  a  wound  in  the  foot.  It  was  a  slight 
one,  however,  and  he  would  not  allow  it  to  be 
dressed  till  the  action  was  over. 

Again  his  men  were  mustered,  and  a  third  time 
the  trumpets  sounded  to  the  attack.  It  was  more 
successful  than  the  preceding.  The  Spaniards 
threw  themselves  boldly  into  the  Turkish  galley. 
They  were  met  with  the  same  spirit  as  before  by 
the  janizaries.  Ali  Pasha  led  them  on.  Unfor- 
tunately, at  this  moment  he  was  struck  in  the 
head  by  a  musket-ball,  and  stretched  senseless  in 
the  gangway.  His  men  fought  worthily  of  their 
ancient  renown.  But  they  missed  the  accustomed 
voice  of  their  commander.  After  a  short  but  in- 
effectual struggle  against  the  fiery  impetuosity  of 
the  Spaniards,  they  were  overpowered  and  threw 
down  their  arms.  The  decks  were  loaded  with  the 
bodies  of  the  dead  and  the  dying.  Beneath  these 
was  discovered  the  Turkish  commander-in-chief, 
severely  wounded,  but  perhaps  not  mortally.  He 
was  drawn  forth  by  some  Castilian  soldiers,  who, 
recognizing  his  person,  would  at  once  have  de- 
spatched him.  But  the  disabled  chief,  having  ral- 
lied from  the  first  effects  of  his  wound,  had  suf- 
ficient presence  of  mind  to  divert  them  from  their 
purpose,  by  pointing  out  the  place  beloW  where  he 


350 


WAR  WITH  THE  TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


Ch.  X.] 


BATTLE  OF  LEPANTO. 


351 


li 


had  deposited  his  money  and  jewels ;  and  they  has- 
tened to  profit  by  the  disclosure,  before  the  treasure 
should  fall  into  the  hands  of  their  comrades. 

Ali  was  not  so  successful  with  another  soldier, 
who  came  up  soon  after,  brandishing  his  sword, 
and  preparmg  to  plunge  it  into  the  body  of  the 
prostrate  commander.  It  was  in  vain  that  the 
latter  endeavored  to  turn  the  ruffian  from  his  pur- 
pose. He  was  a  convict,  one  of  those  galley-slaves 
whom  Don  John  had  caused  to  be  unchained  from 
the  oar  and  furnished  with  arms.  He  could  not 
believe  that  any  treasure  would  be  worth  so  much 
as  the  head  of  the  pacha.  Without  further  hesi- 
tation, he  dealt  him  a  blow  which  severed  it  from 
his  shoulders.  Then,  returning  to  his  galley,  he 
laid  the  bloody  trophy  before  Don  John.  But  he 
had  miscalculated  on  his  recompense.  His  com- 
mander gazed  on  it  with  a  look  of  pity  mingled 
with  horror.  He  may  have  thought  of  the  generous 
conduct  of  Ali  to  his  Christian  captives,  and  have 
felt  that  he  deserved  a  better  fate.  He  coldly  in- 
quired "  of  what  use  such  a  present  could  be  to 
him  " ;  and  then  ordered  it  to  be  thrown  into  the 
sea.  Far  from  the  order  being  obeyed,  it  is  said 
the  head  was  stuck  on  a  pike,  and  raised  aloft  on 
board  of  the  captured  galley.  At  the  same  time 
the  banner  of  the  Crescent  was  pulled  down ;  while 
that  of  the  Cross,  run  up  in  its  place,  proclaimed 
the  downfall  of  the  pacha.^® 

W  Relacion  de  la  Batalla  Naval,    torn.  II.  p.  33.  —  Paruta,  Guerra 
MS.  —  Herrera,    Hist.     General,    di  Cipro,    pp.    157,    158.  —  Do- 


The  sight  of  the  sacred  ensign  was  welcomed  by 
the  Christians  with  a  shout  of  "  Victory ! "  which 
rose  high  above  the  din  of  battle.  ^^  The  tidings  of 
the  death  of  Ali  soon  passed  from  mouth  to  mouth, 
giving  fresh  heart  to  the  confederafes,  but  falling 
like  a  knell  on  the  ears  of  the  Moslems.  Their 
confidence  was  gone.  Their  fire  slackened.  Their 
efforts  grew  weaker  and  weaker.  They  were  too 
far  from  shore  to  seek  an  asylum  there,  like  their 
comrades  on  the  right.  They  had  no  resource  but 
to  prolong  the  combat  or  to  surrender.  Most  pre- 
ferred the  latter.  Many  vessels  were  carried  by 
boarding,  others  were  sunk  by  the  victorious  Chris- 
tians. Ere  four  hours  had  elapsed,  the  centre,  like 
the  right  wing,  of  the  Moslems  might  be  said  to 
be  annihilated. 

Still  the  fight  was  lingering  on  the  right  of  the 
confederates,  where,  it  will  be  remembered,  Uluch 
Ali,  the  Algerine  chief,  had   profited   by  Doria's 


cumentos  Ineditos,  torn.   III.    p. 
244. 

Torres  y  Aguilera  tells  a  rather 
extraordinary  anecdote  respecting 
the  great  standard  of  the  League 
in  the  Real.  The  figure  of  Christ 
emblazoned  on  it  was  not  hit  by  ball 
or  arrow  during  the  action,  not- 
withstanding every  other  banner 
was  pierced  in  a  multitude  of  places. 
Two  arrows,  however,  lodged  on 
either  side  of  the  crucifix,  when  a 
monkey  belonging  to  the  galley 
ran  up  the  mast,  and,  drawing  out 
the  weapons  with  his  teeth,  threw 
them  overboard!    (Chronica,  fol. 


75.)  Considering  the  number  of 
ecclesiastics  on  board  the  fleet,  it 
is  remarkable  that  no  more  mira- 
cles occurred  on  this  occasion. 

19  Torres  y  Aguilera,  Chronica, 
fol.  72  et  seq.  —  Relacion  de  la 
Batalla  Naval,  MS.  —  Vanderham- 
men,  Don  Juan  de  Austria,  fol. 
182.  —  Documentos  Ineditos,  tom. 
III.  p.  247  et  seq.  —  Paruta,  Guer- 
ra di  Cipro,  p.  160.  —  Cabrera, 
Filipe  Segundojlib.  IX.  cap.  25,  26. 

"  Pa  el  estandarte  barbaro  ahatido 
la  Cruz  del  Redentor  fiie  enarbolada 
con  un  triunfo  solene  y  grande  gloria, 
cantando  abiertamente  la  vitoria." 
Ercilla,  La  Araucaiiaj  par.  II.  canto  24. 


352 


WAR  WITH  THE  TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


Cii.  X.]  ROUT   OF  THE   TURKISH  ARMADA. 


35;) 


i 


i 


error  in  extending  his  line  so  far  as  greatly  to 
weaken  it.  Uluch  All,  attacking  it  on  its  most 
vulnerable  quarter,  had  succeeded,  as  we  have  seen, 
in  capturing  and  destroying  several  vessels,  and 
would  have  inflicted  still  heavier  losses  on  his  ene- 
ony  had  it  not  been  for  the  seasonable  succor  re- 
ceived from  the  marquis  of  Santa  Cruz.  This 
brave  officer,  who  commanded  the  reserve,  had  al- 
ready been  of  much  service  to  Don  John  when  the 
Real  was  assailed  by  several  Turkish  galleys  at 
once  during  his  combat  with  Ali  Pasha  ;  for  at  this 
juncture  the  marquis  of  Santa  Cruz  arriving,  and 
beating  off  the  assailants,  one  of  whom  he  after- 
wards captured,  enabled  the  commander-in-chief  to 
resume  his  engagement  with  the  pacha. 

No  sooner  did  Santa  Cruz  learn  the  critical  situa- 
tion of  Doria,  than,  supported  by  Cardona,  "  gen- 
eral "  of  the  Sicilian  squadron,  he  pushed  forward 
to  his  relief.  Dashing  into  the  midst  of  the  melee, 
the  two  commanders  fell  like  a  thunderbolt  on  the 
Algerine  galleys.  Few  attempted  to  withstand  the 
shock.  But  in  their  haste  to  avoi^  it,  they  were  en- 
countered by  Doria  and  his  Genoese  galleys.  Thus 
beset  on  all  sides,  Uluch  Ali  was  compelled  to  aban- 
don his  prizes  and  provide  for  his  own  safety  by 
flight.  He  cut  adrift  the  Maltese  Capitana,  which 
he  had  lashed  to  his  stem,  and  on  which  three 
hundred  corpses  attested  the  desperate  character  of 
her  defence.  As  tidings  reached  him  of  the  discom- 
fiture of  the  centre  and  of  the  death  of  Ali  Pasha, 
he  felt  that  nothing  remained  but  to  make  the  best 


of  his  way  from  the  fatal  scene  of  action,  and  save 
as  many  of  his  own  ships  as  he  could.  And  there 
Avere  no  ships  in  the  Turkish  fleet  superior  to  his,  or 
manned  by  men  under  more  i)erfect  discipline.  For 
they  were  the  famous  corsairs  of  the  Mediterranean, 
who  had  been  rocked  from  infancy  on  its  waters. 

Throwing  out  his  signals  for  retreat,  the  Alge- 
rine was  soon  to  be  seen,  at  the  head  of  his  squad- 
ron, standing  towards  the  north,  under  as  much 
canvas  as  remained  to  him  after  the  battle,  and 
urged  forward  through  the  deep  by  the  whole 
strength  of  his  oarsmen.  Doria  and  Santa  Cruz 
followed  quickly  in  his  wake.  But  he  was  borne 
on  the  wings  of  the  wind,  and  soon  distanced  his 
pursuers.  Don  John,  having  disposed  of  his  own 
assailants,  was  coming  to  the  support  of  Doria,  and 
now  joined  in  the  pursuit  of  the  viceroy.  A  rocky 
headland,  stretching  far  into  the  sea,  lay  in  the  path 
of  the  fugitive  ;  and  his  enemies  hoped  to  intercept 
him  there.  Some  few  of  his  vessels  were  stranded 
on  the  rocks.  But  the  rest,  near  forty  in  number, 
standing  more  boldly  out  to  sea,  safely  doubled  the 
promontory.  Then,  quickening  their  flight,  they 
gradually  faded  from  the  horizon,  their  white  sails, 
the  last  thing  visible,  showing  in  the  distance  like 
a  flock  of  Arctic  sea-fowl  on  their  way  to  their 
native  homes.  —  The  confederates  explained  the  in- 
ferior sailing  of  their  own  galleys  on  this  occasion 
by  the  circumstance  of  their  rowers,  who  had  been 
allowed  to  bear  arms  in  the  fight,  being  crippled 
by  their  wounds. 


VOL.   III. 


45 


354 


WAR  WITH  THE  TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


II 


The  battle  had  lasted  more  than  four  hours. 
The  sky,  which  had  been  almost  without  a  cloud 
through  the  day,  began  now  to  be  overcast,  and 
showed  signs  of  a  coming  storm.  Before  seeking 
a  place  of  shelter  for  himself  and  his  prizes,  Don 
John  reconnoitred  the  scene  of  action.  He  met 
with  several  vessels  too  much  damaged  for  fur- 
ther service.  These,  mostly  belonging  to  the  ene- 
my, after  saving  what  was  of  any  value  on  board, 
he  ordered  to  be  burnt  He  selected  the  neigh- 
boring port  of  Petala,  as  affording  the  most  se- 
cure and  accessible  harbor  for  the  night.  Before 
he  had  arrived  there,  the  tempest  began  to  mutter 
and  darkness  was  on  the  water.  Yet  the  darkness 
rendered  only  more  visible  the  blazing  wrecks, 
which,  sending  up  streams  of  fire  mingled  with 
showers  of  sparks,  looked  like  volcanoes  on  the 
deep. 


CHAPTER    XI. 


WAR    WITH    THE    TURKS. 


Losses  of  the  Combatants.  —  Bon  John's  Generosity.  —  Triumphant 
Return.  —  Enthusiasm  throughout  Christendom.  —  Results  of  the 
Battle.  —  Operations  in  the  Levant  —  Concjuest  of  Tunis.  —  Re- 
taken by  the  Turks. 

1571-1574. 

Long  and  loud  were  the  congratulations  now 
paid  to  the  young  commander-in-chief  by  his  brave 
companions  in  arms,  on  the  success  of  the  day. 
The  hours  passed  blithely  with  officers  and  men, 
while  they  recounted  to  one  another  their  mani- 
fold achievements.  But  feelings  of  gloom  mingled 
with  their  gayety,  as  they  gathered  tidings  of  the 
loss  of  friends  who  had  bought  this  victory  with 
their  blood. 

It  was  indeed  a  sanguinary  battle,  surpassing, 
in  this  particular,  any  sea-fight  of  modern  times. 
The  loss  fell  much  the  most  heavily  on  the  Turks. 
There  is  the  usual  discrepancy  about  numbers ; 
but  it  may  be  safe  to  estimate  their  loss  at  near- 
ly twenty-five  thousand  slain  and  five  thousand 
prisoners.  What  brought  most  pleasure  to  the 
hearts    of  the    conquerors  was    the   Fiberation    of 


I '   I 

u 

if 


if  •' 


i 


356 


WAR  WITH  THE   TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


twelve  thousand  Christian  captives,  who  had  been 
chained  to  the  oar  on  board  the  Moslem  galleys, 
and  who  now  came  forth,  with  tears  of  joy  stream- 
ing down  their  haggard  cheeks,  to  bless  their  de- 
liverers.' ^ 

The  loss  of  the  allies  was  comparatively  small,  — 
less  than  eight  thousand.^  That  it  was  so  much 
less  than  that  of  their  enemies,  may  be  referred  in 
part  to  their  superiority  in  the  use  of  fire-arms  ;  in 
part  also  to  their  exclusive  use  of  these,  instead  of 
employing  bows  and  arrows,  weapons  on  which, 
though  much  less  effective,  the  Turks,  like  the  other 
Moslem  nations,  seem  to  have  greatly  relied.  Last- 
ly, the  Turks  were  the  vanquished  party,  and  in 
their  heavier  loss  suffered  the  almost  invariable  lot 
of  the  vanquished. 

As  to  their  armada,  it  may  almost  be  said  to 
have  been  annihilated.  Not  more  than  forty  gal- 
leys escaped  out  of  near  two  hundred  and  fifty 
which  entered  into  the  action.  One  hundred  and 
thirty  were  taken  and  divided  among  the  conquer- 
ors. The  remainder,  sunk  or  burned,  were  swal- 
lowed up  by  the  waves.     To  counterbalance   all 


*  The  loss  of  the  Moslems  is 
little  better  than  matter  of  conjec- 
ture, 80  contradictory  are  the  au- 
thorities. The  author  of  the  Ley- 
den  MS.  dismisses  the  subject  with 
the  remark,  "  La  gente  muerta  de 
Turcos  no  se  ha  podido  saber  por 
que  la  que  se  hecho  en  la  mar 
fuera  de  los  degollados  fueron  in- 
iinitos.''    I  have  conformed,  as  in 


my  other  estimates,  to  those  of 
Senor  Resell ,  Historia  del  Combat© 
Naval,  p.  118. 

9  Rosell  computes  the  total  loss 
of  the  allies  at  not  less  than  seven 
thousand  six  hundred;  of  whom 
one  thousand  were  Romans,  two 
thousand  Spaniards,  and  the  re- 
mainder Venetians.  Ibid.,  p. 
113. 


Cu.  XL] 


LOSSES  OF  THE   COMBATANTS. 


357 


this,  the  confederates  are  said  to  have  lost  not  more 
than  fifteen  galleys,  though  a  much  larger  num- 
ber, doubtless,  were  rendered  unfit  for  service. 
This  disparity  affords  good  evidence  of  the  infe- 
riority of  the  Turks  in  the  construction  of  their 
vessels,  as  well  as  in  the  nautical  skill  required  to 
manage  them.  A  great  amount  of  booty,  in  the 
form  of  gold,  jewels,  and  brocade,  was  found  on 
board  several  of  the  prizes.  The  galley  of  the 
commander-in-chief  alone  is  stated  to  have  con- 
tained one  hundred  and  seventy  thousand  gold 
sequins,  —  a  large  sum,  but  hot  large  enough,  it 
seems,  to  buy  off  his  life.^ 

The  losses  of  the  combatants  cannot  be  fairly 
presented  without  taking  into  the  account  the  qual- 
ity as  well  as  the  number  of  the  slain.  The  num- 
ber of  persons  of  consideration,  both  Christians 
and  Moslems,  who  embarked  in  the  expedition,  was 
very  great  The  roll  of  slaughter  showed  that  in 
the  race  of  glory  they  gave  little  heed  to  their  per- 
sonal safety.  The  officer  second  in  command  among 
the  Venetians,  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  Turk- 
ish armament,  and  the  commander  of  its  right  wing, 
all  fell  in  the  battle.  Many  a  high-born  cavalier 
closed  at  Lepanto  a  long  career  of  honorable  ser- 
vice. More  than  one,  on  the  other  hand,  dated  the 
commencement  of  their  career  from  this  day.    Such 


3  Ibid.,  ubi  supra.  —  Torres  y  Sagredo,     Monarcas    Othomanos, 

Aguilera,  Chronica,  fol.  74  et  seq.  pp.  29.5,  296.  —  Kelacion  de  la  Ba- 

—  Documentos  Ineditos,  tom.  III.  talla  Naval,  MS.  ^ 
pp.  246  -  249 ;  tom.  XI.  p.  370.  — 


III 


.  I 


358 


WAR  WITH  THE  TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


was  Alexander  Farnese,  prince  of  Parma.     Though 
he  was  but  a  few  years  younger  than  his  uncle, 
John  of  Austria,  those   few  years  had  placed   an 
immense   distance   between    their   conditions,    the 
one    filling   the   post   of   commander-in-chief,    the 
other  being  only  a  private  adventurer.     Yet  even 
so  he  succeeded  in  Avinning  great  renown  by  his 
achievements.     The  galley  in  which  he  sailed  was 
lying,  yard-arm  and  yard-arm,  alongside  of  a  Turk- 
ish galley,  with  which  it  was  hotly  engaged.     In 
the  midst  of  the  action  Farnese  sprang  on  board  of 
the  enemy,  and  with  his  good  broadsword  hewed 
down  all  who  opposed  him,  opening  a  path  into 
which  his  comrades  poured  one  after  another,  and, 
after  a  short  but  murderous  contest,  succeeded  in 
carrying  the  vessel.     As  Farnese's  galley  lay  just 
astern  of  Don  John's,  the  latter  could  witness  the 
achievement  of  his  nephew,  which  filled  him  with 
an  admiration  he  did  not  affbct  to  conceal.     The 
intrepidity  displayed  by  the  young  warrior  on  this 
occasion  gave  augury  of  his  character  in  later  life, 
when  he  succeeded  his  uncle  in  command,  and  sur- 
passed him  in  military  renown."* 

Another  youth  was  in  that  fight,  who,  then 
humble  and  unknown,  was  destined  one  day  to  win 
laurels  of  a  purer  and  more  enviable  kind   than 


*  Relacion  de  la  Batalla  Naval,  after  the  action.    The  letter,  dated 

MS.  *t  Petala,  October  10,  is  published 

Don  John  notices  this  achieve-  by   Aparici,  Documentos  Ineditos 

ment  of  his  gallant  kinsman  in  the  relativos  a  la  Batalla  de  Lepanto, 

first  letter  which  he  wrote  to  Philip  p.  26. 


Cu.  XL] 


DON  JOHN'S   GENEROSITY. 


8b\) 


those  which  grow  on  the  battle-field.  This  was 
Cervantes,  who  at  the  age  of  twenty-four  was  serv- 
ing on  board  the  fleet  as  a  common  soldier.  He 
had  been  confined  to  his  bed  by  a  fever ;  but,  not- 
withstanding the  remonstrances  of  his  captain,  he 
insisted,  on  the  morning  of  the  action,  not  only  on 
bearing  arms,  but  on  being  stationed  in  the  post  of 
danger.  And  well  did  he  perform  his  duty  there, 
as  was  shown  by  two  wounds  on  the  breast,  and 
by  another  in  the  hand,  by  which  he  lost  the  use 
of  it.  Fortunately  it  was  the  left  hand.  The  right 
yet  remained  to  indite  those  immortal  productions 
which  were  to  be  known  as  household  words,  not 
only  in  his  own  land,  but  in  every  quarter  of  the 
civilized  workP 

A  fierce  storm  of  thunder  and  lightning  raged 
for  four  and  twenty  hours  after  the  battle,  during 
which  time  the  fleet  rode  safely  at  anchor  in  the 
harbor  of  Petala.  It  remained  there  three  days 
longer.  Don  John  profited  by  the  delay  to  visit 
the  different  galleys  and  ascertain  their  condition. 
He  informed  himself  of  the  conduct  of  the  troops, 
and  was  liberal  of  his  praises  to  those  who  de- 
served them.  With  the  sick  and  the  wounded  he 
showed  the  greatest  sympathy,  endeavoring  to  al- 
leviate their  sufferings,  and  furnishing  them  with 


5  Navarete,  Vida  de  Cervantes, 
(Madrid,  1819,)  p.  19. 

Cervantes,  in  the  prologue  to  the 
second  part  of  Don  Quixote,  al- 
luding to  Lepanto,  enthusiastically 
exclaims,  that,  for  all  his  wounds. 


he  would  not  have  missed  the  glorj 
of  being  present  on  that  day. 
"  Quisicra  antes  haberme  hallado 
en  aquella  faccion  prodigiosa,  que 
sano  ahora  de  mis  heridas,  sin  ha- 
berme hallado  en  ella.** 


360 


WAR  WITH     THE  TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


whatever  his  galley  contained  that  could  contribute 
to  their  comfort.  With  so  generous  and  sympathetic 
a  nature,  it  is  not  wonderful  that  he  should  have 
established  himself  in  the  hearts  of  his  soldiers.^ 

But  the  proofs  of  this  kindly  temper  were  not 
confined  to  his  own  followers.  Among  the  prison- 
ers were  two  sons  of  Ali,  the  Turkish  commander- 
in-chief.  One  was  seventeen,  the  other  only  thir- 
teen years  of  age.  Thus  early  had  their  father 
desired  to  initiate  them  in  a  profession  which,  be- 
yond all  others,  opened  the  way  to  eminence  in 
Turkey.  They  were  not  on  board  of  his  galley ; 
and  when  they  were  informed  of  his  death,  they 
were  inconsolable.  To  this  affliction  was  now  to 
be  added  the  doom  of  slavery. 

As  they  were  led  into  the  presence  of  Don  John, 
the  youths  prostrated  themselves  on  the  deck  of  his 
vessel.  But  raising  them  up,  he  affectionately  em- 
braced them,  and  said  all  he  could  to  console  them 
under  their  troubles.  He  caused  them  to  be  treated 
with  the  consideration  due  to  their  rank.  His 
secretary,  Juan  de  Soto,  surrendered  his  quarters 
to  them.  They  were  provided  with  the  richest 
apparel  that  could  be  found  among  the  spoil. 
Their  table  was  served  with  the  same  delicacies  as 
that  of  the  commander-in-chief;  and  his  chamber- 
lains showed   the    same  deference  to    them   as  to 

•  This  humane  conduct  of  Don  written  on   the  spot :  "  EI  queda 

John   is  mentioned,  among  other  visitando  los  heridos  y  procurando 

writers,  by  the  author  of  the  Relacion  su  remedio  haziendoles  merced  y 

de  la  Batalla  Naval,  whose  language  dandoles  todo  lo  que  aviase  me- 

shows  that    his    manuscript    was  nester.**    MS. 


Ch.  XL] 


DON  JOHN'S   GENEROSITY. 


361 


himself.  His  kindness  did  not  stop  with  these 
acts  of  chivalrous  courtesy.  He  received  a  letter 
from  their  sister  Fatima*  containing  a  touching 
appeal  to  Don  John's  humanity,  and  soliciting  the 
release  of  her  orphan  brothers.  He  had  sent  a 
courier  to  give  their  friends  in  Constantinople  the 
assurance  of  their  personal  safety;  "which,"  adds 
the  lady,  "  is  held  by  all  this  court  as  an  act  of 
great  courtesy,  — gran  gentileza  ;  —  and  there  is  no 
one  here  who  does  not  admire  the  goodness  and 
magnanimity  of  your  highness."  She  enforced  her 
petition  with  a  rich  present,  for  which  she  grace- 
fully apologized,  as  intended  to  express  her  own 
feelings,  though  far  below  his  deserts.^ 

In  the  division  of  the  spoil,  the  young  princes 
had  been  assigned  to  the  pope.  But  Don  John  sue* 
cecded  in  obtaining  their  liberation.  Unfortunately, 
the  elder  died  —  of  a  broken  heart,  it  is  said  —  at 
Naples.  The  younger  was  sent  home,  with  three 
of  his  attendants,  for  whom  he  had  a  particular  re- 
gard. Don  John  declined  keeping  Fatima's  present, 
which  he  gave  to  her  brother.  In  a  letter  to  the 
Turkish  princess,  he  remarked  that  he  had  done 
this,  not  because  he  undervalued  her  beautiful  gift, 
but  because  it  had  ever  been  the  habit  of  his  royal 


'  "  Lo  qual  toda  esta  corte  tuvo 
d  gran  gentileza,  y  no  hazen  sino 
alabar  la  virtud  y  grandcza  de 
vuestra  Alteza." 

The  letter  of  Fatima  is  to  be 
found  in  Torres  y  Aguilera,  Chrq- 
iiica  (fol.  92).  The  chronicler 
adds  a  list  of  the  articles  sent  by 

VOL.  Ill  46 


the  Turkish  princess  to  Don  John, 
enumerating,  among  other  things, 
robes  of  sable,  brocade,  and  va- 
rious rich  stuffs,  fine  porcelain, 
carpets  and  tapestry,  weapons  cu- 
riously inlaid  with  gold  and  silver, 
and  Damascus  blades  ornamented 
with  rubies  and  turquoises. 


362 


WAR  WITH  THE  TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


ancestors  freely  to  grant  their  favors  to  those  who 
stood  in  need  of  them,  but  not  to  receive  aught  by 
way  of  recompense.® 

The  same  noble  nature  he  showed  in  his  con- 
duct towards  Veniero.  We  have  seen  the  friendly 
demonstration  he  made  to  the  testy  Venetian  on 
entering  into  battle.  He  now  desired  his  presence 
on  board  his  galley.  As  he  drew  near,  Don  John 
came  forward  frankly  to  greet  him.  He  spoke  of 
his  desire  to  bury  the  past  in  oblivion,  and,  compli- 
menting the  veteran  on  his  prowess  in  the  late  en- 
gagement, saluted  him  with  the  endearing  name  of 
"father."  The  old  soldier,  not  prepared  for  so  kind 
a  welcome,  burst  into  tears ;  and  there  was  no  one, 
says  the  chronicler  who  tells  the  anecdote,  that 
could  witness  the  scene  with  a  dry  eye.^ 


8  "  El  presente  que  me  embio 
dexe  de  rescibir,  y  le  huvo  el 
mismo  Mahamet  Bey,  no  por  no 
preciarle  eomo  cosa  venida  de  su 
mano,  sino  por  que  la  grandeza  de 
mis  antecessores  no  acostumbra 
rescibir  dones  de  los  necessitados 
de  favor,  sino  darlos  y  hazerles 
gracias.'*    Ibid.,  fol.  94. 

9  According  to  some,  Don  John 
was  induced,  by  the  persuasion  of 
his  friends,  to  make  these  advances 
to  the  Venetian  admiral.  (See 
Torres  y  Aguilera,  Chronica,  fol. 
75 ;  Vanderhammen,  Don  Juan 
de  Austria,  fol.  123.)  It  is  certain 
he  could  not  erase  the  memory  of 
the  past  from  his  bosom,  as  appears 
from  more  than  one  of  his  letters, 
in  which  he  speaks  of  the  difficulty 
he  should  find,  in  another  cam- 


paign, in  acting  in  concert  with  a 
man  of  so  choleric  a  temper.  In 
consequence  the  Venetian  govern- 
ment was  induced,  though  very 
reluctantly,  to  employ  Veniero  on 
another  service.  In  truth,  the  con- 
duct which  had  so  much  disgusted 
Don  John  and  the  allies  seems  to 
have  found  favor  with  Veniero's 
countrymen,  who  regarded  it  as 
evidence  of  his  sensitive  concern 
for  the  honor  of  his  nation.  A 
few  years  later  they  made  ample 
amends  to  the  veteran  for  the 
sliorht  put  on  him,  by  raising  him 
to  the  highest  dignity  in  the  re- 
public. He  was  the  third  of  his 
family  who  held  the  office  of  doge, 
to  which  he  was  chosen  in  1576, 
and  in  which  he  continued  till  his 
death. 


Ch.  XL] 


TRIUMPHANT   RETURN. 


363 


While  at  Pctala,  a  council  of  war  was  called  to 
decide  on  the  next  operations  of  the  fleet.  Some 
were  for  following  up  the  blow  by  an  immediate 
attack  on  Constantinople.  Others  considered  that, 
from  the  want  of  provisions  and  the  damaged  state 
of  the  vessels,  they  were  in  no  condition  for  such 
an  enterprise.  They  recommended  that  the  armada 
should  be  disbanded,  that  the  several  squadrons  of 
which  it  was  composed  should  return  to  their  re- 
spective winter-quarters,  and  meet  again  in  the 
spring  to  resume  operations.  Others,  again,  among 
whom  was  Don  John,  thought  that  before  disband- 
ing they  should  undertake  some  enterprise  com- 
mensurate with  their  strength.  It  was  accordingly 
deteiTnined  to  lay  siege  to  Santa  Maura,  in  the 
island  of  Leucadia,  —  a  strongly  fortified  place, 
which  commanded  the  northern  entrance  into  the 
gulf  of  Lepanto. 

The  fleet,  weighing  anchor  on  the  eleventh  of 
October,  arrived  off  Santa  Maura  on  the  following 
day.  On  a  careful  reconnaissance  of  the  ground, 
it  became  evident  that  the  siege  would  be  a  work 
of  much  greater  difficulty  than  had  been  antici- 
pated. A  council  of  war  was  again  summoned ; 
and  it  was  resolved,  as  the  season  was  far  advanced, 
to  suspend  further  operations  for  the  present, 
to  return  to  winter-quarters,  and  in  the  ensuing 
spring  to  open  the  campaign  under  more  favor- 
able auspices. 

The  next  step  was  to  make  a  division  of  the 
spoil  taken  from  the  enemy,  which  was  done  in  a 


364 


WAR  WITH  TUE  TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


manner  satisfactory  to  all  parties.  One  half  of  the 
galleys  and  inferior  vessels,  of  the  artillery  and  small 
arms,  and  also  of  the  captives,  was  set  apart  for 
the  Catholic  King.  The  other  half  was  divided 
between  the  pope  and  the  republic,  in  the  propor- 
tion settled  by  the  treaty  of  confederation.  ^°  Next 
proceeding  to  Corfu,  Don  John  passed  three  days 
at  that  island,  making  some  necessary  repairs  of 
his  vessels ;  then,  bidding  adieu  to  the  confeder- 
ates, he  directed  his  course  to  Messina,  Avhich  he 
reached,  after  a  stormy  passage,  on  the  thirty-first 
of  the  month. 

We  may  imagine  the  joy  with  which  he  was 
welcomed  by  the  inhabitants  of  that  city,  which 
he  had  left  but  little  more  than  six  weeks  be- 
fore, and  to  which  he  had  now  returned  in  tri- 
umph, after  winning  the  most  memorable  naval 
victory  of  modern  times.  The  whole  population, 
with  the  magistrates  at  their  head,  hurried  down 
to  the  shore  to  witness  the  magnificent  specta- 
cle. As  the  gallant  armament  swept  into  port, 
it  showed  the  results  of  the  late  contest  in  many 
a  scar.  But  the  consecrated  standard  was  still 
proudly  flying  at  the  masthead  of  the  Real ;  and 
in  the  rear  came  the  long  line  of  conquered  gal- 


^<*  The  spoil  found  on  board  tbc 
Turkish  ships  was  abandoned  to 
the  captors.  There  was  enough 
of  it  to  make  many  a  needy  ad- 
venturer rich.  "  Assi  por  la  vic- 
toria havida  como  porque  muchos 
venian    tan    ricos    y    prosperados 


que  no  havia  hombre  que  se  pre- 
ciasse  de  gastar  moneda  de  plata 
sino  Zequi  cs  ni  curasse  de  rc- 
gatear  en  nada  que  comprasse." 
Torres  y  Aguilera,  Chronica,  fol. 
79. 


Cu.  XL] 


TRIUMPHANT  RETURN. 


365 


leys,  in  much  worse  plight  than  their  conquer- 
ors, trailing  their  banners  ignominiously  behind 
them  through  the  water.  On  landing  at  the  head 
of  his  troops,  Don  John  was  greeted  with  flour- 
ishes of  music,  while  salvoes  of  artillery  thundered 
from  the  fortresses  which  commanded  the  city. 
He  was  received  under  a  gorgeous  canopy,  and 
escorted  by  a  numerous  concourse  of  citizens  and 
soldiers.  The  clergy,  mingling  in  the  procession, 
broke  forth  into  the  Te  Deum  ;  and  thus  enter- 
ing the  cathedral,  they  all  joined  in  thanksgivings 
to  the  Almighty  for  granting  them  so  glorious  a 
victory." 

Don  John  was  sumptuously  lodged  in  the  castle. 
He  was  complimented  with  a  superb  banquet,  —  a 
mode  of  expressing  the  public  gratitude  not  con- 
fined to  our  day,  —  and  received  a  more  substantial 
guerdon  in  a  present  from  the  city  of  thirty  thou- 
sand crowns.  Finally,  a  colossal  statue  in  bronze 
was  executed  by  a  skilful  artist,  as  a  perma- 
nent memorial  of  the  conqueror  of  Lepanto.  Don 
John  accepted  the  money;  but  it  was  only  to 
devote  it  to  the  relief  of  the  sick  and  wounded 
soldiers.  In  the  same  generous  spirit,  he  had 
ordered  that  all  his  own  share  of  the  booty  taken 
in  the  Turkish  vessels,  including  the  large  amount 
of  gold  and  rich  brocades  found  in  the  galley  of 


n  For  the  preceding  pages  see  Filipe  Segundo,  p.  69G ;  Herrera, 

Vanderhammen,     Don    Juan    de  Historia  General,  torn.  II.  p.  37; 

Austria,  fol.  186  ;  Torres  y  Agui-  Ferreras,  Hist.  d'Espagne,  torn.  X. 

Icra,  Chronica,   fol.   79;   Cabrera,  p.  261. 


366 


WAR  WITH  THE  TUlUvS. 


[Book  V. 


Ali  Pasha,  should  be  distributed  among  the  cap- 
tors.^* 

The  news  of  the  victory  of  Lepanto  caused  a 
profound  sensation  throughout  Christendom ;  for  it 
had  been  a  general  opinion  that  the  Turks  were 
invincible  by  sea.  The  confederates  more  particu- 
larly testified  their  joy  by  such  extraordinary  dem- 
onstrations as  showed  the  extent  of  their  previous 
fears.  In  Venice,  which  might  be  said  to  have 
gained  a  new  lease  of  existence  from  the  result  of  the 
battle,  the  doge,  the  senators,  and  the  people  met 
in  the  great  square  of  St.  Mark,  and  congratulated 
one  another  on  the  triumph  of  their  arms.  By  a 
public  decree,  the  seventh  of  October  was  set  apart, 
to  be  observed  for  ever  as  a  national  anniversary. 

The  joy  was  scarcely  less  in  Naples,  where  the 
people  had  so  often  seen  their  coasts  desolated  by 
the  Ottoman  cruisers ;  and  when  their  admiral,  the 
marquis  of  Santa  Cruz,  returned  to  port  with  his 
squadron,  he  was  welcomed  with  acclamations,  such 
as  greet  the  conqueror  returning  from  his  campaign. 
But  even   these   honors  were  inferior  to   those 
which  in  Rome  were  paid  to  Colonna,  the  captain- 
general  of  the  papal  fleet.     As  he  was  borne  in 
stately  procession,  with  the  trophies  won  from  the 
enemy  carried  before  him,  and  a  throng  of  mourn- 


13  An   old  romance  thus   com- 
memorates this  liberal  conduct  of 

Don  John :  — 

**  Y  ansi  seda  como  de  oro 
Ninguna  cosa  ba  querido 
Poo  Juan,  coino  liberal, 


Por  modtrar  do  ha  descendido, 
Biiio  que  entre  los  eoldadoa 
Fuese  ttnlo  repartido 
En  preniin  de  sus  trabajoa 
Piles  lu  habian  merecido." 
Duran,  Romancero  General,  (Madrl J, 
1851,)  torn.  11.  p.  185. 


Ch.  XI.]  ENTHUSIASM  THIiOUGHOUT  CHRISTENDOM.   367 

ing  captives  in  the  rear,  the  spectacle  recalled  the 
splendors  of  the  ancient  Roman  triumph.  Pius 
the  Fifth  had,  before  this,  announced  that  the  vic- 
tory of  the  Christians  had  been  revealed  to  him 
from  Heaven.  But  when  the  tidings  reached  him 
of  the  actual  result,  it  so  far  transcended  his  ex- 
pectations, that,  overcome  by  his  emotions,  the  old 
pontiff  burst  into  a  flood  of  tears,  exclaiming,  in 
the  words  of  the  Evangelist,  "  There  was  a  man 
sent  from  God ;  and  his  name  was  John."  ^^ 

We  may  readily  believe  that  the  joy  with  which 
the  glad  tidings  were  welcomed  in  Spain  fell  noth- 
ing short  of  that  with  which  they  were  received  in 
other  parts  of  Christendom.  While  lying  off  Peta- 
la,  Don  John  sent  Lope  de  Figueroa  with  despatch- 
es for  the  king,  together  with  the  great  Ottoman 
standard,  as  the  most  glorious  trophy  taken  in  the 
battle.  ^^  He  soon  after  sent  a  courier  with  further 
letters.  It  so  happened  that  neither  the  one  nor 
the  other  arrived  at  the  place  of  their  destination 
till  some  weeks  after  the  intelligence  had  reached 
Philip  by  another  channel.  This  was  the  Venetian 
minister,  who  on  the  last  of  October  received  de- 
spatches  from  his  own  government,  containing   a 


13  Lorea,  Vida  de  Pio  Quinto, 
cap.  XXIV.  §  ii.  —  Torres  y  Agui- 
lera,  Chronica,  fol.  80.  —  Rosell, 
Historia  del  Combate  Naval,  pp. 
124,  125. 

14  Philip,  in  a  letter  to  his  broth- 
er dated  from  the  Escorial  in  the 
following  November,  speaks  of  his 


delight  at  receiving  this  trophy 
from  the  hands  of  Figueroa.  (Sec 
the  letter,  ap.  Rosell,  Hist,  del 
Combate  Naval,  Apend.  No.  15.) 
The  standard  was  deposited  in  the 
Escorial,  where  it  was  destroyed 
by  fire  in  the  year  1671.  Docu- 
mentos  Ineditos,  tour.  III.  p.  256. 


368 


WAR  WITH  THE  TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


full  account  of  the  fight.  Hastening  with  them 
to  the  palace,  he  found  the  king  in  his  private 
chapel,  attending  vespers  on  the  eve  of  All-Saints. 
The  news,  it  cannot  be  doubted,  ftUed  his  soul  with 
joy ;  though  it  is  said  that,  far  from  exhibiting 
this  in  his  demeanor,  he  continued  to  be  occupied 
with  his  devotions,  without  the  least  change  of 
countenance,  till  the  services  were  concluded.  He 
then  ordered  Te  Deiim  to  be  sung.^^  All  present 
joined,  with  overflowing  hearts,  in  pouring  forth 
their  gratitude  to  the  Lord  of  Hosts  for  granting 
such  a  triumph  to  the  Cross.^^ 

That  night  there  was  a  grand  illumination  in 


1*  "  Y  S.  M.  no  8e  alterd,  ni 
demudd,  ni  hizo  sentimiento  algii- 
no,  y  se  estuvo  con  el  semblante  y 
serenidad  que  antes  estaba,  con  el 
qual  semblante  estuvo  hasta  que  se 
acabaron  de  cantar  las  visperas.** 
Memorias  de  Fray  Juan  de  San 
Grerdnimo,  Documentos  Ineditos, 
torn.  III.  p.  258. 

16  The  third  volume  of  the  Docu- 
mentos Ineditos  contains  a  copious 
extract  from  a  manuscript  in  the 
Escorial  written  by  a  Jeronymite 
monk.  In  this  the  writer  states 
that  Philip  received  intelligence 
of  the  victory  from  a  courier  de- 
spatched by  Don  John,  while  en- 
gaged at  vespers  in  the  palace 
monastery  of  the  Escorial.  This 
account  is  the  one  followed  by 
Cabrera  (Fillpe  Segundo,  p.  696) 
and  by  the  principal  Castilian  writ- 
ers. Its  inaccuracy,  however,  is 
sufficiently  attested  by  two  letters 


written  at  the  time  to  Don  John  of 
Austria,  one  by  the  royal  secretary 
Alzamora,  the  other  by  Philip  him- 
self. According  to  their  account 
the  person  who  first  conveyed  the 
tidings  was  the  Venetian  minis- 
ter ;  and  the  place  where  they  were 
received  by  the  king  was  the  pri- 
vate chapel  of  the  palace  at  Ma- 
drid, while  engaged  at  vespers  on 
All-Saints  eve.  It  is  worthy  of 
notice,  that  the  secretary's  letter 
contains  no  hint  of  the  nonchalance 
with  which  Philip  is  said  to  have 
heard  the  tidinjxs.  The  originals 
of  these  intertM?ting  despatches  still 
exist  in  the  National  Library  at 
!Madrid.  They  have  been  copied 
by  Senor  Rosell  for  his  memoir 
( Apend.  Nos.  13,15).  One  makes 
little  progress  in  history  before 
finding  that  it  is  much  easier  to 
repeat  an  error  than  to  correct 
it. 


Ch.  XL]  ENTHUSIASM  THROUGHOUT  CHRISTENDOM.   369 


Madrid.  The  following  day  mass  was  said  by  the 
papal  legate  in  presence  of  the  king,  who  after- 
wards took  part  in  a  solemn  procession  to  the 
church  of  Saint  Mary,  where  the  people  united 
with  the  court  in  a  general  thanksgiving. 

In  a  letter  from  Philip  to  his  brother,  dated  from 
the  Escorial,  the  twenty-ninth  of  November,  he 
writes  to  him  out  of  the  fulness  of  his  heart,  in 
the  language  of  gratitude  and  brotherly  love :  "  I 
cannot  express  to  you  the  joy  it  has  given  me  to 
leani.  the  particulars  of  your  conduct  in  the  battle, 
of  the  great  valor  you  showed  in  your  own  person, 
and  your  watchfulness  in  giving  proper  directions 
to  others,  —  all  which  has  doubtless  been  a  prin- 
cipal cause  of  the  victory.  So  to  you,  after  God, 
I  am  to  make  my  acknowledgments  for  it,  as  I  now 
do ;  and  happy  am  I  that  it  has  been  reserved  for 
one  so  near  and  so  dear  to  me  to  perform  this  great 
work,  which  has  gained  such  glory  for  you  in  the 
eyes  of  God  and  of  the  whole  world."  ^^ 

The  feelings  of  the  king  were  fully  shared  by 
his  subjects.  The  enthusiasm  roused  throughout 
the  country  by  the  great  victory  was  without 
bounds.  "  There  is  no  man,"  writes  one  of  the 
royal  secretaries  to  Don  John,  "  who  does  not  dis- 
cern the  hand  of  the  Lord  in  it ;  —  though  it  seems 

17  "  Y   ansi   d  vos  (despues  de  se  haya  hecho  un  tan  gran  negocio, 

Dios)  se  ha  de  dar  el  parabien  y  y  ganado  vos  tanta  honra  y  gloria 

las  gracias  della,  como  yo  os  las  con  Dios  y  con  todo  el  mundo.** 

doy,  y  i.  mi  de  que  por  mano  de  Rosell,  Historia  del  Combato  Na- 

persona  que  tanto  me  toca  como  la  val,  Apend.  No.  15. 
vuestra,  y  d  quien  yo  tanto  quiero, 

VOL.  III.  47 


370 


WAU  WITH  THE  TUKKS. 


[Book  V. 


i! 


rather  like  a  dream  than  a  reality,  so  far  does  it 
transcend  any  naval  encounter  that  the  world  ever 
heard  of  before."  ^^  The  best  sculptors  and  painters 
were  employed  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  the 
glorious  event.  Amongst  the  number  w  as  Titian, 
who  in  the  time  of  Charles  the  Fifth  had  passed 
two  years  in  Spain,  and  who  now,  when  more  than 
ninety  years  of  age,  executed  the  great  picture  of 
"  The  Victory  of  the  League,"  still  hanging  on  the 
walls  of  the  Musto  at  Madrid. ^^  The  lofty  theme 
proved  a  fruitful  source  of  inspiration  to  the  Cas- 
tilian  muse.  Among  hecatombs  of  epics  and  lyrics, 
the  heroic  poem  of  Ercilla~°  and  the  sublime  can- 
cion  of  Fernando  de  Herrera  perpetuate  the  mem- 
orj'  of  the  victory  of  Lepanto  in  forms  more  durable 
than  canvas  or  marble,  —  as  imperishable  as  the 
language  itself. 

AVhile  all  were  thus  ready  to  render  homage  to 
the  talent  and  bravery  which  had  won  the  great- 
est battle  of  the  time,  men,  as  they  grew  cooler, 
and  could  criticise  events  more  carefully,  were  dis- 
posed to  ask,  where  were  the  fruits  of  this  great 
victory.  Had  Don  John's  father,  Charles  the  Fifth, 
gained  such  a  victory,  it  was  said,  he  would  not 


J8  Carta  del  secretaiio  Alzamo- 
ra  d  Don  Juan  de  Austria,  Madrid, 
Nov.  11,  1571,  ap.  Rosell,  Ilistoria 
del  Combate  Naval,  Apend.  No.  1 3. 

19  See  Ford,  Handbook  for 
Spain,  vol.  II.  p.  697. 

20  Ercilla  has  devoted  the  twen- 
t)'-fourth  canto  of  the  Araucana  to 


the  splendid  episode  of  the  battle 
of  Lepanto.  If  Ercilla  was  not, 
like  Cervantes,  present  in  the  fight, 
his  acquaintance  with  the  principal 
actors  in  it  makes  his  epic,  in  ad- 
dition to  its  poetical  merits,  of  con- 
siderable value  as  historical  testi- 
mony. 


»  Ch.  XL] 


RESULTS  OF   THE  BATTLE. 


371 


thus  liavc  quitted  the  field,  but,  before  the  enemy 
could  recover  from  the  blow,  would  have  followed 
it  up  by  another.  Many  expressed  the  conviction, 
that  the  young  generalissimo  should  at  once  have 
led  his  navy  against  Constantinople. 

There  would  indeed  seem  to  be  plausible  ground 
for  criticising  his  course  after  the  action.  But  we 
must  remember,  in  explanation  of  the  conduct  of 
Don  John,  that  his  situation  was  altogethei'  differ- 
ent from  that  of  his  imperial  father.  He  possessed 
no  such  absolute  authority  as  the  latter  did  over 
his  army.  The  great  leaders  of  the  confederates 
were  so  nearly  equal  in  rank,  that  they  each 
claimed  a  right  to  be  consulted  on  all  measures 
of  importance.  The  greatest  jealousy  existed 
among  the  three  commanders,  as  there  did  also 
among  the  troops  whom  they  commanded.  They 
were  all  united,  it  is  true,  in  their  hatred  to  the 
Turk.  But  they  were  all  influenced,  more  or  less, 
by  the  interests  of  their  own  states,  in  determining 
the  quarter  where  he  was  to  be  assailed.  Every 
rood  of  territory  wrung  from  the  enemy  in  the 
Levant  would  only  serve  to  enlarge  the  domain  of 
Venice ;  while  the  conquests  in  the  western  parts 
of  the  Mediterranean  would  strengthen  the  empire 
of  Castile.  This  feeling  of  jealousy  between  the 
Spaniards  and  the  Venetians  was,  as  we  have  seen, 
so  great,  in  the  early  part  of  the  expedition,  as 
nearly  to  bring  ruin  on  it. 

Those  who  censured  Don  John  for  not  directinir 
his  arms   against   Constantinople,  would  seem   to 


! 


I 


\i 


372 


WAU   WITH  THE  TUUKS. 


[Book  V- 


Ch.  XL] 


RESULTS   OF   THE  BATTLE. 


have  had  but  a  very  inadequate  notion  of  the  re- 
sources of  the  Porte,  —  as  shown  in  the  course  of 
that  very  year.  There  is  a  remarkable  letter  from 
the  duke  of  Alva,  written  the  month  after  the 
battle  of  Lepanto,  in  which  he  discusses  the  best 
course  to  be  taken  in  order  to  reap  the  full  fruits  of 
the  victory.  In  it  he  expresses  the  opinion,  that 
an  attempt  against  Constantinople,  or  indeed  any 
part  of  the  Turkish  dominions,  unless  supported  by 
a  general  coalition  of  the  great  powers  of  Christen- 
dom, must  end  only  in  disappointment,  —  so  vast 
were  the  resources  of  that  great  empire.^ V  If  this 
were  so,  —  and  no  better  judge  than  Alva  could 
be  found  in  military  affairs, — how  incompetent 
were  the  means  at  Don  John's  disposal  for  ef- 
fecting this  object,  —  confederates  held  together, 
as  the  event  proved,  by  a  rope  of  sand,  and  a 
fleet  so  much  damaged  in  the  recent  combat  that 
many  of  the  vessels  were  scarcely  seaworthy  ! 

In  addition  to  this,  it  may  be  stated,  that  Don 
John  knew  it  was  his  brother's  wish  that  the  Span- 
ish squadron  should  return  to  Sicily  to  pass  the 
winter.^  If  he  persisted,  therefore,  in  the  cam- 
paign,   he  must  do  so  on  his  ow^n  responsibility. 


3*  The  letter,  which  is  dated 
Brussels,  Nov.  17,  1571,  is  ad- 
dressed to  Juan  de  Zuniga,  the 
Castilian  ambassador  at  thie  court 
of  Rome.  A  copy  from  a  manu- 
icript  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
in  the  library  of  the  duke  of  Os- 
suna,  is  inserted  in  the  Documen- 


tos  Inedltos,  torn.    III.   pp.   292- 
303. 

82  "  Ya  havreis  entendido  la 
drden  que  se  os  ha  dado  de  que  in- 
verneis  en  Me<;ina,  y  las  causait 
dello."  Carta  del  Rey  a  su  her- 
mano,  ap.  Rosell,  Historia  del  Corn- 
bate  Naval,  Apend.  No.  15. 


He  had  now  accomplished  the  great  object  for 
which  he  had  put  to  sea.  He  had  won  a  victory 
more  complete  than  the  most  sanguine  of  his  coun- 
trymen had  a  right  to  anticipate.  To  prolong  the 
contest  under  the  present  circumstances,  would  be 
in  a  manner  to  provoke  his  fate,  to  jeopard  the 
glory  he  had  already  gained,  and  incur  the  risk 
of  closing  the  campaign  with  melancholy  cypress, 
instead  of  the  laurel-wreath  of  victory.  Was  it 
surprising  that  even  an  adventurous  spirit  like  his 
should  have  shrunk  from  hazarding  so  vast  a 
stake  with  the  odds  against  him  ? 

It  is  a  great  error  to  speak  of  the  victory  of 
Lepanto  as  a  barren  victory,  which  yielded  no 
fruits  to  those  who  gained  it.  True,  it  did  not  strip 
the  Turks  of  an  inch  of  territory.  Even  the  heavy 
loss  of  ships  and  soldiers  which  it  cost  them,  w^as 
repaired  in  the  following  year  But  the  loss  of  rei>- 
utation  —  that  tower  of  strength  to  the  conqueror 
—  was  not  to  be  estimated.  The  long  and  success- 
ful career  of  the  Ottoman  princes,  especially  of  the 
last  one,  Solyman  the  Magnificent,  had  made  the 
Turks  to  be  thought  invincible.  There  was  not  a 
nation  in  Christendom  that  did  not  tremble  at  the 
idea  of  a  war  with  Turkey.  The  spell  w^as  now 
broken..  Though  her  resources  were  still  bound- 
less, she  lost  confidence  in  herself.  Venice  gained 
confidence  in  proportion.  When  the  hostile  fleets 
met  in  the  year  following  the  battle  of  Lepanto, 
the  Turks,  though  greatly  the  superior  in  numbers, 
declined  the  combat.     For  the  seventy  years  which. 


374 


WAU  WITH  THE  TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


elapsed  after  the  close  of  the  present  war,  the 
Turks  abandoned  their  efforts  to  make  themselves 
masters  of  any  of  the  rich  possessions  of  the  re* 
public,  which  lay  so  temptingly  around  them. 
When  the  two  nations  came  next  into  collision, 
Venice,  instead  of  leaning  on  confederates,  took 
the  field  single-handed,  and  disputed  it  with  an 
intrepidity  which  placed  her  on  a  level  with  the 
gigantic  power  that  assailed  her.  That  power  was 
already  on  the  wane ;  and  those  who  have  most 
carefully  studied  the  history  of  the  Ottoman  em- 
pire date  the  commencement  of  her  decline  from 
the  battle  of  Lepanto.^ 

The  allies  should  have  been  ready  with  their 
several  contingents  early  in  the  spring  of  the  fol- 
lowing year,  1572,  They  were  not  ready  till  the 
summer  was  well  advanced.  One  cause  of  delay 
was  the  difficulty  of  deciding  on  what  quarter  the 
Turkish  empire  was  to  be  attacked.  The  Vene- 
tians,  from  an  obvious  regard  to  their  own  inter- 
ests, were  for  continuing  the  war  in  the  Levant. 
Philip,  on  the  other  hand,  from  similar  motives, 
would  have  transferred  it  to  the  western  part  of 
the  Mediterranean,  and  have  undertaken  an  expe- 
dition against  the  Barbary  powers.     Lastly,  Pius 


23  See  Resell,  Historia  del  Com- 
bate  Naval,  p.  157. — Lafuente,  His- 
toria de  Espana,  (Madrid,  1850,) 
torn.  Xni.  p.  538.  Ranke,  who  has 
niade  the  history  of  the  Ottoman  em- 
pire his  particular  study,  remarks : 
**  The  Turks  lost  all  their  old  cou- 


fidence  after  the  battle  of  Lepanta 
They  had  no  equal  to  oppose  to 
John  of  Austria.  The  day  of  Le- 
panto  broke  down  the  Ottoman 
supremacy.'*  Ottoman  and  Span* 
ish  Empires,  (Eng.  tr.,)  p.  23, 


Ch.  XL] 


RESULTS  OF  THE  BATTLE. 


375 


the  Fifth,  urged  by  that  fiery  enthusiasm  which 
made  him  overlook  or  overleap  every  obstacle  in 
his  path,  would  have  marched  on  Constantinople, 
and  then  carried  his  conquering  banners  to  the 
Holy  Land.  These  chimerical  fancies  of  a  cru- 
sader provoked  a  smile  —  it  may  have  been  a  sneer 
—  from  men  better  instructed  in  military  opera- 
tions than  the  pontiff.^^ 

Pius  again  labored  to  infuse  his  own  spirit  into 
the  monarchs  of  Christendom.  But  it  was  in  vain 
that  he  urged  them  to  join  the  League.  All,  for 
some  reason  or  other,  declined  it.  It  is  possible 
that  they  may  have  had  less  fear  of  the  Turk,  than 
of  augmenting  the  power  of  the  king  of  Spain.  But 
the  great  plans  of  Pius  the  Fifth  were  terminated 
by  his  death,  which  occurred  on  the  first  of  May, 
1572.  He  was  the  true  author  of  the  League.  It 
occupied  his  thoughts  to  the  latest  hour  of  his  ex- 
istence ;  and  his  last  act  was  to  appropriate  to  its 
uses  a  considerable  sum  of  money  lying  in  his  cof- 
fers.^ He  may  be  truly  said  to  have  been  the  only 
one  of  the  confederates  who  acted  solely  for  what 
he  conceived  to  be  the  interests  of  the  Faith.  This 
soon  became  apparent. 

The  affairs  of  Philip   the  Second  were  at  this 


24  "  Su  Satitidad  ha  do  quercr  tud  no  pueden  entender  estas  co- 

que  se  gane   Constantinopla  y  la  sas."    Carta  del  Duque  de  Alba, 

Casa  Santa,  y  que  tendra  muchos  ap.  Doeumentos  Incditos,  torn.  IIL 

que  le  querran  adular  con  facili-  p.  300. 

tarselo,   y  que  no  faltaran   cntre        ^5  Kanke,  History  of  the  Popes, 

estos  algunos  que  hacen  profesion  (Eng.  tr.,)  vol.  I.  p.  384. 
de  soldados  y  que  como  su  Beati- 


I 


376 


WAR  WITH  THE   TUKKS. 


[Book  V. 


Ch.  XI] 


RESULTS  OF  THE  BATTLE. 


377 


time  in  a  critical  situation.  He  much  feared  that 
one  of  the  French  faction  would  be  raised  to 
the  chair  of  St.  Peter.  He  had  great  reason  to 
distrust  the  policy  of  France  in  respect  to  the 
Netherlands.  Till  he  was  more  assured  on  these 
points,  he  was  not  inclined  to  furnish  the  costly 
armament  to  which  he  was  pledged  as  his  contin- 
gent. It  was  in  vain  that  the  allies  called  on  Don 
John  to  aid  them  with  his  Spanish  fleet.  He  had 
orders  from  his  brother  not  to  quit  Messina ;  and 
it  was  in  vain  that  he  chafed  under  these  orders, 
which  threatened  thus  prematurely  to  close  the 
glorious  career  on  which  he  had  entered,  and  which 
exposed  him  to  the  most  mortifying  imjiutations. 
It  was  not  till  the  sixth  of  July,  that  the  king  al- 
lowed him  to  send  a  part  of  his  contingent,  amount- 
ing only  to  twenty-two  galleys  and  five  thousand 
troops,  to  the  aid  of  the  confederates. 

Some  historians  explain  the  conduct  of  Philip, 
not  so  much  by  the  embarrassments  of  his  situa- 
tion, as  by  his  reluctance  to  afford  his  brother  the 
opportunity  of  adding  fresh  laurels  to  his  brow,  and 
possibly  of  achieving  for  himself  some  indepen- 
dent sovereignty,  like  that  to  which  Pius  the  Fifth 
had  encouraged  him  to  aspire.  It  may  be  thought 
some  confirmation  of  this  opinion,  —  at  least  it 
infers  some  jealousy  of  his  brother's  pretensions,  — . 
that,  in  his  despatches  to  his  ministers  in  Italy,  the 
king  instructed  them  that,  while  they  showed  all 
proper  deference  to  Don  John,  they  should  be  care* 
ful  not  to  address  him  in  speech  or  in  writing  by 


the  title  of  Highness,  but  to  use  that  of  Excellency  ; 
adding,  that  they  were  not  to  speak  of  this  sugges- 
tion as  coming  from  him.^^  He  caused  a  similar 
notice  to  be  given  to  the  ambassadors  of  France, 
Germany,  and  England.  This  was  but  a  feeble 
thread  by  which  to  check  the  flight  of  the  young 
eagle  as  he  was  soaring  to  the  clouds.  It  served 
to  show,  however,  that  it  was  not  the  will  of  his 
master  that  he  should  soar  too  high. 

Happily  Philip  was  relieved  from  his  fears  in 
regard  to  the  new  pope,  by  the  election  of  Car- 
dinal Buoncampagno  to  the  vacant  throne.  This 
ecclesiastic,  who  took  the  name  of  Gregory  the 
Thirteenth,  was  personally  known  to  the  king, 
having  in  earlier  life  passed  several  years  at  the 
court  of  Castile.  He  was  well  affected  to  that 
court,  and  he  possessed  in  full  measure  the  zeal  of 
his  predecessor  for  carrying  on  the  war  against  the 
Moslems.  He  lost  no  time  in  sending  his  "  briefs 
of  fire,"^  as  Don  John  called  them,  to  rouse  him 
to  new  exertions  in  the  cause.  In  France,  too, 
Philip  learned  with  satisfaction  that  the  Guises, 
the  devoted  partisans  of  Spain,  had  now  the  di- 
rection of  public  affairs.  Thus  relieved  from  ap- 
prehensions on  these  two  quarters,  Philip  consented 
to  his  brother's  departure  with  the  remainder  of 
his  squadron.  It  amounted  to  fifty-five  galleys 
and  thirty  smaller  vessels.  But  when  the  prince 
reached  Corfu,  on  the  ninth  of  August,  he  found 

«  Lafuente,  HistoriadeEspana,        ^  ''^TQyQS  de   fuego."     Ibid., 
torn.  XIII.  p.  530.  p.  529. 


TOL.   III. 


48 


378 


WAR  WITH  THE  TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


Cu.  XI-l 


OPERATIONS  IN  THE  LEVANT. 


379 


that  the  confederates,  tired  of  waiting,  had  already 
put  to  sea,  under  the  command  of  Colonna,  in 
search  of  the  Ottoman  fleet. 

The  Porte  had  shown  such  extraordinary  de- 
spatch, that  in  six  months  it  had  built  and  equipped 
a  hundred  and  twenty  galleys,  making,  with  those 
already  on  hand,  a  formidable  fleet.^^  It  was  a 
remarkable  proof  of  its  resources  ;  but  suggests  the 
idea  of  the  wide  difference  between  a  Turkish 
galley  of  the  sixteenth  century  and  a  man-of-war 
in  our  day.  The  command  of  the  armament  was 
given  to  the  Algerine  chieftain,  Uluch  Ali,  who 
had  so  adroitly  managed  to  bring  off  the  few  ves- 
sels which  effected  their  escape  at  the  battle  of 
Lepanto.  He  stood  deservedly  high  in  the  confi- 
dence of  the  sultan,  and  had  the  supreme  direction 
in  maritime  affairs. 

The  two  fleets  came  face  to  face  with  each  other 
off  the  western  coast  of  the  Morea.  But  though 
the  Algerine  commander  was  much  superior  to  the 
Christians  in  the  number  and  strength  of  his  ves- 
sels, he  declined  an  action,  showing  the  same 
adroitness  in  eluding  a  battle  that  he  had  before 
shown  in  escaping  from  one. 

At  the  close  of  August  the  confederates  returned 
to  Corfu,  where  they  were  reinforced  by  the  rest  of 
the  Spanish  squadron.     The  combined  fleet,  with 

28  "  E  si  e  veduto,  che  quando  da  me,  fu  giudicata  piuttosto  im- 

glifudata  la  gran  rotta,  in  sei  mesi  possibile  che  creduta."    Kclazione 

rifebbricb  cento  venti  galere,  oltre  di  Marcantino  Barbaro,   1573,  Al- 

quelle  che  si  trovavano  in  essere,  beri,  Relazioni  Venete,  torn.  III. 

cosa  che  essendo  preveduta  e  scritta  p.  306. 


this  addition,  amounted  to  some  two  hundred  and 
forty-seven  vessels,  of  which  nearly  two  thirds  were 
galleys.  It  was  a  force  somewhat  superior  to  that 
of  the  enemy.  Thus  strengthened,  Don  John,  un- 
furling the  consecrated  banner  as  generalissimo  of 
the  League,  weighed  anchor,  and  steered  with  his 
whole  fleet  in  a  southerly  direction.  It  was  not 
long  before  he  appeared  off  the  harbors  of  Modon 
and  Navarino,  where  the  two  divisions  of  the 
Turkish  armada  were  lying  at  anchor.  He  would 
have  attacked  them  separately,  but,  notwithstand- 
ing his  efforts,  failed  to  prevent  their  effecting  a 
junction  in  the  harbor  of  Modon.  On  the  seventh 
of  October,  Uluch  Ali  ventured  out  of  port,  and 
seemed  disposed  to  give  battle.  It  was  the  anni- 
versary of  the  fight  of  Lepanto ;  and  Don  John 
flattered  himself  that  he  should  again  see  his  arms 
crowned  with  victory,  as  on  that  memorable  day. 
But  if  the  Turkish  commander  was  unwilling  to 
fight  the  confederates  when  he  was  superior  to 
them  in  numbers,  it  was  not  likely  that  he  would 
fight  them  now  that  he  was  inferior.  After  some 
manoeuvres  which  led  to  no  result,  he  took  refuge 
under  the  castle  of  Modon,  and  again  retreated  into 
port.  There  Don  John  would  have  followed  him, 
with  the  design  of  forcing  him  to  a  battle.  But 
from  this  he  was  dissuaded  by  the  other  leaders  of 
the  confederates,  who  considered  that  the  chances 
of  success  in  a  place  so  strongly  defended  by  no 
means  warranted  the  risk. 

It  was  in  vain  that  the  allies  prolonged  their 


380 


WAR  WITH   THE  TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


stay  in  the  neighborhood,  with  the  hope  of  entic- 
ing the  enemy  to  an  engagement.  The  season  wore 
away  with  no  prospect  of  a  better  result.  Mean- 
time provisions  were  failing,  the  stormy  weather 
of  autumn  was  drawing  nigh,  and  Don  John,  dis- 
trusted with  what  he  rerarded  as  the  timid  counsels 
of  his  associates,  and  with  the  control  which  they 
were  permitted  to  exercise  over  him,  decided,  as  it 
was  now  too  late  for  any  new  enterprise,  to  break 
up  and  postpone  further  action  till  the  following 
spring,  when  he  hoped  to  enter  on  the  campaign 
at  an  earlier  day  than  he  had  done  this  year.  The 
allies,  accordingly,  on  reaching  the  island  of  Paxo, 
late  in  October,  parted  from  each  other,  and  with- 
drew to  their  respective  winter-quarters.  Don  John, 
with  the  Spanish  armament,  returned  to  Sicily.^ 

The  pope  and  the  king  of  Spain,  nowise  dis- 
couraged by  the  results  of  the  campaign,  resolved 
to  resume  operations  early  in  the  spring  on  a  still 
more  formidable  scale  than  before.  But  their  in- 
tentions were  defeated  by  the  startling  intelligence, 
that  Venice  had  entered  into  a  separate  treaty  with 
the  Porte.  The  treaty,  which  was  negotiated,  it  is 
said,  through  the  intervention  of  the  French  am- 
bassador, was  executed  on  the  seventh  of  iSIarch, 
1573.  The  terms  seemed  somewhat  extraordinary, 
considering  the  relative  positions  of  the  parties.    By 


^  For  the  preceding  pages  see  Don  Juan  do  Austria,  fol.  159  et 

Torres  y  Aguilera,  Chronica,  fol.  seq. ;  Panita,  Gucrra  di  Cipro,  p. 

87-89;  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  206   et  seq.;    Sagrcdo,  JMonanas 

lib.  X.  cap.    5;  Yanderhammen,  Othoaianos,  pp.  301,  302. 


Ch.  XI.J 


OrERATIONS  IN  THE  LEVANT. 


381 


the  two  principal  articles,  the  republic  agreed  to 
pay  the  annual  sum  of  one  hundred  thousand  du- 
cats for  three  years  to  the  sultan,  and  io  cede  the 
island  of  Cyprus,  the  original  cause  of  the  war. 
One  might  suppose  it  was  the  Turks,  and  not  the 
Christians,  who  had  won  the  battle  of  Lepanto.^" 

Venice  was  a  commercial  state,  and  doubtless 
had  more  to  gain  from  peace  than  from  any  war, 
however  well  conducted.  In  this  point  of  view, 
even  such  a  treaty  may  have  been  politic  with  so 
formidable  an  enemy.  But  a  nation's  interests,  in 
the  long  run,  cannot,  any  more  than  those  of  an 
individual,  be  divorced  from  its  honor.  And  what 
could  be  more  dishonorable  than  for  a  state  secretly 
to  make  terms  for  herself  with  the  enemy,  and 
desert  the  allies  who  had  come  into  the  war  at  her 
solicitation  and  in  her  defence  ?  Such  conduct, 
indeed,  was  too  much  in  harmony  with  the  past 
history  of  Venice,  and  justified  the  reputation  for 
bad  faith  which  had  made  the  European  nations  so 
reluctant  to  enter  into  the  League.^^ 

The  tidings  were  received  by  Philip  with  his 
usual  composure.  "  If  Venice,"  he  said,  "  thinks 
she  consults  her  own  interests  by  such  a  proceed- 
ing, I  can  truly  say  that  in  what  I  have  done  I 
have  endeavored  to  consult  both  her  interests  and 
those  of  Christendom."     He,   however,  spoke  his 


a>  It  is  Voltaire's  reflection :  "  II  ^i  The  treaty  is  to  be  found  in 

semblait  que  les  Turques  eussent  Dumont,  Corps  Diplomatique,  torn, 

gagne   la    bataille   de    Lepante."  V.  par.  I.  pp.  218,  219. 
Kssais  sur  les  Mceurs,  chap.  160. 


382 


WAR  WITH  THE  TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


mind  more  plainly  afterwards  to  the  Venetian  am- 
bassador. The  pope  gave  free  vent  to  his  feelings 
in  the  consistory,  where  he  denounced  the  conduct 
of  Venice  in  the  most  bitter  and  contemptuous 
terms.  When  the  republic  sent  a  special  envoy 
to  deprecate  his  anger,  and  to  excuse  herself  by  the 
embarrassments  of  her  situation,  the  pontiff  refused 
to  see  him.  Don  John  would  not  believe  in  the 
defection  of  Venice,  when  the  tidings  were  first 
announced  to  him.  When  he  was  advised  of  it 
by  a  direct  communication  from  her  government, 
he  replied  by  indignantly  commanding  the  great 
standard  of  the  League  to  be  torn  down  from  his 
galley,  and  in  its  place  to  be  unfurled  the  banner 
of  Castile.^ 

Such  was  the  end  of  the  Holy  League,  on  which 
Pius  the  Fifth  had  so  fully  relied  for  the  conquest 
of  Constantinople  and  the  recovery  of  Palestine. 
Philip  could  now  transfer  the  Avar  to  the  quarter 
he  had  preferred.  He  resolved,  accordingly,  to 
send  an  expedition  to  the  Barbary  coast.  Tunis 
was  selected  as  the  place  of  attack,  —  a  thriving 
city  and  the  home  of  many  a  corsair  who  preyed 
on  the  commerce  of  the  Mediterranean.  It  had 
been  taken  by  Charles  the  Fifth,  in  the  memorable 
campaign  of  1535,  but  had  since  been  recovered 
by  the  Moslems.  The  Spaniards,  however,  still  re- 
tained possession  of  the  strong  fortress  of  the  Golet- 
ta,  which  overlooked  the  approaches  to  Tunis. 

33  Resell,  Historia  del  Combate     Segundo,  p.  747.  —  Torres  y  Agu*- 
Naval,  p.  149.  —  Cabrera,  Filipe    lera,  Chronica,  fol.  95 


Cn.  XL] 


CONQUEST  OF  TUNIS. 


383 


In  the  latter  part  of  September,  1574,  Don 
John  left  the  shores  of  Sicily  at  the  head  of  a 
fleet  consisting  of  about  a  hundred  galleys,  and 
nearly  as  many  smaller  vessels.  The  number  of 
his  troops  amounted  to  not  less  than  twenty  thou- 
sand.^ The  story  of  the  campaign  is  a  short  one. 
Most  of  the  inhabitants  of  Tunis  fled  from  the  city. 
The  few  who  remained  did  not  care  to  bring  the 
war  on  their  heads  by  offering  resistance  to  the 
Spaniards.  Don  John,  without  so  much  as  firing 
a  shot,  marched  in  at  the  head  of  his  battalions, 
through  gates  flung  open  to  receive  him.  He 
found  an  ample  booty  awaiting  him,  —  near  fifty 
pieces  of  artillery,  with  ammunition  and  military 
stores,  large  quantities  of  grain,  cotton  and  woollen 
cloths,  rich  silks  and  brocades,  with  various  other 
kinds  of  costly  merchandise.  The  troops  spent 
more  than  a  week  in  sacking  the  place.^  They 
gained,  in  short,  everything  —  but  glory  ;  for  little 
glory  was  to  be  gained  where  there  were  no  obsta- 
cles to  be  overcome. 

Don  John  gave  orders  that  no  injury  should  be 
offered  to  the  persons  of  the  inhabitants.  He  for- 
bade that  any  should  be  made  slaves.  By  a  procla- 
mation, he  invited  all  to  return  to  their  dwellings, 
under  the  assurance  of  his  protection.  In  one 
particular   his   conduct   was   remarkable.      Philip, 

33  A^anderhammen,  Don  Juan  yAguilera,  Chronica,  fol.  103  etseq. 
de  Austria,  fol.  172.  —The  author  last  cited,  who  was 

34  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  p.  present  at  the  capture  of  Tunis, 
765.  —  Vanderhammen,  Don  Juan  gives  a  fearful  picture  of  the  ra- 
Je  Austria,  fol.  174, 175.  — Torres  pacity  of  the  soldiers. 


384 


WAR  WITH  THE  TURKS 


[Book  V. 


Ch.  XI.J 


CONQUEST  OF  TUNIS. 


385 


dis-usted  with  the  expenses  to  which  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  castle  of  the  Goletta  annually  subjected 
him,  had  recommended,  if  not  positively  directed, 
his  brother  to  dismantle  the  place,  and  to  demolish 
in  like  manner  the  fortifications  of  Tunis.^     In- 
stead of  heeding  these  instructions,  Don  John  no 
sooner  saw  himself  in  possession  of  the  capital,  than 
he  commanded  the  Goletta  to  be  thoroughly  re- 
paired,  and  at  the  same  time  provided  for  the  erec- 
tion  of  a  strong  fortress  in  the  city.     This  work 
he  committed  to  an  Italian  engineer,  named  Cer- 
belloni,  a  knight  of  Malta,  with  whom  he  left  eight 
thousand  soldiers,  to  be  employed  in  the  construe 
tion  of  the  fort,  and  to  furnish  him  with  a  garrison 

to  defend  it.  i       i  • 

Don  John,  it  is  said,  had  been  urged  to  take  this 
course  by  his  secretary,  Juan  de  Soto,  a  man  of 
ability  but  of  an  intriguing  temper,  who  fostered 


35  The  Castilian  writers  gener- 
ally speak  of  it  as  the  jieremptorjj 
command  of  Philip.     Cabrera,  one 
of  the  best  authorities,  tells  us: 
"Mando  el  Key  Catolico   a  don 
Juan  de  Austria  enplear  su  armada 
en  la  conquista  de  Tunez,  i  que  le 
desmantelase,  i  la   Goleta.**    But 
soon  after  he  remarks :  "  Olvidan- 
do  el  buen  acuerdo  del  Key,  por 
consejo  de  lisongeros  determino  de 
conservar  la  ciudad."     (Filipe  Se- 
gundo,  pp.  763,  764.)     From  this 
qualified  language  we  may  infer 
that  the  king  meant  to  give  his 
brother  his  decided   opinion,  not 
amounting,  however,    to  such  an 
absolute  command  as  would  leave 


him  no  power  to  exercise  his  dis- 
cretion in   the  matter.     This  last 
view  is  made  the  more  probable  by 
the  fact  that  in  the  following  spring 
a  correspondence  took  place  be- 
tween the  king  and  his  brother,  in 
which  the  former,  after  stating  the 
arguments  both  for  preserving  and 
for  dismantling  the  fortress  of  Tu- 
nis, concludes  by  referring  the  de- 
cision of  the  question  to  Don  John 
himself    "  Representadas  todas  es- 
tas  dificultades,  manda  remitir  S. 
M.  al  Senor  Don  Juan  que  el  tome 
la  resolucion  que  mas  convenga." 
Documentos  Ineditos,  torn.  III.  p. 
139. 


in  his  master  those  ambitious  projects  which  had 
been  encouraged,  as  we  have  seen,  by  Pius  the 
Fifth.  No  more  eligible  spot  seemed  likely  to  pre- 
sent itself  for  the  seat  of  his  dominion  than  Tunis, 
—  a  flourishing  capital  surrounded  by  a  well-peo- 
pled and  fruitful  territory.  Philip  had  been  warned 
of  the  unwholesome  influence  exerted  by  De  Soto  ; 
and  he  now  sought  to  remove  him  from  the  person 
of  his  brother  by  giving  him  a  distinct  position  in 
the  army,  and  by  sending  another  to  replace  him  in 
his  post  of  secretary.  The  person  thus  sent  was 
Juan  de  Escovedo.  But  it  was  soon  found  that  the 
influence  which  Escovedo  acquired  over  the  young 
prince  was  both  greater  and  more  mischievous  than 
that  of  his  predecessor ;  and  the  troubles  that  grew 
out  of  this  new  intimacy  were  destined,  as  we  shall 
see  hereafter,  to  form  some  of  the  darkest  pages 
in  the  history  of  the  times. 

Having  provided  for  the  security  of  his  new  ac- 
quisition,    and   received,   moreover,  the   voluntary 
submission  of  the  neighboring  town  of  Biserta,  the 
Spanish  commander  returned  with  his  fleet  to  Sicily. 
He  landed  at  Palermo,  amidst  the  roaring  of  can- 
non,    the  shouts  of  the  populace,  and  the   usual 
rejoicings  that  announce  the  return  of  the  victori- 
ous commander.     He  did  not,  however,  prolong  his 
stay  in  Sicily.     After  dismissing  his  fleet,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  Naples,  where  he  landed  about  the  mid- 
dle of  November.     He  proposed  to  pass  the  winter 
in  this  capital,  where  the  delicious  climate  and  the 
beauty  of  the  women,  says  a  contemporary  chron- 


VOL.   III. 


49 


I 


386 


WAR  WITH  THE  TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


icier,  had  the  attractions  for  him  that  belonged 
naturally  to  his  age.^^  His  partiality  for  Naples 
was  amply  requited  by  the  inhabitants,  —  espe- 
cially that  lovelier  portion  of  them  whose  smiles 
were  the  well-prized  guerdon  of  the  soldier.  If 
his  brilliant  exterior  and  the  charm  of  his  society 
had  excited  their  admiration  when  he  first  appeared 
among  them  as  an  adventurer  in  the  path  of  hon- 
or, how  much  was  this  admiration  likely  to  be  in- 
creased when  he  returned  with  the  halo  of  glorj- 
beaming  around  his  brow,  as  the  successful  cham- 
pion of  Christendom  ? 

The  days  of  John  of  Austria  glided  merrily 
along  in  the  gay  capital  of  Southern  Italy.  But 
we  should  wrong  him  did  we  suppose  that  all  his 
hours  were  passed  in  idle  dalliance.  A  portion  of 
each  day,  on  the  contrary,  was  set  apart  for  study. 
Another  part  was  given  to  the  despatch  of  business. 
When  he  went  abroad,  he  affected  the  society  of 
men  distinguished  for  their  science,  or  still  more 
for  their  knowledge  of  public  affairs.  In  his  in- 
tercourse with  these  persons  he  showed  dignity  of 
demeanor  tempered  by  courtesy,  while  his  conver- 
sation revealed  those  lofty  aspirations  which  proved 
that  his  thoughts  were  fixed  on  a  higher  eminence 
than  any  he  had  yet  reached.  It  was  clear  to  every 
observer  that  ambition  was  the  moving  principle  of 
his   actions,  —  the   passion   to   which  every  other 

»  "Porque  la  gentilera  dc  la  edad."  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo, 
tierra  i  de  las  damas  en  su  con-  p.  755.  —  Also  Vanderhammen, 
■ervacion  agradaba  a  su  gallarda    Don  Juan  de  Austria,  fol.  176. 


Ch.  XL] 


BETAKEN  BY  THE  TURKS. 


387 


passion,  even  the  love  of  pleasure,  was  wholly  sub- 
ordinate. 

In  the  midst  of  the  gayeties  of  Naples  his 
thoughts  were  intent  on  the  best  means  of  securing 
his  African  empire.  He  despatched  his  secretary, 
Escovedo,  to  the  pope,  to  solicit  his  good  offices 
with  Philip.  Gregory  entertained  the  same  friend- 
ly feelings  for  Don  John  which  his  predecessor  had 
shown,  and  he  good-naturedly  acquiesced  in  his 
petition.  He  directed  his  nuncio  at  the  Castilian 
court  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  promote  the  suit  of 
the  young  chief,  and  to  assure  the  king  that  noth- 
ing could  be  more  gratifying  to  the  head  of  the 
Church  than  to  see  so  worthy  a  recompense  be- 
stowed on  one  who  had  rendered  such  signal  ser- 
vices to  Christendom.  Philip  received  the  commu- 
nication in  the  most  gracious  manner.  He  was 
grateful,  he  said,  for  the  interest  which  the  pope 
condescended  to  take  in  the  fortunes  of  Don  John ; 
and  nothing,  certainly,  would  be  more  agreeable  to 
his  own  feelings  than  to  have  the  power  to  reward 
his  brother  according  to  his  deserts.  But  to  take 
any  steps  at  present  in  the  matter  would  be  pre- 
mature. He  had  received  information  that  the  sul- 
tan was  making  extensive  preparations  for  the  re- 
covery of  Tunis.  Before  giving  it  away,  therefore, 
it  would  be  well  to  see  to  whom  it  belonged.^ 

Philip's   information   was   correct.      No    sooner 
had  Selim  learned  the  fate  of  the  Barbary  capital, 

37  Feireras,  Hist  d'Espagne,  torn.  X.  p.   286.  — ;  Vanderhammen, 
I>on  Juan  de  Austria,  fol.  178. 


388 


WAR  WITH  THE   TURKS. 


[Book  V. 


than  he  made  prodigious  efforts  for  driving  the 
Spaniards  from  their  conquests.  He  assembled  a 
powerful  armament,  which  he  placed  under  the 
command  of  Uluch  Ali.  As  lord  of  Algiers,  that 
chief  had  a  particular  interest  in  preventing  any 
Christian  power  from  planting  its  foot  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  his  own  dominions.  The  command  of 
the  land  forces  was  given  to  Sinan  Pasha,  Selim*s 
son-in-law. 

Early  in  July,  the  Ottoman  fleet  arrived  off  the 
Barbary  coast.  Tunis  offered  as  little  resistance  to 
the  arms  of  the  Moslems,  as  it  had  before  done 
to  those  of  the  Christians.  That  city  had  been  so 
often  transferred  from  one  master  to  another,  that 
it  seemed  almost  a  matter  of  indifference  to  the  in- 
habitants to  whom  it  belonged.  But  the  Turks 
found  it  a  more  difficult  matter  to  reduce  the  castle 
of  the  Goletta  and  the  fort  raised  by  the  brave  en- 
gineer Cerbelloni,  now  well  advanced,  though  not 
entirely  completed.  It  was  not  till  the  middle  of 
September,  after  an  incredible  waste  of  life  on  the 
part  of  the  assailants,  and  the  extermination  of 
nearly  the  whole  of  the  Spanish  garrisons,  that 
both  the  fortresses  surrendered.^ 

No  sooner  was  he  in  possession  of  them,  than  the 
Turkish  commander  did  that  which  Philip  had  in 
vain  wished  his  brother  to  do.     He  razed  to  the 

*  Torres  y  Aguilera,  Chronica,  sand  slain.     (Don  Juan  de  Aus- 

fol.  1 16  et  seq.  —  Relacion  particu-  tria,  fol.  189.)     But  the  arithmetic 

lar  de  Don  Juan  Sanogera,  MS.  of  the  Castilian  is  little  to  be  trust- 

Yanderhammen  states  the  loss  ed  as  regards  the  infidel. 
of  the  Moslems  at  thirty-three  thou- 


Ch.  XI] 


RETAKEN  BY  THE  TURKS. 


389 


ground  the  fortress  of  the  Goletta.  —  Thus  ended 
the  campaign,  in  which  Spain,  besides  her  recent 
conquests,  saw  herself  stripped  of  the  strong  castle 
which  had  defied  every'  assault  of  the  Moslems 
since  the  time  of  Charles  the  Fifth. 

One  may  naturally  ask,  Where  was  John  of  Aus- 
tria all  this  time  1  He  had  not  been  idle,  nor  had 
he  remained  an  indifferent  spectator  of  the  loss  of 
the  place  he  had  so  gallantly  won  for  Spain.  But 
when  he  first  received  tidings  of  the  presence  of  a 
Turkish  fleet  before  Tunis,  he  was  absent  on  a 
mission  to  Genoa,  or  rather  to  its  neighborhood. 
That  republic  was  at  this  time  torn  by  factions  so 
fierce,  that  it  was  on  the  brink  of  a  civil  war.  The 
mischief  threatened  to  extend  even  more  widely,  as 
the  neighboring  powers,  especially  France  and  Sa- 
voy, prepared  to  take  part  in  the  quarrel,  in  hopes 
of  establishing  their  own  authority  in  the  state. 
At  length  Philip,  who  had  inherited  from  his  fa- 
ther the  somewhat  ill-defined  title  of  "  Protector  of 
Genoa,"  was  compelled  to  interpose  in  the  dispute. 
It  was  on  this  mission  that  Don  John  was  sent,  to 
watch  more  nearly  the  rival  factions.  It  was  not 
till  after  this  domestic  broil  had  lasted  for  several 
months,  that  the  prudent  policy  of  the  Spanish 
monarch  succeeded  in  reconciling  the  hostile  par- 
ties, and  thus  securing  the  republic  from  the  horrors 
of  a  civil  war.  He  reaped  the  good  fruits  of  his 
temperate  conduct  in  the  maintenance  of  his  own 
authority  in  the  counsels  of  the  republic,  thus 
binding  to  himself  an  ally  whose  navy,  in  time  of 


390 


WAR  WITH  THE  TURKS. 


[Book  V, 


war,  served  greatly  to  strengthen  his  maritime  re- 
sources^^^ 

While  detained  on  this  delicate  mission,  Don 
John  did  what  he  could  for  Tunis,  by  urgmg  the 
viceroys  of  Sicily  and  Naples  to  send  immediate 
aid  to  the  beleaguered  garrisons/^  But  these  func- 
tionaries seem  to  have  been  more  interested  in  the 
feuds  of  Genoa  than  in  the  fate  of  the  African 
colony.  Granvelle,  who  presided  over  Naples,  was 
even  said  to  be  so  jealous  of  the  rising  fame  of  John 
of  Austria,  as  not  to  be  unwilling  that  his  lofty 
pretensions  should  be  somewhat  humbled/^  The 
supplies  sent  were  wholly  unequal  to  the  exigency. 

Don  John,  impatient  of  the  delay,  as  soon  as 
he  could  extricate  himself  from  the  troubles  of  Ge- 
noa, sailed  for  Naples,  and  thence  speedily  crossed 
to  Sicily.  He  there  made  every  effort  to  assemble 
an  armament,  of  which  he  prepared,  in  spite  of  the 
remonstrances  of  his  friends,  to  take  the  command 
in  person.  But  nature,  no  less  than  man,  was 
against  him.     A  tempest  scattered  his  fleet;  and 


39  For  a  brief  but  verj'  perspic- 
uous view  of  the  troubles  of  Genoa, 
see  San  Miguel,  Hist,  de  Filipe 
Segundo,  (torn.  II.  cap.  86.)  The 
care  of  this  judicious  writer  to  ac- 
quaint the  reader  with  contempo- 
rary events  in  other  countries,  as 
they  bore  more  or  less  directly  on 
Spain,  is  a  characteristic  merit  of 
his  history. 

^  Torres  y  Aguilera,  Chronica, 
fol.  113. 

^i  The  principal  cause  of  Gran- 
velle*s  coldness  to  Don  John,  as  wd 


are  told  by  Cabrera,  (Filipe  Se- 
gundo, p.  794,)  echoed,  as  usual, 
by  Vanderhammen,  (Don  Juan  do 
Austria,  fol,  184,)  was  envy  of  the 
fame  which  the  hero  of  Lcpanto 
had  gained  by  his  conquests  both  in 
love  and  in  war.  "  La  causa  prin- 
cipal era  el  poco  gu^to  que  tenia  de 
acudir  a  don  Juan,  invidioso  de 
BUS  favores  de  Marte  i  Venus." 
Considering  the  cardinal's  profes- 
sion, he  would  seem  to  have  had 
no  right  to  envy  any  one's  success 
in  either  of  these  fields. 


Ch.  XI.] 


RETAKEN  BY  THE  TURKS. 


391 


when  he  had  reassembled  it,  and  fairly  put  to  sea, 
he  was  baffled  by  contrary  winds,  and,  taking  ref- 
uge in  the  neighboring  port  of  Trapani,  was  de- 
tained there  until  tidings  reached  him  of  the  fall 
of  Tunis.  They  fell  heavily  on  his  ear.  For 
they  announced  to  him  that  all  his  bright  visions 
of  an  African  empire  had  vanished,  like  the  airy 
fabric  of  an  Eastern  tale.  All  that  remained  was 
the  consciousness  that  he  had  displeased  his  brother 
by  his  scheme  of  an  independent  sovereignty  and 
by  his  omission  to  raze  the  fortress  of  the  Goletta, 
the  unavailing  defence  of  which  had  cost  the  lives 
of  so  many  of  his  brave  countrymen. 

But  Don  John,  however  chagrined  by  the  ti- 
dings, was  of  too  elastic  a  temper  to  yield  to 
despondency.  He  was  a  knight-errant  in  the  true 
sense  of  the  term.  He  still  clung  as  fondly  as  ever 
to  the  hope  of  one  day  carving  out  with  his  good 
sword  an  independent  dominion  for  himself.  His 
first  step,  he  considered,  was  to  make  his  peace 
with  his  brother.  Though  not  summoned  thither, 
he  resolved  to  return  at  once  to  the  Castilian  court, 
—  for  in  that  direction,  he  felt,  lay  the  true  road 
to  preferment. 


BOOK  YI. 


CHAPTER     I. 

DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN. 

Internal  Administration  of  Spain.  —  Absolute  Power  of  the  Crown.  — 
Royal  Councils.  —  Alva  and  Ruy  Gomez.  —  Espinosa.  —  Personal 
Habits  of  Philip.  —  Comt  and  Nobles.  —  The  Cortes.  —  The 
Guards  of  Castile. 


Seventeen  years  had  now  elapsed  since  Philip 
the  Second  ascended  the  throne  of  his  ancestors, 
—  a  period  long  enough  to  disclose  the  policy  of 
his  government,  longer,  indeed,  than  that  of  the 
entire  reigns  of  some  of  his  predecessors.  In  the 
previous  portion  of  this  work,  the  reader  has  been 
chiefly  occupied  with  the  foreign  relations  of  Spain, 
and  with  military  details.  It  is  now  time  to  pause, 
and,  before  plunging  anew  into  the  stormy  scenes 
of  the  Netherlands,  to  consider  the  internal  admin- 
istration of  the  country,  and  the  character  and 
policy  of  the  monarch  who  presided  over  it. 

The  most  important  epoch  in  Castilian  history 
since  the  great  Saracen  invasion  in  the  eighth  cen- 
tury, is  the  reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  when 
anarchy  was  succeeded  by  law,  and  from  the  elc* 
ments  of  chaos  arose  that  beautiful  fabric  of  ordci 


Ch.  I  ]       INTERNAL  ADMINISTRATION  OF  SPAIN.  393 


and  constitutional  liberty  which  promised  a  new 
era  for  the  nation.  In  the  assertion  of  her  rights, 
Isabella,  to  whom  this  revolution  is  chiefly  to  be 
attributed,  was  obliged  to  rely  on  the  support  of 
the  people.  It  was  natural  that  she  should  requite 
their  services  by  aiding  them  in  the  recovery  of  their 
own  rights,  —  especially  of  those  which  had  been 
usurped  by  the  rapacious  nobles.  Indeed,  it  was 
the  obvious  policy  of  the  crown  to  humble  the 
pride  of  the  aristocracy  and  abate  their  arrogant 
pretensions.  In  this  it  was  so  well  supported  by 
the  commons,  that  the  scheme  perfectly  succeeded. 
By  the  depression  of  the  privileged  classes  and  the 
elevation  of  the  people,  the  different  orders  were 
brought  more  strictly  within  their  constitutional 
limits ;  and  the  state  made  a  nearer  approach  to  a 
well-balanced  limited  monarchy,  than  at  any  pre- 
vious period  of  its  history. 

This  auspicious  revolution  was  soon,  alas !  to  be 
followed  by  another,  of  a  most  disastrous  kind. 
Charles  the  Fifth,  who  succeeded  his  grandfather 
Ferdinand,  was  born  a  foreigner,  —  and  a  foreigner 
he  remained  through  his  whole  life.  He  was  a 
stranger  to  the  feelings  and  habits  of  the  Span- 
iards, had  little  respect  for  their  institutions,  and 
as  little  love  for  the  nation.  He  continued  to  live 
mostly  abroad;  was  occupied  with  foreign  enter- 
prises ;  and  the  only  people  whom  he  really  loved 
were  those  of  the  Netherlands,  his  native  land. 
The  Spaniards  requited  these  feelings  of  indiffer- 
ence in  full  measure.     They  felt  that  the  glory  of 


TOL.   HI. 


50 


394 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  OF   SPAIN.  [Book  VL 


Ch.  I.]  ABSOLUTE  POWER  OF  THE  CROWN. 


395 


the  imperial  name  shed  no  lustre  upon  them.  Thus 
estranged  at  heart,  they  were  easily  provoked  to 
insurrection  by  his  violation  of  their  rights.  The 
insurrection  was  a  failure;  and  the  blow  which 
crushed  the  insurgents  on  the  plains  of  Villalar, 
deprived  them  for  ever  of  the  few  liberties  which 
they  had  been  permitted  to  retain.  They  were  ex- 
cluded from  all  share  in  the  government,  and  were 
henceforth  summoned  to  the  cortes  only  to  swear 
allegiance  to  the  heir  apparent,  or  to  furnish  sub- 
sidies for  their  master.  They  were  indeed  allowed 
to  lay  their  grievances  before  the  throne.  But  they 
had  no  means  of  enforcing  redress ;  for,  with  the 
cunning  policy  of  a  despot,  Charles  would  not  re- 
ceive their  petitions  until  they  had  first- voted  the 
supplies.  » 

The  nobles,  who  had  stood  by  their  master  in 
the  struggle,  fared  no  better.  They  found  too  late 
how  short-sighted  was  the  policy  which  had  led 
them  to  put  their  faith  in  princes.  Henceforth 
they  could  not  be  said  to  form  a  necessary  part  of 
the  legislature.  For  as  they  insisted  on  their  right 
to  be  excused  from  bearing  any  share  in  the  bur- 
dens of  the  state,  they  could  take  no  part  in  vot- 
ing the  supplies  ;  and  as  this  was  almost  the  only 
purpose  for  which  the  cortes  was  convened,  their 
presence  was  no  longer  required  in  it.  Instead 
of  the  powers  which  were  left  to  them  untouched 
by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  they  were  now  amused 
with  high-sounding  and  empty  titles,  or  with  offices 
about  the  person  of  the  monarch.     In   this  way 


they  gradually  sunk  into  the  unsubstantial  though 
glittering  pageant  of  a  court.  Meanwhile  the  gov- 
ernment of  Castile,  assuming  the  powers  of  both 
making  the  laws  and  enforcing  their  execution,  be- 
came in  its  essential  attributes  nearly  as  absolute 
as  that  of  Turkey. 

Such  was  the  gigantic  despotism  which,  on  the 
death  of  Charles,  passed  into  the  hands  of  Philip 
the  Second.  The  son  had  many  qualities  in  com- 
mon with  his  father.  But  among  these  was  not 
that  restless  ambition  of  foreign  conquest,  which 
was  ever  goading  the  emperor.  Nor  was  he,  like 
his  father,  urged  by  the  love  of  glory  to  military 
achievement.  He  was  of  too  sluggish  a  nature  to 
embark  readily  in  great  enterprises.  He  was  capa- 
ble of  much  labor ;  but  it  was  of  that  sedentary 
kind  which  belongs  to  the  cabinet  rather  than  the 
camp.  His  tendencies  were  naturally  pacific  ;  and 
up  to  the  period  at  which  we  are  now  arrived,  he 
had  engaged  in  no  wars  but  those  into  which  he 
had  been  dra^vn  by  the  revolt  of  his  vassals,  as  in 
the  Netherlands  and  Granada,  or  those  forced  on 
him  by  circumstances  beyond  his  control.  Such 
was  the  war  which  he  had  carried  on  with  the 
pope  and  the  French  monarchy  at  the  beginning 
of  his  reign. 

But  while  less  ambitious  than  Charles  of  foreign 
acquisitions,  Philip  was  full  as  tenacious  of  the 
possessions  and  power  which  had  come  to  him 
by  inheritance.  Nor  was  it  likely  that  the  regal 
prerogative  would    sufier  any   diminution   in   his 


396 


DOMESTIC  APPAIRS  OF   SPAIN.         [Book  VL 


reign,  or  that  the  nobles  or  commons  would  be 
allowed  to  retrieve  any  of  the  immunities  which 
they  had  lost  under  his  predecessors. 

Philip  understood  the  character  of  his  country- 
men better  than  his  father  had  done.  A  Spaniard 
by  birth,  he  was,  as  I  have  more  than  once  had 
occasion  to  remark,  a  Spaniard  in  his  whole  nature. 
His  tastes,  his  habits,  his  prejudices,  were,  all 
Spanish.  His  policy  was  directed  solely  to  the 
aggrandizement  of  Spain.  The  distant  races  whom 
he  governed  were  all  strangers  to  him.  With  a 
few  exceptions  Spaniards  were  the  only  persons  he 
placea  in  offices  of  trust.  His  Castilian  country- 
men saw  with  pride  and  satisfaction  that  they  had 
a  native  prince  on  the  throne,  who  identified  his 
own  interests  with  theirs.  They  contrasted  this  con- 
duct with  that  of  his  father,  and  requited  it  with  a 
devotion  such  as  they  had  shown  to  few  of  his  pre- 
decessors. They  not  only  held  him  in  reverence, 
says  the  Venetian  minister,  Contarini,  but  respected 
his  laws,  as  something  sacred  and  inviolable.^  It 
was  the  people  of  the  Netherlands  who  rose  up 
against  him.  For  similar  reasons  it  fared  just  the 
opposite  with  Charles.  His  Flemish  countrymen 
remained  loyal  to  the  last.  It  was  his  Castilian 
subjects  who  were  driven  to  rebellion. 

Though  tenacious  of  power,  Philip  had  not  the 
secret  consciousness  of  strength  which  enabled  his 
father,  \inaided  as  it  were,  to  bear  up  so  long  under 

^  "  Questa  oppinione,  che  di  lui    sancte  et  inviolabili.**     Relazionc 
ti  hk,  rende  le  sue  leggi  piii  sacro-    di  Contarini,  MS. 


Cii.  I.] 


ROYAL  COUNCILS. 


397 


the  burden  of  empire.  The  liabitual  caution  of 
the  son  made  him  averse  to  taking  any  step  of  im- 
portance without  first  ascertaining  the  opinions  of 
others.  Yet  he  was  not  willing,  like  his  ancestor, 
the  good  Queen  Isabella,  to  invoke  the  co-operation 
of  the  cortes,  and  thus  awaken  the  consciousness 
of  power  in  an  arm  of  the  government  which  had 
been  so  long  smitten  with  paralysis.  Such  an  ex- 
pedient was  fraught  with  too  much  danger.  He 
found  a  substitute  in  the  several  councils,  the  mem- 
bers of  which,  appointed  by  the  crown  and  remov- 
able at  its  pleasure,  were  pledged  to  the  support 
of  the  prerogative. 

Under  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  there  had  been  a 
complete  reorganization  of  these  councils.  Their 
number  was  increased  under  Charles  the  Fifth,  to 
suit  the  increased  extent  of  the  empire.  It  was 
still  further  enlarged  by  Philip.^  Under  him  there 
were  no  less  than  eleven  councils,  among  which  may 
be  particularly  noticed  those  of  war,  of  finance,  of 
justice,  and  of  state.^  Of  these  various  bodies  the 
council  of  state,  charged  with  the  most  important 
concerns  of  the  monarchy,  was  held  in  highest 
consideration.  The  number  of  its  members  varied. 
At  the  time  of  which  I  am  writing,  it  amounted 


'  A  manuscript,  entitled  "  Ori- 
gen  de  los  ConsejoSy**  without  date 
or  the  name  of  the  author,  in  the 
library  of  Sir  Thomas  Phillips, 
gives  a  minute  account  of  the  va- 
rious councils  under  Philip  the 
Second. 

3  "  Sono  XI ;  il  consiglio  dell'  In- 


die, Castiglia,  d*  Aragona,  d*  inqui- 
sitione,  di  camera,  dell*  ordini,  di 
guerra,  di  hazzienda,  di  giustizia, 
d'  Italia,  et  di  stato."  Sommario 
del'  ordine  che  si  tiene  alia  corte 
di  Spagna  circa  il  govemo  delli 
stati  del  Re  CathoUco,  MS. 


II 


398 


BOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN.  [Book  VI 


Ch.  L] 


ALVA  AND  RUY  GOMEZ. 


399 


If 


tl 


H 


to  sixteen."*  But  the  weight  of  the  business  de- 
volved on  less  than  half  that  number.  It  was  com- 
posed of  both  ecclesiastics  and  laymen.  Among 
the  latter  were  some  eminent  jurists.  A  sprinkling 
of  men  of  the  robe,  indeed,  was  to  be  found  in 
most  of  the  councils.  Philip  imitated  in  this  the 
policy  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  who  thus  in- 
tended to  humble  the  pride  of  the  great  lords,  and 
to  provide  themselves  with  a  loyal  militia,  whose 
services  would  be  of  no  little  advantage  in  main- 
taining the  prerogative. 

Among  the  members  of  the  council  of  state, 
two  may  be  particularly  noticed  for  their  pre-emi- 
nence in  that  body.  These  were  the  duke  of  Alva 
and  Ruy  Gomez  de  Silva,  prince  of  Eboli.  With 
the  former  the  reader  is  well  acquainted.  His  great 
talents,  his  ample  experience  both  in  civil  and  mili- 
tary life,  his  iron  will  and  the  fearlessness  with 
which  he  asserted  it,  even  his  stem  and  overbear- 
ing manner,  which  seemed  to  proclaim  his  own 
superiority,  all  marked  him  out  as  the  leader  of  a 
party 

The  emperor  appears  to  have  feared  the  ascen- 
dency which  Alva  might  one  day  acquire  over 
Philip.  "  The  duke,"  wrote  Charles  to  his  son  in  a 
letter  before  cited,  "  is  the  ablest  statesman  and  the 
best  soldier  I  have  in  my  dominions.  Consult  him, 
above  all,  in  military  affairs.  But  do  not  depend 
on  him  entirely  in  these  or  any  other  matters. 
Depend  on  no  one  but  yourself."     The  advice  was 

4  Ibid.     The  date  of  this  manuscnpt  is  1570. 


good;  and  Philip  did  not  fail  to  profit  by  it. 
Though  always  seeking  the  opinions  of  others,  it 
was  the  better  to  form  his  ovm.  lie  was  too  jeal- 
ous of  power  to  submit  to  the  control,  even  to  the 
guidance,  of  another.  With  all  his  deference  to 
Alva,  on  whose  services  he  set  the  greatest  value, 
the  king  seems  to  have  shown  him  but  little  of  that 
personal  attachment  which  he  evinced  for  his  rival, 
Ruy  Gomez. 

This  nobleman  was  descended  from  an  ancient 
house  in  Portugal,  a  branch  of  which  had  been 
transplanted  to  Castile.  He  had  been  early  re- 
ceived  as  a  page  in  the  imperial  household,  where, 
though  he  was  several  years  older  than  Philip,  his 
amiable  temper,  his  engaging  manners,  and,  above 
all,  that  tact  which  made  his  fortune  in  later  life, 
soon  rendered  him  the  prince's  favorite.  An  anec- 
dote is  reported  of  him  at  this  time,  which,  however 
difficult  to  credit,  rests  on  respectable  authority. 
While  engaged  in  their  sports,  the  page  acciden- 
tally  struck  the  prince.  The  emperor,  greatly  in- 
censed, and  conceiving  that  such  an  indignity  to 
the  heir  apparent  was  to  be  effaced  only  by  the 
blood  of  the  offender,  condemned  the  unhappy 
youth  to  lose  his  life.  The  tears  and  entreaties  of 
Philip  at  length  so  far  softened  the  heart  of  his 
father,  that  he  consented  to  commute  the  punish- 
ment of  death  for  exile.  Indeed,  it  is  hard  to  be- 
lieve that  Charles  had  ever  really  intended  to  carry 
his  cruel  sentence  into  execution.  The  exile  was 
of  no  long  duration.     The  society  of  Gomez  had 


400 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN.         [Book  VI. 


become  indispensable  to  the  prince,  who,  pining 
under  the  separation,  at  length  prevailed  on  his 
father  to  recall  the  young  noble,  and  reinstate  him 
in  his  former  situation  in  the  palace.* 

The  regard  of  Philip,  who  was  not  of  a  fickle 
disposition,  seemed  to  increase  with  years.  We 
find  Ruy  Gomez  one  of  the  brilliant  suite  who 
accompanied  him  to  London  on  his  visit  there  to 
wed  the  English  queen.  After  the  emperor's  abdi- 
cation, Ruy  Gomez  continued  to  occupy  a  distin- 
guished place  in  Philip's  household,  as  first  gen- 
tleman of  the  bedchamber.  By  virtue  of  this  office 
he  was  required  to  attend  his  master  both  at  his 
rising  and  his  going  to  rest.  His  situation  gave 
him  ready  access  at  all  hours  to  the  royal  person. 
It  was  soon  understood  that  there  was  no  one  in 
the  court  who  exercised  a  more  important  influ- 
ence over  the  monarch ;  and  he  naturally  became 
the  channel  through  which  applicants  for  favors 
sought  to  prefer  their  petitions.^ 

Meanwhile  the  most  substantial  honors  were 
liberally  bestowed  on  him.  He  was  created  duke 
of  Pastraiia,  with  an  income  of  twenty-five  thou- 
sand crowns,  —  a  large  revenue,  considering  the 
value  of  money  in  that  day.  The  title  of  Pastraiia 
was  subsequently  merged  in  that  of  Eboli,  by  which 

5  Kelazione  di  Badoer,  MS.  Gomez,  perchfe  pare  che  non  sia 

•  Instead  of "  Ruy  Gomez,**  Ba-  stato  mai  alcun  privato  con  prin- 

doer  tells  us  they  punningly  gave  cipe  del  mondo  di  tanta  autoritk 

him  the  title  of  "  Rey  Gomez,"  to  e  cos\  stimato  dal  signor  suo  come 

denote  his  influence*  over  the  king,  egli  h  da  questa  Maestk.**    Rela- 

"  n  titolo  principal  che  gli  vieu  zione,  MS. 
dato  6  di  Rey  Gomez  e  non  Ruy 


Cii.  I.] 


ALVA  AND  RUY   GOMEZ. 


401 


he  has  continued  to  be  known.  It  was  derived 
from  his  marriage  with  the  princess  of  Eboli,  Anna 
de  Mendoza,  a  lady  much  younger  than  he,  and, 
though  blind  of  one  eye,  celebrated  for  her  beau- 
ty no  less  than  her  wit.  She  was  yet  more  cele- 
brated for  her  gallantries,  and  for  the  tragic  results 
to  which  they  led,  —  a  subject  closely  connected 
with  the  personal  history  of  Philip,  to  which  I 
shall  return  hereafter. 

Among  his  other  dignities  Ruy  Gomez  was  made 
a  member  of  the  council  of  state,  in  which  body 
he  exercised  an  influence  not  inferior,  to  say  the 
least  of  it,  to  that  of  any  of  his  associates.  His 
hsad  was  not  turned  by  his  prosperity.  He  did 
not,  like  many  a  favorite  before  him,  display  his 
full-blown  fortunes  in  the  eye  of  the  world ;  nor, 
though  he  maintained  a  state  suited  to  his  station, 
did  he,  like  Wolsey,  excite  the  jealousy  of  his 
master  by  a  magnificence  in  his  way  of  living  that 
eclipsed  the  splendors  of  royalty.  Far  from  show- 
ing arrogance  to  his  inferiors,  he  was  affable  to  all, 
did  what  he  could  to  serve  their  interests  with  the 
king,  and  magnanimously  spoke  of  his  rivals  in 
terms  of  praise.  By  this  way  of  proceeding  he  en- 
joyed the  good  fortune,  rare  for  a  favorite,  of  being 
both  caressed  by  his  sovereign  and  beloved  by  the 
people.^ 

7  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  pp.  Gomez,  which  for  the  niceness  of 

712,  713.  its  discrimination,  and  the  felicity 

Cabrera  has  given  us,  in  the  first  of  its  language,  may  compare  with 

chapter  of  the  tenth  book  of  his  the  best  compositions  of  the  Cas- 

history,  a  finished  portrait  of  Ruy  tilian  chroniclers. 


TOL.   III. 


51 


402 


M 


II 


1 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS    OF  SP.UN.  [Book  \L 


There  is  no  evidence  that  Euy  Gomez  had  the 
moral  courage  to  resist  the  evil  tendency  of  Philip's 
policy,  still  less  that  he  ventured  to  open  the  mon- 
arch's eyes  to  his  errors.  He  had  too  keen  a  regard 
to  his  own  interests  to  attempt  this.  He  may  have 
thought,  probably  with  some  reason,  that  such  a 
course  would  avail  little  with  the  king,  and  would 
bring  ruin  on  himself.  His  life  was  passed  in 
the  atmosphere  of  a  court,  and  he  had  imbibed  its 
selfish  spirit.  He  had  profoundly  studied  the  char- 
acter of  his  master,  and  he  accommodated  himself 
to  all  his  humors  with  an  obsequiousness  wliich 
does  little  honor  to  liis  memory.  The  duke  of 
Alva,  who  hated  him  with  all  the  hatred  of  a  rival, 
speaking  of  him  after  his  death,  remarked :  "  lluy 
Gomez,  though  not  the  greatest  statesman  that  ever 
lived,  was  such  a  master  in  the  knowledge  of  the 
humors  and  dispositions  of  kings,  that  we  were  all 
of  us  fools  in  comparison."^ 

Yet  the  influence  of  the  favorite  was,  on  the 
whole,  good.  He  was  humane  and  liberal  in  his 
temper,  and  inclined  to  peace,  —  virtues  which  were 
not  too  common  in  that  iron  age,  and  which  in  the 
council  served  much  to  counteract  the  stern  policy  of 
Alva.  Persons  of  a  generous  nature  ranged  them- 
selves under  him  as  their  leader.  AVhen  John  of 
Austria  came  to  court,  his  liberal  spirit  prompted 

*  "  El  seiior  Ruy  Gomez  no  fue  por  aqiii  dentro  andamos  tenemos 

de  Ids  may  ores  consejeros  que  ha  la   cabeza    donde    pensamos    quo 

liabido,  pero  del  humor  y  natural  traemos  los  pies.**     Bermudez  dc 

de  los  reyes  le  roconozco  por  tan  Castro,  Antonio  Perez,   (Madrid, 

gran  maestro,   que  todos  los  que  1841,)  p.  28. 


Cii.  I] 


ALVA  AND   RUY   GOMEZ. 


403 


i 


him  at  once  to  lean  on  Ruy  Gomez  as  his  friend  and 
counsellor.  The  correspondence  which  passed  be- 
tween them  when  the  young  soldier  was  on  his 
campaigns,  in  which  he  addressed  the  favorite  by 
the  epithet  of  "  father,"  confessing  his  errors  to  him 
and  soliciting  his  advice,  is  honorable  to  both. 

The  historian  Cabrera,  who  had  often  seen  him, 
sums  up  the  character  of  Ruy  Gomez  by  say- 
ing :  "  He  was  the  first  pilot  who  in  these  stormy 
seas  both  lived  and  died  secure,  always  contriving 
to  gain  a  safe  port."^  His  death  took  place  in 
July,  1573.  "  Living,"  adds  the  writer,  in  his  pe- 
culiar style,  "  he  preserved  the  favor  of  his  sov- 
ereign. Dead,  he  was  mourned  by  him,  —  and  by 
the  whole  nation,  which  kept  him  in  its  recollec- 
tion as  the  pattern  of  loyal  vassals  and  prudent 
favorites."  '° 

Besides  the  two  leaders  in  the  council,  there 
were  two  others  who  deserve  to  be  noticed.  One 
of  these  was  Figueroa,  count,  afterwards  created 
by  Philip  duke,  of  Feria,  a  grandee  of  Spain.  He 
was  one  of  those  who  accompanied  the  king  on 
his  first  visit  to  England.  He  there  married  a  lady 
of  rank,  and,  as  the  reader  may  remember,  after- 
wards represented  his  master  at  the  court  of  Eliza- 
beth.     He  was  a  man  of  excellent  parts,  enriched 


9  "  Fue  Rui  Gomez  el  primero 
piloto  que  en  trabajos  tan  grandes 
vivio  y  murio  seguro,  tomando 
sienpre  el  mejor  puerto/*  Cabre- 
ra, p.  713. 

:o  u  Vivo  con8erv6  la  gracia  de 


su  Rev,  muerto  le  dolio  su  falta,  i 
la  llor6  su  R«yno,  que  en  su  me- 
moria  le  k  conservado  para  exem- 
plo  de  fieles  vasallos  i  prudent<>s 
privadosde  losmayores  Principes." 
Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


I 


404 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN.  [Book  VI. 


by  that  kind  of  practical  knowledge  which  he  had 
gained  from  foreign  travel  and  a  familiarity  with 
courts.  He  lived  magnificently,  somewhat  encum- 
bering his  large  estates  indeed  by  his  profusion. 
His  person  was  handsome ;  and  his  courteous  and 
polished  manners  made  him  one  of  the  most  bril- 
liant ornaments  of  the  royal  circle.  He  had  a 
truly  chivalrous  sense  of  honor,  and  was  greatly 
esteemed  by  the  king,  who  placed  him  near  his 
person  as  captain  of  his  Spanish  guard.  Feria  was 
a  warm  supporter  of  Ruy  Gomez ;  and  the  long 
friendship  that  subsisted  between  the  two  nobles 
seems  never  to  have  been  clouded  by  those  feelings 
of  envy  and  jealousy  which  so  often  arise  between 
rivals  contending  for  the  smiles  of  their  sovereign. 
The  other  member  of  the  council  of  state  was 
a  person  of  still  more  importance.  This  was  the 
Cardinal  Espinosa,  who,  though  an  ecclesiastic, 
possessed  such  an  acquaintance  with  affairs  as  be^ 
longed  to  few  laymen.  Philip's  eye  readily  discov- 
ered his  uncommon  qualities,  and  he  heaped  upon 
him  offices  in  rapid  succession,  any  one  of  which 
might  well  have  engrossed  his  time.  But  Espinosa 
was  as  fond  of  labor  as  most  men  are  of  ease ;  and 
in  every  situation  he  not  only  performed  his  own 
share  of  the  work,  but  very  often  that  of  his  asso- 
ciates. He  was  made  president  of  the  council  of 
Castile,  as  well  as  of  that  of  the  Indies,  and  finally 
a  member  of  the  council  of  state.  He  was  inquisi- 
tor-general, sat  in  the  royal  chancer}^  of  Seville, 
and  held   the   bishopric  of  Siguen9a,  one  of  the 


Ch.  L] 


ESPINOSA. 


405 


richest  sees  in  the  kingdom.  To  crown  the  whole, 
in  1568,  Pius  the  Fifth,  on  the  application  of 
Philip,  gave  him  a  cardinal's  hat.  The  king  seems 
to  have  taken  the  greater  pleasure  in  this  rapid 
elevation  of  Espinosa,  that  he  sprung  from  a  com- 
paratively humble  condition,  and  thus  the  height 
to  which  he  raised  him  served  the  more  keenly  to 
mortify  the  nobles. 

But  the  cardinal,  as  is  too  often  the  case  with 
those  who  have  suddenly  risen  to  greatness,  did 
not  bear  his  honors  meekly.  His  love  of  power 
was  insatiable ;  and  when  an  office  became  vacant 
in  any  of  his  own  departments,  he  was  prompt  to 
secure  it  for  one  of  his  dependents.  An  anecdote 
is  told  in  relation  to  a  place  in  the  chancery  of 
Granada,  which  had  become  open  by  the  death  of 
the  incumbent.  As  soon  as  the  news  reached  Ma- 
drid, Hernandez  de  Cordova,  the  royal  equerry, 
made  application  to  the  king  for  it.  Philip  an- 
swered that  he  was  too  late,  that  the  place  had 
been  already  given  away.  "  How  am  I  to  under- 
stand your  majesty?"  said  the  petitioner.  "The 
tidings  were  brought  to  me  by  a  courier,  the  mo- 
ment at  which  the  post  became  vacant ;  and  no 
one  could  have  brought  them  sooner  unless  he  had 
wings."  "  That  may  be,"  said  the  monarch ;  "  but 
I  have  just  given  the  place  to  another,  whom  the 
cardinal  recommended  to  me  as  I  was  leaving  the 
council."" 

^^  "  Puede  ser,  pero  el  Canlenal     del    consejo,   i   provei  la    pla^-a." 
Espinosa  me  consulto  en  saliendo    Ibid.,  p.  700. 


406 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN.  [Book  VI. 


Ch.  I.] 


ESPINOSA. 


407 


:t 


Espinosa,  says  a  contemporary,  was  a  man  of 
noble  presence.  He  had  the  air  of  one  born  to 
command.  His  haughty  bearing,  however,  did  little 
for  him  with  the  more  humble  suitors,  and  dis- 
gusted tlie  great  lords,  who  looked  down  with  con- 
tempt on  his  lowly  origin.  They  complained  to 
the  king  of  his  intolerable  arrogance ;  and  the  king 
was  not  unwilling  to  receive  their  charges  against 
him.  In  fact,  he  had  himself  grown  to  be  dis- 
pleased with  his  minister's  presumption.  He  was 
weary  of  the  deference  which,  now  that  Espinosa 
had  become  a  cardinal,  he  felt  obliged  to  pay  him  ; 
of  coming  forward  to  receive  him  when  he  entered 
the  room ;  of  taking  off  his  cap  to  the  churchman, 
and  giving  him  a  seat  as  high  as  his  own ;  finally, 
of  allowing  him  to  interfere  in  all  appointments  to 
office.  It  seemed  incredible,  says  the  historian, 
that  a  prince  so  jealous  of  his  prerogatives  should 
have  submitted  to  all  this  so  long.'^  Philip  was 
now  determined  to  submit  to  it  no  longer ;  but  to 
tumble  from  its  pride  of  place  the  idol  which  lie 
had  raised  with  his  own  hands. 

He  was  slow  in  betraying  his  intention,  by 
word  or  act,  to  the  courtiers,  still  more  to  the  un- 
fortunate minister,  who  continued  to  show  the  same 
security  and  confidence  as  if  he  were  treading  the 
solid  ground,  instead  of  the  crust  of  a  volcano. 

At  length  an  opportunity  offered  when  Espino- 
sa, in  a  discussion  respecting  the  affairs  of  Flan- 

1'  **  Que  en  principe  tan  zeloso    increible  su  tolerancia  basta  alii.** 
tie  su  immunldad  i  oficio  pareci6    Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


ders,  made  a  statement  which  the  king  deemed 
not  entirely  conformable  to  truth.  Philip  at  once 
broke  in  upon  the  discourse  with  an  appearance  of 
great  indignation,  and  charged  the  minister  with 
falsehood.  The  blow  was  the  more  effectual,  com- 
ing from  one  who  had  been  scarcely  ever  known 
to  give  way  to  passion.^^  The  cardinal  was  stunned 
by  it.  He  at  once  saw  his  ruin,  and  the  vision  of 
glory  vanished  for  ever.  He  withdrew,  more  dead 
than  alive,  to  his  house.  There  he  soon  took  to 
his  bed;  and  in  a  short  time,  in  September,  1572, 
he  breathed  his  last.  His  fate  was  that  of  more 
than  one  minister  whose  head  had  been  made  giddy 
by  the  height  to  which  he  had  climbed.^^ 

The  council  of  state,  under  its  two  great  leaders, 
Alva  and  Euy  Gomez,  was  sure  to  be  divided  on 
every  question  of  importance.  This  was  a  fruitful 
source  of  embarrassment,  and  to  private  suitors, 
especially,  occasioned  infinite  delay.  Such  was 
the  hostility  of  the  parties  to  each  other,  that, 
if  an  applicant  for  favor  secured  the  good-will 
of  one  of  the  chiefs,  he  was  very  certain  to  en- 
counter the  ill-will  of  the  other.^^     He  was  a  skil- 


ls The  anonymous  author  of  a 
contemporary  relation  speaks  of 
the  king  as  a  person  little  subject 
to  passions  of  any  kind.  The  lan- 
guage is  striking:  *' E  questo  Ite 
poco  soggetto  alle  pasioni,  venga 
eio,  o  per  inelinazione  naturale,  o 
per  costume ;  e  quasi  non  appari- 
scono  in  lui  i  primi  movimenti  ne 
(leir  allegrezza,  ne  del  dolore,  ne 
deir  ira  ancora."    M& 


***  "  El  Rey  le  hablo  tan  aspera- 
mente  sobre  el  afinar  una  verdad, 
que  le  mato  brevemente,"  says  Ca- 
brera emphatically.  Filipe  Se- 
gundo,  p.  699. 

^5  "  Perche  chi  vuole  il  favorc 
del  duca  d'Alva  perde  quello  di 
Ruy  Gomez,  e  chi  cerca  il  favore 
di  Ruy  Gomez,  non  ha  quello  del 
duca  d'  Alva-I  Relazione  di  So* 
riano,  MS. 


408 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN.  [Book  VI. 


ful  pilot  who  in  such  cross  seas  could  keep  his 
course. 

Yet  the  existence  of  these  divisions  does  not 
seem  to  have  been  discouraged  by  Philip,  who  saw 
in  them  only  the  natural  consequence  of  a  rivalry 
for  his  favor.  They  gave  him,  moreover,  the  ad- 
vantage of  seeing  every  question  of  moment  well 
canvassed,  and,  by  furnishing  him  with  the  op 
posite  opinions  of  his  councillors,  enabled  him 
the  more  accurately  to  form  his  own.  In  the 
mean  time,  the  value  which  he  set  on  both  the 
great  chiefs  made  him  careful  not  to  disgust  either 
by  any  show  of  preference  for  his  rival.  He  held 
the  balance  adroitly  between  them ;  and  if  on 
any  occasion  he  bestowed  a  mark  of  his  favor  on 
the  one,  it  was  usually  followed  by  some  equiva- 
lent to  the  other.^^  Thus,  for  the  first  twelve  years 
of  his  reign,  their  influence  may  be  said  to  have 
been  pretty  equally  exerted.  Then  came  the  mem- 
orable discussion  respecting  the  royal  visit  to  the 
Netherlands.  Alva,  as  the  reader  may  remember, 
was  of  the  opinion  that  Philip  should  send  an 
army  to  punish  the  refractory  and  bring  the  coun- 
try to  obedience,  when  the  king  might  visit  it  with 
safety  to  his  own  person.  Ruy  Gomez,  on  the 
other  hand,  recommended  that  Philip  should  go 
at  once,  without  an  army,  and  by  mild  and  con- 
ciliatory  measures  win  the  malecontents   back   to 

W  Ranke  has  given  some  perti-  two  statesmen  in  the  cabinet  of 

nent  examples  of  this  in  an  inter-  Philip.   Ottoman  and  Spanish  Kni- 

esting  sketch  which  he  has  present-  pires,  (Eng.  trans.,)  p.  38. 
cd  of  the  relative  positions  of  these 


Cu.  I] 


PERSONAL  HABITS   OF  PHILIP. 


409 


fi 


their  allegiance.  Each  advised  the  course  most 
congenial  to  his  own  temper,  and  the  one,  more- 
over, which  would  have  required  the  aid  of  his  own 
services  to  carry  it  into  execution.  Unfortunately, 
the  violent  measures  of  Alva  were  more  congenial 
to  the  stern  temper  of  the  king,  and  the  duke  was 
sent  at  the  head  of  his  battalions. 

But  if  Alva  thus  gained  the  victory,  it  was  Ruy 
Gomez  who  reaped  the  fruits  of  it.  Left  without 
a  rival  in  the  council,  his  influence  became  pre- 
dominant over  every  other.  It  became  still  more 
firmly  established,  as  the  result  showed  that  his 
rival's  mission  was  a  failure.  So  it  continued,  after 
Alva's  return,  till  the  favorite's  death.  Even  then 
his  well-organized  party  was  so  deeply  rooted, 
that  for  several  years  longer  it  maintained  an  as- 
cendency in  the  cabinet,  while  the  duke  languished 
in  disgrace. 

Philip,  unlike  most  of  his  predecessors,  rarely 
took  his  seat  in  the  council  of  state.  It  was  his 
maxim  that  his  ministers  would  more  freely  discuss 
measures  in  the  absence  of  their  master  than  when 
he  was  there  to  overawe  them.  The  course  he 
adopted  w^as  for  a  coiisulta^  or  a  committee  of  two 
or  three  members,  to  wait  on  him  in  his  cabinet, 
and  report  to  him  the  proceedings  of  the  council.^' 
He  more  commonly,  especially  in  the  later  years  of 


1^  "Non  si  trova  mai  S.  !M.  pre-  sempre  si  ritrova,  onde  sono  lette 

sente  alle  delibcrationi  ne  i  con-  le  risolutioni  del  consiglio."    Rela- 

sigli,   ma    deliberato    chiama  una  zione  di  Tiepolo,  MS, 
delle  tre  consulte  ....  alia  qual  '  * 

VOL.  III.  5S 


410 


DOMESTIC   AFFAIRS   OF  SPAIX.  [Book  VL 


his  reign,  preferred  to  receive  a  full  report  of 
the  discussion,  written  so  as  to  leave  an  ample 
margin  for  his  own  commentaries.  These  were 
eminently  characteristic  of  the  man,  and  were  so 
minute  as  usually  to  cover  several  sheets  of  paper. 
Philip  had  a  reserved  and  unsocial  temper.  He 
preferred  to  work  alone,  in  the  seclusion  of  his 
closet,  rather  than  in  the  presence  of  others.  This 
may  explain  the  reason,  in  part,  why  he  seemed 
so  much  to  prefer  writing  to  talking.  Even  with 
his  private  secretaries,  who  were  always  near  at 
hand,  he  chose  to  communicate  by  writing;  and 
they  had  as  large  a  mass  of  his  autograph  notes 
in  their*  possession,  as  if  the  correspondence  had 
been  carried  on  from  different  parts  of  the  king- 
dom.^^  His  thoughts  too  —  at  any  rate  his  words 
—  came  slowly ;  and  by  writing  he  gained  time 
for  the  utterance  of  them. 

Philip  has  been  accused  of  indolence.  As  far  as 
the  body  was  concerned,  such  an  accusation  was 
well  founded.  Even  when  young,  he  had  no  fond- 
ness, as  we  have  seen,  for  the  robust  and  chivalrous 
sports  of  the  age.  He  never,  like  his  father,  con- 
ducted military  expeditions  in  person.  He  thought 
it  wiser  to  follow  the  example  of  his  great-grand- 
father, Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  who  stayed  at  home 
and  sent  his  generals  to  command  his  armies.  As 
little  did  he  like  to  travel,  —  forming  too  in  this 
respect  a  great  contrast  to  the  emperor.     He  had 


M  Ranke,  Ottoman  and  Spanish  Empires,  p.  82. 


!  i 


Ch.  I] 


PERSONAL  HABITS   OF  PHILIP. 


411 


been  years  on  the  throne  before  he  made  a  visit  to 
his  great  southern  capital,  Seville.  It  was  a  mat- 
ter of  complaint  in  cortes  that  he  thus  withdrew 
himself  from  the  eyes  of  his  subjects.  The  only 
sport  he  cared  for — not  by  any  means  to  excess 
—  was  shooting  with  his  gun  or  his  crossbo>Y  such 
game  as  he  could  find  in  his  own  grounds  at  the 
Wood  of  Segovia,  or  Aranjuez,  or  some  other  of 
his  pleasant  country  scats,  none  of  them  at  a  great 
distance  from  Madrid. 

On  a  visit  to  such  places  he  would  take  with 
him  as  large  a  heap  of  papers  as  if  he  were  a  poor 
clerk,  earning  his  bread ;  and  after  the  fatigues  of 
the  chase,  he  would  retire  to  his  cabinet  and  refresh 
himself  with  his  despatches.^^  It  would,  indeed, 
be  a  great  mistake  to  charge  him  with  sluggishness 
of  mind.  He  was  content  to  toil  for  hours,  and 
long  into  the  night,  at  his  solitary  labors.^  No  ex- 
pression  of  weariness  or  of  impatience  was  known 
to  escape  him.  A  characteristic  anecdote  is  told 
of  him  in  regard  to  this.  Having  written  a  de- 
spatch, late  at  night,  to  be  sent  on  the  following 


^9  "  El  (Ha  que  iva  k  ca^a  bolvia 
con  ansias  de  bolver  al  trabajo, 
como  un  oficial  pobre  que  huviera 
de  ganar  la  comlda  con  ello/*  Los 
Dichos  y  Heehos  del  Rey  Phelipe 
II.,  (Brusselas,  1666,)  p.  214.— 
S«e  also  Relazioue  di  Pigafetta, 
MS. 

^  Relazione  di  Vandramino, 
MS.  — Relazione  di  Contarini,  ^IS. 

"  Distribuia  las  horas  del  dia,  se 


puedo  decir,  todas  en  los  negocios, 
quando  yo  lo  conoci ;  porque  aun- 
que  las  tenia  de  o<;io  u otupaciones 
foi^osas  de  su  persona,  las  gastava 
con  tales  criados  elegidos  tan  a 
proposito  que  quanto  hablava  venia 
h  ser  informarse  mucho,  descanso 
en  lo  que  k  otro  costara  nota  y  fa- 
tiga."  MS.  Anon,  in  the  Library 
of  the  Dukea  of  Burgundy. 


1 


H 


1 1 


I 


412 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIliS   OF   SPAIN.  IBoox  VI. 


morning,  he  handed  it  to  his  secretary  to  throw 
some  sand  over  it.  This  functionary,  who  ha^> 
pened  to  be  dozing,  suddenly  roused  himself,  and, 
snatching  up  the  inkstand,  emptied  it  on  the  paper. 
The  king,  coolly  remarking  that  "it  would  have 
been  .better  to  use  the  sand,''  set  himself  down, 
without  any  complaint,  to  rewrite  the  whole  of  the 
letter.^*  A  prince  so  much  addicted  to  the  pen,  we 
may  well  believe,  must  have  left  a  large  amount  of 
autogmph  materials  behind  him.  Few  monarchs, 
in  point  of  fact,  have  done  so  much  in  this  way  to 
illustrate  the  history  of  their  reigns  Fortunate 
would  it  have  been  for  the  historian  who  was  to 
profit  by  it,  if  the  royal  composition  had  been  some- 
what less  diffuse  and  the  handwriting  somewhat 
more  legible. 

Philip  was  an  economist  of  time,  and  regulated 
the  distribution  of  it  with  great  precision.  In  the 
morning,  he  gave  audience  to  foreign  ambassadors. 
He  afterwards  heard  mass.  After  mass  came  din- 
ner, in  his  father's  fashion.  But  dinner  was  not 
an  affair  with  Philip  of  so  much  moment  as  it  was 
with  Charles.  He  was  exceedingly  temperate  both 
in  eating  and  drinking,  and  not  unfrequently  had 
his  physician  at  his  side,  to  warn  him  against  any 
provocative  of  the  gout,  —  the  hereditary  disease 
which  at  a  very  early  period  had  begun  to  affect 
his  health.  After  a  light  repast,  he  gave  audi- 
ence to  such  of  his  subjects  as  desired  to  present 

81  Dichos  y  Hechos  de  Phelipe  II.,  pp.  839,  340. 


Cir.  I.] 


PERSONAL  HABITS   OF  PHILIP. 


413 


their  memorials.  He  received  the  petitioners  gra- 
ciously, and  listened  to  all  they  had  to  say  with 
patience,  —  for  that  was  his  virtue.  But  his  coun- 
tenance was  exceedingly  grave,  —  which,  in  truth, 
was  its  natural  expression ;  and  there  was  a  reserv^e 
in  his  deportment  which  made  the  boldest  feel  ill 
at  ease  in  his  presence.  On  such  occasions  he 
would  say,  "  Compose  yourself,"  —  a  recommenda- 
tion that  had  not  always  the  tranquillizing  effect 
intended.^  Once  when  a  papal  nuncio  forgot,  in 
his  confusion,  the  address  he  had  prepared,  the 
king  coolly  remarked :  "  If  you  will  bring  it  in 
writing,  I  will  read  it  myself,  and  expedite  your 
business."  ^  It  was  natural  that  men  of  even  the 
highest  rank  should  be  overawed  in  the  presence 
of  a  monarch  who  held  the  destinies  of  so  many 
millions  in  his  hands,  and  who  surrounded  him- 
self with  a  veil  of  mystery  which  the  most  cunning 
politician  could  not  penetrate. 

The  reserve,  so  noticeable  in  his  youth,  increased 
with  age.  He  became  more  difficult  of  access.  His 
public  audiences  were  much  less  frequent.  In  the 
summer  he  would  escape  from  them  altogether,  by 
taking  refuge  in  some  one  of  his  country  places. 
His  favorite  retreat  was  his  palace-monastery  of  the 
Escorial,  then  slowly  rising  under  his  patronage, 
and  affording  him  an  occupation  congenial  with  his 
taste.     He   seems,   however,   to    have   sought   the 

«  »  A  estos  estando  turbados,  23  «  Diziendole  si  lo  traeis  escri- 
}-  desalentados,  los  animava  dizien-  to,  lo  vere,  y  os  hare  despachar  " 
doles,  sossegaos."    Ibid.,  p.  40.  Ibid,,  p.  41. 


414 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS   OF   SPAIN.  [Book  VI. 


I 


country  not  so  much  from  the  love  of  its  beauties 
as  for  the  retreat  it  afforded  him  from  the  town. 
When  in  the  latter,  he  rarely  showed  himself  to  the 
public  eye,  going  abroad  chiefly  in  a  close  car- 
riage, and  driving  late  so  as  to  return  to  the  city 
after  dark.^ 

Thus  he  lived  in  solitude  even  in  the  heart  of 
his  capital,  knowing  much  less  of  men  from  his 
own  observation  than  from  the  reports  that  were 
made  to  him.  In  availing  himself  of  these  sources 
of  information  he  was  indefatigable.  He  caused  a 
statistical  survey  of  Spain  to  be  prepared  for  his 
own  use.  It  was  a  work  of  immense  labor,  em- 
bracing a  vast  amount  of  curious  details,  such  as 
were  rarely  brought  together  in  those  days.^  He 
kept  his  spies  at  the  principal  European  courts, 
who  furnished  him  with  intelligence ;  and  he  was 
as  well  acquainted  with  what  was  passing  in  Eng- 
land and  in  France,  as  if  he  had  resided  on  the 
spot.  We  have  seen  how  well  he  knew  the  smallest 
details  of  the  proceedings  in  the  Netherlands,  some- 
times even  better  than  Margaret  herself  He  em- 
ployed similar  means  to  procure  information  that 
might  be  of  service  in  making  appointments  to 
ecclesiastical  and  civil  offices. 

^  "  Quando  esce    di    Palazzo,  *  Ranke,  Ottoman  and  Spanish 

8Uole  montare   in   un  cocchio  co-  Empires,  p.  32. 

perto  di  tela  incerata,  et  serrata  a  Inglis  speaks  of  seeing  this  work 

modo  che  non  si  vede Suole  in  the  library  when  he  visited  the 

quando  va  in  villa  ritornare  la  sera  Escorial.     Spain  in    1830,  vol.  I. 

per  le  porte  del  Pareo,  senza  esaer  p.  348. 
veduto  da  alcuno.**    Relazione  di 
Pigafetta,  MS, 


li^ 


Ch.  I.J 


PERSONAL  HABITS   OF  PHILIP. 


415 


In  his  eagerness  for  information,  his  ear  was 
ever  open  to  accusations  against  his  ministers, 
which,  as  they  were  sure  to  be  locked  up  in  his 
own  bosom,  were  not  slow  in  coming  to  him.^ 
This  filled  his  mind  with  suspicions.  He  waited 
till  time  had  proved  their  truth,  treating  the  object 
of  them  with  particular  favor  till  the  hour  of  ven- 
geance had  arrived.  The  reader  will  not  have  for- 
gotten  the  terrible  saying  of  Philip's  own  historian, 
"  His  dagger  followed  close  upon  his  smile."  ^ 

Even  to  the  ministers  in  whom  Philip  appeared 
most  to  confide,  he  often  gave  but  half  his  con- 
fidence.     Instead  of  frankly  furnishing  them  with 
a  full  statement  of  facts,  he  sometimes  made  so  im- 
perfect  a  disclosure,  that,  when  his  measures  came 
to  be  taken,  his  counsellors  were  surprised  to  find 
of  how   much   they  had  been  kept  in  ignorance. 
When  he  communicated  to  them  any  foreign  de- 
spatches,  he  would  not  scruple  to  alter  the  origi- 
nal, striking  out  some  passages  and  inserting  others, 
so  as  best  to  serve  his  purpose.     The  copy,  iu  this 
garbled   form,    was   given   to  the    council.     Such 
was  the  case  with  a  letter  of  Don  John  of  Austria, 
containing  an  account  of  the  troubles  of  Genoa,' 
the  original    of  which,  with  its  numerous  altera^ 
tions  in  the  royal  handwriting,  still  exists  in  the 
Archives  of  Simancas.^ 


26  Ranke,  Ottoman  and  Spanish 
Empires,  p.  33. 

^  See  ante,  vol.  11.  p.  542. 

28  Lafuente,  Historia  de  Espana, 
torn.  XIV.  p.  44. 


The  historian  tells  us  he  has 
seen  the  original  letter  with  the 
changes  made  in  it  by  Philip. 


!3 


416 


DOMESTIC   AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN.  [Book  VL 


But  though  Philip's  suspicious  nature  prevented 
him  from  entirely  trusting  his  ministers,  —  though 
with  chilling  reserve  he  kept  at  a  distance  even 
those  who  approached  him  nearest,  —  he  was  kind, 
even  liberal,  to  his  servants,  was  not  capricious  in 
his  humors,  and  seldom,  if  ever,  gave  way  to  those 
sallies  of  passion  so  common  in  princes  clothed 
with  absolute  power.  He  was  patient  to  the  last 
degree,  and  rarely  changed  his  ministers  without 
good  cause.  Ruy  Gomez  was  not  the  only  courtier 
who  continued  in  the  royal  service  to  the  end  of 

his  days. 

Philip  was  of  a  careful,  or,  to  say  truth,  of  a 
frugal  disposition,  which  he  may  well  have  in- 
herited from  his  father;  though  this  did  not,  as 
with  his  father  in  later  life,  degenerate  into  parsi- 
mony. The  beginning  of  his  reign,  indeed,  was 
distinguished  by  some  acts  of  uncommon  liberality. 
One  of  these  occurred  at  the  close  of  Alva  s  cam- 
paigns in  Italy,  when  the  king  presented  that  com- 
mander with  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  ducats, 
greatly  to  the  discontent  of  the  emperor.  This 
was  contrary  to  his  usual  policy.  As  he  grew 
older,  and  the  expenses  of  government  pressed 
more  heavily  on  him,  he  became  more  economi- 
cal. Yet  those  who  served  him  had  no  reason, 
like  Umb  emperors  servants,  to  complain  of  their 
masters  meanness.  It  was  observed,  however,  that 
he  was  slow  to  recompense  those  who  served 
him  until  they  had  proved  themselves  worthy  of 
it.     Still   it  was   a  man's  own   fault,  says  a  cou- 


ch. I.J 


personal  habits   of  PHILIP. 


417 


temporary,  if  he  was  not  well  paid  for  his  services 
in  the  end.^ 

In  one  particular  he  indulged  in  a  most  lavish 
expenditure.      This   was   his   household.      It   was 
formed   on   the    Burgundian    model,  —  the    most 
stately  and  magnificent  in  Europe.     Its  peculiarity 
consisted  in  the  number  and  quality  of  the  mem- 
bers who  composed  it.     The  principal  officers  were 
nobles  of  the  highest   rank,  who  frequently  held 
posts  of  great  consideration  in  the  state.     Thus  the 
duke  of  Alva  was  chief  major-domo ;  the  prince  of 
Eboli  Avas  first  gentleman  of  the  bedchamber ;  the 
duke  of  Feria  was  captain  of  the  Spanish  guard. 
There   was    the   grand  equerry,  the  grand  hunts- 
man, the   chief  muleteer,    and   a   host  of  officers, 
some  of  whom  were   designated   by  menial  titles, 
though  nobles   and   cavaliers   of   family.^^     There 
were  forty  pages,  sons  of  the  most  illustrious  houses 
in  Castile.     The  whole  household  amounted  to  no 
less   than   fifteen   hundred  persons.^*     The   king's 
guard  consisted  of  three  hundred  men,  one  third 
of  whom  were  Spaniards,  one  third  Flemings,  and 
the  remainder  Germans.^ 


29  "  Chi  comincia  a  servirlo  piio 
tenor  per  certa  la  remunerazione, 
se  il  difetto  non  vien  da  lui."  Re- 
lazione  Anon.,  MS. 

30  Relazione  della  Corte  di  Spa- 
gna,  MS.  —  Relazione  di  Badoer, 
MS.  —Etiquetas  de  Palaeio,  MS. 

3^  Relazione  di  Badoer,  MS. 
32  *'Ha  tre  guardie  di  100  per- 
sone  r  una ;  la  piii  honorata  e  di 
VOL.  III.  53   ' 


Borgognoni  e  Fiamminghi,  che  han- 
no  ad  esser  ben  nati  e  servono  a 
cavallo,  e  si  dicono  Arcieri  accom- 
pagnando  bene  il  Re  per  la  citta 
a  piede  non  in  fila,  ma  alia  rinfusa 
intorno  alia  persona  reale ;  1*  altri 
sono  d'Albardieri  100  di  nazion  te- 
desca,  et  altri  e  tanti  Spagnuoli.** 
Relazione  della  Corte  di  Spagna, 
MS.  ' 


I 


418 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN.         [Book  VI. 


t 


The  queen  had  also  her  establishment  on  the 
same  scale.  She  had  twenty-six  ladies-in-waiting, 
and,  among  other  functionaries,  no  less  than  four 
physicians  to  watch  over  her  health.^ 

The   annual    cost   of   the    royal    establishment 

amounted  to  full  two  hundred  thousand  florins.^* 

» 

The  cortes  earnestly  remonstrated  against  this  use- 
less prodigality,  beseeching  the  king  to  place  his 
household  on  the  modest  scale  to  which  the  mon- 
archs  of  Castile  had  been  accustomed.*^  And  it 
seems  singular  that  one  usually  so  averse  to  ex- 
travagance and  pomp,  should  have  so  recklessly  m- 
dulffed  in  them  here.  It  was  one  of  those  incon- 
sistencies  which  we  sometimes  meet  with  in  private 
life,  w^hcn  a  man,  habitually  careful  of  his  expenses, 
indulges  himself  in  some  which  taste,  or,  as  in  this 
case,  early  habits,  have  made  him  regard  as  indis- 
pensable. The  emperor  had  been  careful  to  form 
the  household  of  his  son,  when  very  young,  on  the 
Burgundian  model ;  and  Philip,  thus  early  trained, 
probably  regarded  it  as  essential  to  the  royal  dig- 
nity. 

The  king  did  not  affect  an  ostentation  in  his 
dress  corresponding  with  that  of  his  household. 
This  seemed  to  be  suited  to  the  sober-colored  livery 
of  his  own  feelings,  and  was  almost  always  of  black 
velvet  or  satin,  with  shoes  of  the  former  material. 
He  wore  .a  cap,  garnished  with  plumes  after  the 
Spanish  fashion.     He  used  few  ornaments,  scarce 

33  Raumer,  Sixteenth  and  Sev-        34  ibid.,  p.  105. 
enteenth  Centuries,  vol.  I.  p.  106.         35  Cortes  of  1558,  peticion  4. 


Ch.  I] 


PERSONAL  HABITS   OF  PHILIP. 


419 


any  but  the  rich  jewel  of  the  Golden  Fleece,  which 
hung  from  his  neck.  But  in  his  attire  he  was 
scrupulously  neat,  says  the  Venetian  diplomatist 
who  tells  these  particulars;  and  he  changed  his 
dress  for  a  new  one  every  month,  giving  away  his 
cast-off  suits  to  his  attendants.^ 

It  was  a  capital  defect  in  Philip's  administration, 
that  his  love  of  power  and  his  distrust  of  others 
made  him  desire  to  do  everything  himself,  —  even 
those  things  which  could  be  done  much  better  by 
his  ministers.     As  he  was  slow  in  making  up  his 
ow^n  opinions,  and  seldom  acted  without  first  ascer- 
taining those  of  his  council,  we  may  Veil  understand 
the  mischievous  consequences  of  such  delay.     Loud 
were  the  complaints  of  private  suitors,  who  saw 
month  after  month  pass  away  without  an  answer  to 
their  petitions.     The  state  suffered  no  less,  as  the 
wheels  of  government  seemed  actually  to  stand  still 
under  the  accumulated  pressure  of  the  public  busi- 
ness.    Even  when  a  decision  did  come,    it   often 
came  too  late  to  be   of  service;    for  the  circum- 
stances which  led  to  it  had  w^holly  changed.     Of 
this  the  reader  has  seen  more  than  one  example  in 
the  Netherlands.     The  favorite  saying  of  Philip, 
that "  time  and  he  were  a  match  for  any  other  tw^o," 
was  a  sad  mistake.     The  time  he  demanded  was 
his  ruin.     It  was  in  vain  that  Granvelle,  who,  at  a 
later  day,  came  to  Castile  to  assume  the  direction 

36  "Quest!  habiti   sempre   sono     ad   uno,    e  quando  ad  un  altro." 
nuovi  et  puliti,  perche  ogni  mese     Relazione  di  Pigafetta,  MS. 
se  gli  muta,  et  poi  gli  dona  quando 


i 


420 


DOMESTIC   AFFAIRS   OF   SPAIN.  [Book  VI 


■\\ 


■1 ,1. 


!    t 


of  affairs,  endeavored,  in  his  courtly  language,  to 
convince  the  king  of  his  error,  telling  him  that  no 
man  could  bear  up  under  such  a  load  of  business, 
which  sooner  or  later  must  destroy  his  health,  per- 
haps his  life.^ 

A  letter  addressed  to  the  king  by  his  grand 
almoner,  Don  Luis  Manrique,  told  the  truth  in 
plainer  terms,  such  as  had  not  often  reached  the 
royal  ear.  "  Your  majesty's  subjects  everywhere 
complain,"  he  says,  "of  your  manner  of  doing 
business,  —  sitting  all  day  long  over  your  papers, 
from  your  desire,  as  they  intimate,  to  seclude  your- 
self from  the  w8rld,  and  from  a  want  of  confidence 
in  your  ministers.^  Hence  such  interminable  de- 
lays as  fill  the  soul  of  every  suitor  with  despair. 
Your  subjects  arc  discontented  that  you  refuse  to 
take  your  seat  in  the  council  of  state.  The  Al- 
mighty," he  adds,  "  did  not  send  kings  into  the 
world  to  spend  their  days  in  reading  or  writing,  or 


37  Gachard  cites  a  passage  from 
one  of  Granvelle*s  unpublished 
letters,  in  which  he  says,  "  Suplico 
a  V.  M,  con  la  humildad  que 
devo,  que  considerando  quanto  su 
vida  importa  al  principe  nuestro 
senor,  a  todos  sus  reynos  y  Esta- 
dos,  y  vasallos  suyos,  y  aun  i.  toda 
la  christiandad,  mirando  en  que 
miserando  estado  quedaria  sin  V. 
M.,  sea  servido  mirar  adelante  mas 
por  su  salud,  descargandose  de  tan 
grande  y  continuo  trabajo,  que 
tanto  daiio  le  haze.**  Rapport 
prefixed  to  the  Correspondaoce  de 
Philippe  II.  (torn.  I.  p-li.)?  >"  which 


the  Belgian  scholar,  with  his  usual 
conscientiousness  and  care,  enters 
into  an  examination  of  the  char- 
acter and  personal  habits  of  Philip. 
38  "  Habiendo  en  otra  ocasion 
avisado  a  vuestra  magestad  de  la 
publica  querella  y  desconsuelo  que 
habia  del  estilo  que  vuestra  ma- 
gestad habia  tornado  de  negociar, 
estando  perpetuamente  asido  a  los 
papeles,  por  tener  mejor  ti'tulo  para 
huir  de  la  gente,  ademas  de  no 
quererse  fiar  de  nadie."  Carta  que 
escrivio  al  Senor  Rey  Felipe  Se- 
gundo  Don  Luis  Manrique,  su  li- 
raosnero  mayor,  MS, 


Ch.  I.J 


COURT  AND  NOBLES. 


421 


even  in  meditation  and  prayer,''  —  in  which  Philip 
was  understood  to  pass  much  of  his  time, — "but 
to  serve  as  public  oracles,  to  which  all  may  resort 
for  answers.  If  any  sovereign  have  received  this 
grace,  it  is  your  majesty ;  and  the  greater  the  sin, 

therefore,  if  you  do  not  give  free  access  to  all."  ^^ 

One  may  be  surprised  to  find  that  language  such  as 
this  was  addressed  to  a  prince  like  Philip  the  Sec- 
ond, and  that  he  should  have  borne  it  so  patiently. 
But  in  this  the  king  resembled  his  father.  Church- 
men and  jesters  —  of  which  latter  he  had  usually 
one  or  two  in  attendance  —  were  privileged  persons 
at  his  court.  In  point  of  fact,  the  homilies  of  the 
one  had  as  little  effect  as  the  jests  of  the  other. 

The  pomp  of  the  royal  establishment  was  imi- 
tated on  a  smaller  scale  by  the  great  nobles  living 
on  their  vast  estates  scattered  over  the  country. 
Their  revenues  were  very  large,  though  often 
heavily  burdened.  Out  of  twenty-three  dukes,  in 
1581,  only  three  had  an  income  so  low  as  forty 
thousand  ducats  a  year.^^  That  of  most  of  the 
others  ranged  from  fifty  to  a  hundred  thousand, 
and  that  of  one,  the  duke  of  Medina  Sidonia,  was 


( 


39  "No  embio  Dios,  d  vuestra 
magestad  y  a  todos  los  otros  Reyes, 
que  tienen  sus  veces  en  la  tierra, 
para  que  se  extravien  leyendo  ni 
escribiendo  ni  aun  contemplando 
ni  rezando,  a  no  para  que  fuesen 
y  scan  publicos  y  patentes  ora<*ulos 
ii  donde  todos  sus  subditos  venjran 

por    sus    respuestas Y  si   a 

algun  Bey  en  el  mundo  did  Dios 


esta  gracia,  cs  a  vuestra  magestad 
y  por  cso  es  mayor  la  culpa  de  no 
manifestarse  &  todos."    Ibid. 

A  copy  of  this  letter  is  preserveil 
among  the  Egerton  ]\ISS.  in  the 
British  Museum. 

^  Nota  di  tutti  *  li  Titolati  c^.i 
Spagna  con  li  loro  casate  et  rendit«», 
&c.,  fatta  nel  1^81,  MS. 


i22 


DOMESTIC  AFIiAUlS  OF  StAIN.         [Book  VI 


I!? 

i 
1,1 


computed  at  a  hundred  and  thirty-five  thousand* 
Revenues  like  these  would  not  easily  have  been 
matched  in  that  day  by  the  aristocracy  of  any  other 
nation  in  Christendom.^* 

The  Spanish  grandees  preferred  to  live  on  their 
estates  in  the  country.  But  in  the  winter  they 
repaired  to  Madrid,  and  displayed  their  magnifi- 
cence at  the  court  of  their  sovereign.  Here  they 
dazzled  the  eye  by  the  splendor  of  their  equipages, 
the  beauty  of  their  horses,  their  rich  liveries,  and 
the  throng  of  their  retainers.  But  with  all  this 
the  Castilian  court  was  far  from  appearing  in  the 
eyes  of  foreigners  a  gay  one,  —  forming  in  this  re- 
spect a  contrast  to  the  Flemish  court  of  ^larga- 
ret  of  Panna,  It  seemed  to  have  imbibed  much 
of  the  serious  and  indeed  sombre  chamcter  of  the 
monarch  who  presided  over  it.  All  was  stately 
and  ceremonious,  with  old-fashioned  manners  and 
usages,  "  There  is  nothing  new  to  be  seen  there," 
write  the  Venetian  envoys,  "  There  is  no  pleas- 
ant gossip  about  the  events  of  the  day.  If  a  man 
is  acquainted  with  any  news,  he  is  too  prudent  to 
rcpeat  it."*^  The  courtiers  talk  little,  and  for  the 
most  part  are  ignorant,  —  in  fact  without  the  least 
tincture  of  learning.  The  arrogance  of  the  great 
lords  is  beyond  belief;  and  when  they  meet  a  for- 


* 


<i  Ibid,  ^*  "  La  corte  h  muta ;  in  publico 

The  Spanish  aristocracy,  in  1 58 1 ,  non  si  ragiona  di  nuove,  et  chi  pure 

reckoned  twenty-three  dukes,  forty-  Ic  sa,  se  le  tace."    Relazione  di 

two  marquises,  and  fifty-six  counts.  Pigafetta,  MS, 

All  the  dukes  and  thirteen  of  the 

inferior  nobles  were  grandees. 


Cii.  I.] 


COUKT  AND  NOBLES. 


42:J 


eign  ambassador,  or  even  the  nuncio  of  his  holiness, 
they  rarely  condescend  to  salute  him  by  raising 
their  caps."*^  They  all  affect  that  imperturbable 
composure,  or  apathy,  which  they  term  sosiego''^^ 

They  gave  no  splendid  banquets,  like  the  Flemish 
nobles.  Their  chief  amusement  was  gaming, — 
the  hereditary  vice  of  the  Spaniard.  They  played 
deep,  often  to  the  great  detriment  of  their  fortunes. 
This  did  not  displease  the  king.  It  may  seem 
strange  that  a  society  so  cold  and  formal  should  be 
much  addicted  to  intrigue.^^  In  this  they  followed 
the  example  of  their  master. 

Thus  passing  their  days  in  frivolous  amusements 
and  idle  dalliance,  the  Spanish  nobles,  with  the 
lofty  titles  and  pretensions  of  their  ancestors,  were 
a  degenerate  race.  AVith  a  few  brilliant  exceptions, 
they  filled  no  important  posts  in  the  state  or  in  the 
army.  The  places  of  most  consideration  to  which 
they  aspired  were  those  connected  with  the  royal 
household  ;  and  their  greatest  honor  was  to  possess 
the  empty  privileges  of  the  grandee,  and  to  sit  with 
tlieir  heads  covered  in  the  presence  of  the  king."*^ 


43  "  Sono  d*  animo  tanto  elevato 
....  che  c  cosa  molto  difficile  da 
credere  .  .  .  .  c  (juando  avvieno  che 
incontrino  o  nunzi  del  ponteficc  o 
ambasciadori  di  qualche  testa  coro- 
nata  o  d'  altro  stato,  pochissimi  son 
quelli  che  si  levin  la  bcrreta."  Re- 
lazione di  Badoero,  MS. 

**  "  Non  si  attendc  a  Icttere,  ma 
la  Nobilita  e  a  maraviiilia  isnorante 
e  ritirata,  mantenendo  una  certa 
sua  alterigia,    che  loro  chiamano 


susslego^  che  vuol  dire  tranquillity 
et  sicurezza,  et  quasi  screuitii."  Re- 
lazione di  Pigafettii,  MS. 

^  "  Non  si  convita,  non  si  caval- 
ca,  si  giuoca,  et  si  fa  all'  amore." 
Ibid. 

See  also  the  Relazioni  of  Bado- 
ero and  Contarini. 

46  Dr.  Salazar  y  IMendoza  takes 
a  verj'  exalted  view  of  .the  im- 
portance of  this  right  to  wear  the 
hat  in  the  prifsence  of  the  king,  — 


I' 


424 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIUS  OF  SPAIN.  [Book  VI. 


' 


1^ 


From  this  life  of  splendid  humiliation  they  were 
nothing  loath  to  escape  into  the  country,  where 
they  passed  their  days  in  their  ancestral  castles, 
surrounded  by  princely  domains,  which  embraced 
towns  and  villages  within  their  circuit,  and  a 
population  sometimes  reaching  to  thirty  thousand 
families.  Here  the  proud  lords  lived  in  truly  regal 
pomp.  Their  households  were  formed  on  that  of 
the  sovereign.  They  had  their  major-domos,  their 
gentlemen  of  the  bedchamber,  their  grand  equerries, 
and  other  officers  of  rank.  Their  halls  were  filled 
with  hidalgos  and  cavaliers,  and  a  throng  of  inferior 
retainers.  They  were  attended  by  body-guards  of 
one  or  two  hundred  soldiers.  Their  dwellings 
were  sumptuously  furnished,  and  their  sideboards 
loaded  with  plate  from  the  silver  quarries  of  the 
NeAV  AVorld.  Their  chapels  were  magnificent. 
Their  wives  affected  a  royal  state.  They  had  their 
ladies  of  honor ;  and  the  page  who  served  as  cup- 
bearer knelt  while  his  mistress  drank.  Even  knio:hts 
of  ancient  blood,  whom  she  addressed  from  her 
seat,  did  not  refuse  to  bend  the  knee  to  her.^^ 

Amidst  all  this  splendor  the  Spanish  grandees  had 
no  real  power  to  correspond  with  it.  They  could 
no  longer,  as  in  the  days  of  their  fathers,  engage  in 
feuds  with  one  another ;  nor  could  they  enjoy  the 
privilege,  so  highly  prized,  of  renouncing  their  alle- 


"a  prerogative,**  he  remarks,  "so  the  dignity  of  the  grandee.**    Dig- 
illustrious  in  itself  and  so  admirable  nidades  de  Castilla,  p.  34. 
in  its  effects,  that  it  alone  suffices        <7  Ranke,  Ottoman  and  Spanish 
to  stamp  its  peculiar  character  on  Empires,  p.  57. 


Cu.  I.] 


COURT  AND  NOBLES. 


425 


giance  and  declaring  war  upon  their  sovereign. 
Their  numerous  vassals,  instead  of  being  gathered 
as  of  yore  into  a  formidable  military  array,  had 
sunk  into  the  more  humble  rank  of  retainers,  who 
served  only  to  swell  the  idle  pomp  of  their  lord's 
establishment.  They  were  no  longer  allowed  to 
bear  arms,  except  in  the  service  of  the  crown ;  and 
after  the  Moriscoes  had  been  reduced,  the  crown 
had  no  occasion  for  their  services,  —  unless  in  for- 

48 


eign  war. 


The  measures  by  which  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
had  broken  the  power  of  the  aristocracy  had  been 
enforced  with  still  greater  rigor  by  Charles  the 
Fifth,  and  were  now  carried  out  even  more  effect- 
ually by  Philip  the  Second.  For  Philip  had  the 
advantage  of  being  always  in  Spain,  while  Charles 
passed  most  of  his  time  in  other  parts  of  his  do- 
minions. Thus  ever  present,  Philip  was  as  prompt 
to  enforce  the  law  against  the  highest  noble  as 
against  the  humblest  of  his  subjects. 

Men  of  rank  commanded  the  armies  abroad,  and 
Avere  sent  as  viceroys  to  Naples,  Sicily,  Milan,  and 
the  provinces  of  the  New  World.  But  at  home 
they  were  rarely  raised  to  civil  or  military  office. 
They  no  longer  formed  a  necessary  part  of  the 
national  legislature,  and  were  seldom  summoned  to 
the  meetings  of  the  cortes ;  for  the  Castilian  noble 
claimed  exemption  from  the  public  burdens,  and  it 
was  rarely  that  the  cortes  were  assembled  for  any 

<8  Relazione  di  Tiepolo,  MS.  —  Relazione  Anon.,  MS.  —  Relazione 
di  Contarini,  MS. 
VOL.  III.  54 


I 


«1 


I 


]••' 


1 1  'ii ; 


1'  *' 


i  ii 
» 111 


i  I 


n 


42G 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  OF   SPAIN.  [liooic  M 


Other  purpose  than  to  impose  those  burdens.  Thus 
without  political  power  of  any  kind,  they  resided 
like  so  many  private  gentlemen  on  their  estates  in 
the  country.  Their  princely  style  of  living  gave 
no  umbrage  to  the  king,  who  was  rather  pleased 
to  see  them  dissipate  their  vast  revenues  in  a  way 
that  was  attended  with  no  worse  evil  than  that  of 
drivino-  the  proprietors  to  exactions  which  made 
them  odio.us  to  their  vassals.'*^  Such,  we  are  as- 
sured by  a  Venetian  envoy,  —who,  with  great  pow- 
ers of  observation,  was  placed  in  the  best  situa- 
tion for  exerting  them,  —  was  the  policy  of  Philip. 
"  Thus,"  he  concludes,  "  did  the  king  make  himself 
feared  by  those  who,  if  they  had  managed  discreet- 
ly, might  have  made  themselves  feared  by  him."^^ 

While  the  aristocracy  was  thus  depressed,  the 
strong  arm  of  Charles  the  Fifth  had  stripped  the 
Castilian  commons  of  their  most  precious  rights. 
Philip,  happily  for  himself,  was  spared  the  odium 
of  having  reduced  them  to  this  abject  condition. 
But  he  was  as  careful  as  his  father  could  have 
been,  that  they  should  not  rise  from  it.  The  legis- 
lative power  of  the  commons,  that  most  important 
of  all  their  privileges,  was  nearly  annihilated.  The 
Castilian  cortes  were,  it  is  true,  frequently  con- 
voked under  Philip,  —  more  frequently,  on  the 
whole,  than  in  any  preceding  reign.     For  in  them 


<9  "  Che  per  contrario  affligiono        ^o  «  Temono  Sua  ^laesta,  dove, 

i  loro  proprii  sudditi  onde  incorro-  quando  si  rrovemassero  pnidente- 

no  nel  loro  odio."    Relazione  di  mente,  saricno  da  essa  per  le  loro 

Contarini,  MS.  forze  temutl."    Ibid. 


C:i.  1] 


THE  CORTES. 


427 


still  resided  the  power  of  voting  supplies  for  the 
crown.  To  have  summoned  them  so  often,  there- 
fore, was  rather  a  proof  of  the  necessities  of  the 
government  than  of  respect  for  the  rights  of  the 
commons. 

The  cortes,  it  is  true,  still  enjoyed  the  privilege 
of  laying  their  grievances  before  the  king ;  but  as 
they  were  compelled  to  vote  the  supplies  before 
they  presented  their  grievances,  they  had  lost  the 
only  lever  by  which  they  could  effectually  operate 
on  the  royal  will.  Yet  when  we  review  their  pe- 
titions, and  see  the  care  with  which  they  watched 
over  the  interests  of  the  nation,  and  the  courage 
with  which  they  maintained  them,  we  cannot  re- 
fuse our  admiration.  We  must  acknowledge  that, 
under  every  circumstance  of  discouragement  and 
oppression,  the  old  Castilian  spirit  still  lingered 
in  the  hearts  of  the  people.  In  proof  of  this,  it 
will  not  be  amiss  to  cite  a  few  of  these  petitions, 
which,  whether  successful  or  not,  may  serve,  at 
least,  to  show  the  state  of  public  opinion  on  the 
topics  to  which  they  relate. 

One,  of  repeated  recurrence,  is  a  remonstrance 
to  the  king  on  the  enormous  expense  of  his  house- 
hold, — "  as  great,"  say  the  cortes,  "  as  would  be 
required  for  the  conquest  of  a  kingdom."  *^  The 
Burgundian  establishment,  independently  of  its 
costliness,  found  little  favor  with  the  honest  Cas- 
tilian ;  and  the  cortes  prayed  his  majesty  to  aban- 

51  "  Que  bastardn  para  conquistar  y  ganar  uu  reyno."     Cortes  of 
A'alladolid  of  1558,  pet.  4. 


428 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN.  [Book  VI. 


■^11 


don  it,  and  to  return  to  the  more  simple  and 
natural  usage  of  his  ancestors.  They  represented 
"  the  pernicious  effects  which  this  manner  of  living 
necessarily  had  on  the  great  nobles  and  others  of 
his  subjects,  prone  to  follow  the  example  of  their 
master."^  To  one  of  these  petitions  Philip  replied, 
that  "he  would  cause  the  matter  to  be  inquired 
into,  and  such  measures  to  be  taken  as  were  most 
for  his  service."  No  alteration  took  place  during 
his  reign ;  and  the  Burgundian  establishment,  which 
in  1562  involved  an  annual  charge  of  a  hundred 
and  fifty-six  millions  of  maravedis,  was  continued 
by  his  successor.*^ 

Another  remonstrance  of  constant  recurrence  — 
a  proof  of  its  inefhcacy  —  was  that  against  the 
alienation  of  the  crown  lands  and  the  sale  of  offices 
and  the  lesser  titles  of  nobility.  To  this  the  king 
made  answer  in  much  the  same  equivocal  lan- 
guage as  before.  Another  petition  besought  him 
no  longer  to  seek  an  increase  of  his  revenue  by 
imposing  taxes  without  the  sanction  of  the  cortes 
required  by  the  ancient  law  and  usage  of  the  realm. 
Philip's  reply  on  this  occasion  was  plain  enough. 
It  was  in  truth  one  worthy  of  an  Eastern  despot. 
"  The  necessities,"  he  said,  "  which  have  compelled 
me  to  resort  to  these  measures,  far  from  having 
ceased,  have  increased,  and  are  still  increasing, 
allowing  me  no  alternative  but  to  pursue  the 
course  I  have  adopted."^     Philip's  embarrassments 

«»  Cortes  of  Toledo  of  1559,  pet.  3.        "  ibid.,  torn.  XIV.  p.  307. 
^  Lafuente,  Historia  de  Espana,  torn.  XIII.  p.  118. 


Cii.  I.] 


THE   CORTKS. 


429 


were  indeed  great,  —  far  beyond  the  reach  of  any 
financial  skill  of  his  ministers  to  remove.  His 
various  expedients  for  relieving  himself  from  the 
burden  which,  as  he  truly  said,  was  becoming 
heavier  every  day,  form  a  curious  chapter  in  the 
history  of  finance.  But  we  have  not  yet  reached 
the  period  at  which  they  can  be  most  efiectively 
presented  to  the  reader. 

The  commons  strongly  urged  the  king  to  com- 
plete the  great  work  he  had  early  undertaken,  of 
embodying  in  one  code  the  municipal  law  of  Cas- 
tile.^^  They  gave  careful  attention  to  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice,  showed  their  desire  for  the  re- 
form of  various  abuses,  especially  for  quickening 
the  despatch  of  business,  proverbially  slow  in  Spain, 
and,  in  short,  for  relieving  suitors,  as  far  as  possi- 
ble, from  the  manifold  vexations  to  which  they 
were  daily  exposed  in  the  tribunals.  With  a  wise 
liberality,  they  recommended  that,  in  order  to  se- 
cure the  services  of  competent  persons  in  judicial 
offices,  their  salaries  —  in  many  cases  wholly  inad- 
equate —  should  be  greatly  increased.^ 

The  cortes  watched  with  a  truly  parental  care 
over  the  great  interests  of  the  state,  —  its  com- 
merce, its  husbandry,  and  its  manufactures.  They 
raised  a  loud,  and  as  it  would  seem  not  an  ineffect- 
ual, note  of  remonstrance  against  the  tyrannical 
practice  of  the  crown  in  seizing  for  its  own  use  the 
bullion  which,  as  elsewhere  stated,  had  been  im- 

55  Cortes  of  YalladoUd  of  1558,        56  Lafuente,  Historia  de  Espana, 
pet.  12.  torn.  Xin.  p.'r25. 


■  n 


430 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN.         [Book  VI. 


ported  from  the  New  World  on  their  own  account 
by  the  merchants  of  Seville. 

Some  of  the  petitions  of  the  cortes  show  what 
would  be  thought  at  the  present  day  a  strange 
ignorance  of  the  true  principles  of  legislation  in 
respect  to  commerce.  Thus,  regarding  gold  and 
silver,  independently  of  their  value  as  a  medium  oi 
exchange,  as  constituting  in  a  peculiar  manner  the 
wealth  of  a  country,  they  considered  that  the  true 
policy  w^s  to  keep  the  precious  metals  at  home, 
and  prayed  that  their  exportation  might  be  for- 
bidden. Yet  this  was  a  common  error  in  the  six- 
teenth century  with  other  nations  besides  the  Span- 
iards. It  may  seem  singular,  however,  that  the 
experience  of  three  fourths  of  a  century  had  not 
satisfied  the  Castilian  of  the  futility  of  such  at- 
tempts to  obstruct  the  natural  current  of  commer- 
cial circulation. 

In  the  same  spirit,  they  besought  the  king  to 
prohibit  the  use  of  gold  and  silver  in  plating  copper 
and  other  substances,  as  well  as  for  wearing-apparel 
and  articles  of  household  luxury.  It  was  a  waste 
of  the  precious  metals,  which  were  needed  for  other 
purposes.  This  petition  of  the  commons  may  be 
referred  in  part,  no  doubt,  to  their  fondness  for 
sumptuary  laws,  which  in  Castile  formed  a  more 
ample  code  than  could  be  easily  found  in  any  other 
country.^^      The   love    of  costly   and   ostentatious 

57  The  history  of  luxury  in  Cas-  subject  of  a  work  by  Sempere  y 
tile,  and  of  the  various  enactmjnts  Guarinos,  containing  many  curious 
for  the  restraint  of  it,  forms  the    particulars,  especially  in  regard  to 


Ch.  I] 


THE   CORTES. 


431 


dress  was  a  passion  which  they  may  have  caught 
from  their  neighbors,  the  Spanish  Arabs,  who  de- 
lighted in  this  way  of  displaying  their  opulence. 
It  furnished,  accordingly,  from  an  early  period,  a 
fruitful  theme  of  declamation  to  the  clergy,  in  their 
invectives  against  the  pomp  and  vanities  of  the 
world. 

Unfortunately,  Philip,  who  was  so  frequently  deaf 
to  the  wiser  suggestions  of  the  cortes,  gave  his  sanc- 
tion to  this  petition;  and  in  di pragmatic  devoted  to 
the  object,  he  carried  out  the  ideas  of  the  legisla- 
ture as  heartily  as  the  most  austere  reformer  could 
have  desired.  As  a  state  paper  it  has  certainly  a 
novel  aspect,  going  at  great  length  into  such  mi- 
nute specifications  of  wearing-apparel,  both  male 
and  female,  that  it  would  seem  to  have  been  de- 
vised by  a  committee  of  tailors  and  milliners,  rather 
than  of  grave  legislators.^  The  tailors,  indeed,  the 
authors  of  these  seductive  abominations,  did  not  es- 
cape the  direct  animadversion  of  the  cortes.  In  an- 
other petition,  they  were  denounced  as  unprofitable 
persons,  occupied   with  needlework,   like   women. 


the  life  of  the  Castilians  at  an 
earlier  period  of  their  history. 
Ilistoria  del  Luxo,  (Madrid,  1 788, 
2  torn.  12mo.) 

^  "  Anssi  mismo  mandamos  que 
ninguna  persona  de  ninguna  con- 
dicion  ni  calidad  que  sea,  no  pueda 
traer  ni  traya  en  ropa  ni  en  vosti- 
do,  ni  en  calzas,  ni  jubon,  ni  en 
gualdrapa,  ni  guarnicion  de  mula 
ni  de  cavallo,  ningun  genero  de 


bordado  ni  recamado,  ni  ganduja- 
do,  ni  entorchado,  ni  chaperia  de 
oro  ni  de  plata,  ni  de  oro  de  canu- 
tillo,  ni  de  martillo,  ni  ninfjun  <re- 
nero  de  trenza  ni  cordon  ni  cor- 
doncillo,  ni  franja,  ni  pasamano,  ni 
j)espunte,  ni  perfd  de  oro  ni  plata 
ni  seda,  ni  otra  cosa,  aunque  el 
dicho  oro  y  plata  sean  falsos,**  &c. 
Pracmatica  cxpcdida  d  peticion  de 
la  Cortes  d(r Madrid  de  1563. 


4:]2 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  OF   SPAIN.  [Book  VI. 


Cl£.  I.] 


THE  CORTES. 


433 


instead  of  tilling  tlie  ground  or  serving  his  majesty 
in  the  wars,  like  men.^^ 

In  the  same  spirit  of  impertinent  legislation,  the 
cortes  would  have  regulated  the  expenses  of  the 
table,  which,  they  said,  of  late  years  had  been  ex- 
cessive. They  recommended  that  no  one  should  be 
allowed  to  have  more  than  four  dishes  of  meat  and 
four  of  fruit  served  at  the  same  meal.  They  were 
further  scandalized  by  the  increasing  use  of  coach- 
es, a  mode  of  conveyance  which  had  been  intro- 
duced into  Spain  only  a  few  years  before.  They 
regarded  them  as  tempting  men  to  an  effeminate 
indulgence,  which  most  of  them  could  ill  afford. 
They  considered  the  practice,  moreover,  as  detri- 
mental to  the  good  horsemanship  for  which  their 
ancestors  had  been  so  renowned.  They  prayed, 
therefore,  that,  considering  "  the  nation  had  done 
well  for  so  many  years  without  the  use  of  coaches, 
it  might  henceforth  be  prohibited."  ^  Philip  so  far 
complied  with  their  petition,  as  to  forbid  any  one 
but  the  owner  of  four  horses  to  keep  a  coach.  Thus 
he  imagined  that,  while  encouraging  the  raising 
of  horses,  he  should  effectually  discourage  any  but 
the  more  wealthy  from  affecting  this  costly  luxury. 

There  was  another  petition,  somewhat  remark- 
able, and  worth  citing  as  it  shows  the  attachment 
of  the  Castilians  to  a  national   institution  which 

*  "  Ocupados  en  este  oficio  y  ella,  y  dejaban  tambien  de  labrar 

genero  de  vivienda  de  coser,  que  los  campos.**     Cortes  of  1573,  pet. 

habia  de  ser  para  las  mugeres,  mu-  75,  ap  Lafuente,  Hist,  de  Espana, 

ehos  hombres  que  podrian  servir  A  torn.  XIV.  p.  407. 

S.  M.  en  la  guerra  dejaban  de  ir  d  ^  Ibid.,  p.  408. 


has  often  incurred  the  censure  of  foreigners.     A 
petition  of  the  cortes  of   1573  prayed  that  some 
direct  encouragement  might  be  given  to  bull-fights, 
which  of  late  had  shown  symptoms  of  decline.  They 
advised  that  the  principal  towns  should  be  required 
to  erect  additional  circuses,  and  to  provide  lances 
for   the  combatants  and  music  for   the  entertain- 
ments at  the  charge  of  the  municipalities.     They 
insisted  on  this  as  important  for  mending  the  breed 
of  horses,   as  well  as  for  furnishing  a  chivalrous 
exercise  for  the  nobles  and  cavaliers.     This  may 
excite  some  surprise  in  a  spectator  of  our  day,  ac- 
customed to  see  only  the  most  wretched  hacks  led 
to  the  slaughter,  and  men  of  humble  condition  skir- 
mishing in  the  arena.     It  was  otherwise  in  those 
palmy  days  of  chivalry,  when  the  horses  employed 
were  of  a  generous  breed,  and  the  combatants  were 
nobles,  who  entered  the  lists  with  as  proud  a  feel- 
ing as  that  with  which  they  would  have  gone  to  a 
tourney.     Even  so  late  as  the  sixteenth  century  it 
was  the  boast  of  Charles  the  Fifth,  that,  when  a 
young  man,  he  had  fought  like  a  matador  and  killed 
his  bull.     Philip  gave  his  assent  to  this  petition, 
with  a  promptness  which  showed  that  he  under- 
stood the  character  of  his  countrymen. 

It  would  be  an  error  to  regard  the  more  excep- 
tionable and  frivolous  petitions  of  the  cortes,  some 
of  which  have  been  above  enumerated,  as  affording 
a  true  type  of  the  predominant  character  of  Cas- 
tilian  legislation.  The  laws,  or,  to  speak  correctly, 
the  petitions  of  that  body,  are  strongly  impressed 


? 


VOL.   III. 


55 


434 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN.  [Book  VI. 


with  a  wise  and    patriotic   sentiment,   showing   a 
keen  perception  of  the  wants  of  the  community  and 
a  tender  anxiety  to  relieve  them.     Thus  we  find  the 
cortes  recommending  that  guardians  should  be  ap- 
pointed to  find  employment  for  such  young  and  des- 
titute persons  as,  without  friends  to  aid  them,  had 
no  means  of  getting  a  livelihood  for  themselves.*^^ 
They  propose  to  have  visitors  chosen,  whose  duty 
it   should   be  to  inspect  the  prisons  every  week, 
and  see    that  fitting  arrangements  were  made  for 
securing  the  health  and  cleanliness  of  the  inmates.^ 
They  desire  that  care  should  be  taken  to  have  suit- 
able accommodations  provided  at  the  inns  for  trav- 
ellers.^    With  their   usual  fondness  for   domestic 
inquisition,  they  take   notice   of  the  behavior   of 
servants  to   their  masters,  and,  with  a  simplicity 
that  may  well  excite  a  smile,  they  animadvert  on 
the  conduct  of  maidens  who,  "  in  the  absence  of 
their   mothers,    spend   their   idle   hours    in    read- 
ing romances  full  of  lies  and  vanities,  which  they 
receive  as  truths  for  the  government  of  their  own 
conduct  in    their  intercourse    with   the  world."  ^ 


«i  Ranke,  Ottoman  and  Spanish 
Empires,  p.  59. 

63  "  Que  cada  semana  d  cada 
mes  88  nonibren  en  los  ayuntami- 
entos  de  cada  ciudad  d  villa  destos 
Reynos,  dos  Regidores,  los  quales 
se  hallen  d  la  vision  y  visitas  de  la 
carcel.'*  Cortes  of  Toledo  of  1559, 
1560,  pet.  102. 

63  Provision  real  para  que  los 
mesones  del  reyno  esten  bien  pro- 
veidos  de  los  mantenimientos  ne- 


cesarios  para  los  caminantes,  Tole- 
do, 20  de  Octubre  de  1560. 

M  «  Como  los  mancebos  y  las 
donzellas  por  su  ociosidad  se  prin- 
cipalmente  ocupan  en  aquello  [leer 
libros  de  mentiras  y  vanidades], 
desvanecense  y  aficionanse  en  cier- 
ta  manera  a  los  casos  que  leen  en 
aquellos  libros  haver  acontescido, 
ansi  de  amores  como  de  armas  y 
otras  vanidades:  y  afficionados, 
quando  se  offrece  algun  caso  seme- 


Ch.  I] 


THE  CORTES. 


435 


0 


The  books  thus  stigmatized  were  doubtless  the 
romances  of  chivalry,  which  at  this  period  were  at 
the  height  of  their  popularity  in  Castile.  Cer- 
vantes had  not  yet  aimed  at  this  pestilent  literature 
those  shafts  of  ridicule  which  did  more  than  any 
legislation  could  have  done  towards  driving  it  from 
the  land. 

The  commons  watched  over  the  business  of  edu- 
cation  as  zealously  ag  over  any  of   the  material 
interests   of  the   state.     They   inspected  the  con- 
dition of  the  higher  seminaries,  and  would  have 
provision  made  for  the  foundation  of  new  chairs  in 
the  universities.     In  accordance  with  their  views, 
though  not  in  conformity  to  any  positive  sugges-' 
tion,  Philip  published  a  pragmatic  in  respect   to 
these  institutions.     He  complained  of  the  practice, 
rapidly  increasing  among   his   subjects,    of  going 
abroad  to  get  their  education,  when  the  most  ample 
provision  was  made  for  it  at  home.     The  effect  was 
eminently  disastrous ;  for  while  the  Castilian  uni- 
versities    languished    for   want  of  patronage,    the 
student  who  went  abroad  was  pretty  sure  to  re- 
turn  with  ideas  not  the   best  suited  to  his   own 
country.     The   king,    therefore,   prohibited   Span- 
iards  from  going  to  any  university  out  of  his  do- 
minions,   and  required  all  now  abroad  to  return. 
This  edict  he  accompanied  with  the  severe  penalty 
of  forfeiture  of  their  secular  possessions  for  eccle- 

jante,  danse  i.  el  mas  d  rienda  suel-    Ranke,  Ottoman  and  Spanish  Em- 
ta  que  si  no  lo  huviessen  leydo."    pires,  p.  60. 
Cortes  of  1558,  pet  107,  cited  by 


436 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN.  [Book  VI. 


siastics,  and  of  banishment  and  confiscation  of  prop- 
erty for  laymen.*^ 

This  kind  of  pragmatic,  though  made  doubtless 
in  accordance  with  the  popular  feeling,  inferred  a 
stretch  of  arbitrary  power  that  cannot  be  charged 
on  those  which  emanated  directly  from  the  sugges- 
tion of  the  legislature.  In  this  respect,  however, 
it  fell  far  short  of  those  ordinances  which  proceeded 
exclusively  from  the  royal  M^ill,  without  reference 
to  the  wishes  of  the  commons.  Such  ordinances 
—  and  they  were  probably  more  numerous  than 
any  other  class  of  laws  during  this  reign  —  are 
doubtless  among  the  most  arbitrary  acts  of  which 
a  monarch  can  be  guilty ;  for  they  imply  nothing 
less  than  an  assumption  of  the  law-making  power 
into  his  own  hands.  Indeed,  they  met  with  a  strong 
remonstrance  in  the  year  1579,  when  Philip  was 
besought  by  the  commons  not  to  make  any  laws 
but  such  as  had  first  received  the  sanction  of  the 
cortes.^  Yet  Philip  might  vindicate  himself  by  the 
example  of  his  predecessors,  —  even  of  those  who, 
like  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  had  most  at  heart  the 
interests  of  the  nation.^ 

It  must  be  further  admitted,  that  the  more  regu- 


K  Pracmatica  para  que  ningun 
natural  de  estos  reynos  vaya  d  estu- 
diar  fuera  de  ellos,  Aranjuez,  22 
de  Noviembre  de  1559. 

•6  Marina,  Teoria  de  las  Cortes, 
torn.  n.  p.  2X9. 

•7  See  the  "Pragmaticas  del 
Reyno,"  first  printed  at  Alcala  de 


Henares,  at  the  close  of  Isabella's 
reiim»  in  1503.  This  famous  col- 
lection  was  almost  wholly  made  up 
of  the  ordinances  of  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella.  After  passing  through 
several  editions,  it  was  finally  ab- 
sorbed in  the  "Nueva  Recopila- 
cion  **  of  PhiHp  the  Second. 


Ch.  I] 


THE  CORTES. 


437 


lar  mode  of  proceeding,  with  the  co-operation  of 
the  cortes,  had  in  it  much  to  warrant  the  idea,  that 
the  real  right  of  legislation  was  vested  in  the  king. 
A  petition,  usually  couched  in  the  most  humble 
terms,  prayed  his  majesty  to  give  his  assent  to  the 
law  proposed.  This  he  did  in  a  few  words;  or, 
what  was  much  more  common,  he  refused  to  give 
it,  declaring  that,  in  the  existing  case,  "  it  was  not 
expedient  that  any  change  should  be  made."  It 
was  observed  that  the  number  of  cases  in  which 
Philip  rejected  the  petitions  of  the  commons  was 
much  greater   than   had   been   usual  with  former 


sovereigns- 


A  more  frequent  practice  with  Philip  was  one 
that  better  suited  his  hesitating  nature  and  habit  of 
procrastination.  He  replied,  in  ambiguous  terms, 
that  "  he  would  take  the  matter  into  consideration," 
or  "that  he  would  lay  it  before  his  council,  and 
take  such  measures  as  would  be  best  for  his  ser- 
Thus  the  cortes  adjourned  in  ignorance  of 


vice. 


the  fate  of  their  petitions.  Even  when  he  an- 
nounced his  assent,  as  it  was  left  to  him  to  pre- 
scribe the  terms  of  the  law,  it  might  be  more  or 
less  conformable  to  those  of  the  petition.  The 
cortes  having  been  dismissed,  there  was  no  redress 
to  be  obtained  if  the  law  did  not  express  their 
views,  nor  could  any  remonstrance  be  presented  by 
that  body  until  their  next  session,  usually  three 
years  later.  The  practice  established  by  Charles 
the  Fifth,  of  postponing  the  presenting  of  petitions 
till  the  supplies  had  been  voted,  and' the  immediate 


«( 


i 


438 


DOMESTIC   AFFAIRS   OF  SPAIN.  [Book  VI 


adjournment  of  the  legislature  afterwards,  secured 
an  absolute  authority  to  the  princes  of  the  house 
of  Austria,  that  made  a  fearful  change  in  the  an- 
cient constitution  of  Castile. 

Yet  the  meetings  of  the  cortes,  shorn  as  that 

body  was  of  its  ancient  privileges,  were  not  without 

important  benefits  to  the  nation.     None  could  be 

better  acquainted  than  the  deputies  with  the  actual 

wants  and  wishes  of  their  constituents.     It  was  a 

manifest  advantage  for  the  king  to  receive  this  in- 

formation.     It  enabled  him  to  take  the  course  best 

suited  to  the  interests  of  the  people,  to  which  he 

would  naturally  be  inclined  when  he  did  not  regard 

them  as  conflicting  with  his  own.     Even  when  he 

did,  the  strenuous  support  of  their  own  views  by 

the   commons   might   compel  him   to   modify  his 

measures.      However    absolute    the   monarch,   he 

would  naturally  shrink  from  pursuing  a  policy  so 

odious  to  the  people  that,  if  persevered  in,  it  might 

convert  remonstrance  into  downright  resistance. 

The  freedom  of  discussion  among  the  deputies  is 
attested  by  the  independent  tone  with  which  in 
their  petitions  they  denounce  the  manifold  abuses 
in  the  state.  It  is  honorable  to  Philip,  that  he 
should  not  have  attempted  to  stifle  this  freedom  of 
debate;  though  perhaps  this  may  be  more  cor- 
rectly referred  to  his  policy,  which  made  him  will- 
ing  to  leave  this  safety-valve  open  for  the  passions 
of  the  people.  He  may  have  been  content  to  flat- 
ter them  with  the  image  of  power,  conscious  that 
he  alone  retained  the  substance  of  it.     However 


On.  L] 


THE  GUARDS  OF  CASTILE. 


439 


this  may  have  been,  the  good  effect  of  the  exercise 
of  these  rights,  imperfect  as  they  were,  by  the 
third  estate,  must  be  highly  estimated.  The  fact 
of  being  called  together  to  consult  on  public  affairs 
gave  the  people  a  consideration  in  their  own  eyes 
which  raised  them  far  above  the  abject  condition 
of  the  subjects  of  an  Eastern  despotism.  It  cher- 
ished in  them  that  love  of  independence  which  w^as 
their  birthright,  inherited  from  their  ancestors,  and 
thus  maintained  in  their  bosoms  those  lofty  senti- 
ments which  were  the  characteristics  of  the  hum- 
bler classes  of  the  Spaniards  beyond  those  of  any 
other  nation  in  Christendom. 

One  feature  was  wanting  to  complete  the  picture 
of  absolute  monarchy.  This  was  a  standing  army, 
—  a  thing  hitherto  unknown  in  Spain.  There  was, 
indeed,  an  immense  force  kept  on  foot  in  the  time 
of  Charles  the  Fifth,  and  many  of  the  troops  were 
Spaniards.  But  they  were  stationed  abroad,  and 
were  intended  solely  for  foreign  enterprises.  It  is 
to  Philip's  time  that  we  are  to  refer  the  first  germs 
of  a  permanent  military  establishment,  designed  to 
maintain  order  and  obedience  at  home. 

The  levies  raised  for  this  purpose  amounted  to 
twenty  companies  of  men-at-arms,  which,  with  the 
complement  of  four  or  five  followers  to  each  lance, 
made  a  force  of  some  strength.  It  was  further 
swelled  by  five  thousand  ginetes^  or  light  cavalry.^ 
These  corps  were  a  heavy  charge  on  the  crown. 


68  Relazione  di  Contarini,  MS. 


410 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIBS  OF  SPAIN.  [Book  VI. 


They  were  called  "  the  Guards  of  Castile."  The 
men-at-arms,  in  particular,  were  an  object  of  great 
care,  and  were  under  admirable  discipline.  Even 
Philip,  who  had  little  relish  for  military  affairs,  was 
in  the  habit  of  occasionally  reviewing  them  in  per- 
son. In  addition  to  these  troops  there  was  a  body 
of  thirty  thousand  militia,  whom  the  king  could 
call  into  the  field  when  necessary.  A  corps  of 
some  sixteen  hundred  horsemen  patroled  the  south- 
em  coasts  of  Andalusia,  to  guard  the  country  from 
invasion  by  the  African  Moslems;  and  garrisons 
established  in  fortresses  along  the  frontiers  of  Spain, 
both  north  and  south,  completed  a  permanent  force 
for  the  defence  of  the  kingdom  against  domestic 
insurrection,  as  well  as  foreign  invasion. 


CHAPTER    II. 

DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN. 

The  Clergy.  —  Their  Subordination  to  the  Crown.  —  The  Escorial.  — 
Queen  Anne. 

A  REVIEW  of  the  polity  of  Castile  would  be 
incomplete  without  a  notice  of  the  ecclesiastical 
order,  which  may  well  be  supposed  to  have  stood 
pre-eminent  in  such  a  country,  and  under  such  a 
monarch  as  Philip  the  Second.  Indeed,  not  only 
did  that  prince  present  himself  before  the  world  as 
the  great  champion  of  the  Faith,  but  he  seemed 
ever  solicitous  in  private  life  to  display  his  zeal  for 
religion  and  its  ministers.  Many  anecdotes  are  told 
of  him  in  connection  with  this.  On  one  occasion, 
seeing  a  young  girl  going  within  the  railing  of  the 
altar,  he  rebuked  her,  saying,  "  Where  the  priest 
enters  is  no  place  either  for  me  or  you."  ^  A  cava- 
lier who  had  given  a  blow  to  a  canon  of  Toledo  he 
sentenced  to  death.^ 

Under  his  protection  and  princely  patronage,  the 

1  "  Vos  ni  yo  no  avemos  de  su-        2  Cabrera,  Filipe   Segundo,  p. 
bir  donde  los  Sacerdotes."    Dichoa     894. 
y  Heehos  de  Phelipe  II.,  p.  96. 

VOL.  m.  56 


( 

«;1 


U2 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN.        .  [Book. VI. 


Ch.  n] 


THE  CLERGY. 


443 


Church  reached  its  most  palmy  state.  Colleges 
and  convents  —  in  short,  religious  institutions  of 
every  kind  —  were  scattered  broadcast  over  the  land. 
The  good  fathers  loved  pleasant  and  picturesque 
sites  for  their  dwellings ;  and  the  traveller,  as  he 
journeyed  through  the  country,  was  surprised  by 
the  number  of  stately  edifices  which  crowned  the 
hill-tops  or  rested  on  their  slopes,  surrounded  by 
territories  that  spread  out  for  many  a  league  over 
meadows  and  cultivated  fields  and  pasture-land. 

The  secular  clergy,  at  least  the  higher  dignita- 
ries, were  so  well  endowed,  as  sometimes  to  eclipse 
the  grandees  in  the  pomp  of  their  establishments. 
In  the  time  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  the  arch- 
bishop of  Toledo  held  jurisdiction  over  fifteen  prin- 
cipal towns  and  a  great  number  of  villages.  His 
income  amounted  to  full  eighty  thousand  ducats  a 
year.^  In  Philip's  time  the  income  of  the  arch- 
bishop of  Seville  amounted  to  the  same  sum,  Avhile 
that  of  the  see  of  Toledo  had  risen  to  two  hundred 
thousand  ducats,  nearly  twice  as  much  as  that  of 
the  richest  grandee  in  the  kingdom.^  In  power 
and  opulence  the  primate  of  Spain  ranked  next  in 
Christendom  to  the  pope. 

The  great  source  of  all  this  wealth  of  the  eccle- 
siastical order  in  Castile,  as  in  most  other  countries, 
was  the  benefactions  and  bequests  of  the  pious,  — 
of  those,  more  especially,  whose  piety  had  been  de- 
ferred till  the  close  of  life,  when,  anxious  to  make 

3  L.  Marineo  Siculo,  Cosas  Me-        *  Nota  di    tutti    li   Titolatx   di 
morabiles,  fol.  23.  Spagna,  MS. 


amends  for  past  delinquencies,  they  bestowed  the 
more  freely  that  it  was  at  the  expense  of  their 
heirs.  As  what  was  thus  bequeathed  was  locked 
up  by  entail,  the  constantly  accumulating  property 
of  the  Church  had  amounted  in  Philip's  time,  if  we 
may  take  the  assertion  of  the  cortes,  to  more  than 
one  half  of  the  landed  property  in  the  kingdom.^ 
Thus  the  burden  of  providing  for  the  expenses  of 
the  state  fell  with  increased  hea\Tiness  on  the  com- 
mons. Alienations  in  mortmain  formed  the  subject 
of  one  of  their  earliest  remonstrances  after  Philip's 
accession,  but  without  effect ;  and  though  the  same 
petition  was  urged  in  very  plain  language  at  almost 
every  succeeding  session,  the  king  still  answered, 
that  it  was  not  expedient  to  make  any  change  in 
the  existing  laws.  Besides  his  good-will  to  the 
ecclesiastical  order,  Philip  was  occupied  with  the 
costly  construction  of  the  Escorial;  and  he  had 
probably  no  mind  to  see  the  streams  of  public 
bounty,  which  had  hitherto  flowed  so  freely  into 
the  reservoirs  of  the  Church,  thus  suddenly  ob- 
structed, when  they  were  so  much  needed  for  his 
own  infant  institution. 

While  Philip  was  thus  willing  to  exalt  the  re- 
ligious order,  already  far  too  powerful,  he  was 
careful  that  it  should  never  gain  such  a  height  as 
would  enable  it  to  overtop  the  royal  authority. 
Both  in  the  Church  and  in  the  council,  —  for  they 
were  freely  introduced  into  the  councils,  —  theolo- 

5  Lafuente,  Historia  de  Espana,  tour.  XIV.  p.  416. 


444 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN.  [Book  VI. 


Ch.  II.] 


THE   CLERGV. 


445 


gians  were  ever  found  the  most  devoted  servants  of 
the  crown.  Indeed,  it  was  on  the  crown  that  they 
were  obliged  to  rest  all  their  hopes  of  preferment. 

Philip  perfectly  understood  that  the  control  of 
the  clergy  must  be  lodged  with  that  power  which 
had  the  right  of  nomination  to  benefices.  The 
Eoman  see,  in  its  usual  spirit  of  encroachment,  had 
long  claimed  the  exercise  of  this  right  in  Castile, 
as  it  had  done  in  other  European  states.  The 
great  battle  with  the  Church  was  fought  in  the 
time  of  Isabella  the  Catholic.  Fortunately  the 
sceptre  was  held  by  a  sovereign  whose  loyalty  to 
the  Faith  was  beyond  suspicion.  From  this  hard 
struggle  she  came  off  victorious ;  and  the  govern- 
ment of  Castile  henceforth  retained  possession  of 
the  important  prerogative  of  appointing  to  vacant 
benefices. 

• 

Philip,  with  all  his  deference  to  Rome,  was  not 
a  man  to  relinquish  any  of  the  prerogatives  of  the 
crown.  A  difficulty  arose  under  Pius  the  Fifth, 
who  contended  that  he  still  had  the  right,  pos- 
sessed by  former  popes,  of  nominating  to  eccle- 
siastical offices  in  Milan,  Naples,  and  Sicily,  the 
Italian  possessions  held  by  Spain.  He  complained 
bitterly  of  the  corfduct  of  the  councils  in  those 
states,  which  refused  to  allow  the  publication  of  his 
bulls  without  the  royal  exequatur,  Philip,  in  mild 
terms,  expressed  his  desire  to  maintain  the  most 
amicable  relations  with  the  see  of  Rome,  provided 
he  was  not  required  to  compromise  the  interests  of 
his  crown.     At  the  same  time  he  intimated  his  sur- 


prise that  his  holiness  should  take  exceptions  at 
his  exercise  of  the  rights  of  his  predecessors,  to 
many  of  whom  the  Church  was  indebted  for  the 
most  signal  services.  The  pope  was  well  aware 
of  the  importance  of  maintaining  a  good  under- 
'standing'  with  so  devoted  a  son  of  the  Church ; 
and  Philip  was  allowed  to  remain  henceforth  in 
undisturbed  possession  of  this  inestimable  prerog- 
ative.^ 

The  powers  thus  vested  in  the  king  he  exercised 
with  great  discretion.  With  his  usual  facilities  for 
information,  he  made  himself  acquainted  with  the 
characters  of  the  clergy  in  the  different  parts  of 
his  dominions.  He  was  so  accurate  in  his  knowl- 
edge, that  he  was  frequently  able  to  detect  an  error 
or  omission  in  the  information  he  received.  To 
one  who  had  been  giving  him  an  account  of  a  cer- 
tain ecclesiastic,  he  remarked :  "  You  have  told  me 
nothing  of  his  amours."  Thus  perfectly  apprised 
of  the  characters  of  the  candidates,  he  was  pre- 
pared, whenever  a  vacancy  occurred,  to  fill  the 
place  with  a  suitable  incumbent.' 

It  was  his  habit,  before  preferring  an  individual 
to  a  high  office,  to  have  proof  of  his  powers  by 
trying  them  first  in  some  subordinate  station.  In 
his  selection  he  laid  much  stress  on  rank,  for  the 
influence  it  carried  with  it.  Yet  frequently,  when 
well  satisfied  of  the  merits  of  the  parties,  he  pro- 

8  Ibid,  torn.  Xni.  p.  261. —  7  Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  lib. 
Cabrera,  Filipe  Segundo,  pp.  432,  XI.  cap.  11 ;  lib.  XII.  cap.  21.^ 
433.  Kelazione  Anon.,  1588,  MS. 


.146 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  OF   SP^UN.  [Book  VI. 


moted  those  whose  humble  condition  had  made 
them  little  prepared  for  such  an  elevation.®  There 
was  no  more  effectual  way  to  secure  his  favor,  than 
to  show  a  steady  resistance  to  the  usurpations  of 
Eome.  It  was  owing,  in  part  at  least,  to  the  re- 
fusal  of  Quiroga,  the  bishop  of  Cuen9a,  to  pub- 
lish a  papal  Hull  without  the  royal  assent,  that  he 
was  raised  to  the  highest  dignity  in  the  king- 
dom, as  archbishop  of  Toledo.  Philip  chose  to 
have  a  suitable  acknowledgment  from  the  person 
on  whom  he  conferred  a  favor;  and  once  when 
an  ecclesiastic,  whom  he  had  made  a  bishop, 
went  to  take  possession  of  his  see  without  first 
expressing  his  gratitude,  the  king  sent  for  him 
back,  to  remind  him  of  his  duty.^  Such  an  ac- 
knowledgment was  in  the  nature  of  a  homage 
rendered  to  his  master  on  his  preferment. 

Thus  gratitude  for  the  past  and  hopes  for  the 
future  were  the  strong  ties  which  bound  every 
prelate  to  his  sovereign.  In  a  difference  with  the 
Eoman  see,  the  Castilian  churchman  was  sure  to  be 
found  on  the  side  of  the  sovereign,  rather  than  on 
that  of  the  pontiff.  In  his  own  troubles,  in  like 
manner,  it  was  to  the  king,  and  not  to  the  pope, 
that  he  was  to  turn  for  relief  The  king,  on  the 
other  hand,  when  pressed  by  those  embarrassments 

8  "  Otras  vezes  presentaba  para  cion  no  admitia  su  rezelo  de  ser 
Obispos  Canoiiigos  tan  particulares  engafiados  d  burlados.      EUgia  d 
i  presbiteros  tan  apartados  no  solo  quien  no  pedia,  i  merecia.**     Ca- 
de tal  esperan9a,  mas  pensamiento  brera,  Filipe  Segundo,  p.  891. 
en  si  mismos,  i  en  la  comun  opin-        ^  Ibid.,  lib.  XI.  cap.  11. 
ion,  que  la  cedula  de  su  presentar 


Ch.  II.] 


THE  ESCORIAL. 


44T 


with  which  he  was  too  often  surrounded,  looked 
for  aid  to  the  clergy,  who  for  the  most  part  ren- 
dered it  cheerfully  and  in  liberal  measure.  No- 
where were  the  clergy  so  heavily  burdened  as  in 
Spain. '^  It  was  computed  that  at  least  one  third 
of  their  revenues  was  given  to  the  king.  —  Thus 
completely  were  the  different  orders,  both  spiritual 
and  temporal,  throughout  the  monarchy,  under  the 
control  of  the  sovereign. 

A  few  pages  back,  while  touching  on  alienations 
in  mortmain,  I  had  occasion  to  allude  to  the  Esco- 
rial,  that  "  eighth  wonder  of  the  world,"  as  it  is 
proudly  styled  by  the  Spaniards.  There  can  be  no 
place  more  proper  to  give  an  accoimt  of  this  ex- 
traordinary edifice,  than  the  part  of  the  narrative 
in  which  I  have  been  desirous  to  throw  as  much 
light  as  possible  on  the  character  and  occupations 
of  Philip.  The  Escorial  engrossed  the  leisure  of 
more  than  thirty  years  of  his  life ;  it  reflects  in  a 
peculiar  manner  his  tastes,  and  the  austere  char- 
acter of  his  mind ;  and  whatever  criticism  may 
be  passed  on  it  as  a  work  of  art,  it  cannot  be 
denied  that,  if  every  other  vestige  of  his  reign  were 
to  be  swept  away,  that  wonderful  structure  would 
of  itself  suffice  to  show  the  grandeur  of  his  plans 
and  the  extent  of  his  resources. 

The  common  tradition  that  Philip  bwilt  the 
Escorial  in  pursuance  of  a  vow  which  he  made 
at  the  time  of  the  great  battle   of  St.   Quentin, 

^^  Kelazione  di  Contarini,  MS.  —  Ranke,  Ottoman  and  Spanish  Em- 
pires, p.  61. 


448 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN.  [Book  VI 


Ch.  IL] 


THE  ESCORIAL. 


it 


the  tenth  of  August,  1557,  has  been  rejected  by 
modem  critics,  on  the  ground  that  contemporary 
writers,  and  amongst  them  the  historians  of  the 
convent,  make  no  mention  of  the  fact.  But  a  re- 
cently discovered  document  leaves  little  doubt  that 
such  a  vow  was  actually  made.^*  However  this  may 
have  been,  it  is  certain  that  the  king  designed  to 
commemorate  the  event  by  this  structure,  as  is  in- 
timated by  its  dedication  to  St.  Lawrence,  the  mar- 
tyr on  whose  day  the  victory  was  gained.  The 
name  given  to  the  place  was  JEl  Sitio  de  San  Lo- 
renzo el  Real  But  the  monastery  was  better  known 
from  the  hamlet  near  which  it  stood,  —  El  Escu- 
rial,  or  El  Escorial,  —  which  latter  soon  became 
the  orthography  generally  adopted  by  the  Castil- 


lans. 


13 


The  motives  which,  after  all,  operated  probably 
most  powerfully  on  Philip,  had  no  connection 
with  ■  the  battle  of  St.  Quentin.  His  father  the 
emperor  had  directed  by  his  will  that  his  bones 


1^  The  document  alluded  to  is  a 
letter,  without  date  or  signature, 
but  in  the  handwriting  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  and  purporting  to 
l»e  written  by  a  person  intrusted 
with  the  task  of  drafting  the  neces- 
san-  legal  instruments  for  the  foun- 
dation  of  ^the  convent.  He  in- 
quires whether  in  the  preamble  he 
shall  make  mention  of  his  majesty's 
vow.  "  El  voto  que  S.  M.  hijOf  si 
S.  M.  no  lo  quiere  poner  ni  de- 
clarar,  bien  puede,  porque  no  hay 
para  que ;  pero  si  S.  M.  quisiere 


que  se  declare  en  las  escrituras, 
avisemelo  v.  m."  Documentos  In- 
^ditos,  tom.  XXVIII.  p.  567. 

1^  Examples  equally  ancient  of 
both  forms  of  spelling  the  name 
may  be  found;  though  Escorialj 
now  universal  in  the  Castilian, 
seems  to  have  been  also  the  more 
common  from  the  first.  Tlie  word 
is  derived  from  scorifr,^  the  dross 
of  iron  mines,  found  near  the  spot. 
See  Ford,  Handbook  for  Spain 
(3d  edition),  p.  751. 


449 


should  remain  at  Yuste,  until  a  more  suitable  place 
should  be  provided  for  them  by  his  son.  The  build- 
ing now  to  be  erected  was  designed  expressly  as  a 
mausoleum  for  Philip's  parents,  as  well  as  for  their 
descendants  of  the  royal  line  of  Austria.  But  the 
erection  of  a  religious  house  on  a  magnificent 
scale,  that  would  proclaim  to  the  world  his  de- 
votion to  the  Faith,  was  *the  predominant  idea  in 
the  mind  of  Philip.  It  was,  moreover,  a  part  of  his 
scheme  to  combine  in  the  plan  a  palace  for  him- 
self; for,  with  a  taste  which  he  may  be  said  to  have 
inherited  from  his  father,  he  loved  to  live  in  the 
sacred  shadows  of  the  cloister.  These  ideas,  some- 
what incongruous  as  they  may  seem,  were  fully 
carried  out  by  the  erection  of  an  edifice  dedicated 
at  once  to  the  threefold  purpose  of  a  palace,  a 
monastery,  and  a  tomb." 

Soon  after  the  king's  return  to  Spain,  he  set 
about  carrying  his  plan  into  execution.  The  site 
which,  after  careful  examination,  he  selected  for 
the  building,  was  among  the  mountains  of  the  Gua- 
darrama,  on  the  borders  of  New  Castile,^^  about 
eight  leagues  northwest  of  Madrid.  The  healthi- 
ness of  the  place  and  its  convenient  distance  from 
the  capital  combined  with  the  stem  and  solitary 
character  of  the  region,  so  congenial  to  his  taste,  to 


^3  A  letter  of  the  royal  founder, 
published  by  Siguent^a,  enumerates 
the  objects  to  which  the  new  build- 
ing was  to  be  specially  devoted. 
Historia  de  la  Orden  de  San  Ge- 
ronimo,  tom.  III.  p.  534. 

VOL.  III.  57 


J*  "  The  Escorial  is  placed  by 
some  geographers  in  Old  Castile ; 
but  the  division  of  the  provinces  is 
carried  on  the  crest  of  the  Sierra 
which  rises  behind  it."  Ford, 
Handbook  for  Spain,  p.  750. 


450 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIKS   OJ?  SI'AIN.  [Book  VI. 


Ck.  II.] 


THE  ESCORIAL. 


451 


mi 


II 


ll'l 


'I 


I 


give  it  the  preference  over  other  spots,  which  might 
have  found  more  favor  with  persons  of  a  different 
nature.  Encompassed  by  rude  and  rocky  hills, 
which  sometimes  soar  to  the  gigantic  elevation  of 
mountains,  it  seemed  to  be  shut  out  completely 
from  the  world.  The  vegetation  was  of  a  thin  and 
stunted  growth,  seldom  spreading  out  into  the 
luxuriant  foliage  of  the  lower  regions;  and  the 
winds  swept  down  from  the  neighboring  sierra 
with  the  violence  of  a  hurricane.  Yet  the  air  Avas 
salubrious,  and  the  soil  was  nourished  by  springs 
of  the  purest  water.  To  add  to  its  recommenda- 
tions, a  quarry,  close  at  hand,  of  excellent  stone 
somewhat  resembling  granite  in  appearance,  readily 
supplied  the  materials  for  building,  —  a  circum- 
stance, considering  the  vastness  of  the  work,  of  no 
little  importance. 

The  architect  who  furnished  the  plans,  and  on 
whom  the  king  relied  for  superintending  their  exe- 
cution, was  Juan  Bautista  de  Toledo.  He  was  born 
in  Spain,  and,  early  discovering  imcommon  talents 
for  his  profession,  was  sent  to  Italy.  Here  he 
studied  the  principles  of  his  art,  under  the  great 
masters  who  were  then  filling  their  native  land 
with  those  monuments  of  genius  that  furnished 
the  best  study  to  the  artist.  Toledo  imbibed  their 
spirit,  and  under  their  tuition  acquired  that  simple, 
indeed  severe  taste,  which  formed  a  contrast  to  the 
prevalent  tone  of  Spanish  architecture,  but  which, 
happily,  found  favor  with  his  royal  patron. 

Before  a  stone  of  the  new  edifice  was  laid,  Philip 


had  taken  care  to  provide  himself  with  the  tenants 
who  were  to  occupy  it.  At  a  general  chapter  of 
the  Jeronymite  fraternity,  a  prior  was  chosen  for 
the  convent  of  the  Escorial,  which  was  to  consist 
of  fifty  members,  soon  increased  to  double  that 
number.  Philip  had  been  induced  to  give  the 
preference  to  the  Jeronymite  order,  partly  from 
their  general  reputation  for  ascetic  piety,  and  in 
part  from  the  regard  shown  for  them  by  his  father, 
who  had  chosen  a  convent  of  that  order  as  the 
place  of  his  last  retreat.  The  monks  were  speedily 
transferred  to  the  village'  of  the  Escorial,  where 
they  continued  to  dwell  until  accommodations  were 
prepared  for  them  in  the  magnificent  pile  which 
they  were  thenceforth  to  occupy. 

Their  temporary  habitation  was  of  the  meanest 
kind,  like  most  of  the  buildings  in  the  hamlet. 
It  was  without  window  or  chimney,  and  the  rain 
found  its  way  through  the  dilapidated  roof  of  the 
apartment  which  they  used  as  a  chapel,  so  that 
they  were  obliged  to  protect  themselves  by  a  cover- 
let stretched  above  their  heads.  A  rude  altar  was 
raised  at  one  end  of  the  chapel,  over  which  was 
scrawled  on  the  wall  with  charcoal  the  figure  of  a 
crucifix.  ^^ 

The  king,  on  his  visits  to  the  place,  was  lodged 
in  the  house  of  the  curate,  in  not  much  better 
repair   than   the   other   dwellings   in  the   hamlet. 

1*  SigueiMja,  Hist,  de  la  Orden    San  Geronimo,  Documentos  Inedi- 
de   San    Geronimo,    torn.   III.   p.     tos,  torn.  VIL  p.  22. 
549.  —  Memorias  de  Fray  Juan  de 


n 


452 


DOMESTIC   AFFAIRS   OF  SPAIN.         [Book  VI. 


Ch.  U.] 


THE  ESCORIAL. 


453 


• 


While  there  he  was  punctual  m  his  attendance  at 
mass,  when  a  rude  seat  was  prepared  for  him  near 
the  choir,  consisting  of  a  three-legged  stool,  de- 
fended from  vulgar  eyes  by  a  screen  of  such  old 
and  tattered  cloth  that  the  inquisitive  spectator 
might,  without  difficulty,  see  him  through  the 
holes  in  it.*^  He  was  so  near  the  choir,  that  the 
monk  who  stood  next  to  him  could  hardly  avoid 
being  brought  into  contact  with  the  royal  person. 
The  Jeronymite  who  tells  the  story  assures  us  that 
Brother  Antonio  used  to  weep  as  he  declared  that 
more  than  once,  when  he  cast  a  furtive  glance  at  the 
monarch,  he  saw  his  eyes  filled  with  tears.  "  Such," 
says  the  good  father,  "  were  the  devout  and  joyful 
feelings  with  which  the  king,  as  he  gazed  on  the  pov- 
erty around  him,  meditated  his  lofty  plans  for  con- 
verting this  poverty  into  a  scene  of  grandeur  more 
worthy  of  the  worship  to  be  performed  there."  ^^ 

The  brethren  were  much  edified  by  the  humility 
shown  by  Philip  when  attending  the  services  in 
this  wretched  cabin.  They  often  told  the  story  of 
his  one  day  coming  late  to  matins,  when,  unwilling 


W  "  Tenia  de  ordinario  una  ban- 
quetilla  de  tres  pies,  bastisima  y 
grosera,  per  silla,  y  euando  iba  a 
misa  porque  estuviese  con  algun 
decencia  se  le  ponia  un  pano  viejo 
frances  de  Almaguer  el  contador, 
que  ya  de  gastado  y  deshilado  ha- 
cia  harto  lugar  por  sus  agujeros  4l 
los  que  querian  ver  d  la  Persona 
Real."  Memorias  de  Fray  Juan 
de  San  Geronimo,  Documentos 
Ineditos,  torn.  VII.  p.  22. 


^7  "  Jur^bame  muchas  veces  Uo- 
rando  el  dicho  fray  Antonio  que 
muchas  veces  alzando  cautaraente 
los  ojos  vid  correr  por  los  de  S.  M. 
lairrimas:  tanta  era  su  devocion 
mezclada  con  el  alegria  de  verse 
en  aquella  pobreza  y  ver  tras  esto 
aquella  alta  idea  que  en  su  mente 
traia  de  la  grandeza  a  que  pcnsaba 
levantar  aquella  pequcnez  del  di- 
vino  culto."    Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 


to  interrupt  the  services,  he  quietly  took  his  seat 
by  the  entrance,  on  a  rude  bench,  at  the  upper  end 
of  which  a  peasant  was  sitting.  He  remained 
some  time  before  his  presence  was  observed,  when 
the  monks  conducted  him  to  his  tribune.^^ 

On  the  twenty-third  of  April,  1563,  the  first 
stone  of  the  monastery  was  laid.  On  the  twentieth 
of  August  following,  the  comer-stone  of  the  church 
was  also  laid,  with  still  greater  pomp  and  solem- 
nity. The  royal  confessor,  the  bishop  of  Cuen^a, 
arrayed  in  his  pontificals,  presided  over  the  cere- 
monies. The  king  was  present,  and  laid  the  stone 
with  his  own  hands.  The  principal  nobles  of  the 
court  were  in  attendance,  and  there  was  a  great 
concourse  of  spectators,  both  ecclesiastics  and  lay- 
men ;  the  solemn  services  were  concluded  by  the 
brotherhood,  who  joined  in  an  anthem  of  thanks- 
giving and  praise  to  the  Almighty,  to  whom  so 
glorious  a  monument  was  to  be  reared  in  this 
mountain  wilderness. ^^ 

The  rude  sierra  now  swaimed  with  life.  The 
ground  was  covered  with  tents  and  huts.  The 
busy  hum  of  labor  mingled  with  the  songs  of  the 
laborers,  which,  from  their  various  dialects,  be- 
trayed the  different,  and  oftentimes  distant,  prov- 
inces from  which  they  had  come.  In  this  motley 
host  the  greatest  order  and  decorum  prevailed  ;  nor 
were  the  peaceful  occupations  of  the  day  inter- 
nipted  by  any  indecent  brawls. 

>8  "  J  Para  levantar  tanta  fabrica  '^  Ibid.,  p.  25  et  seq.  —  Siguen- 
menester  eran  actos  de  humildad  9a,  Hist  de  la  Orden  de  San  Ge- 
tan  profunda!**    Ibid.,  p.  23.  ronimo,  torn.  III.  p.  546. 


'D 


454 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN.  [Book  VX. 


Ch.  n.j 


THE  ESCORIAL. 


455 


As  the  work  advanced,  Philip's  visits  to  the 
Escorial  were  longer  and  more  frequent.  He  had 
always  shown  his  love  for  the  retirement  of  the 
cloister,  by  passing  some  days  of  every  year  in  it. 
Indeed,  he  was  in  the  habit  of  keeping  Holy  Week 
not  far  from  the  scene  of  his  present  labors,  at  the 
convent  of  Guisando,  In  his  present  monastic  re- 
treat  he  had  the  additional  interest  afforded  by  the 
contemplation  of  the  great  work,  which  seemed  to 
engage  as  much  of  his  thoughts  as  any  of  the 
concerns  of  government. 

Philip  had  given  a  degree  of  attention  to  the 
study  of  the  line  arts  seldom  found  in  persons  of 
his  condition.  He  was  a  connoisseur  in  painting, 
and,  above  all,  in  architecture,  making  a  careful 
study  of  its  principles,  and  occasionally  furnishing 
designs  with  his  own  hand.^  No  prince  of  his 
time  left  behind  him  so  many  proofs  of  his  taste 
and  magnificence  in  building.  The  royal  mint  at 
Segovia,  the  hunting-seat  of  the  Pardo,  the  pleas- 
ant residence  of  Aranjuez,  the  alcazar  of  Madrid, 
the  "  Armeria  Real,"  and  other  noble  works  which 
adorned  his  infant  capital,  were  either  built  or 
greatly  embellished  by  him.  The  land  was  covered 
with  structures  both  civil  and  religious,  which  rose 
under  the  royal  patronage.  Churches  and  con- 
vents—  the  latter  in  lamentable  profusion  —  con- 

»  **  Tenia  tanta  de8tre9a  en  dis-  Herrera  su  Antecessor  le  traian  la 

poner  las  tra9as  de  Palacios,  Cas-  primera  planta,  assi  mandava  quU 

tillos,  Jardines,  y  otras  cosas,  que  tar,   6  poner,   6  mudar,   como  si 

quando  Frj^cisco  de  Mora  mi  Tio  fuera  un  Vitrubio.**    Dichos  y  He- 

Tra9adQr  mayor  suyo,  y  Juan  d©  chos  de  Phelipe  II,,  p,  181, 


stantly  met  the  eye  of  the  traveller.  The  general 
style  of  their  execution  was  simple  in  the  extreme. 
Some,  like  the  great  cathedral  of  Valladolid,  of 
more  pretension,  but  still  showing  the  same  austere 
character  in  their  designs,  furnished  excellent  mod- 
els of  architecture  to  counteract  the  meretricious 
tendencies  of  the  age.  Structures  of  a  different 
kind  from  these  were  planted  by  Philip  along  the 
frontiers  in  the  north  and  on  the  southern  coasts 
of  the  kingdom ;  and  the  voyager  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean beheld  fortress  after  fortress  crowning  the 
heights  above  the  shore,  for  its  defence  against  the 
Barbary  corsair.  Nor  was  the  king's  passion  for 
building  confined  to  Spain.  Wherever  his  armies 
penetrated  in  the  semi-civilized  regions  of  the  New 
World,  the  march  of  the  conqueror  was  sure  to  be 
traced  by  the  ecclesiastical  and  military  structures 
which  rose  in  his  rear. 

Fortunately  similarity  of  taste  led  to  the  most 
perfect  harmony  between  the  monarch  and  his 
architect,  in  their  conferences  on  the  great  work 
which  was  to  crown  the  architectural  glories  of 
Philip's  reign.  The  king  inspected  the  details,  and 
watched  over  every  step  in  the  progress  of  the 
building,  with  as  much  care  as  Toledo  himself  In 
order  to  judge  of  the  effect  from  a  distance,  he  was 
in  the  habit  of  climbing  the  mountains  at  a  spot 
about  half  a  league  from  the  monastery,  where  a 
kind  of  natural  chair  was  formed  by  the  crags. 
Here,  with  his  spyglass  in  his  hand,  he  would  sit 
for  hours,  and  gaze  on  the  complicated  structure 


4 

■ 


456 


DOMESTIC  ^Ul AiUS   UF   SPAIN.  [Book  VL 


Ch.  II.] 


THE  ESCOniAL. 


457 


growing  up  below.     The  place  is  still  known  as 
the  "king's  seat."^^ 

It  was  certainly  no  slight  proof  of  the  deep  in- 
.terest  which  Philip  took  in  the  work,  that  he  was 
content  to  exchange  his  palace  at  Madrid  for  a 
place  that  afforded  him  no  better  accommodations 
than  the  poverty-stricken  village  of  the  Escorial. 
In  1571  he  made  an  important  change  in  these  ac- 
commodations, by  erecting  a  chapel  which  might 
afford  the  monks  a  more  decent  house  of  worship 
than  their  old,  weather-beaten  hovel ;  and  with  this 
he  combined  a  comfortable  apartment  for  himself 
In  these  new  quarters  he  passed  still  more  of  his 
time  in  cloistered  seclusion  than  he  had  done  before. 
Far  from  confining  his  attention  to  a  supervision 
of  the  Escorial,  he  brought  his  secretaries  and  his 
papers  along  with  him,  read  here  his  despatches 
from  abroad,  and  kept  up  a  busy  correspondence 
with  all  parts  of  his  dominions.  He  did  four  times 
the  amount  of  work  here,  says  a  Jeronymite,  that 
he  did  in  the  same  number  of  days  in  the  capital.^ 
He  used  to  boast  that,  thus  hidden  from  the  world, 
with  a  little  bit  of  paper,  he  ruled  over  both  hemi- 
spheres. That  he  did  not  always  wisely  rule,  is 
proved  by  more  than  one  of  his  despatches  relating 
to  the  affairs  of  Flanders,  which  issued  from  this 
consecrated  place.     Here  he  received  accounts  of 

**  Lafuente,  Historia  de  Espa-  Madrid    en    quatro.**      Siguen<,".a. 

iia,  torn.  XITI.  p.  253.  Hist,  de  la  Orden  de  San  Greroni- 

23  "  Sabese  de  cierto  que  se  ne-  mo,  torn.  III.  p.  575. 
goeiava  aqui  mas  en  un  dia  que  en 


the  proceedings  of  his  heretic  subjects  in  the  Neth- 
erlands, and  of  the  Morisco  insurgents  in  Granada. 
And  as  he  pondered  on  their  demolition  of  church 
and  convent,  and  their  desecration  of  the  most  holy 
symbols  of  the  Catholic  faith,  he  doubtless  felt  a 
proud  satisfaction  in  proving  his  own  piety  to  the 
world  by  the  erection  of  the  most  sumptuous  edi- 
fice ever  dedicated  to  the  Cross. 

In  1577,  the  Escorial  was  so  far  advanced  to- 
wards its  completion  as  to  afford  accommodations, 
not  merely  for  Philip  and  his  personal  attendants, 
but  for  many  of  the  court,  who  were  in  the  habit 
of  spending  some  time  there  with  the  king  during 
the  summer.  On  one  of  these  occasions,  an  acci- 
dent occurred  which  had  nearly  been  attended  with 
most  disastrous  consequences  to  the  building. 

A  violent  thunder-storm  was  raging  in  the  moun- 
tains, and  the  lightning  struck  one  of  the  great 
towers  of  the  monastery.  In  a  short  time  the 
upper  portion  of  the  building  was  in  a  blaze.  So 
much  of  it,  fortunately,  was  of  solid  materials,  that 
the  fire  made  slow  progress.  But  the  difficulty 
of  bringing  water  to  bear  on  it  was  extreme.  It 
was  eleven  o'clock  at  night  when  the  fire  broke 
out,  and  in  the  orderly  household  of  Philip  all 
had  retired  to  rest.  They  were  soon  roused  by  the 
noise.  The  king  took  his  station  on  the  opposite 
tower,  and  watched  with  deep  anxiety  the  progress 
of  the  flames.  The  duke  of  Alva  was  one  among 
the  guests.  Though  sorely  afflicted  with  the  gout 
at  the  time,  he  wrapped  his  dressing-gown  about 


VOL.   III. 


58 


1 
It    '' 


ll> 


458 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIES  OF  SPAIN.  [Book  VI. 


Cii.  II.] 


THE  ESCORIAL. 


it 


liim  and  climbed  to  a  spot  which  afforded  a  still 
nearer  view  of  the  conflagration.  Here  the  "  good 
duke"  at  once  assumed  the  command,  and  gave 
his  orders  with  as  much  promptness  and  decision 
as  on  the  field  of  battle.^ 

All  the  workmen,  as  well  as  the  neighboring 
peasantry,  were  assembled  there.  The  men  showed 
the  same  spirit  of,  subordination  which  they  had 
shown  throughout  the  erection  of  the  building. 
The  duke's  orders  were  implicitly  obeyed;  and 
more  than  one  instance  is  recorded  of  daring  self- 
devotion  among  the  workmen,  who  toiled  as  if 
conscious  they  were  under  the  eye  of  their  sover- 
eign. The  tower  trembled  under  the  fury  of  the 
flames ;  and  the  upper  portion  of  it  threatened 
ever)"  moment  to  fall  in  ruins.  Great  fears  were 
entertained  that  it  would  crush  the  hospital,  situated 
in  that  part  of  the  monastery.  Fortunately,  it  fell 
in  an  opposite  direction,  carrying  with  it  a  splendid 
chime  of  bells  that  was  lodged  in  it,  but  doing  no 
injury  to  the  spectators.  The  loss  which  bore  most 
heavily  on  the  royal  heart  was  that  of  sundry  in- 
estimable relics  which  perished  in  the  flames.  But 
Philip's  sorrow  was  mitigated  when  he  learned  that 
a  bit  of  the  true  cross,  and  the  right  arm  of  St. 
Lawrence,    the   martyred  patron  of  the   Escorial, 

83  "  El  buen  Duque   de   Alba,  quien  se  habia  visto  en  otros  mayo- 

aunque  su  vejez  y  gota  no  le  daban  res  peligros  en  la  guerra."    Memo- 

lugar,  se  subid  A  lo  alto,  de  la  torre  rias  de  Fray  Juan  de  San  Geroni- 

i.  dar  dnimo  y  esfuerzo  i.  los  ofieia-  mo,  Documentos  Ineditos,  torn.  VII. 

les  y  gente ;  .  .  . .  y  esto  lo  hacia  p.  197, 
S.  E.  como  diestro  capitan  y  como 


459 


were  rescued  from  the  flames.  At  length,  by  in- 
credible  efforts,  the  fire,  which  had  lasted  till  six 
in  the  morning,  Avas  happily  extinguished,  and 
Philip  withdrew  to  his  chamber,  where  his  first 
act,  we  are  told,  was  to  return  thanks  to  the  Al- 
mighty  for  the  preservation  of  the  building  con- 
secrated to  his  service.^^ 

The  king  was  desirous  that  as  many  of  the  mate- 
rials as  possible  for  the  structure  should  be  collect- 
ed from  his  own  dominions.  These  were  so  vast, 
and  so  various  in  their  productions,  that  they  fur- 
nished nearly  every  article  required  for  the  con- 
struction of  the  edifice,  as  well  as  for  its  interior 
decoration.  The  gray  stone  of  which  its  walls  were 
formed  was  drawn  from  a  neighboring  quarry.  It 
was  called  berroquena,  —  a  stone  bearing  a  resem- 
blance to  granite,  though  not  so  hard.  The  blocks 
hewn  from  the  quarries,  and  dressed  there,  were  of 
such  magnitude  as  sometimes  to  require  forty  or 
fifty  yoke  of  oxen  to  drag  them.  The  jasper  came 
from  the  neighborhood  of  Burgo  de  Osma.  The 
more  delicate  marbles,  of  a  great  variety  of  colors, 
were  furnished  by  the  mountain  ranges  in  the  south 
of  the  Peninsula.  The  costly  and  elegant  fabrics 
were  many  of  them  supplied  by  native  artisans. 
Such  were  the  damasks  and  velvets  of  Granada. 
Other  cities,  as  Madrid,  Toledo,  and  Saragossa, 
showed  the  proficiency  of  native  art  in  curious 
manufactures  of  bronze  and  iron,  and  occasionally 
of  the  more  precious  metals, 

M  Ibid.,  p.  201, 


460 


DOMESTIC  .VFFAIRS   OF  SPAIN.  [Book  VI. 


Ch.  II.] 


THE  ESCORIAL. 


461 


Mil 


Yet  Philip  was  largely  indebted  to  his  foreign 
possessions,  especially  those  in  Italy  and  the  Low 
Countries,  for  the  embellishment  of  the  interior 
of  the  edifice,  which,  in  its  sumptuous  style  of 
decoration,  presented  a  contrast  to  the  stern  sim- 
plicity  of  its  exterior.  Milan,  so  renowned  at  that 
period  for  its  fine  workmanship  in  steel,  gold,  and 
precipus  stones,  contributed  many  exquisite  speci- 
mens of  art.  The  walls  were  clothed  with  gor- 
geous tapestries  from  the  Flemish  looms.  Spanish 
convents  vied  with  each  other  in  furnishing  em- 
broideries for  the  altars.  Even  the  rude  colonies 
in  the  New  World  had  their  part  in  the  great 
work,  and  the  American  forests  supplied  their  ce- 
dar  and  ebony  and  richly-tinted  woods,  which  dis- 
played all  their  magical  brilliancy  of  color  under 
the  hands  of  the  Castilian  workman.^ 

Though  desirous,  as  far  as  possible,  to  employ 
the  products  of  his  own  dominions,  and  to  en- 
courage native  art,  in  one  particular  he  resorted 
almost  exclusively  to  foreigners.  The  oil-paintings 
and  frescos  which  profusely  decorated  the  walls 
and  ceilings  of  the  Escorial  were  executed  by  art- 
ists drawn  chiefly  from  Italy,  whose  schools  of 
design  were  still  in  their  glory.  But  of  all  liv- 
ing painters,  'Titian  was  the  one  whom  Philip, 
like  his  father,  most  delighted  to  honor.  To  the 
king's  generous  patronage  the  world  is  indebted  for 

«  Siguencya,  Hist,  de  la  Orden     p.  289.  — Lafucnte,  Hist  de  Es- 
de  San  Geronimo,  torn.  HI.  p.  596.     pana,  torn.  XIV.  p.  427. 
—  Dichos  y  Hechos  de  Phelipe  H., 


some  of  that  great  master's  noblest  productions, 
which  found  a  fitting  place  on  the  walls  of  the 
Escorial. 

The   prices   which  Philip  paid  enabled  him   to 
command  the  services  of  the  most  eminent  artists. 
Many  anecdotes  are  told  of  his  munificence.     He 
was,  however,   a   severe   critic.     He  did   not  pre- 
maturely disclose  his  opinion.     But  when  the  hour 
came,  the  painter  had  sometimes  the  mortification 
to  find  the  work  he  had  executed,  it  may  be  with 
greater  confidence  than  skill,  peremptorily  rejected, 
or  at  best  condemned  to  some  obscure  comer  of  the 
building.     This  was  the  fate  of  an  Italian  artist,  of 
much  more  pretension  than  power,  who,  after  re- 
peated failures  according  to  the  judgment  of  the 
king,  —  which   later  critics  have  not  reversed,  — 
was  dismissed  to  his  own  country.     But  even  here 
Philip  dealt  in  a  magnanimous  way  with  the  un- 
lucky painter.     "  It  is  not  Zuccaro's  fault,"  he  said, 
"  but  that  of  the  persons  who  brought  him  here  "  ; 
and  when  he  sent  him  back  to  Italy,  he  gave  him 
a  considerable  sum  of  money  in  addition   to   his 
large  salary.^ 

Before  this  magnificent  pile,  in  a  manner  the 
creation  of  his  own  taste,  Philip's  nature  appeared 
to  expand,  and  to  discover  some  approach  to  those 
generous  sympathies  for  humanity  which  elsewhere 
seem  to  have  been  denied  him.  He  would  linger 
for  hours  while  he  watched  the  labors  of  the  artist, 

*  Stirling,  Annals  of  the  Artists  of  Spain,  torn.  I.  p.  211. 


462 


DOMESTIC   Aii'AlUS   OF  SPAIN.  [Book  VI. 


Ch.  II J 


THE  ESCORIAL. 


463 


making  occasional  criticisms,  and  laying  his  hand 
familiarly  on  his   shoulder.^     He  seemed  to   put 
off  the  coldness  and  reserve  which  formed  so  es- 
sential a  part  of  his  character.     On  one  occasion, 
it  is  said,  a  stranger,  having  come  into  the  Esco- 
rial  when   the  king  was  there,   mistook   him   for 
one  of  the  officials,  and  asked  him  some  questions 
about  the  pictures.     Philip,   without   undeceiving 
the  man,  humored  his  mistake,  and  good-naturedly 
undertook  the  part  of  cicerone,  by  answering   his 
inquiries   and   showing   him  some  of  the   objects 
most  worth  seeing.^     Similar  anecdotes  have  been 
told  of  others.     What  is  strange   is,  that   Philip 
should  have  acted  the  part  of  the  good-natured  man. 
In  1584,  the  masonry  of  the  Escorial  was  com- 
pleted.    Twenty-one  years   had   elapsed  since  the 
first  stone  of  the  monastery  was  laid.     This  cer- 
tainly must  be  regarded  as  a  short  period  for  the 
erection  of  so  stupendous  a  pile.   St.  Peter's  church, 
with  which  one  naturally  compares  it  as  the  build- 
ing nearest  in  size  and  magnificence,  occupied  more 
than  a  century  in  its  erection,  which  spread  over 
the  reigns   of  at  least  eighteen  popes.     But  the 
Escorial,  with  the  exception  of  the  subterraneous 
chapel  constructed  by  Philip  the  Fourth  for  the 
burial-place  of  the  Spanish  princes,  was  executed  in 
the  reign  of  one  monarch.     That  monarch  held  in 
his  hands  the  revenues  of  both  the  Old  World  and 
the  New ;  and  as  he  gave,  in  some  sort,  a  personal 

^  Stirling,  Annals  of  the  Art-        38  Bichoa  y  Hechos  de  Phelipe 
iats  of  Spain,  torn.  I.  p.  203.  II.,  p.  81. 


supervision  to  the  work,  we  may  be  sure  that  no 
one  was  allowed  to  sleep  on  his  post. 

Yet  the  architect  who  designed  the  building  was 
not  permitted  to  complete  it.  Long  before  it  was 
finished,  the  hand  of  Toledo  had  mouldered  in  the 
dust.  By  his  death  it  seemed  that  Philip  had  met 
with  an  irreparable  loss.  He  felt  it  to  be  so  him- 
self; and  with  great  distrust  consigned  the  impor- 
tant task  to  Juan  de  Herrera,  a  young  Asturian. 
But  though  young,  Herrera  had  been  formed  on 
the  best  models ;  for  he  was  the  favorite  pupil  of 
Toledo,  and  it  soon  appeared  that  he  had  not  only 
imbibed  the  severe  and  elevated  tastes  of  his  master, 
but  that  his  own  genius  fully  enabled  him  to  com- 
prehend all  Toledo's  great  conceptions,  and  to  carry 
them  out  as  perfectly  as  that  artist  could  have  done 
himself.  Philip  saw  with  satisfaction  that  he  had 
made  no  mistake  in  his  selection.  He  soon  con- 
ferred as  freely  with  the  new  architect  as  he  had 
done  with  his  predecessor.  He  even  showed  him 
greater  favor,  settling  on  him  a  salary  of  a  thou- 
sand ducats  a  year,  and  giving  him  an  office  in  the 
royal  household,  and  the  cross  of  St.  lago.  Herrera 
had  the  happiness  to  complete  the  Escorial.  In- 
deed, he  lived  some  six  years  after  its  completion. 
He  left  several  works,  both  civil  and  ecclesiastical, 
which  perpetuate  his  fame.  But  the  Escorial  is 
the  monument  by  which  his  name,  and  that  of  his 
master,  Toledo,  have  come  down  to  posterity  as 
those  of  the  two  greatest  architects  of  whom  Spain 
can  boast. 


464 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  OF   SPAIN.  [Book  VI. 


This  is  not  the  place  for  criticism  on  the  archi- 
tectural merits  of  the  Escorial.  Such  criticism 
more  properly  belongs  to  a  treatise  on  art.  It  has 
been  my  object  simply  to  lay  before  the  reader  such 
an  account  of  the  execution  of  this  great  work  as 
would  enable  him  to  form  some  idea  of  the  object 
to  which  Philip  devoted  so  large  a  portion  of  his 
time,  and  which  so  eminently  reflected  his  peculiar 
cast  of  mind. 

Critics  have  greatly  differed  from  each  other  in 
their  judgments  of  the  Escorial.  Few  foreigners 
have  been  found  to  acquiesce  in  the  undiluted 
panegyric  of  those  Castilians  who  pronounce  it 
the  eighth  wonder  of  the  world.^  Yet  it  cannot 
be  denied  that  few  foreigners  are  qualified  to  decide 
on  the  merits  of  a  work,  to  judge  of  which  correctly 
requires  a  perfect  understanding  of  the  character 
of  the  country  in  which  it  was  built,  and  of  the 
monarch  who  built  it.  The  traveller  who  gazes  on 
its  long  lines  of  cold  gray  stone,  scarcely  broken 
by  an  ornament,  feels  a  dreary  sensation  creeping 
over  him,  while  he  contrasts  it  with  the  lighter 
and  more  graceful  edifices  to  which  his  eye  has 
been  accustomed.  But  he  may  read  in  this  the 
true  expression  of  the  founder's  character.  Philip 
did  not  aim  at  the  beautiful,  much  less  at  the 
festive  and  cheerful.  The  feelings  which  he  de- 
sired to  raise  in  the  spectator  were  of  that  solemn, 


*  One  of  its  historians,  Fatber  (fel  Mundo"  Bescripcion  del  Real 
Francisco  de  loa  Santos,  styles  it,  Monasterio  de  San  Lorenzo  de  el 
on  his  title-page, "  Unica  MaraviUa    Escorial  (Madrid,  1698). 


Ch.  n.] 


THE  ESCORIAL. 


465 


indeed    sombre   complexion,    which   corresponded 
best  with  his  own  religious  faith. 

Whatever  defects  may  be  charged  on  the  Esco- 
rial, it  is  impossible  to  view  it  from  a  distance, 
and  see  the  mighty  pile  as  it  emerges  from  the 
gloomy  depths  of  the  mountains,  without  feeling 
how  perfectly  it  conforms  in  its  aspect  to  the  wild 
and  melancholy  scenery  of  the  sierra.  Nor  can 
one  enter  the  consecrated  precincts,  without  con- 
fessing the  genius  of  the  place,  and  experiencing 
sensations  of  a  mysterious  awe  as  he  wanders 
through  the  desolate  halls,  which  fancy  peoples 
with  the  solemn  images  of  the  past. 

The  architect  of  the  building  was  embarrassed 
by  more  than  one  difl[iculty  of  a  very  peculiar  kind. 
It  was  not  simply  a  monastery  that  he  was  to  build. 
The  same  edifice,  as  we  have  seen,  was  to  compre- 
hend at  once  a  convent,  a  palace,  and  a  tomb.  It 
was  no  easy  problem  to  reconcile  objects  so  dis- 
cordant, and  infuse  into  them  a  common  principle 
of  unity.  It  is  no  reproach  to  the  builder  that 
he  did  not  perfectly  succeed  in  this,  and  that  the 
palace  should  impair  the  predominant  tone  of  feel- 
ing raised  by  the  other  parts  of  the  structure,  look- 
ing in  fact  like  an  excrescence,  rather  than  an  in- 
tegral portion  of  the  edifice. 

Another  difficulty,  of  a  more  whimsical  nature, 
imposed  on  the  architect,  was  the  necessity  of  ac- 
commodating the  plan  of  the  building  to  the  form 
of  a  gridiron,  —  as  typical  of  the  kind  of  martyr- 
dom suffered  by  the  patron  saint- of  the  Escorial. 


VOL.  III. 


Sf 


466 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN.         [Book  VI. 


Ch.  II.J 


THE  ESCORIAL. 


467 


hi 


Thus  the  long  lines  of  cloisters,  with  their  inter- 
vening courts,  served  for  the  bars  of  the  instru- 
ment The  four  lofty  spires  at  the  corners  of  the 
monastery,  represented  its  legs  inverted;  and  the 
palace,  extending  its  slender  length  on  the  east, 
furnished  the  awkward  handle. 

It  is  impossible  for  language  to  convey  any  ade- 
quate idea  of  a  work  of  art  Yet  architecture  has 
this  advantage  over  the  sister  arts  of  design,  that 
the  mere  statement  of  the  dimensions  helps  us 
much  in  forming  a  conception  of  the  work.  A  few 
of  these  dimensions  will  serve  to  give  an  idea  of 
the  magnitude  of  the  edifice.  They  are  reported 
to  us  by  Los  Santos,  a  Jeronymite  monk,  who  has 
left  one  of  the  best  accounts  of  the  Escorial. 

The  main  building,  or  monastery,  he  estimates  at 
seven  hundred  and  forty  Castilian  feet  in  length  by 
five  hundred  and  eighty  in  breadth.  Its  greatest 
height,  measured  to  the  central  cross  above  the 
dome  of  the  great  church,  is  three  hundred  and 
fifteen  feet.  The  whole  circumference  of  the  Esco- 
rial, including  the  palace,  he  reckons  at  two  thou- 
sand nine  hundred  and  eighty  feet,  or  near  three 
fifths  of  a  mile.  The  patient  inquirer  tells  us  there 
were  no  less  than  twelve  thousand  doors  and  win- 
dows in  the  building  ;  that  the  weight  of  the  keys 
alone  amounted  to  fifty  arrobas^  or  twelve  hundred 
and  fifty  pounds ;  and,  finally,  that  there  were 
sixty-eight  fountains  playing  in  the  halls  and  courts 
of  this  enormous  pile.** 

^  JjOB  Santos,  Descripcion  del  Escorial,  fol.  116. 


The  cost  of  its  construction  and  interior  decora- 
tion, we  are  informed  by  Father  Siguen9a,  amount- 
ed to  very  near  six  millions  of  ducats.^^     Siguen9a 
was  prior  of   the   monastery,  and  had  access,  of 
course,  to  the  best  sources  of  information.     That 
he  did  not  exaggerate,  may  be  inferred  from  the 
fact  that  he  was  desirous  to  relieve  the  building 
from  the  imputation  of  any  excessive  expenditure 
incurred  in  its  erection,  —  a  common  theme  of  com- 
plaint, it   seems,    and    one   that   was   urged    with 
strong  marks  of  discontent  by  contemporary  writ- 
ers.     Probably   no   single   edifice   ever   contained 
such  an  amount  and  variety  of  inestimable  treas- 
ures as  the  Escorial,  — so  many  paintings  and  sculp- 
tures by  the  greatest  masters,  —  so  many  articles  of 
exquisite  workmanship,  composed  of  the  most  pre- 
cious materials.     It  would  be  a  mistake  to  suppose 
that,  when  the  building  was  finished,  the  labors  of 
Philip  were  at  an  end.     One  might  almost  say  they 
were  but  begun.     The  casket  was  completed  ;  but 
the  remainder  of  his  days  was  to  be  passed  in  filling 
it  with  the  rarest  and  richest  gems.     This  was  a 
labor  never   to  be  completed.     It  was  to  be  be- 
queathed to  his  successors,  who,  with  more  or  less 
taste,  but  with  the  revenues  of  the  Indies  at  their 
disposal,  continued  to  lavish  them  on  the  embel- 
lishment of  the  Escorial.** 

31  Siguencja,  Hist  de  la  Orden  clare  that    the   Almighty   owes  a 

de  San  Geronimo,  torn.  III.  p.8G2.  debt  of  gratitude  to    Philip  the 

33  The  enthusiasm  of  Fray  Alon-  Second  for  the   dedication   of  so 

so  de  San  Geronimo  carries  him  so  glorious  a  structure  to  the  Chris- 

for,  that  he  does  not  hesitate  to  de-  tian    worship !     "  Este     Teinplo, 


468 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN.  [Book  YL 


Philip  the  Second  set  the  example.  He  omitted 
nothing  which  could  give  a  value,  real  or  imagi- 
nary, to  his  museum.  He  gathered  at  an  immense 
cost  several  hundred  cases  of  the  bones  of  saints 
and  martyrs,  depositing  them  in  rich  silver  shrines, 
of  elaborate  workmanship.  He  collected  four  thou- 
sand volumes,  in  various  languages,  especially  the 
Oriental,  as  the  basis  of  the  fine  library  of  the 
Escorial. 

The  care  of  successive  princes,  who  continued  to 
spend  there  a  part  of  every  year,  preserved  the 
palace-monastery  and  its  contents  from  the  rude 
touch  of  Time.  But  what  the  hand  of  Time  had 
spared,  the  hand  of  violence  destroyed.  The  French, 
who  in  the  early  part  of  the  present  centurj'  swept 
like  a  horde  of  Vandals  over  the  Peninsula,  did 
not  overlook  the  Escorial.  For  in  it  they  saw  the 
monument  designed  to  commemorate  their  own 
humiliating  defeat.  A  body  of  dragoons  under  La 
Houssaye  burst  into  the  monastery  in  the  winter 
of  1808 ;  and  the  ravages  of  a  few  days  demolished 
what  it  had  cost  years  and  the  highest  efforts  of  art 
to  construct.  The  apprehension  of  similar  violence 
from  the  Carlists,  in  1837,  led  to  the  removal  of  the 


Senor,  deve  A  Filipo  Segundo  vue^ 
stra  Grandeza;  con  que  gratitud 
le  estara  mirando,  en  el  Impireo, 
vuestra  Divinidad ! " 

This  language,  so  near  akin  to 
blasphemy,  as  it  would  be  thought 
in  our  day,  occurs  in  a  panegyric 
delivered  at  the  Escorial  on  the  oc- 
casion of  a  aolemn  festiyal  in  honor 


of  the  hundredth  anniversary  of  its 
foundation.  A  Tolume  compiled 
by  Fray  Luis  de  Santa  Maria  is 
filled  with  a  particular  account  of 
the  ceremonies,  under  the  title  of 
"  Octava  sagradamente  culta,  cele- 
brada  en  la  Octava  Maravilla,'*  &c. 
(Madrid,  1664,  folio.) 


Ch.  II.J 


THE  ESCORIAL. 


469 


finest  paintings  to  Madrid.  The  Escorial  ceased 
to  be  a  royal  residence.  Tenantless  and  unpro- 
tected, it  was  left  to  the  fu:ry  of  the  blasts  which 
swept  down  the  hills  of  the  Guadarrama. 

The  traveller  who  now  visits  the  place  will  find 
its  condition  very  difi'erent  from  what  it   was   in 
the  beginning  of  the  century.     The  bare  and  mil- 
dewed  walls  no  longer  glow  with  the  jnagical  tints 
of  Raphael  and  Titian,  and  the  sober  pomp  of  the 
Castilian  school.     The  exquisite  specimens  of  art 
with  which  the  halls  were  filled  have  been  wan- 
tonly  demolished,  or  more  frequently  pilfered  for 
the  sake  of  the  rich  materials.     The   monks,   so 
long  the  guardians  of  the  place,  have  shared  the 
fate  of  their  brethren   elsewhere,   since   the   sup- 
pression of  religious   houses,  and   their  venerable 
forms  have  disappeared.    Silence  and  solitude  reign 
throughout  the  courts,  undisturbed  by  any  sound 
save  that  of  the  ceaseless  winds,  which  seem  to  be 
ever  chanting  their  melancholy  dirge  over  the  faded 
glories  of  the  Escorial.     There  is  little  now  to  re- 
mind one  of  the  palace  or  of  the  monastery.     Of 
the  three  great  objects  to  which  the  edifice  was  de- 
voted, one  alone  sur\dves,  —  that  of  a  mausoleum 
for  the  royal  line  of  Castile.     The  spirit  of  the  dead 
broods  over  the  place, — of  the  sceptred  dead,  who 
lie  in  the  same   dark   chamber  where   they  have 
lain  for  centuries,  unconscious  of  the  changes  that 
have  been  going  on  all  around  them. 

During  the  latter  half  of  Philip's  reign,  he  was 
in  the  habit  of  repairing  with  his  court  to  the  Es- 


470 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN.         [Book  VI. 


corial,  and  passing  here  a  part  of  the  summer. 
Hither  he  brought  his  young  queen,  Anne  of  Aus- 
tria, —  when  the  gloomy  pile  assumed  an  unwonted 
appearance  of  animation.  In  a  previous  chapter 
the  reader  has  seen  some  notice  of  his  preparations 
for  his  marriage  with  that  princess,  in  less  than  two 
years  after  he  had  consigned  the  lovely  Isabella  to 
the  tomb.  Anne  had  been  already  plighted  to  the 
unfortunate  Don  Carlos.  Philip's  marriage  with 
her  afforded  him  the  melancholy  triumph  of  a 
second  time  supplanting  his  son.  She  was  his 
niece ;  for  the  Empress  Mary,  her  mother,  was  the 
daughter  of  Charles  the  Fifth.  There  was,  more- 
over, a  great  disparity  in  their  years ;  for  the  Aus- 
trian princess,  having  been  born  in  Castile  during 
the  regency  of  her  parents,  in  1549,  was  at  this 
time  but  twenty-one  years  of  age,  —  less  than  half 
the  age  of  Philip.  It  does  not  appear  that  her 
father,  the  Emperor  Maximilian,  made  any  objec- 
tion to  the  match.  If  he  felt  any,  he  was  too 
politic  to  prevent  a  marriage  which  would  place 
his  daughter  on  the  throne  of  the  most  potent 
monarchy  in  Europe. 

It  was  arranged  that  the  princess  should  proceed 
to  Spain  by  the  way  of  the  Netherlands.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1570,  Anne  bade  a  last  adieu  to  her  fa- 
ther's court,  and  with  a  stately  retinue  set  out  on 
her  long  journey.  On  entering  Flanders,  she  was 
received  with  great  pomp  by  the  duke  of  Alva,  at 
the  head  of  the  Flemish  nobles.  Soon  after  her 
arrival,  Queen  Elizabeth  despatched  a  squadron  of 


Ch.  II.] 


QUEEN  ANNE. 


471 


eight  vessels,  with  offers  to  transport  her  to  Spain, 
and  an  invitation  for  her  to  visit  England  on 
her  way.  These  offers  were  courteously  declined ; 
and  the  German  princess,  escorted  by  Count  Bossu, 
captain-general  of  the  Flemish  navy,  with  a  gal- 
lant squadron,  was  fortunate  in  reaching  the  place 
of  her  destination,  after  a  voyage  of  less  than  a 
week.  On  the  third  of  October  she  landed  at  San- 
tander,  on  the  northern  coast  of  Spain,  where  she 
found  the  archbishop  of  Seville  and  the  duke  of 
Bejar,  with  a  brilliant  train  of  followers,  waiting 
to  receive  her. 

Under  this  escort,  Anne  was  conducted  by  the 
way  of  Burgos  and  Valladolid  to  the  ancient  city 
of  Segovia.  In  the  great  towns  through  which 
she  passed,  she  was  entertained  in  a  style  suited  to 
her  rank ;  and  everywhere  along  her  route  she  was 
greeted  with  the  hearty  acclamations  of  the  people. 
For  the  match  was  popular  with  the  nation ;  and 
the  cortes  had  urged  the  king  to  expedite  it  as 
much  as  possible.^  The  Spaniards  longed  for  a 
male  heir  to  the  crown  ;  and  since  the  death  of 
Carlos,  Philip  had  only  daughters  remaining  to 
him. 

In  Segovia,  where  the  marriage  ceremony  was  to 
be  performed,  magnificent  preparations  had  been 
made  for  the  reception  of  the  princess.  As  she 
approached  that  city,  she  was  met  by  a  large 
body  of  the  local  militia,  dressed  in  gay  uniforms, 
and  by  the  municipality  of  the  place,  arrayed  in 


33  Florez,  Reynas  Catholicas,  torn.  11.  p.  905. 


472 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN.         [Book  VI. 


their  robes  of  office  and  mounted  on  horseback. 
With  this  brave  escort  she  entered  the  gates.  The 
streets  were  ornamented  with  beautiful  fountains, 
and  spanned  by  triumphal  arches,  under  which 
the  princess  proceeded,  amidst  the  shouts  of  the 
populace,  to  the  great  cathedral.^ 

Anne,  then  in  the  bloom  of  youth,  is  described 
as  having  a  rich  and  delicate  complexion.  Her 
figure  was  good,  her  deportment  gracious,  and  she 
rode  her  richly  caparisoned  palfrey  with  natural 
ease  and  dignity.  Her  not  very  impartial  chroni- 
cler tells  us,  that  the  spectators  particularly  ad- 
mired the  novelty  of  her  Bohemian  costume,  her 
riding-hat  gayly  ornamented  with  feathers,  and  her 
short  mantle  of  crimson  velvet  richly  fringed  with 
gold.^ 

After  Te  Deum  had  been  chanted,  the  splendid 
procession  took  its  w^y  to  the  far-famed  alcazar, 
that  palace-fortress,  originally  built  by  the  Moors, 
which  now  served  both  as  a  royal  residence  and 
as  a  place  of  confinement  for  prisoners  of  state. 
Here  it  was  that  the  unfortunate  Montigny  passed 
many  a  weary  month  of  captivity ;  and  less  than 
three  months  had  elapsed  since  he  had  been  re- 
moved from  the  place  which  was  so  soon  to  become 
the  scene  of  royal  festivity,  and  consigned  to  the 
fatal  fortress  of  Simancas,  to  perish  by  the  hand  of 


3*  Florez,    EeTiias     Catholicas,  alto  matizado  con  plumas,  capotillo 

torn.  n.  p.  908.  de  tepciopelo  carmesi,  bordado  de 

35  "  Realzada  con  gracla  por  el  oro  a  la  moda  Bohema."    Ibid.,  p. 

mismo  trage  del  camino,  sombrero  907. 


Ch.  n.] 


QUEEN  ANNE. 


473 


the  midnight  executioner.  Anne,  it  may  be  re- 
membered,  was  said,  on  her  journey  through  the 
Low  Countries,  to  have  promised  Montigny's  family 
to  intercede  with  her  lord  in  his  behalf.  But  the 
king,  perhaps  willing  to  be  spared  the  awkward- 
ness of  refusing  the  first  boon  asked  by  his  young 
bride,  disposed  of  his  victim  soon  after  her  landing, 
while  she  was  yet  in  the  north. 

Anne  entered  the  alcazar  amidst  salvoes  of  ar- 
tillery. She  found  there  the  good  Princess  Joanna, 
Philip's  sister,  who  received  her  with  the  same 
womanly  kindness  which  she  had  shown  twelve 
years  before  to  Elizabeth  of  France,  when,  on  a 
similar  occasion,  she  made  her  first  entrance  into 
Castile.  The  marriage  was  appointed  to  take  place 
on  the  following  day,  the  fourteenth  of  Novem- 
ber. Philip,  it  is  said,  obtained  his  first  view  of 
his  betrothed  when,  mingling  in  disguise  among 
the  cavalcade  of  courtiers,  he  accompanied  her  en- 
trance into  the  capital.^  When  he  had  led  his  late 
queen,  Isabella,  to  the  altar,  some  white  hairs  on 
his  temples  attracted  her  attention.^  During  the 
ten  years  which  had  since  elapsed,  the  cares  of 
office  had  wrought  the  same  effect  on  him  as  on 
his  father,  and  turned  his  head  prematurely  gray. 
The  marriage  was  solemnized  with  great  pomp  in 
the  cathedral  of  Segovia.  The  service  was  per- 
formed by  the  archbishop  of  Seville.  The  spacious 
building  was  crowded  to  overflowing  with  specta- 


*  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 

TOL.  III.  10 


57  Aute,  vol.  I.  p.  452. 


474 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN.  [Book  VI. 


tors,  among  whom  were  the  highest  dignitaries  of 
the  Church  and  the  most  illustrious  of  the  nobility 
of  Spain.^ 

During  the  few  days  which  followed,  while  the 
royal  pair  remained  in  Segovia,  the  city  was  aban- 
doned to  jubilee.  The  auspicious  event  was  cele- 
brated by  public  illuminations  and  by  magnificent 
fetes^  at  which  the  king  and  queen  danced  in  the 
presence  of  the  whole  court,  who  stood  around  in 
respectful  silence.^  On  the  eighteenth,  the  new- 
married  couple  proceeded  to  Madrid,  where  such 
splendid  preparations  had  been  made  for  their  re- 
ception as  evinced  the  loyalty  of  the  capital. 

As  soon  as  the  building  of  the  Escorial  was  suf- 
ficiently advanced  to  furnish  suitable  accommoda- 
tions for  his  young  queen,  Philip  passed  a  part  of 
every  summer  in  its  cloistered  solitudes,  which  had 
more  attraction  for  him  than  any  other  of  his  resi- 
dences. The  presence  of  Anne  and  her  courtly 
train  diffused  something  like  an  air  of  gayety  over 
the  grand  but  gloomy  pile,  to  which  it  had  been 
little  accustomed.  Among  other  diversions  for  her 
entertainment  we  find  mention  made  of  autos  sa- 
cramentales^  those  religious  dramas  that  remind 
one  of  the  ancient  Mysteries  and  Moralities  which 
entertained  our  English  ancestors.  These  autos 
were  so  much  in  favor  with  the  Spaniards  as  to 
keep  possession  of  the  stage  longer  than  in  most 

38  Florez,    Beynas    Catholicas,  Reyna,   estando  de   pie   toda    la 

torn.  II.  p.  908. —  Cabrera,  Filipe  Corte.**    Florez,  Reynas  Catholi- 

Segundo,  p.  661.  cas,  torn.  II.  p.  908. 

3»  «*  En  el  sarao  bailaron  Rey  y 


Ch.  n.] 


QUEEN   ANNE. 


475 


J 


other  countries ;  nor  did  they  receive  their  full  de- 
velopment until  they  had  awakened  the  genius  of 
Calderon. 

It  was  a  pen,  however,  bearing  little  resemblance 
to  that  of  Calderon  which  furnished  these  edifying 
dramas.  They  proceeded,  probably,  from  some  Je- 
ronymite  gifted  with  a  more  poetic  vein  than  his 
brethren.  The  actors  were  taken  from  among  the 
pupils  in  the  seminary  established  in  the  Escorial. 
Anne,  who  appears  to  have  been  simple  in  her 
tastes,  is  said  to  have  found  much  pleasure  in  these 
exhibitions,  and  in  such  recreation  as  could  be  af- 
forded her  by  excursions  into  the  wild,  romantic 
country  that  surrounded  the  monastery.  Historians 
have  left  us  but  few  particulars  of  her  life  and 
character,  —  much  fewer  than  of  her  lovely  prede- 
cessor. Such  accounts  as  we  have,  represent  her  as 
of  an  amiable  disposition,  and  addicted  to  pious 
works.  She  was  rarely  idle,  and  employed  much 
of  her  time  in  needlework,  leaving  many  specimens 
of  her  skill  in  this  way  in  the  decorations  of  the 
convents  and  churches.  A  rich  piece  of  embroiderj% 
wrought  by  her  hands  and  those  of  her  maidens, 
was  long  preserved  in  the  royal  chapel,  under  the 
name  of  "  Queen  Anne's  tapestry.'* 

Her  wedded  life  was  destined  not  to  be  a  long 
one,  —  only  two  years  longer  than  that  of  Isabella. 
She  was  blessed,  however,  with  a  more  numerous 
progeny  than  either  of  her  predecessors.  She  had 
four  sons  and  a  daughter.  But  all  died  in  infancy 
or  early  childhood  except  the  third  son,  who  as 


476 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  OF  SPAIN.         [Book  VI. 


Philip   the  Third  lived  to  take  his  |)lace  in   the 
royal  dynasty  of  Castile. 

The  queen  died  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  October, 
1580,  in  the  thirty-first  year  of  her  age  and  the 
eleventh  of  her  reign.  A  singular  anecdote  is  told 
in  connection  with  her  death.  This  occurred  at 
Badajoz,  where  the  court  was  then  established,  as  a 
convenient  place  for  overlooking  the  war  in  which 
the  countrj'  was  at  that  time  engaged  with  Portugal. 
While  there  the  king  fell  ill.  The  symptoms  were 
of  the  most  alarming  character.  The  queen,  in  her 
distress,  implored  the  Almighty  to  spare  a  life  so 
important  to  the  welfare  of  the  kingdom  and  of  the 
Church,  and  instead  of  it  to  accept  the  sacrifice  of 
her  own.  Heaven,  says  the  chronicler,  as  the  re- 
sult showed,  listened  to  her  prayer.'*^  The  king 
recovered;  and  the  queen  fell  ill  of  a  disorder 
which  in  a  few  days  terminated  fatally.  Her  re- 
mains, after  lying  in  state  for  some  time,  were 
transported  with  solemn  pomp  to  the  Escorial, 
where  they  enjoyed  the  melancholy  pre-eminence 
of  being  laid  in  the  quarter  of  the  mausoleum 
reserved  exclusively  for  kings  and  the  mothers  of 
kings.  Such  was  the  end  of  Anne  of  Austria,  the 
fourth  and  last  wife  of  Philip  the  Second. 

**  "  El  efecto  dijo,  que  oyd  Bios    Rey,  cayd  mala  la  Reyna."    Ibid., 
fu   oracion:    pues    mejorando   el    p.  913. 


\ 


END  OF  THE   THIRD  VOLUME. 


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